What is exactly the "void" and where does it come from?

[Mirch]

I was playing a lot of duties these last days and while on roulette I found some interesting things, the word "void" seems to appaer in many dungeons and also raids.
But what is it exactly? I also noticed some monsters are called "Void-xxxx"

[Zojha]

Well, for context, it should be noted that Eorzeans class everything "alien" as "voidsent" until further notice. And since the lore team apparently likes to misguide people in an attempt to make the world naming more realistic (even if it comes at the cost of regular inconsistency), it can well be there are misnomers about and not everything named "Void-" is actually related to the void.

That said: From what we know, "the void" is the 13th reflection of our world, which was consumed by darkness and thus failed to be rejoined with the source world (ours). In that context, Nabriales calling upon the "insatiable hunger of the void" to "return the world to perfect darkness" in the crysalis begs a little question on the sincerity of his rejoining endeavours >_> But oh well.

I wager our lore masters can explain it much better, but...yeah. That's the gist, I think.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

It should be noted that capital-V-Void is different from the generic use of void, which is likely the context Nabriales was using the term in.

[Martin_Arcainess]

The Void is there and not there, it's between dimensions, a Dark vessel's place where only beings of Darkness are born.

You done World of Darkness? That is practically the void and you got a Ranking system in there with Cloud of Darkness being the top. I'm currently collecting data on what the Ranks are, cards and minon description tells me what order they are in the ranking system.

[Anonymoose]

The void is a place where a lot of fanon comes from, as well. /s

Let's start with...

CONFIRMED TRUTH AS OF 3.45 [SPOILERS]

For ages, Eorzeans have believed in a dark realm that exists beyond the corporeal world. According to these beliefs, the void is not one of the Seven Heavens (where the Twelve retreated after the First Umbral Era) or the Seven Hells (that came into being as a byproduct of the Seven Heavens, home to the once-mentioned-ever Black Warden). Belief in the void is spurred by the appearance of entities that Eorzeans believe are too strange to be natural; it is believed that these entities were sent to wreak havoc on Eorzea by some sinister force, thus the biological classification "voidsent".

Unfortunately for naturalists and scholars everywhere, these beliefs are not always accurate. Eorzeans have classified several beings that are natural as voidsent (and probably vice versa; some voidsent have likely had their true nature escape notice). You can only trust NPCs and system text to a certain degree. You are encouraged to become a naturalist yourself and argue with your fellow scholars until the game gives you something better to go by.

That said, the void is real.

When Hydaelyn (the Will of Light-with-a-capital-L) expelled Zodiark (the Will of Darkness-with-a-capital-D) from the aetherial sea and sealed him within a moon, it stressed the fabric of reality so hard that it cracked, causing thirteen reflections of our primordial world to fan out in all directions. The goal of the Ascians is to throw these reflected worlds into just enough chaos that the boundaries between them and the original world break down. When this happens, the entire reflection is destroyed, everything there dies, and all of the aether is funneled back into the sea. The Ascians believe that this will heal the universe and that it is integral to the second coming of Zodiark, their "one true god".

When Igeyorhm attempted to throw the Thirteenth reflection into chaos, it went awry. The world's balance was already tipped towards Darkness-with-a-capital-D, and she easily crushed the inexperienced Warriors of Light that Hydaelyn called to defend it. Rather than teetering on the brink until the world was Rejoined, equilibrium was lost, unleashing a Flood of Darkness and sheared all aether from that world (a Flood of Light would have done the same). All life that existed in that plane could no longer know life or death, and atrophied into aether-starved monstrosities that have vied for dominion over the twisted realm ever since.

The boundaries between the void and our world are constantly in flux. Sometimes, this results in very small naturally-occuring rifts in our world through which low-ranked voidsent are able to slip through. These entities are likely the inspiration for (and confirmation of) Eorzean belief in the void, even if they understand it well. There are two methods for a more powerful voidsent to enter our world. One is that the boundary is forcibly torn wide open by something such as a powerful magick. Holding the voidgate open long enough for a voidsent to manifest requires a lot of power and aether. The other method is to open a small gate through which only the voidsent's essence passes quickly through and into a prepared vessel. The latter case may be easier, but the vessel can't be too weak to contain the voidsent (and the voidsent's power is thus also limited by the vessel).

THEORYCRAFT, HEADCANON, AND FANON AS OF DECEMBER 2016

Hydaelyn is often referred to as the will of Light (capital L), and Zodiark the will of Darkness (capital D). Both Light and Darkness appear to be aetherial. For example, the Chrysalis is made entirely of Dark crystal. Lower-case light and darkness are mentioned constantly, but seem to be a bit poetic, referring to aether or a vacuumous lack thereof. Our world is a world of light because it is saturated with aether. The darkness of the void, starved of aether, comes to consume that light. Thus the Cloud of Darkness is likely just a cloud of darkness, capitalized because that's what you do to proper nouns.

