Company of Heroes

The duty of the strong is to protect the weak.

Creed of the Company of Heroes.

The Company of Heroes was a band of skilled mercenaries in Final Fantasy XIV. They gained their reputation throughout Eorzea for defeating Titan and Leviathan before the Calamity.

Notable members[]

• Lorens Bloefhisyn
• Wheiskaet Rysswoerdsyn
• Brayflox Alltalks
• Curious Gorge
• Fyrilsunn
• Jajasamu
• Landenel Peaumasquier
• P'ebaloh
• Riol Forrest
• Shamani Lohmani
• U'odh Nunh

History[]

Before Final Fantasy XIV[]

When Captain Bloefhis Bloefhiswyn of the League of Lost Bastards fell under Leviathan's enthrallment, his daughter Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn was forced to take her father's life. Lorens, a companion of Merlwyb's who was present to witness the duel. After hearing the final words of his former captain, Lorens vowed that he would travel and form a group of trusted men to face the Primals, and he would support Merlwyb from the shadows. So Lorens founded the group of mercenaries known as the Company of Heroes.^[1]

In the year 1565 of the Sixth Astral Era, Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn, who had just become the Admiral of Limsa Lominsa, hired the Company of Heroes to help the city-state lead with the primal threat. A year later, the Company of Heroes defeated Titan who had been summoned by the Kobolds. Later the same year when the Sahagin summoned Leviathan, the Company of Heroes worked alongside the Knights of the Barracuda to defeat the primal.^[2]

The band continued to accept missions for the next ten years, losing many of their best to repeated tribal summons before disbanding in the wake of the Calamity in 1572. Some of the former members, including Wheiskaet, a captain who was injured during a fight against Titan, were hired as guards for Gegeruju, a wealthy merchant who owned the beaches of Bloodshore.^[3]

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn[]

Five years after the Calamity, the Kobolds summoned their primal again. In the absence of the Company of Heroes, the Maelstrom asked the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, who had already defeated the primal Ifrit, to deal with Titan. Y'shtola and the Warrior of Light searched former Company members for information to infiltrate O'Ghomoro. They found a man named Trachtoum, who called himself the "best axeman" of the Company of Heroes. Trachtoum proved to be a fake and revealed Wheiskaet's location. When asked for information about Titan, Wheiskaet did not trust that the Scions had the ability to take on the primal and refused to divulge any information before they proved their worth.^[4]

Wheiskaet and his former comrades instructed the Warrior of Light to prepare a banquet. Once done, Wheiskaet revealed the banquet was an excuse for his comrades to assess their worthiness to face Titan. The five members of the Company of Heroes agreed that Warrior of Light had the qualities necessary to defeat the Lord of Crags.^[5] With the approval of his companions, Riol revealed the Company of Heroes had reached the heart of the O'Ghomoro mines using a beastman's aetheryte.^[6]

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker[]

Due to the threat of the Final Days in La Noscea, Merlwyb has reunited the members of the Company of Heroes once again and suggests reforming the Company once more to help track down the blasphemy that has appeared in the region, and prevent the Crushing Tide from summoning the Leviathan. With Commander Lorens absent, the members agree to appoint Warrior of Light as the new acting commander.^[7]

After the Crushing Tide raid in Candlekeep Quay, the Company of Heroes sets out in search of Doww, who is hiding on a deserted island in the Cieldalaes. At the location the party encounters the blasphemy and discovers that it originated from the Indigo Matriarch, queen of the Sahagin. The party manages to escape thanks to a shot from Lorens that does not reveal himself.^[8] Knowing that Lorens' abilities would be needed, the Warrior of Light meets with him and recruits him back into the Company of Heroes. Eventually, Wheiskaet warns that the blasphemy has been drawn to the Sastasha Seagrot. Warrior of Light, Lorens and Merlwyb set off to confront the beast. In the middle of the fight, members of the Company arrive on the scene and help defeat the Indigo Matriarch. Once everything has been resolved, the Company members are finally reunited with their former commander and the Company of Heroes is dissolved once again.^[9]

Behind the scenes[]

The Company of Heroes has been briefly mentioned since the release of version 1.0 but they were only notable in patch 1.21 when the Warrior quests were introduced. In the quests Curious Gorge was the newest recruit of the Company and often performed hunting missions. Despite this, datamining revealed that the Company of Heroes would have a much more important role during the original release. In the original game files it is possible to find NPCs categories named Company of Heroes for each of the cities including Ishgard. Such categories were used to separate the NPCs for each storyline in game. The primals that the Company defeated were Leviathan and Titan, which were planned to be added in the original version, but were unreleased because Square Enix felt they would be insensitive due to the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged parts of Japan that same season. A dummied cutscene shows the Titan being summoned and there are several mercenaries present, presumably the Company of Heroes.

Citations[]