A Hero in the Making

A Hero in the Making

Quest giver

Minfilia Warde

Location

The Solar (X:6, Y:6)

Quest line

Seventh Umbral Era

Level

20

Experience

 6,960

Gil

 968

Previous quest

Lord of the Inferno

Next quest

The Company You Keep (Twin Adder)
The Company You Keep (Maelstrom)
The Company You Keep (Immortal Flames)

Patch

2.0

“

Minfilia is wearing a wry smile, which you sense has something to do with your newfound fame?

— In-game description

Steps

• Speak with Tataru.

• Attend the remembrance service at Mih Khetto's Amphitheatre in Gridania.

• Attend the remembrance service at the Royal Promenade in Ul'dah.

• Attend the remembrance service at the Stateroom in Limsa Lominsa.

• Report to Minfilia at the Waking Sands.

Journal

• Your recent exploits have garnered you the attention of the Grand Companies of Eorzea, each of which now seeks to recruit you to its ranks. That you might be better informed when deciding which one to join, Minfilia suggests that you attend the forthcoming remembrance services and listen to each Grand Company leader's address. Tataru will be able to furnish you with the particulars.

• Tataru has apprised you of the three remembrance service venues: the Stateroom in Limsa Lominsa, Mih Khetto's Amphitheatre in Gridania, and the Royal Promenade in Ul'dah. Attend the services in any order you desire, and hear what each Grand Company leader has to say.

• You have attended all three services. Based on the words of the Grand Company leaders and the traveling twins, Alphinaud and Alisaie, it would appear that all three nations are beset with myriad problems. Your mission to be informed now complete, make your way back to the Waking Sands, where Minfilia awaits.

• Minfilia expresses her hopes that you will lend your strength to a Grand Company. Weigh your decision well, and give your answer to the officer of the Grand Company you would join.

Notes

Your choice of Grand Company does not affect your player power in any way, the differences in rewards are strictly cosmetic, and it has very little impact on the main story, so feel free to choose the Grand Company that appeals to you the most based on aesthetics, story, role play, etc.

Dialogue

Minfilia: Until not so very long ago, you were but one of the many adventurers seeking to make their way in Eorzea.

Minfilia: But for your character and courage, you were raised to the esteemed post of envoy. Thereafter, you traveled the realm, aiding those in need without thought of reward, confirming to Thancred that the Scions would benefit from your aid. And no sooner had you joined us than you personally bested the primal Ifrit.

Minfilia: You have achieved a great deal in a short time, and won fame in so doing. Alas, fame does not come without a price, as you will soon discover.

Minfilia: We have guests, [Forename]─or rather...you have guests.

???: Beg pardons!

Flame Officer: Ahhh, Lady Minfilia. Radiant as always!

Serpent Officer: I am given to understand that the Scions of the Seventh Dawn have but recently welcomed a new hero into their midst!

Storm Officer: I am here on behalf of the Maelstrom, Grand Company of Limsa Lominsa, to offer said hero a place of honor within our ranks!

Minfilia: As you can see, [Forename], your recent exploits have garnered you the attentions of the Grand Companies of Eorzea.

Minfilia: Each organization would have Ifrit's bane for its own. To this end, all three have sent officers to court you.

Minfilia: They would not ordinarily go to such lengths to enlist a new recruit. That they have is evidence of their high regard for you.

Minfilia: I find myself wondering how word of [Forename]'s deeds spread so quickly. That the Immortal Flames should know of her triumph is to be expected...but what of the other Grand Companies?

Tataru: Eep!

The dialogue of the Grand Company Officers changes slightly depending on which city-state you started in.

If you DID NOT start in Gridania:

Serpent Officer: Your reputation precedes you, Master/Mistress [Surname]! 'Tis no ordinary woman who can face a primal and emerge the victor!

Serpent Officer: The Order of the Twin Adder has need of valiant women such as you. Join your strength to ours, friend, and together let us ensure that peace ever reigns over the Twelveswood!

If you DID start in Gridania:

If you DID NOT start in Ul'dah:

Flame Officer: What a pleasure it is to finally meet you, Master/Mistress [Surname]! My comrades speak of you in the most glowing terms!

Flame Officer: A woman of your talent belongs with the Immortal Flames. Join your strength to ours, friend, and together let us secure a prosperous future for Ul'dah!

If you DID start in Ul'dah:

Flame Officer: What a pleasure it is to finally meet you, Master/Mistress [Surname]! My comrades speak of you in the most glowing terms!

Flame Officer: Why, even before you aided us against the Amalj'aa and their dread primal, yours was already a respected name in Ul'dah. Our people know you and love you well.

