Are There Cross Breeds In FFXIV?

[Kacho_Nacho]

Hello all!

In one of the general threads, I participate as Kacho Nacho the Lalaqot'e. It's all meant in fun as a way to justify why I am in a thread about miqot'es.

However, my spouse took me to task, stating not only would such a character be impossible, any cross-breeding would be impossible due to the differences in the races. Basically, the genetics wouldn't match up.

I know. I know. Applying real world concepts of genetics to a fantasy MMORPG is silly but the discussion left me thinking, are there half-breed characters in the lore?

I know there are no racial restrictions on the Ceremony of Eternal Bonding. Could such bondings conceivably (hehe) lead to all sort of racially mixed characters?

[Fenral]

Besides Hilda the Mongrel, an Elezen/Hyur mix, we haven't seen any. It's possible, but rare enough that you don't just see mixes running around. A while back, I saw someone mention over on the Japanese side of the Lore forums (which doesn't really talk about lore at all) mention that the child would always be the race of the mother, but they didn't have a source so it was probably just speculation.

[Theodric]

Besides Hilda the Mongrel, an Elezen/Hyur mix, we haven't seen any.

H-heh...another excuse to bring up Garlemald in a thread!

There's an NPC called Arenvald in The Waking Sands. At one point it is revealed through flavour text that he's a Garlean half-breed. He uses the Highlander model and may or may not have a third eye beneath his hair that conveniently covers his forehead. So Garleans can seemingly breed with other types of Hyur - which isn't too surprising - but I suspect Garlean half-breeds are shunned by many based on politics and a fear of them boasting conflicted loyalties.

[CyrilLucifer]

H-heh...another excuse to bring up Garlemald in a thread!

There's an NPC called Arenvald in The Waking Sands. At one point it is revealed through flavour text that he's a Garlean half-breed. He uses the Highlander model and may or may not have a third eye beneath his hair that conveniently covers his forehead. So Garleans can seemingly breed with other types of Hyur - which isn't too surprising - but I suspect Garlean half-breeds are shunned by many based on politics and a fear of them boasting conflicted loyalties.

I'm more interested in if the inability to manipulate aether is inherited when breeding with an aether-manipulating Hyur or not. Does he ever mention it?

[Theodric]

I'm more interested in if the inability to manipulate aether is inherited when breeding with an aether-manipulating Hyur or not. Does he ever mention it?

He doesn't bring it up. I'm very interested in learning how that works too since I'm a role-player who plays a Garlean half-breed myself. (A shocking revelation, no doubt!)

My current tentative theory is that Garlean half-breeds can manipulate aether but their ability to do so is severely dampened and leaves them feeling very ill.

It's only very recently that we learned about Garlemald's hierarchy and what the 'third eye' actually does. The former was discovered in Gubal and the latter through a Q&A session. I'll make a mental note to bring the question up next time we get another lore Q&A.

[CyrilLucifer]

He doesn't bring it up. I'm very interested in learning how that works too since I'm a role-player who plays a Garlean half-breed myself. (A shocking revelation, no doubt!)

I don't role play, but I do other things outside but related to FFXIV. Yes, things. Er. Well, I don't judge, you're quite free to enjoy what you like!

I'd be quite interested in a canonical answer for Garleans and aether sickness as well. Do they have a lower tolerance? If a Garlean were to say, enter the Shroud, which is already heavily soaked in aether and is said to cause aether sickness to newcomers of the traditional spoken races, would they be more prone to it, or less prone? Or even the same? I have so many questions regarding their aether - it's almost like they've been cut off from Hydaelyn (or 'the Source') Herself.

[Rhodkr]

H-heh...another excuse to bring up Garlemald in a thread!

There's an NPC called Arenvald in The Waking Sands. At one point it is revealed through flavour text that he's a Garlean half-breed. He uses the Highlander model and may or may not have a third eye beneath his hair that conveniently covers his forehead. So Garleans can seemingly breed with other types of Hyur - which isn't too surprising - but I suspect Garlean half-breeds are shunned by many based on politics and a fear of them boasting conflicted loyalties.

Yay a fellow Garlean-half breed! I'm also a bit interested in this information. You also have to wonder if the subrace has anything to do with how they look. (I'd say it does but our only example is someone who comes from highlander dominated Ala Mihgo.) I bet we'll see more on the subject if 4.0 heads there, or the eventual garlemald expansion.

[Fenral]

There's an NPC called Arenvald in The Waking Sands. At one point it is revealed through flavour text that he's a Garlean half-breed.

IIRC, he's the offspring of a Highlander woman and a Garlean soldier of unspecified race. Remembering what we know about their military, it's entirely possible his father is a Hyuran conscript, not a Garlean pure-blood.

Then again, Cid uses the Highlander frame, while Lucia and Nero (and Nael) use the Elezen, so there's no way to know for sure.

[Darkstride]

Hilda is half Elezen, half Hyur. I don't recall any other instances, though.

[Velox]

From what I understand, Eorzean society seems to frown upon mixing of the races (as evidenced by the WP hard quest). This isn't to say it doesn't happen, but that it doesn't happen often because the couple isn't accepted into society or the union is blocked (most likely by family), and they essentially become outcasts.


Now the question is, "why?" It's purely speculation on my part, but given that society seems generally okay with same-sex couples (which rules out the argument that they don't like race mixing because they aren't genetically compatible and can't produce offspring) and even tolerates prostitution in some cultures (which can involve mixing races), I believe that the reason mix-race relationships are frowned upon because people aren't comfortable with the possibility of hybrid offspring. We have to remember that values in FFXIV won't always coincide with real-world values. The primary difference being that, while the real world races are different, they share a lot more similarities than the races of Eorzea (which are so different it's hard to even imagine they belong to the same species). If I had to guess, I would say it's the sheer differences in appearances that has society hesitant about the idea of interracial pairings. Then you also have to account for the sheer differences in body sizes, values, and cultural exposure. It just isn't an atmosphere that's even conducive for interracial offspring.

Given all this, and looking at Hilda's existence and backstory, I'd say hybrids exists...but are so rare they essentially DON'T exist because society won't allow it. But that's just my speculation based on everything we have so far in-game to work with.