Gaelicatnip and Mi'qote

[MistakeNot]

I believe it was mentioned that while racial crossbreeds are rare, it's not impossible.

True. And if I remember right it has also been said that crossbreeds usually end up looking like their mother's race, so most of them will not be easily identifiable visually as crossbreeds.

That said, I have ever operated under the presumption that Garleans are simply a racial offshoot of the Hyur, not an entirely separate species. Aside from the third eye and lack of ability to manipulate aether, they are exactly the same.

They might equally well be an offshoot of Elezen, since most of them have the same tall and slim build.

"Apart from <quite significant differences> they are exactly the same." Can equally well be said about Hyur and Roegadyn who are the same except for size and skin colour.

[Anonymoose]

And if I remember right it has also been said that crossbreeds usually end up looking like their mother's race, so most of them will not be easily identifiable visually as crossbreeds.

I hear this all the time, but I can't seem to find a Square Enix-sourced citation for it. The search usually leads back to some Tumblr or another seeking to make it easier for roleplayers to claim mixed-race heritage within the limitations of the character creator. (Though, if you find one, don't tell my friends who RP because I've been singing Mama's Got A** at them over it for years and that's gonna be some compound karma...)

[Iscah]

The one direct suggestion I'm aware of the races coming from a common ancestor is this from the Elezen section of the Naming Conventions page:

There are Eorzean historians who believe that [similarities between Elezen and Hyuran names] may be proof that the two races are of similar origin─'open-minded' Hyuran historians claiming the Elezen are a bastard race spun off from the Hyurs (and not the other way around). Elezen historians, on the other hand, simply deny any blood relation whatsoever.

Well, that and this from the Hyuran serction:

Fun Fact: Some Midlanders like to joke that because Highlander names have a very Roegadyn feel to them (in addition to highlanders being very large and muscular), that the clan is somehow “less Hyuran.” Many an alehouse brawl has broken out as a result of a Midlander in his cups uttering such quips as ‘Your mother was a Sea Wolf ’ in the presence of a Highlander. Needless to say, most of these quarrels do not end well for the instigator.

Also the lorebook entry on the First Umbral Era (p.22) basically alludes to a "creation vs evolution" debate about the time before known history. So, the idea of evolution (and the possibility of it applying to the five+ races) is there.


Garleans would certainly be somewhere close to the Hyuran/Elezen split. Lalafells could conceivably be descended from Elezen - an isolated population on the southern islands that evolved to be smaller (compare theories on the real-world 'hobbits').

The 'novelty animal features' are a bit harder to explain though.

I hear [crossbreeds usually end up looking like their mother's race] all the time, but I can't seem to find a Square Enix-sourced citation for it.

Must be coming from the Pokémon Trainer School of Genetics. (Crossbred Pokémon always inherit the mother's species, unless the 'mother' is a shapeshifting Ditto.)

Then again, it does add up with the few definite examples we have of mixed-race characters:

Arenvald - Highlander mother, Garlean father. Looks like a normal Highlander and didn't inherit the Garlean third eye. (Cid does say it's a mark of pureblood Garleans though, so maybe it wouldn't carry over either way.)

Hilda - Midlander mother, Elezen father. Looks like a Midlander except for her ears.

On the other hand, the lorebook notes that Teledji Adeledji is mixed-clan (Dunesfolk mother, Plainsfolk father) and looks like a Plainsfolk. Then again that's not a guarantee it's come from his father's side, as Papalymo and Dewlala are also supposed to be Dunesfolk but use Plainsfolk models.

And a vague one, but the briefly-mentioned Hyur/Au Ra...

SHIOSAI
I believe generations back, a Ruby Princess and a Hyuran man were once joined in holy matrimony. The son they bore was said to have had almost no scales.

With the story coming from an otherwise entirely Raen society, I would guess we can read that as "a Raen with almost no scales". So again, taking after the mother (if that's correct).

[Cilia]

As I recall, Elezen have a longer natural lifespan than Hyur. Combined with the presence of magically inept individuals among the playable races (it's what sets up the conflict in the THM quests), this suggests to me that Elezen and Hyur have greater physiological differences than Hyur and Garleans.

That said... yeah, there's not much difference between Hyur, Elezen (taller / pointy ears / longer lifespan), Roegadyn (taller / more muscular / flat noses), and Garleans (near race-wide magical ineptitude / third eye), and not a terribly huge difference between them and Lalafell (significantly shorter / significantly stockier lower halves / pointy ears / glassy eyes [Dunesfolk]). Some characters could pass as another race if not for some phenotype tells (Moenbryda, for instance, could easily be mistaken for a muscular Hyur if not for her nose). The only ones clearly not Hyur, or some offshoot thereof, are the Mi'qote and Au Ra. (Or perhaps Roegadyn are the common ancestor? Whooo knows...)

Whether that points to a common ancestor or is the result of Hydaelyn creating them all... well, that much I couldn't say. What I can say is that if the Garlean magical ineptitude is a result of genetics and can be remedied through genetic engineering, that implies evolution is a thing on Hydaelyn in some capacity.