Flame Officer: A woman of your talent belongs with the Immortal Flames. Join your strength to ours, friend, and together let us secure a prosperous future for Ul'dah!

If you did not start in Limsa Lominsa:

Storm Officer: The Admiral was not exaggerating when she said you have the look of a hero! Full often does she speak of you, friend.

Storm Officer: It is only natural that we should want you for the Maelstrom. Join your strength to ours, and together let us see the grand vessel of Limsa Lominsa to the shores of glory!

If you DID start in Limsa Lominsa:

Storm Officer: The Admiral was not exaggerating when she said you have the look of a hero! Full often does she speak of you, friend.

Storm Officer: As do many others in Limsa. Long before the rest of Eorzea took note, your name was well known to us, owing to your valorous deeds on behalf of our citizens. Grand Company Officers: Lady Minfilia!

Storm Officer: It is only natural that we should want you for the Maelstrom. Join your strength to ours, and together let us see the grand vessel of Limsa Lominsa to the shores of glory!

Grand Company Officers: Lady Minfilia!

Minfilia: <sigh> Very well...

Minfilia: Though I am quite sure you need no reminding, mayhap a brief summary of the situation would help to clarify your thoughts on this matter. As you know, the Grand Companies are all-encompassing organizations empowered to call upon the martial, economic, and technological resources of their respective city-states in times of strife.

Minfilia: There are presently three such organizations in Eorzea: the Maelstrom of Limsa Lominsa, the Order of the Twin Adder of Gridania, and the Immortal Flames of Ul'dah.

Minfilia: Serving a Grand Company means serving the nation to which it belongs. You will be charged with its defense, and tasked with advancing its cause.

Minfilia: In return for your faithful service, you will be furnished with various rewards, some of which may well prove useful to you in your other endeavors.

Minfilia: If you are agonizing over which of the Grand Companies best deserves your loyalty, be at ease─the commitment you make this day need not be permanent. Should you wish to shift your allegiance at a later date, you are entitled to do so. And yet...I concede that it is no small choice you face...

Minfilia: Ah! A thought occurs to me! You will, of course, recall that the three city-states are planning to hold remembrance services.

Minfilia: Well, as part of the proceedings, I am given to understand that the leader of each Grand Company will deliver an address.

Minfilia: Hearing these addresses ought to help you make an informed decision. What say you, my dear officers?

Serpent Officer: A fine suggestion!

Flame Officer: You are as wise as you are beautiful, my lady!

Storm Officer: Very well! Let [Forename] hear our leaders speak, then return here with her decision.

Grand Company Officers: We eagerly await your answer!

Minfilia: I know full well that adventurers are by their nature a liberty-loving breed, and not best suited to the discipline of military service, but I strongly urge you to join a Grand Company nonetheless. While the promise of reward is enticing in itself, it is not the only benefit.

Minfilia: You are possessed of great power, [Forename], and with it you are capable of doing untold good. Yet know that great power is wont to attract attention─not all of it friendly.

Minfilia: There will be those who wish you ill, and you must needs be on the lookout for them. Yet however vigilant you are, you are but one woman. In the midst of a Grand Company, however, you will be one woman amongst many─a friend amongst friends. Your achievements will be shared, and so will the danger. I can think of no better arrangement.

Minfilia: Of course, joining one organization need not mean leaving another. I hope that we can continue to rely upon your aid─the Twelve know that we will have need of it in the days ahead.

Minfilia: The Grand Companies seek to protect their own nations. We Scions, on the other hand, seek to preserve the future of Eorzea as a whole. Similar, yet not quite the same.

Minfilia: Now then, I expect that you will be afield more often in the future.

Minfilia: As such, I would have you carry this linkpearl with you at all times. It will allow us to stay in touch regardless of location.

Minfilia: Eorzea is changing, [Forename], and you have the power to help shape it anew.

Minfilia: None can say what the morrow will bring, but so long as we believe in ourselves, there is naught we cannot achieve.

Minfilia: Now, it is time you made ready for your journey. Before you depart, be sure to speak to Tataru. She will apprise you as to where and when the remembrance services are due to take place.

Serpent Officer: The Elder Seedseer speaks only truth, and her words have the power to touch the soul. At the sound of her voice, all fall silent and attend her.

Flame Officer: The Flame General is a passionate man, and his words never fail to light a fire in the belly of those who listen. I am sure you will be no exception!

Storm Officer: When the Admiral speaks, even pirates listen, and that is no small thing. She is a born leader─the kind one would gladly follow to the seventh hell!

