[SPOILERS for 5.5 and 6.0] The Fate of the Garlean Empire

One of the questions on the Endwalker reveal slides asked this "What will be the fate of the Garlean Empire?" So I'd like to pose the same question to you all. What do you think will be Garlemald's fate in 6.0? Seeing as we haven't even seen the much of it outside of reaper trailer and some small screenshots at the base of the remade imperial palace.

I'm Thinking

A. Gaius and Maxima Spear-head a brand new Garlemald, cutting off all the bad bits and with the ideals of the Populares transform it and steer heavily away from everything it used to be mindset wise. No more Conquering more rebuilding and making amends with other nations and the people

B. With all the Legatus out of a job they might pull a Gabranth and try to establish their own nations or will be executed for their crimes

C. Conquered Nations will fight back for their independence a la Bozja and Dalmasca

D. Other Nations will attempt to move into Garlean territory as a way to bolster their resources since we know Ceruleum flows like water under the Northern Terrain.

When the Garlean threat gets solved I truly do expect huge political shake-ups in the world. With the Empire no longer breathing down everyone's necks I figure we'll see what we saw in Limsa during 5.4 on a larger scale that could lead to some really juicy plot. The idea of "The People needing to be saved from themselves" was mused in Post-Stormblood but if history has taught us anything people are definitely gonna look out for any opportunity to get on top after the WoL's slated victory come 6.0

The Empire will be no more, but Garlemald as a nation might have a future by reverting to a republic and letting go of conquered territories in order to rebuild their nation both culturally and physically.

Former Imperial provinces dissatisfied with Imperial rule will rebel; some will succeed, some will become fiefdoms ruled by warlord ex-Legates. The ones satisfied with Imperial rule (assuming any exist) will be unaffected.

As for the Empire itself, it's finished. After Zenos and Danny Boy's grand master plan is foiled, with the Imperial capital a smoking ruin surviving Garleans will be forced to rebuild or build a new capital; either way, being no longer in a position of real power (unless enough ex-Legates band together) and faced with the scorn of... pretty much the entire rest of the known world, it's very unlikely a new Garlean Empire will rise. Instead I expect it will revert to the small republic it was before Emet-Selch (a.k.a. Solus zos Galvus) influenced it to becoming the world superpower.

Personally I'm not expecting Gaius to have a hand in this because he's busy with Werlyt. Maybe I'm wrong.

It's gonna be Maxima leading the new Garlean Republic

I fully expect there to not really be enough survivors for there to be a real Garlemald resurgence.

They're kind of like inverted Viltrumites in a way. There aren't a lot of purebloods left, and none of them seem to really have strong ties to Garlemald as an idea anymore. Those that do are already mantling places they're more emotionally invested in or are being killed.

I fully expect to find Nerva and his cohorts shackled up in the tower, and us without a real way to get them free. I sort of expect Maxima to take stock of the situation at some point, and for him to say something akin to, "There's not enough Garleans left to rebuild. It's better this way, really." Then he goes on his merry way, or perhaps sticks around to continue soldiering for the Eorzean Alliance.

But, really, it's all supposition at this point. There haven't really been enough tells to say anything with 100% certainty. Would be kinda neat if in 6.1 we get new PVP zones with the Eorzean Alliance having a pissing contest for who gets the rights to the new territory that once belonged to Garlemald or something.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Personally I'm not expecting Gaius to have a hand in this because he's busy with Werlyt. Maybe I'm wrong.

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I don't think they would have brought Gaius back just for Werlyt, he's going to have a hand in the MSQ at some point and Garlemald's future seems the most likely thing. Whether he'll be the new leader or not (which I'm personally leaning toward, but either way), he'll definitely be involved in that plot.

No more Empire in 6.X. That's why they ended the IVth legion off-screen, just so they can continue the questline in 6.25 without having to tie it to Garlemald anymore.

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Originally Posted by Garnix

No more Empire in 6.X. That's why they ended the IVth legion off-screen, just so they can continue the questline in 6.25 without having to tie it to Garlemald anymore.

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Pedantically, we all agree No More Empire. The Empire is dead, and if it should try to come back to life, we will kill it again and make sure it stays dead.

However, we're all wondering what might become of Garlemald, and I think it's still a good plot point to explore in 6.x and beyond. The default assumption (due to being the simplest) is going back to the Garlean Republic, and rebuilding from there, preferably to a kinder, less expansionist country.

