Final Fantasy 14 has a developer band, led by the game’s sound director, Masayoshi Soken. Playing tunes from the game itself, The Primals are genuinely really popular with the fanbase, considering the long-standing MMO has plenty of bangers to choose from. It also has some tear-wrenching songs, too, such as Close in the Distance, an uplifting plea that plays during the finale of Endwalker. Spoilers for that expansion, as well as every expansion before it, to follow.
During the Orpheus-style climb of Ultima Thule, wherein you and your companions quite literally fight the embodiment of despair, Close in the Distance starts off muted before gradually bringing in guest vocals by Jason Charles Miller as, one by one, your friends lay everything on the line to give you a chance at a better tomorrow. In fact, it’s one of the few zone music tracks in the game to have a vocal accompaniment.
During a recent performance at the Yokohama Arena, it was confirmed that this song is in fact from a very specific character to yours, and it’s, uh, got me a little emotional, as shared via an aside on the website GameWatch, which reads (machine translated): “It has now finally been revealed that this is actually a song from Ardbert to the Warrior of Light.”
As for why this piece of information has me getting something stuck in my eyes? Well, Ardbert, first introduced to the player as the Warrior of Darkness in the Heavensward patches, eventually becomes a steadfast companion to the Warrior of Light—for the uninitiated, that’s you.
Throughout the campaign of Shadowbringers, it’s revealed that Ardbert is in fact a fragment of your soul, sundered when Hydaelyn split the world into fourteen pieces. He eventually merges his spirit with yours, which is why this revelation is so dang emotionally heart-wrenching.
See, in Ultima Thule, you’re forced to leave your companions behind—I name-dropped Orpheus for a good reason. Known as Greek mythology’s biggest bag fumbler, who in a moment of doubt consigned his lover Eurydice to the underworld, he’s a great basis of comparison.
The zone really is a “don’t look back” kind of situation. We all knew Square wasn’t going to just kill off the cast in one zone. But Ultima Thule is a place of despair, and even a single moment of doubt that your friends are still behind you, even if you can’t see them, could have your character turned into a horrible monstrosity called a Blasphemy. So when you’re increasingly alone, faced with the end of everything, who starts singing to you? Ardbert, duh.
This means that the zone music in Ultima Thule is, in a way, completely diegetic and in-universe. You’re hearing a fragment of your own soul, melded with you but still apparently in there, reminding you to forge ahead. I’m not crying, you’re crying.