Tataru: I, um... I'm sorry about all the attention you're getting, [Forename]... I might have sung your praises a little too loudly...and often...to a few too many people. Ahem. Next time, I'll be sure to hold my tongue─literally, if necessary.

Tataru: Anyway, I expect you want to know where and when the remembrance services are taking place?

Tataru: If all goes to plan, Gridania's Grand Company, the Order of the Twin Adder, will hold the first of the three services, and Elder Seedseer Kan-E-Senna will deliver her address at Mih Khetto's Amphitheatre.

Tataru: I should probably mention at this point that due to the organizational challenges involved in assembling all of the involved parties, it's possible that the order of the services might change... Still, there's not much we can do about that, so make Gridania your first port of call.

Tataru: Next, you'll need to go to Ul'dah, where Flame General Raubahn Aldynn will be addressing the masses at the Royal Promenade. Oh, and it's rumored there's to be a special guest! How exciting.

Tataru: Last but not least, you must make your way to the Stateroom in Limsa Lominsa, where Maelstrom Chief Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn will be giving her address.

Tataru: The room is accessible via the Admiral's Lift. Identify yourself to the sentry, Zanthael, and he will admit you. Got all that?

Tataru: Well, off you go, then. I hope you find the remembrance services suitably educational! I suggest visiting the city-states in my prescribed order, though with your record of impeccable timing and luck, the schedule may well change in favor of your preferred travel plans. Farewell!

The remembrance service at the Royal Promenade in Ul'dah

[Voiced Cutscene START]

General Raubahn and Nanamo stand before the crowd.

[A man's voice in the crowd]: Behold, 'tis the sultana Nanamo herself!

[A woman's voice in the crowd]: And General Raubahn as well!

Raubahn: <<Hark you, souls of flame, drawn to the bosom of the desert, where the fire burns brightest and shall rage forevermore!>>

[A man's voice in the cheering crowd]: Hoorah! Raubahn!

Raubahn: Where since antiquity, under the sage and judicious rule of the Ul Dynasty, we have wrought sand into gold!

Raubahn: Where by the Grace and Glory of Nald'thal have our brave sons and daughters flourished and prospered─I speak of Ul'dah!

The crowd claps and cheers.

Self-assured Youth: There, at the Flame General's back flies the Grand Company's standard.

The pair of Elezen youths from before make their way through the crowd and into view. The leading twin points at the Immortal Flames banner.

The Immortal Flames' standard comes into view.

Self-assured Youth: Note the sigil. The golden scales of order balance the jewel of prosperity with the flame of might.

Raubahn: Great and many are the gifts our nation has given the realm.

Raubahn: In Eorzea's darkest hour, on the killing fields of Carteneau, none spent more in blood and gold than we.

Raubahn: <<Raubahn: Thus was the VIIth Imperial Legion laid low!>>

[A cheering male lalafell's voice in the crowd]: Yaaah!

[A cheering Hyuran man's voice in the crowd]: Gyuuuh!

Self-assured Youth: So that's how it happened! How soon history forgets.

Raubahn: Yet many left our gates, never to return.

Raubahn: Let us pray for our absent brothers and sisters, that they might know happiness in the great beyond, as Thal's honored guests.

A few people in the crowd place their right fists on their chests in salute. A few others close their eyes and lower their heads in a moment of silence.

Raubahn: If the fates were fair, the price we paid that day would have bought us victory. Alas, they are not.

Raubahn: And now, but five years into this Seventh Umbral Era, the spirit of sacrifice which granted us our strength is all but dead.

Raubahn: Look around you. What do you see? A people divided, downtrodden and enthralled!

Raubahn: Where are the merciful alms of the rich? Where is the just steel of the righteous?

Raubahn: I ask you: is this the great nation our brothers and sisters gave their lives to save?

Raubahn: <<You who call this “living” dishonor the name of the Immortal Flames─it is but a slow death!>>

Raubahn raises his arms before the crowd.

Raubahn: Our enemies surround us. The savage hordes of the Amalj'aa wait beside our roads, strangling the lifelines of trade.

Raubahn: Meanwhile, the Garleans make mock of our borders, and despoil our land of its natural wealth.

Nanamo closes her eyes and lowers her head in sadness.

Raubahn: We stand on a precipice...yet we do not act.

Raubahn: Whether trader or soldier, Monetarist or Royalist, all must recognize that a divided Ul'dah stands to fall.

Raubahn clenches his right fist and raises his right arm high in the air.