The issue is I'm honestly not sure if there are enough people left to create a new Garlemald. The Populares have been repeatedly said to be purged and nearly wiped out, and the only loophole is that the game hasn't clarified exactly how many survivors there are; it would be very unrealistic to the point of parody if it turned out there were still enough to form a functioning government, thus showing Varis and Fandaniel-as-Asahi to be thoroughly incompetent, but who knows how the writing will justify it. I would be deeply disappointed if political power were to rest in one person yet again, whether Maxima or Gaius or Nerva or whoever, since that would just be a repeat of the Garlean Empire.

I could see it resting with one person at first, ala Ishgard or Ala Mhigo while they get situated before shifting to a republic, given they're getting a Zone they've going to use it, we tend to revisit zones, and zones get quests, there need to be people on zones to give us quests, though it's possible its someone other than Garlean's on the zone giving us quests, so who knows.
Personally I think we'll get a Doman/Isgard restoration deal post 6.0 with them.

Well, Garlemald is really just a city and the area surrounding it, isn't it? One city that is now in ruins...So...I don't think anything will be done with it in the future.
I think it will stay in ruins forever, just like the Sharlayan colony in the Dravanian hinterlands is now occupied by Goblins and creatures of all kinds.

As for the occupied Garlean territories in Ilsabard, I think they will split in many smaller independent provinces, as they once were.
Just like when the Soviet Union broke up in many independent countries.
So for example, Werlyt would be independent, Landis, Corvos as well, etc. Maybe they will form the Ilsabard GC, just like the Eorzea GC was formed in 5.55. But I don't think the Garlemald name will be kept for anything, as it is so closely tied to the Empire, which is probably something that the people (well, most people, obviously not all) across Ilsabard will want to stay part of History books.


As of all the Garleans, well...Isn't Zenos basically killing them all in order to "drink a sea of souls?'. And a lot of others are probably trapped in that big tower to summon whatever the dreamer is.
There will be some left, but certainly not enough to form a nation.

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Originally Posted by Garnix

Well, Garlemald is really just a city and the area surrounding it, isn't it? One city that is now in ruins...So...I don't think anything will be done with it in the future.
I think it will stay in ruins forever, just like the Sharlayan colony in the Dravanian hinterlands is now occupied by Goblins and creatures of all kinds.

As for the occupied Garlean territories in Ilsabard, I think they will split in many smaller independent provinces, as they once were.
Just like when the Soviet Union broke up in many independent countries.
So for example, Werlyt would be independent, Landis, Corvos as well, etc. Maybe they will form the Ilsabard GC, just like the Eorzea GC was formed in 5.55. But I don't think the Garlemald name will be kept for anything, as it is so closely tied to the Empire, which is probably something that the people (well, most people, obviously not all) across Ilsabard will want to stay part of History books.


As of all the Garleans, well...Isn't Zenos basically killing them all in order to "drink a sea of souls?'. And a lot of others are probably trapped in that big tower to summon whatever the dreamer is.
There will be some left, but certainly not enough to form a nation.

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Garlemald was actually a fairly sizeable territory when they were the Garlean Republic. They existed as such for several centuries. I don't know whether the capital city is also named "Garlemald", but I wouldn't be surprised, considering, well, Sharlayan and its many other Sharlayans.

The whole "Garlean Empire spreading across Ilsabard, invading Othard, and attempting to invade Eorzea" was less than a century old, and entirely the fault of Solus/Emet-Selch. Those territories will probably be liberated, and if they wish to be part of a new Garlemald, that's based on their own choice. (Which has its own deep levels of political problems, but we'll probably get to them when it's relevant.)

So the original borders of the Garlean Republic would be a good place to draw the map lines.

It was a really small republic though. Wasn't it? I am not sure on that anymore but the gamerescape wiki says "Garlemald was a remote and sparsely populated republic"
https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Garlean_Empire

I really think that the Garlemald zone will basically cover it all, and that's also why the zone is called Garlemald depsite it not being the city alone (and yes, Garlemald is the name of the capital city as well). So maybe we will find some smaller settlements over there, but not much aside of the main capital city itself.

At best, Garlemald/the Garlean Republic/the Garlean Empire will become a new Idyllshire or something like that: an isolated settlement. But truth be told....I don't even know what Idyllshire's political status is...

We don't know what happened to Nerva yet, he and his followers could either have been captured and put into one of those towers or he could be in hiding. Then there's the Populares that escaped with Maxima sometime in Stormblood.

