Midgardsormr is a recurring character in the Final Fantasy series, but FFXIV is the first time he appears as a real person.
There is a lot of history behind the character, and it can be hard to figure out what is going on with everything else.
Midgardsormr eventually joins forces with the Warrior of Light (not to mention a minion and amount, at various stages of his life).
But from where does he come?
How does he go from being a huge ghost to a cute baby dragon sitting on your shoulder?
We’ll talk about that and more later.
Note: What follows will give away almost everything you need to know about Final Fantasy XIV.
Where Did Midgardsormr Come From?
Midgardsormr was born on a planet far away called The Dragonstar (original, right).
Dragonstar was at war with a planet called Alphatron, where robots called Omicrons lived.
The Omicrons were taking over other planets, and in the end, they attacked the Dragonstar.
Midgardsormr was the most powerful person who lived on Dragonstar, so Alphatron sent a superweapon called Omega to kill him.
Midgardsormr beat Omega, but because the weapon could heal itself, he couldn’t kill him completely.
So, Midgardsormr left Dragonstar with seven eggs. Later, these eggs would be called the “First Brood.”
After a long trip through space, he would land on Hydaelyn to hatch his eggs and give his race a second chance at life on another planet.
His children grew up and went their own ways, but we’ve met many of them during FFXIV‘s story.
As bad guys and antagonists, they have big roles in the story.
Nidhogg, Hraesvelgr, and Ratatoskr all play a role in some way, and Bahamut and Tiamat always cast a big shadow over the game.
How Did Midgardsormr Die?
When Gaius Van Baelsar tried to take Mor Dhona, Midgardsormr was sleeping under a lake called Silvertear Falls.
This was one of the first times he tried to take control of Eorzea for the Garlean Empire.
The airships woke Midgardsormr up, and he got up to fight back. He called on his army of dragons to defeat the invaders.
Midgardsormr would wrap himself around the fleet’s most important ship, the Agrius, to bring it down. However, as he did this, ceruleum fuel tanks exploded, killing the king of all dragons instantly.
Both the dragon and the ship fell to the ground, where they got tangled up and stayed that way for fifteen years.
This would become known as the Keeper of the Lake, which is also the name of the dungeon where we earn Midgardsormr’s loyalty.
We go to Midgardsormr’s dead body with a group of other adventurers to find out what’s going on. We’ve seen signs and omens that suggest he might be coming back to life soon.
At the end of the dungeon, Midgardsormr’s soul comes back to life, and we have to kill it to move on.
What Happens After We Beat Midgardsormr’s Spirit?
After the boss battle is over, Midgardsormr asks the Warrior of Light why they are at his grave.
It turned out that the roar of Nidhogg was what woke him up.
We end up getting Midgardsormr as a follower. He looks like a baby dragon and can be called on as a servant.
Midgardsormr wants to watch the player character to see if they are good enough to be the Warrior of Light. When he first arrived on the planet, many years ago, he made a deal with Hydaelyn and now thinks he can act as a judge of character.
From now on, Midgardsormr becomes a character with a lot more going on.
He shows up in Heavensward from time to time.
This shouldn’t be a surprise, since Heavensward is basically the dragon expansion, and Midgardsormr is their father.
During the whole expansion, he helps mend the broken relationship between humans and dragons. He also shows us the way to Tiamat in Azys Lla and “grows up” into a dragon big enough to ride.
What Happens Between Midgardsormr And Omega?
In Stormblood, Midgardsormr comes back as part of the Omega raid series to help us fight his old enemy.
Omega puts the player in a prison, and Midgardsormr temporarily takes on his full titanic form to destroy the prison and free us.
Here, we can see some of Midgardsormr’s full power.
What we see of him in the rest of the game is really just a shadow of who he used to be.
Even using his power to wake us up here makes him fall asleep again.
He will eventually get back to full strength for good, but that might not happen in any expansions we ever see. Who can say?
Where is Midgardsormr Now?
Still sleeping, but the new Endwalker expansion gives him a couple of short mentions.
He gives some of his magical scales to help build the Ragnarok, a spaceship that is named after the end of the world.
As a last piece of trivia, many of the dragon associations in XIV are based on Norse mythology. Many of the dragons are named after important parts of the myths about death, chaos, and rebirth.
All of this makes sense when you call the ship Ragnarok.