The Ultimate Hellsguard Lore Guide

I want to start by saying that what you're about to see is art. This isn't a creation of mine, I just simply put it together. This is a creation by people all over the world who never knew that they each held a little piece of this astonishing secret: one of the best stories ever never told by FF.

Let me start from the top. I started playing FFXIV back in May of this year when a co-worker finally convinced me to pick it up. I immediately locked onto the Roes. Who can resist that Hellsguard flavor text? Sign me up for Bad@$$ Town! It was a few weeks in that I realized... my race really doesn't matter. In fact, there's not a lot of "me" around. Why?

Enter Google. I typed the phrase a large chunk of us probably have: "Hellsguard lore". Oof. Not a lot. Tried some more, still meh. Then I started seeing the comments from the community, "There's so little", "It's so mysterious", "It's just a content-save from 1.0 like Duskwights" (prob). But I'm into the RP scene. Not only that, I'm lore crazy for FF games, and FF always has something hidden. Always.

So I went digging.

I found a few threads. A Reddit conversation sparked my intrigue with things I never knew existed. A dozen people getting together and sharing these hidden sources with one another from someone simply asking "does anyone else know anything"? Then THIS came out. It lit a fire in my gut. So many people came together out of the love of this game to dig through this one last secret. It took them a decade, determined to solve something they loved. How amazing! Mine was a smaller endeavor and I knew it'd take time, but I it'd be worth it. Plus, I wasn't by myself.

Enter YOU. See, there were already all the answers out there found by other people. Snippets, clues, rare finds. They just hadn't known that someone across the world playing the same game held the other half to their puzzle. I just had to find them, spread them out, and start mapping matches to make one solid, seamless solution. Sounds easy? Well, we've all seen how hard it is to find the basic lore on Hellsguard... I wasn't satisfied. I dug, I read, I researched. I listened to interviews, read discussions. Not enough. I dug more, read more. One source led me to another, and another--

After 3 months, I couldn't find any more. Some had even been updated with 5.0 and I needed to edit what I'd had. All that was left was to put it all together. I chose a format and began to separate each article, piecing them apart by note cards and individual Docs, crossing out which ones I'd already placed. I rewrote things with as best of a flow as I could. Finally, I sat back in awe at what you all had made.

I'm so excited to share it with the FFXIV world.
This was all of you.
Thank you for this beautiful journey. (Click)

I really appreciated that, truly amazing.

Thank you so much!!! I see that Hellsguard icon ;D, I hope this just makes your love for their lore even stronger.

Thank you so much. It's not a lot, but it's so much more than we've ever had. You're the best.

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Originally Posted by Grymblyss

You're the best.

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https://media1.tenor.com/images/5e6a...temid=14310969

Thank you so much for your hard work! As a diehard hellsguard fan I’m so excited to read this :)

You also might like to know that some folks have been sharing the link to this thread in the XIV community on Twitter, which is how I found it! You’ve made a bunch of roegadyn players very happy :D

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Originally Posted by snorkelmouse

You also might like to know that some folks have been sharing the link to this thread in the XIV community on Twitter, which is how I found it! You’ve made a bunch of roegadyn players very happy :D

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Are you serious??? That's so cool! I'm a DIEHARD Hellsguard, I'm so happy that people are getting exposed to this. People deserve to see what their hard work in lore-hunting has done for them! There wasn't "so little", it just wasn't all in one place! This makes me so happy. Thank you so much.

I posted it on the XIV Reddit as well last night, hoping to let more lore lovers and Roe/Hellsguard see it!
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...rd_lore_guide/

This is a very cool read. I do have a question about the values section, though. In the first sentence it says they hold perseverance and reticence as highest virtues. Do you mean they prize being stoic? Or was that supposed to be resilience?

Believe it or not, not a typo. It'll be in one of the many sources at the bottom, but I can't recall which one on the top of my head. Not so much stoic, but the way it was phrased with the word reticent seemed more "not wearing their heart on their sleeve". Not particularly seeing being touchy feely as weak, but not something that's seen as exemplifying strength. More of a serious folk, highly influenced by their incredibly rough way of life and lacking the more emotional pillars that other cultures have, mainly the fine arts. There's absolutely zero mention of anything involving fine arts with the Hellsguard, even back from their Lohengarde roots. This would greatly explain a more reticent culture (which to them probably seems normal. While other cultures see them as serious, the Hellsguard probably see everyone else as highly emotional).

I started the game as a Hellsguard before changing to Xaela, so I'm always glad to see them getting some love. Kudos!

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Originally Posted by LineageRazor

I started the game as a Hellsguard before changing to Xaela, so I'm always glad to see them getting some love. Kudos!

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Nooooo, come back, we need to bring you back over to the Roe side lol! "One of us, one of us!"

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Originally Posted by Galeteya

Nooooo, come back, we need to bring you back over to the Roe side lol! "One of us, one of us!"

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Heh. It wasn't an easy decision, believe me, but in the end I really wanted to play an "original" race, rather than one that was derived from one from FFXI.

It's a big part of the reason I was femroe in the first place; there weren't any female Galka, so it was about as close to an original race as ARR offered...

Thank you, for this lovely write up. I always kind of wanted to know little more about hellsguardian lore beyond the short description in character creator. Hopefully in future hellsguard can get their own part of the world we can visit. Or maybe something similar to dwarves from the first.

This is really good. Thanks for compilling everything into one place :D

You're doing The Twelve's work by doing this, OP. That's a really cool write-up. :)

You guys make me so insanely grateful, you have no idea. I met a HG RP'er the other day and after we'd talked for a while he told me he'd actually used this guide to help build his character. I practically shrieked. I hope all of these discoveries become a resource for everyone and anyone that is as interested and loves the HG as much as I do.

I've been playing as a hellsguard roe since joining the game. It always felt like roegadyn have been sidelined, and hellsguard more so - almost to the point of exclusion.

This collection is very much appreciated. I was tempted to fantasia into a viera with Shadowbringers but it just felt... wrong. We are who we are. I'm a hellsguard roe. It's good to finally know more of what that means.

I know I'm super late to this, but thank you so much for sharing! Freaking awesome lore in here, never knew about the Lohengarde riding their warbears with halberds during the third astral era :D

Apologies as well for the bumped thread, but I was so heartened to see this.

I'm *clamoring* always for more Hellsguard canon, and Abalathia content in particular! My best friend is a Hellsguard, and has been so disheartened recently for constantly having to resort to their own (pretty astounding) worldbuilding to flesh out their character and their backstory.

I wish I could shout from the rooftops how overdue we are for more Hellsguard and Abalathia food, and an update to the Old Tongue dictionary as well! (We see you subtly adding words to it via names, dev team!)

I really enjoyed reading that, thank you.
Does the text of the Warrior quests differ if you play as Hellsguard?

Wow, I did not know the nose marking was something that was put on deliberately. There's a lot of interesting stuff in here that's still unexplored too, here's to hoping we'll see it semi-soonish!

Thank you for all the information! I love deep diving into character lore. Can't believe I just found this! (Have been a Hellsguard since I started playing the game in 2020)