What happened to our buddy from the OG storyline?

[Cole]

I have been pondering lately what happened to that companion you were able to create back in the original storyline.

You got to pick their class, do some quests with them, and then ARR arrived and Bahamut messed that whole thing up and zip off we go.

however no one ever mentions what happened to them, everyone else from the scions seemed to come through ok, so I can't imagine any ill fate befalling them.

But once again, i'm working off my old memory here. I wonder if these companions could make sort of a come back or at least show up to let us know they are ok.

[Jyera]

Iirc your Path companion parted ways with you by roughly the beginning of the Dalamud storyline, after the "Futures Perfect" cutscene with Gaius vs. Scions (yes yes I know they weren't called that yet ;p). I'm not sure, though, as I really did not get very far when I played 1.0.

[CaesarCV]

My knowledge of 1.0 is admittedly secondhand, but as far as I understand it there is no clear answer on what might have happened to your path companion. Like the WoL's backstory, the exact nature of one's Path companion is left rather vague, especially considering their race, class, and personality were chosen by the player. Nobody is quite sure what might have happened to them after you parted ways with them. Many assume that they died in the Calamity or on the plains of Cartenau. They aren't even mentioned at all in the lorebook, so it's possible the path companion was completely retconned. Alternatively, they might have been one of the nameless scion adventurers hanging around the Waking Sands. Either way the memory melting antics of the Calamity would make it so they wouldn't have recognized the 1.0 player character if they saw them, at least for a while. As far as them coming back, between their player defined nature, their lack of mention in other materials, and their lack of major plot importance, I don't really see them reappearing.

[Enkidoh]

As mentioned the Path Companion's last known whereabouts in 1.0 was at the end of the Future's Perfect main scenario quest where after being shot by Gaius Minfilia sent them to the ALC's Guild in Ul'dah for medical treatment... and that was the last we ever saw or heard from them. The Path of the Twelve storyline was basically abandoned after that point due to several unfortunate circumstances, none the least because of the change in team members when Yoshi took over as producer (and later director as well).

From what I understand the Path of the Twelve storyline was planned to continue beyond that point and the Path Companion was meant to reunite with the player, with them being sent by Minfilia to investigate the kobolds, only to find Titan had already been summoned by them and the Company of Heroes were in the middle of a battle with the Primal.

This quest was never implemented in the game due to the tragic earthquake and tsunami that devestated Japan in 2011 - at the time SE felt it would be naturally too insensitive to Japanese players to include story quests that involved Primals that caused earthquakes and tsunamis, so the planned story quests involving Titan and Leviathan were never added to 1.0. Some dialogue for the planned Titan encounter did get added to the 1.0 game files though which revealed the Path Companion's return, but was dummied out and never used.

Although the Company of Heroes encounter with Titan is canon (as it is mentioned in ARR), it's likely though the player and their Path Companion's appearance then is not canon and has been retconned. So that leaves us back at square one (pun intentional ). Either way, Moose knows more about it than I do so I'll leave it up to him to clarify this.

It's not known officially what became of the Path Companion sadly, as Yoshi has kind of quietly moved away from them as a gameplay and story element, so alas, apart from the above known info, it's up to the player to make their own conclusions as to their fate (my Path Companion Imarah I had lost her life during the Battle of Carteneau, and that Enki's Legacy Chocobo actually originally belonged to her) - as SE kind of just put them on an airship to nowhere sadly narrative wise.

P.S. There are two teasing references to the Path Companion in ARR though in the Minion Guide - if you hover the cursor over the image for the Wind Up Sylph and Heavy Hatchling minions, it pops up a speech bubble quoting lines actually mentioned by the male lalafell and male hyur Path Companions respectively in 1.0, so that shows they are still canon to an extent despite their complete disappearance from ARR.

[Cole]

Wow, Thanks! That really does kind of make me sad though, If I went through so much with a friend like that i'd make it a point to track em down and make sure they are doing well. (I did name one of my retainers the same name, and the same look but, it's still not exactly the same.) I hate unfinished stories.

[Anonymoose]

A little late to the party, but yes, they vanished in the Calamity. They were from Ala Mhigo, too, so it's a good time to be reflecting on them.

If 1.0 had continued along its original tracks, your path companion would have accompanied you to Mount O'Ghomoro to save an Ashcrown Consortium official whose attempt to sell crystals to the kobolds to ease tension in the realm's crystal trade at large goes sideways when an Ascian (out of Paragon disguise) attacks, Titan is summoned, and the Company of Heroes arrives to take him down. After it's all over (Titan blows himself up to heal kobolds fallen in the battle, people are tempered.), your path companion has the bright idea of going back to O'Ghomoro to talk to Titan about the Echo (ever on the search for "our god", like the Circle of Knowing told us to keep searching for).

Obviously, our patron deity was not Titan; he just warns us about the "Continent of Death" that will be repeated if too many gods are summoned, and how the primals all hate and fear each other but aren't very concerned about fighting the Empire. Titan also reveals that the Paragons told the beast tribes that the city-states were to blame for the Ascians arrival; that they were unclean and godless and that's what had beckoned the shadows. We go back to the Waking Sands a little wiser but ultimately with nothing. Minfilia reveals that it was the Ascians who helped summon the primals in the first place and that 1562 was an absolute bloodbath the city-states would rather forget; setting up the eventual connecting of the Paragons and the Ascians and the revelation of their whole false-flag long-con.

The game was released unfinished, with actual content only extending into the mid-30s and Futures Perfect was the limit of the Main Scenario. As Enkidoh said, it was rumored that - like Ifrit and Garuda - Titan was meant to be reworked into the Seventh Umbral Rising story arc, but was abandoned in the earthquake/tsunami (shirking Leviathan for the same reasoning) in favor of something fun and cute to lift spirits, and thus was born Good King Moggle Mog XII.

But, like many NPCs, they probably "died in the Calamity".

[Canadane]

I will forever miss my path companion.

[Balipu]

A little late to the party, but yes, they vanished in the Calamity. They were from Ala Mhigo, too, so it's a good time to be reflecting on them.

Holy shit. *looks at 4.1 AKA Return of the Legend* HOLY SHIT!