I think Garlemald will return to become a Republic like it originally was before Emet-Selch used them. I think some of the remaining Legatus (Legati?) will end up destroyed or greatly diminished off screen during Final Days just so that the writers wont have to write yet another liberation story. Others might try to make their own nation and since its been said some nations like Garlemald occupation they might rejoin the Republic and have a seat in their senate.

I'm sure there will be nations that want to retaliate, but WoL and Scions will convince them not to that.

Since I haven't said anything yet, I suspect either a republic will return with the loss of provinces assuming all the unknown legati aren't dead, They'll probably have some role in the 6.0 MSQ (who knows maybe there is another agrius class vessel or allagan relic somewhere we don't know about and will take advantage of at some point /shrug)

I like to keep stuff organized so, uh... how many and which Legati are we missing right now?

So far I count (obviously if I get stuff wrong please correct me):
I: ???
II: ??? (USED to be Varis? I legitimately don't remember)
III: Nerva yae Galvus
IV: Noah van Gabranth
V: ???
VI: Regula van Hydrus (deceased)
VII: Valens van Varro (deceased)
VIII: ???
IX: ???
X: ???
XI: ???
XII: Zenos yae Galvus (now promoted to Emperor via patricide)
XIII: ???
XIV: Gaius van Baelsar (defected)

So we have 8 Legati unaccounted for (plus Nerva, who is name dropped but whose fate is currently unknown). Depending on how things go in 6.1 we might involve ourselves in some "Garlean reconstruction" either allying with the remaining Legati that want to "play nice", or helping the newly liberated territories (which will probably liberate themselves off-screen both because Garlemald has effectively fallen already and... we've already done 3 liberation plots), or just exploring the remnants of the Empire and the new Republic(s) establishing themselves in the are, which would be a great way to clear the clouds over Ilsabard.

Then again, I've been saying those clouds would move since 4.4 and, well...

A Garlean leader (like Nerva, if he survives) becomes the next emperor. Establishes a peace treaty with the Eorzean and Eastern Alliances. Recently conquered provinces like Nagxia where an independance movement is popular are allowed to break off. Provinces that have been apart of the Empire for longer and where the Empire is more popular (like Corvos) stay. Buffer states or demilitarized zones between Garlemald and the Eorzean/Eastern alliaces are established. The Burn and the Ghimlyt Dark would make natural boundaries.

The new emperor repeals "Service guarentees citizenship", as historically this led Rome to becoming a state of war cultists. Landowners are allowed to vote (and institute a law forbidding guilds or rich folks from acquiring too much land, to prevent them from hogging all of the voting power).

Cid and Nero return to Garlemald to help rebuild.

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Originally Posted by BlitzAceRush

I could see it resting with one person at first, ala Ishgard or Ala Mhigo while they get situated before shifting to a republic, given they're getting a Zone they've going to use it, we tend to revisit zones, and zones get quests, there need to be people on zones to give us quests, though it's possible its someone other than Garlean's on the zone giving us quests, so who knows.
Personally I think we'll get a Doman/Isgard restoration deal post 6.0 with them.

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I would find that incredibly disappointing if it was someone other than the Garlean citizens that give quests in Garlemald, generally when a country is added as a zone the people of that country give quests and you learn more about that country and the inner thinking. If the quest givers are say the Alliance then that is incredibly anti climatic as it robs players the opportunity of working with the citizens and basically makes all those years of build up pointless, they can easily explain it as some refugee camps on the outskirts or even some holdouts who have escaped tempering perhaps by being close to those Aetherytes that were leaked in the artwork, maybe it helps disrupt the flow of the tower. The scions are also working for a way to free people from the tower which is what I imagine the Thravnirian dungeon with all the Matanga and the Magus sister sculptures will be about.

As for people suggesting restoration quests tied to it that is not so far fetched as i imagine we will be getting new housing districts every even number expansions and quests tied to building them like the Ishgard restoration every odd numbered one (I believe they hinted Dalmascus might be the next one so we might get a restoration quest for a housing district there in 7.0 before getting the housing district in 8.0). If that holds up then there might be some restoration quest related to a non housing area similar to the Doman reconstruction in 4.0 (an even number expansion we got a housing district with) and right now the capitol or some nearby area makes the most sense.

I don't know if they'll ever attempt to write a restoration of the nation as a whole, because it's something massive, but I highly suspect we might see something akin to the Doman Enclave, but for the Garlean refugees, built somewhere...

