*Spoilers* Who is the big bad?

[t0rn]

At first I thought it was Ascians, but they keep coming back from different ranks. Then I thought it was the Emperor of The Empire, but he was slain by his own son, Zenos. So who's the big bad? Maybe the lack of one is why they just brought back Zenos and another Ascian for us to fight? Who is really the big bad? Who is "the final boss"?

[ADVSS]

At first I thought it was Ascians, but they keep coming back from different ranks. Then I thought it was the Emperor of The Empire, but he was slain by his own son, Zenos. So who's the big bad? Maybe the lack of one is why they just brought back Zenos and another Ascian for us to fight? Who is really the big bad? Who is "the final boss"?

This thread couldve gone into the Lore section, where the big brains probably have a good idea of it. Pretty sure Zeno is just a vessel at this point, probably going to end up being hydalyn and zodiark at some point. Maybe the twelve will be primals in some expansion. The big take on the story so far, is that tecnically neither side was all that great, that our past self didnt agree with going on either camp, and we are probably tempered by hydalyn, who presumably is the lesser of two evils so far, but thats only so far. Who knows what will be revealed in the future. Ascians want to bring a rejoining to make the one shard world they feel is perfect, despite them destroying it with their own creation magic, and summoning vampire lord god zodiark to sacrifice their own kind to keep around as a saviour. Other camp summon Hydalyn which fracture all the worlds, but prevent people from causing the calamities from the original one world. I mean, the future looks pretty bleak for WoL. Maybe the two will merge and we destroy them somehow, or maybe we just decide to disappear for good.

[Recon1o6]

There have been multiple big bads. These are the villains of the individual expansions. We also have post expansion villains and pre expansion villains to build up to the expansion.

Legacy had Nael van Darnus with bahamut acting as the greater scope villain
ARR had Gaius and Lahabrea, with Lahabrea being the big bad, though Gaius was an equal one. A big bad diumvirate with the emperor as a greater scope villain for Gaius, though now we know it both was and wasn't the case depending on how its looked at
HW had Thordan and Lahabrea again, but also Nidhogg
Post HW we had elidibus pulling strings and Ilberd
SB had Zenos with post SB being Elidibus again
Pre shb was the emperor though
Shb had emet, with eulmore being a proxy
Post Shb we had elidibus again for the final time
Pre 6.0 we now have Zenos and Fandaniel

So we're still following the pattern, but we're in the lead up villain category now. Sadly its Zenos when most people feel he should stay dead permanently for various justified reasons

[Garnix]

Well, it has been over 20 years, and I am still not sure who the big bad of FF7 was. Was it Sephiroth? Jenova? Shinra? Hojo? The Planet itself? All of them? Probably all of them.
I don't mind if we don't see FFXIV's "big bad" for a few more years, or if all of the bad guys are just equally as bad.
(Although, for now, I believe the big final boss could be the one that lead the Ancients to summon Zodiark. But I might be completely wrong.)

[MoofiaBossVal]

Zenos is the big bad antagonist to the WoL and will probably be the final boss.

Fixing the planet, fixing the source of the sound will be the ultimate goal, but I doubt it will turn into a monster that we fight.

[Ransom]

Out of what we've seen so far, Zodiark is the most likely bet, and I'll be surprised if we don't end up fighting him sooner or later even with all the true unsundered Ascians dead. Still... I honestly suspect that if there ever is a 'final' boss it'll be something we've not even seen yet, most likely the true cause of the strange noise that heralded the destruction of the Ascian's world.

[Bright-Flower]

I don't think there is one for the entirety of the story.

I would say that the three unsundered ascians were collectively the 'big bads' in the greater scope of things. They created the empire, they run the Ascians, etc. Most of the big conflicts in the game directly or indirectly tie back to them, even the Garlean Empire.

Zodiark I'm hesitant to give that role because so far as we can tell Zodiark hasn't actually done much since being sealed/split.

The stage now seems set for Fandaniel and Zenos to take the spot as big bad going forward. If I had to name a singular character up until this point I'd say Elidibus, but now he's gone.

The question doesn't really have a simple answer, because who begins and ends the story as the big bad can change. Not unlike FF VI where Kefka starts off as a commander/general of some sort serving the Empire but usurps the empire to become the big bad later. Or how in FF VII (the original) Shinra are the big bad for a good chunk of the game before Sephiroth comes into the picture.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Ten letters.

IT WAS ME ALL ALONG!

[Lium]

This should be in the lore section. There are some great posters over there.

But just to add my 2 gil, Zodiark/Hydaelyn are the "big bads" of the current story arc.

[Jojoya]

Does there need to be one? Conflict happens all the time without the presence of a "big bad".

Like others have said, it's better discussed over in the Lore subforum.