Garuda Lore Question

Hello! This has been a topic with my family for the last couple of days and I've heard one story but read another. Are both true, or just the EE entry?

My family and I heard that the original Garuda battled on behalf of the flying creatures to not be bound to the land. At the end of the battle with the king she was mortally wounded, and drank the kings blood to stay alive. This gave her the powers that are prayed for and made her go mad with bloodlust

I also heard and read in the encyclopedia, that the 'lore' of Garuda was that she sent the Ixal down from Ayatlan to stop the evils from below to reaching their heavens and 'cleanse the land below'. When really, it was a commander in Azys Lla that sent down chimeric solders in the Garuda Regiment to stop the uprising against the emperor and when Azys Lla was locked away they were locked out.

Are both sort of true? Or was the first story of going mad from the blood just a rumor that ended up in a handful of lore videos? I can't seem to find any wiki entries with it.

Thank you for clearing this up for us! :)

I'd assume the former is the story as believed in Ixal folklore, while the latter is the truth of things that was gradually twisted into myth over the millenia that passed since the fall of Allag.

Garuda's interesting in that she's basically the only primal for which we know the original story that inspired it, and that isn't accurate. Like, at all. The Ixal have been playing a five thousand year long game of telephone with this story, and the facts have... drifted. Rather considerably. Rather different from an example like Thordan or Good King Moggle Mog XII, where as far as we can tell the myth they summoned from is more or less the truth of what happened.

I agree with Kage that the first part is most likely what the Ixal actually believe. You can pretty immediately see how they got some of it, but hell if I know how exactly the 'blood of the king' part wound up in there.

Maybe when we are done with the Twelve we will start meeting the 'real' beast tribe gods.

Hi! I recently revamped the Garuda page for the FF Wiki and I could not find a single source for that first backstory about drinking blood and going mad and such so I removed it. If such backstory exists it is nowhere to be found in the current Final Fantasy XIV or the Encyclopaedia Eorzea (at least the first one, which is the one I have ready access to). This information allegedly comes from the original Lodestone I believe, but I've been searching through the archives and have yet to find it. It was presumably factual at some point, especially since reputable sites like Gamer Escape (née Eorzeapedia) had that in their info, but I haven't been able to corroborate it from a primary source. If anyone can find it and confirm that backstory I would also appreciate it.

Relevant: Original Lodestone archive

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zero-ELEC

Hi! I recently revamped the Garuda page for the FF Wiki and I could not find a single source for that first backstory about drinking blood and going mad and such so I removed it. If such backstory exists it is nowhere to be found in the current Final Fantasy XIV or the Encyclopaedia Eorzea (at least the first one, which is the one I have ready access to). This information allegedly comes from the original Lodestone I believe, but I've been searching through the archives and have yet to find it. It was presumably factual at some point, especially since reputable sites like Gamer Escape (née Eorzeapedia) had that in their info, but I haven't been able to corroborate it from a primary source. If anyone can find it and confirm that backstory I would also appreciate it.

Relevant: Original Lodestone archive

---

To patch up your knowledge set, I can pretty instantly confirm for you that the Encyclopedia Eorzea volume 2 doesn't mention this. It doesn't mention Garuda at all, in fact, since the only part of it that even mentions the Ixal is the page on Xelphatol.

Ah here we go, the only mention of this backstory for Garuda, a single post on the original Lodestone, which was never officially archived by Square Enix: whether or not this is still canon can probably be questioned but it was at least once true.

Quote:

---

Worshipped by the Ixal, this capricious primal commands the winds. A figure equal parts woman and avian, Garuda calls the sky her dominion and the storms her servants.