I imagine the conquered territories will take advantage of the confusion and broken chain of command and attempt to retake their homeland. Territories closer to Garlemald might be slower to do so due to assimilation (although Garlemald is a relatively young empire so I kinda doubt this) and a potential higher number of troops present. On the other side, other legati that escaped the destruction might take after Gabranth's example and use their forces to attempt to establish their own territories from the areas they were stationed in. Overall, I expect Garlemald as a political body is more or less destroyed.

I think what little remains of the Garlean Empire will be shown as a refugee crisis in existing areas. Garlemald will cease to exist. Furthermore, a refugee crisis creates the greatest narrative jumping off point for next season of the msq story.

My reasoning is that majority of the population is now tempered to Garlemald and will most likely be sacrificed as aether to feed a primal they are cooking up or just Zodiark.

The small remaining portion of the populace will impose a refugee crisis in Werlyt and Ala Mhigo in the west and Dalmasca and Bozja in the east. This will give Maxima and Gaius things to do in the plot, such as advocating for their people, where they need to appeal to the WOL's influence. It will allow places like Sharlayan, who have learned the lesson of helping the people of the world, to put their money where their mouth is.

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Originally Posted by Kesey

I think what little remains of the Garlean Empire will be shown as a refugee crisis in existing areas. Garlemald will cease to exist. Furthermore, a refugee crisis creates the greatest narrative jumping off point for next season of the msq story.

My reasoning is that majority of the population is now tempered to Garlemald and will most likely be sacrificed as aether to feed a primal they are cooking up or just Zodiark.

The small remaining portion of the populace will impose a refugee crisis in Werlyt and Ala Mhigo in the west and Dalmasca and Bozja in the east. This will give Maxima and Gaius things to do in the plot, such as advocating for their people, where they need to appeal to the WOL's influence. It will allow places like Sharlayan, who have learned the lesson of helping the people of the world, to put their money where their mouth is.

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Except as pointed out Garlemald is being added as a zone, we generally return to those throughout the patches of an expansion and beyond. What's more it looks to be one of the few official countries that are also zones meaning it is more likely we will return there in the future then more of the fantastical zones in EW, along with Thravnir and Sharlyan being places to return to for more human stories I also expect there will be a lot of return quests there in 6.x patches. Finally as mentioned before, Since it is a exploration zones those need NPCs for services and quests. On top of the 2 or 3 Aetheryte settlements (of which I imagine Garlemald will have three since we already saw the leaked concept art for the Aetheryte and they made a point of the EW zones being much larger) there are also sometimes other settlements that do not have Aetherytes in zones. whats more it appears that not everyone in the capitol is tempered yet as we saw possible resistance against Zenos in the last cutscene of 5.55 and the burning airship in front of the tower implying it was attacking it before being shot down in the EW cinematic trailer hinting resistance to his rule.

Past refugee crisis's such as with Ala Mhigan and Doman refugees have usually been the result of the zones not being accessible but since we know Garlemald is and accessible zone in EW that theory does not hold up.

I do however believe that while it is likely the country might get some reform in EW the Empire as a whole will be no more. Meaning a power vacuum can open up and instead of one more morally black super power that controls most of the world with some morally grey nations opposing it we can have various morally grey nations with their own ideals competing with each other across the 3 continents making further exploration of Islabard and Orthard more interesting from a storytelling and world building perspective creating more morally ambiguous conflicts between these nations that that the heroes do not have the right answer for who is right and wrong. Who knows perhaps this is how they intend to make better PvP.

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Originally Posted by Garnix

Well, Garlemald is really just a city and the area surrounding it, isn't it? One city that is now in ruins...So...I don't think anything will be done with it in the future.
I think it will stay in ruins forever, just like the Sharlayan colony in the Dravanian hinterlands is now occupied by Goblins and creatures of all kinds.

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Hmm, I dunno. Doesn't it kind of go against the general trend in the game's story for square to basically just be like "bye garleans, you all die now."

Even the beast tribes are parlaying with the alliance and working together now as equals. I dunno, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see them genociding the garleans.

I’ve been freaking out about what’s going to happen to areas I’ve previously visited and grown to care for. Somebody up here said the WoL and friends (maybe enemies too, if Hades pops in from the Rift again) will probably stop the destruction before it gets too bad; also, a guy I raid with says that the destruction to previously visited areas won’t be too bad because then we won’t be able to access the guilds/shops/etc. that are there. And it would just be too damn depressing if everything got the equivalent of Calamity’d when we’ve just stopped a Calamity and they’re still cleaning up the mess from five years ago.