Raubahn: <<Victory and Fortune walk hand in hand!>>

Raubahn: <<Ye who seek glory and wealth! Look not to what little you can snatch from your neighbor, but to the boundless wealth of the world beyond!>>

Raubahn: <<Now is the time to unite! Now is the time to ride forth!>>

Nanamo raises her head and looks at the crowd determinedly.

Raubahn: In the name of the sultana, I beseech you!

Raubahn gestures to the side with his right arm.

Raubahn: Line not your own coffers, but those of the Immortal Flames! Seek not to prosper from Ul'dah, but to restore her to prosperity!

Raubahn: As the realm prospers, so shall Ul'dah. As Ul'dah prospers, so shall her people!

The crowd cheers. A few people jump up and fist pump in the air.

[A man's voice in the cheering crowd]: Yaah, for Ul'dah!

[A woman's voice in the cheering crowd]: Together, we are one.

"'Raubahn turns to Nanamo and kneels on one knee.

Raubahn: Your Grace.

Nanamo nods, a smile on her face.

Nanamo Ul Nanamo: Raubahn.

Nanamo walks towards Raubahn. Sitting on Raubahn's right arm, she is lifted high into the air and addresses the people.

Nanamo Ul Namo: People of Ul'dah! I, Nanamo, seventeenth in the line of Ul, address you.

Nanamo Ul Namo: Much has been made of the wealth of Ul'dah.

Nanamo gestures with her right arm.

Nanamo Ul Namo: Yet those who measure that wealth in coins and carats are gravely deceived.

Nanamo Ul Namo: For the true wealth of Ul'dah lies in the health, happiness, and hopes of her people.

Nanamo Ul Namo: <<Beloved subjects, I bid you raise aloft the torch of Ul'dah, that her Flames might serve as a beacon for all Eorzea to see!>>

The crowd claps and cheers.

[A man's voice in the crowd]: Long live Nanamo!

[A male lalafell's voice in the crowd]: Glory to the Sultanate!

Raubahn: For Victory and Fortune, stride fearless into the inferno, for we are by fire reborn!

The Immortal Flames address ends. The crowd is dispersed. Small groups of people are lined throughout the Royal Promenade, standing and discussing the recent event with each other.

[A hyuran man's voice in the dispersing crowd]: Forsooth!

[A male lalafell's voice in the dispersing crowd]: The time is nigh!

[A younger hyuran man's voice in the dispersing crowd]: I BELIEVE!

The camera shifts to the twins' faces.

Alphinaud: If you'll permit me. Alphinaud.

Alphinaud turns to his sister at his left. Her head is turned away, eyes closed, with a dissatisfied expression.

Alphinaud: ...And my sister, Alisaie, at your service.

Alphinaud: I saw at a glance that you were a fellow traveler.

[Voiced Cutscene END]

[Unvoiced Cutscene START]

The camera shifts to include you and the twins. The twin's backs face the camera in this scene.

Alphinaud: You might call us students of history, sampling the realm's remembrances in pursuit of...enlightenment.

Alphinaud: The Ul'dahns have a long history of conflict with the Amalj'aa, the beast tribe that worships the primal Ifrit.

Alphinaud: Judging by your look of distaste, I take it you have encountered them.

Alphinaud: The Ul'dahns do not shy from confrontation. If aught threatens their precious prosperity, they will seek to crush it.

Alphinaud: So have they dealt with Ifrit thus far, smothering his flames each time he is stoked to life.

Alphinaud: Yet he is but one of several problems. Though they have been quiet these past five years, the Garleans have not gone away.

The camera turns back to the Elezen twins' faces. Alisaie is now looking at you.

Alphinaud: Meanwhile, refugees continue to arrive in droves, and Ul'dah has no clear policy on how to deal with them.

Alphinaud: After all, not even the sultanate's coffers are bottomless. And even assuming they had the coin, resources will ever be finite.

Alphinaud: Which brings me back to the subject of Ifrit. It has been observed that the Amalj'aa are summoning him with ever-increasing frequency.

Alphinaud: Every time they do so, the Ul'dahns send their forces to smite the primal, and though they invariably succeed, each victory is bought with blood. It is a war of attrition which they cannot well sustain.

Alphinaud: Small wonder, then, that the Immortal Flames are eager to recruit more members.

Alphinaud: At such a desperate hour, an adventurer of your experience would be a most welcome addition to their ranks.

Alphinaud: For their sake, I hope that the Flame General's words struck a chord with you.

Alisaie turns and walks down the Royal Promenade without a single word. Turning his head towards her, Alphinaud also turns and follows her.

[Unvoiced Cutscene END]]