Some believe that there is a Void-with-a-capital-V that exists beyond the aether-vacuumous realm of monsters left where the Thirteenth reflection once was. This Void is thought to be a swirling eternity of formless chaos. Such a belief fits with the cosmology of other Final Fantasies, especially if you start to get into crossovers like DISSIDIA. We know that Eorzeans believe that the Twelve came into being from such a formless chaos, but it is known only as "The Whorl" (no relation to Leviathan (probably...)). So far, there has never been a mention of Void-with-a-capital-V in Final Fantasy XIV. Like the Cloud of Darkness, it appears only in proper nouns such as the names of attacks (e.g. Void Fire).

Some believe that a void born from Light instead of Darkness would have different properties, as the Warrior of Darkness stated that it left only "blank perfection" in its wake. Rather than monstrosities, there would be nothing. We can't be sure of this, as Urianger specifically said that if the world the Warriors of Darkness came from (the First) fell to light, every being there would be trapped in a world without life or death. That sounds just like the void that is the Thirteeth. Void might just be void, no matter how it's born. Nevertheless, it doesn't seem to matter; no lightborn void is known to exist (yet).

The Ascians really don't seem to be on the same page. The fourteen overlords (black robes) seem to be possessed of Zodiark's hate and greed. They bicker and disagree and vie for power amongst one another while trying to interrupt everything even remotely related to the Light. Lahabrea yells about Hydaelyn needing to be burned out of existence. Nabriales bids the void to entirely consume the Source (original world from which the others were reflected). Meanwhile. Elidibus says he just wants to make things right and restore everything to how it was before Hydaelyn and Zodiark were divided; he will even assist the Light against the Dark if it keeps things balanced enough to stop a Flood; Zodiark needs that aether and has no use for void. (Granted, a world without Hydaelyn and Light probably still means an end to Life as we know it.)

[LineageRazor]

Much of what we know about the Void is actually from VERY recent revelations in the Main Scenario, so a lot of the stuff being discussed here could be considered spoiler territory. You have been warned, OP! (Albeit, perhaps, too late.) Anyway, here's some more spoilers!

That said, it's pretty much been established that the Voidsent that plague Eorzea originated come from the Thirteenth Reflection (the Reflections being alternate universe copies of our world, the Source, that were split off sometime in the distant past for unknown reasons, and which the Ascians want to Rejoin with our world, also for unknown reasons, but presumably because doing so will revive their god, Zodiark). The Void actually is the result of a massive gaffe on the part of the Ascian in charge of the Thirteenth Reflection, Igeyorhm, who pushed the Heroes of Light of that world too hard, resulting in an overwhelming victory by the forces of Darkness. The resulting Flood of Darkness transformed that world into the Void, a dark dimension whose wraithlike beings hunger for the Aether our world can provide and so break through to this world as often as they can. This is NOT something the Ascians want, as the Void cannot be rejoined to the Source - it is a world lost to them, and of no use to Zodiark.

It is unknown what would happen if another world fell to Darkness. Would it become a second Void? Or would it merge with the first Void to become a single, larger Void? It is also unknown how this Void relates to the Void in previous Final Fantasy games; the franchise as a whole implies that the Cloud of Darkness (who pretty much personifies the Void) across multiple Final Fantasy games are the same entity, and that the Void represents the space that separates the different realities that the different Final Fantasy games exist within - but whether any of that is relevant to the Thirteenth Reflection Void in this game, I don't know.

[Cilia]

Tl;dr ver.:

The Void is the sad, shattered remnants of the Thirteenth Reflection after Igeyorhm's machinations tipped the world too close to darkness. The inhabitants went mad with the power of Auracite, dooming the land to have all of its aether crushed and compressed into a singularity. What remains of the realm is little more than a few sparse fractions of barely hospitable terrain, and the former denizens have been warped into monstrous voidsent that exist outside the cycle of life and death (since the Void has no Lifestream to speak of).

The void is simply shorthand for the Interdimensional Rift that exists between all Final Fantasy titles, chiefly for explaining how various characters (Lightning, Gilgamesh, Shantotto, Iroha, etc.) from other titles make appearances here.

[The_NPC]

Thou not much of a lore person, especially for FF14, & the lore-fanatic's have explained anything in-game givin about it my only thoughts are more "Headcannon" then lore: the 13th shard that became a "Void", thus can't be rejoined & has nothing of value to Zodiark, is FF14's "Sea Shore" or "Reality Wall" to the Void that exsist's between all FF games (hence the multi-game lore about several enemy/ally NPC's being the same person). this is the only asnwer I got that can make "FF14's Void" & the "FF-Multiverse Void" have interconections (to make my idea/theory clearer the 13th shard is the "newest" puzzle piece on the inter-games Void's outer edge allowing FF14 to be entered by it)

Yes I'm probably crazy & I didn't answer the question (mostly cause the lore-masters already did) I just felt I'd say this & see if it had any merit

[Sylvain]

It would actually be nice to encounter lightborn void based creature.

[MagiusNecros]

Dimensional tear through the fabric of reality and can serve as a bridge between many worlds. Exists on a extraplanar "immaterial" plane of existence as opposed to the physical "material" plane of existence.

It exists yet does not exist at the same time.

However sometimes there is discrepancies between "The Void" and "The Interdimensional Rift".

And some characters in FF are able to traverse or influence the phenomenon. Primarily GILGAMESH, Shinryu, and Omega.

And there are of course others with an affinity for the Void. Such as Enuo and his successor ExDeath.