But the trailer makes it perfectly clear that Final Days are here again, and fantastically horrific beasts are going to run amok. Where to find them? Garlemald, most likely -other places too, but I think the most extensive damage will be in new areas, especially the place where Zenos and Fanboy have been doing their dirt. Between this devastation and the uprisings in areas that never wanted to belong to it, the Empire is finished. Depending on how many people survive whatever Zenos is up to, maybe they’ll rebuild to be a republic again? Probably with a ton of restoration quests, like others have said. I have a silly pet theory based on nothing but paranoia that Maxima is a triple agent, but if/when I’m proven wrong (maybe even if I’m not, as it wouldn’t be the first time we were forced to go with it when somebody in the MSQ went “I totally screwed y’all LOL let’s all act like it never happened”) then he could go back there and organize elections, possibly guilt-tripping the WoL/Scions isn’t helping set things up. I don’t know if Gaius wants or needs to be involved in any sort of government; last time he was, we got Crania Lupi and labor camps. Whoever is in charge, I imagine we’ll be watching them closely for quite some time, if only to make sure no more Ascians are hiding in the background.

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Originally Posted by Katie_Kitty

Hmm, I dunno. Doesn't it kind of go against the general trend in the game's story for square to basically just be like "bye garleans, you all die now."

Even the beast tribes are parlaying with the alliance and working together now as equals. I dunno, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see them genociding the garleans.

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we dont need to genocide garlemald, since they already did it to themselves /sweat
safe to assume even the garleans we cured from tempering are going to be imprisoned etc instead of executing them whatsoever.

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Originally Posted by Sathona

we dont need to genocide garlemald, since they already did it to themselves /sweat
safe to assume even the garleans we cured from tempering are going to be imprisoned etc instead of executing them whatsoever.

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This is spot on. They've already destroyed their culture and people before we can get there. This is what happens in every Final Fantasy. An empire's pursuit of power is their ultimate down fall, not the hero marching an army through the gates and taking it down by liberating it's people.

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Originally Posted by Sathona

we dont need to genocide garlemald, since they already did it to themselves /sweat
safe to assume even the garleans we cured from tempering are going to be imprisoned etc instead of executing them whatsoever.

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oh, that was kind of my point. I believe there's clear messaging here related to tribal conflict and the idea that, despite their differences, they're all the same. Writing a story where one society collapses permanently flies completely in the face of that general trend we've been observing.

It seems far more likely to me that it will be the *empire* that falls while *Garlemald* lives on and joins the international community peacefully. Comparing it to the Sharlayan colony is kind of off-the-mark because the colony was just part of sharlayan, not its own separate culture/society, and most of them just packed up and headed back home.

I have a feeling Landis may take over. It has a Magitek Academy, it has a city of technology, and most of the learning didn't happen in Garlemald proper but there. Meaning it'd be very easy for it to become the new seat of government, and also allows us to have an iffy "are they allies or not?" relationship with them. Plus well, Landis was one of the original territories taken by Garlemald before they became the empire, and it's very likely its citizens were given full citizenship in Garlemald affairs

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Originally Posted by RyuDragnier

I have a feeling Landis may take over. It has a Magitek Academy, it has a city of technology, and most of the learning didn't happen in Garlemald proper but there. Meaning it'd be very easy for it to become the new seat of government, and also allows us to have an iffy "are they allies or not?" relationship with them. Plus well, Landis was one of the original territories taken by Garlemald before they became the empire, and it's very likely its citizens were given full citizenship in Garlemald affairs

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If I recall there is real world precedence for this happening since Garlemald takes some inspiration from the Roman empire then Landis in this case could be the Constantinople parallel. While the western half of Rome fell into disarray and the capitol was eventually taken and sacked by the Germanic tribes the eastern half would go on to survive for nearly another millennia as the Byzantine Empire, ruling from their prosperous capitol of Constantinople, which was both one of the most well defended cities and situated right at a major crossroad of trade between Europe and Asia.

It is possible that Landis will serve as a similar means, it is also possible that since the Garlean capitol is situated in a more harsher northern territory that wealthy families and influential individuals might have gradually moved to Landis. This means it could still give us a glimpse at a magiteck city one of these days that is not destroyed. we could also see some of this in play in 7.0 since I feel that the expansion following the literal end of the World and the beginning of a new chapter might try and be a bit more grounded and human.

However I just hope they do enough to shake them up like with the IVth legion because at this point i am getting a bit tired of fighting the same Garlean mobs and kind of want to move on to more original and newer enemies.