Sources about the lore

[KurumiKanade]

Hello I recently got into wanting to learn about the lore of FFXIV and I wanted to know where can I look to find the lore about it I know the game itself has most of the lore but I also want to find other sources to check out (books videos websites ect)

[Elissar]

Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol I and II
the first one is more...accessible
Another source is the official 'side stories' session: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes.../#side_storyes

[KurumiKanade]

Oh alright is there anything source wise that are updated with current info (stuff added in EW for example)

[Elissar]

FF4 and greek mythology are your best sources for predictions here.

At least based on my limited knowledge, we don't have an organized encyclopaedia or something like that for EW yet.
However, you may find some clues about what they did in EW on encyclopaedia eorzea vol 1 and tales from the shadow.
Azem travels and Laha Phoenix you can find in Side Stories.


example

But then why had Elidibus approached me?
"Well...Azem went there, and is resolved to stop the eruption."
Naturally. I felt my brow furrowing, and fought to suppress a scowl that threatened to pull my forehead down over my eyes.
"How?" I eventually managed.
"You have heard of Ifrita, yes? The fire spirit?"
"Lahabrea's masterwork. An impressive concept, even for him."
“It truly is incredible,” the youth said with quiet fervency, the determined line of his lips curving into a grin. Generally, I found his ardent admiration for the rest of the Council endearing─if embarrassing─but at that moment, I was rather preoccupied with the implications of his suggestion. It's a wonder my brow ever recovered.
Ifrita. A manifestation of concentrated fire aether. I could see what Azem was planning: transform the volcano's aether into Ifrita, draw her away, and then destroy her elsewhere. This would safely disperse the excess. Of course, the plan required someone to procure the concept of Ifrita for Azem. But if that someone was not Lahabrea himself, who else could it be?

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes.../#sidestory_07

[KurumiKanade]

Alright that's also good to know how about lore of races tho I think it's in the books right?

[KurumiKanade]

Another source is the official 'side stories' session: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes.../#side_storyes

Alright that's good to know too

[Enkidoh]

Welcome to Eorzea!

Apart from the two Encylopedia Eorzeas, this very forum is a good place to find lore, as it's the main place where it's discussed and debated, although you might have to wade through some typical forum nonsense and trivial entries to get to the actual meat-and-five-vegetables of the lore.

Another good place to visit is the FF Wiki, despite being about the FF series in general, as FFXIV references and draws from the lore, settings, characters, elements and situations of the 13 titles that came before, the title that came after, and the numerous spins offs, sequels, prequels and tie-in titles that make up the FF series (as Elissar mentioned), this may come in handy understanding many of the finer aspects of the game's lore.

FFXIV specific wikis like Gamerescape's FFXIV page and the FFXIV Wiki also are very worth checking out as they usually have lore guides that can help fill in things. The FFXIV RP community page also has section dedicated to lore as well, although again the accuracy can vary wildly. (also it seems the later is shutting down, but was still active when I visited).

As for race lore, the official posts by the development team in this forum about naming traditions actually do provide a bit of backstory and history of the various races and their individual clans, so that's worth looking at too: naming traditions for the 'original' five races - hyur, elezen, lalafell, miqo'te and roegadyn, and retroactively, au ra, viera and hrothgar. (There is also a naming tradition thread for the beastmen (or 'tribes' as SE are now referring to them), and two official threads dedicated to the dragon language, giving a bit of a background into their unique (and extraetheirysal) culture (because, after all, culture starts with language), as J.R.R Toilken famously noted).

[Cleretic]

On top of all that, be generally aware that sometimes some lore confirmation can come from weird obscure interviews. It's usually not entirely new info (or necessarily important info) and more just confirming things that the game implied anyway, but I know that 'there's degrees of tempering and the Heaven's Ward were lightly tempered' comes from a Japanese-language interview, and the confirmation of where Ran'jit was from came in a Q&A at Gamescom.

I'd generally advise that if anyone ever produces something you haven't heard before, ask them for a source. This is useful both for you and them; for you it expands your knowledge of where to look, since goddamn anything could have lore in it, and for them it can often help to refresh their memory or review misconceptions. A funny thing about lore in a game like this is that someone who's really into a specific subject can actually be a pretty shaky source--chances are they've done it quite a while ago, and since then have often gotten pretty deep into speculation, personal fanon, and various bits of fan-content and speculation to the point where they start having trouble telling where stated fact ends and personal interpretation begins. I myself for example, off-and-on Summoner main since 2016! And a PRETTY BAD person to ask about Summoner lore, because that means I last did Summoner's storyline six years ago.

[SannaR]

I'm sure there's lore in the art books. The book that has Zenos's back story and the cook book both have some. I'm sure the aimed at kids book with the Namazu will have a smidge of lore in them. We need a third and a half EE.

[thegreatonemal]

https://mirkemenagerie.tumblr.com/po...nagerie-update

This here is a pretty good source of lore.