#ff azem

When I first made L’yra, I named her after my go to first character for a lot of RPG games. Lyra has evolved but her basic backstory principles were usually the same. She was basically a self insert, some kind of bard or musical enthusiast, and she always had a dead twin brother.

Now I’ve been in lots and lots of therapy (lots and LOTS of therapy) to work through some of my trauma and issues, so by the time I found XIV, I made her up with a basic backstory of “oh she was just in the world and decided to be an adventurer” I left out the brother thing because I had worked through that and no longer felt I needed to cling to that as a part of her (and my) identity.

Well to my surprise, Ardbert entered the story.

He sort of reminded me of Leo (Lyra’s brother) in a weird way, and she was gifted her own sort of twin brother/soulmate in the form of Ardbert. And it made something in me feel even more connected to this character that I hadn’t really intended to be more than a fun character in my new favorite game.

The story of Azem and the Warrior of Light/Darkness and Ardbert really gave me some kind of closure that I hadn’t even realized I had been missing, and the entirety of Shadowbringers and Endwalker became so special to me, that I’m glad I could finally draw out this image that has been floating around in my head the last few days.