Ixali teachings portray Garuda as the Empress of Birds. In the age of myth, she slew the malevolent Lord of Snakes, ending his foul attempt to bind the world’s creatures to the earth. It was through this deed that birds might now soar freely amid the clouds. The ferocity of the battle, however, left the victorious Garuda sorely wounded. She feasted on the carcass of the reptilian king to restore her strength, and, with her wounds thus healed, once again took wing. Legends say that Garuda’s bloody banquet, whilst healing her physical form, also left her with a taste for the flesh of land-bound mortals…

Thus for the flightless Ixal who claim kinship with birds, their bloodthirsty guardian deity is a source of both rapture and terror.

---

So the story did exist at some point! I like to believe that the first story is still one that the Ixal believe in the second is still part of their lore but also the history of them. This was amazingly helpful, thank you everyone! :D

Even myths can be declared non canon now. The story that was probably made up was now never made up.

I thought I'd be the only one who'd owe Ion a beer for making that Lodestone mirror, lol.

He'll be happy to know it's still paying dividends "in the wild".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Necrotica

Even myths can be declared non canon now. The story that was probably made up was now never made up.

---

Even a fantasy setting (where our world's mythical creatures are real) is going to have their own myths and misconceptions about things that are real to them.

'Characters in a story turn out to be wrong' isn't exactly a retcon, especially when it's about something as intangible and non-evidenced as a religious belief.

Would have been fine if the myth was wrong. Now it seems the myth never happened. Do not question it. The present lore is all that matters. STOP RESISTING!

There's another story for Grooda as well here, just no mention of the other story, but that was covered:

Quote:

---

High above the Twelveswood, the raven circles, evermore seeking out truth hidden amongst the shadows of the trees. In today's edition, field correspondent Oliver Goodfellow reports on the threat presented by the appearance of Gridania's sworn enemy, the primal Garuda.

Garuda, Capricious Empress of Birds
Eyewitness reports of a"great winged monster" haunting the outskirts of Quarrymill have sent the Order of the Twin Adder into a flurry of preparation. It appears that the upper echelons of the Order believe the feathered beast to be none other than Garuda herself, and have placed the Grand Company on high alert.

With the ominous change that has befallen Dalamud, it is tempting to believe rumors heralding the Seventh Umbral Era's imminent arrival and give in to crippling despair. But no, I cannot indulge such selfish desires while a threat most real and solid exists within arm's reach. I shall steel my nerves and see for myself just what manner of being this Garuda may be. It must be noted here that this article could not have been penned without the invaluable cooperation of Bowlord Lewin and his extensive knowledge of Ixali history.

Some 550 years in the past, the Ixal chose the forest of Tinolqa* as their homeland. The stories say they built their nests in its trees, and, spreading their wings to the wind, were able to soar among the branches. Even in this ancient time, the Ixal, feeling kinship with the creatures of the sky, revered Garuda as the Empress of Birds. During this age of prosperity the feathered beastmen flourished and multiplied, overflowing the borders of their territory. Their unchecked growth, however, angered the elementals, and the Ixal were cast out of the forest. The exiled birdmen, in search of a new place to roost, migrated en masse to the great canyon known as Xelphatol.


But the trials of the Ixal did not end with the loss of their home. Inexplicably, the young that hatched in the land of Xelphatol were born without certain feathers they needed to catch the wind. As generations came and went, the Ixal lost their ability to fly completely. All that remained to them was an insatiable hunger for the sky. The birdmen's invention of the dirigible 150 years ago is most like the culmination of this tragic history and their undiminished yearning to fly.

This brings us to events of ten years past. Just as the Amalj'aa and the kobolds succeeded in summoning their gods, so too did the Ixal call forth the primal Garuda. Their motivation for doing so, hypothesizes Bowlord Lewin, was to regain the power of flight through the grace of the Empress of Birds. Yet no evidence has been found to suggest that the prayers of the birdmen have been answered. Quite the contrary, the unpredictable and violent Garuda has done naught but tear across the land like an untamed storm, relentless in her quest for blood. Perhaps the Ixal now, too, regret unleashing this unholy terror upon Eorzea.

Oliver Goodfellow

* The Twelveswood. The word "Tinolqa" means "Blessed Forest" in Ixali.

---