Unveiling Shiva's Hidden Fire: Final Fantasy 16's Missed Opportunity

Caution: This article contains significant spoilers for Final Fantasy 16. Read at your own risk.

Final Fantasy 16 introduces a fresh concept for the series' summons, with epic battles showcasing the mightiest beings in the Final Fantasy franchise. The game's Eikons are under the control of special individuals known as Dominants, and their nations manipulate these abilities to either promote or discourage conflicts over resources. Since the early promotion of the game, there has been a spotlight on Shiva, the Eikon of Ice, leading to the belief that she would play a crucial role in the narrative of Final Fantasy 16. However, despite the importance of the Eikon's Dominant, Jill, Shiva remains surprisingly overlooked in the game.

Final Fantasy 16's Earliest Chapters Reveal Shiva's Immense Strength

Clive Rosfield, the protagonist of Final Fantasy 16, embarks on a remarkable journey that spans three distinct periods of his life. Throughout these periods, Clive is accompanied by his dear childhood friend Jill, who possesses extraordinary powers as the Dominant of her homeland's guardian entity, Shiva. As the story unfolds, Clive unexpectedly inherits a mysterious and powerful Dark Eikon known as Ifrit. Armed with Ifrit's abilities, he strives to liberate humanity from the opressive grasp of the Mothercrystals. Despite facing numerous challenges together, Jill rarely taps into the Eikonic abilities of Shiva, let alone mastering the art of summoning her full strength, known as Prime.

In the Prologue of Final Fantasy 16, Shiva makes her debut amidst the clash between the Northern Territories and the Dhalmekian Republic. Engaging in a fierce battle against the Dhalmekian Eikon, Titan, Shiva demonstrates her strength. This intense conflict devastates the battlefield where Clive and a small group of Imperials are attempting to navigate secretly. After the conclusion of the Prologue, Clive and the Imperials come across a team of soldiers from the Northern Territories. These soldiers are leading Shiva's Dominant away from the chaos of the battlefield. Unfortunately, they treat the Dominant as a mere servant, commanding her to eliminate Clive's unit.

Shiva's Dominant is the first boss fight in Final Fantasy 16. However, Shiva does not release her full power in this fight. Instead, she enters a state called Semi-Prime, where she retains her human form but also takes on some attributes of her Eikon form. Clive manages to defeat the Dominant but realizes that she is his childhood friend Jill before delivering the final blow.

Clive's hesitation to kill Jill leads him to leave the Imperials and join a group of outlaws led by Cidolfus Telamon. Cid rescues both Clive and Jill from the war-torn battlefield, providing them with a place to recover and heal called The Hideaway. After they have regained their strength, Clive and Jill team up and continue their journey together in the remaining chapters of Final Fantasy 16.

Final Fantasy 16's Shiva Never Truly Shines

Content: Final Fantasy 16's Shiva, despite possessing immense power, appears in the game's core narrative four times. In each instance, her Eikonic abilities play a crucial role in advancing the plot. Firstly, Semi-Primed Jill utilizes Shiva's powers to assist Clive in crossing a bridge at Drake's Head. Later on, a fully Primed Shiva creates an underwater passage, enabling the party to escape from Semi-Primed Barnabas. In Shiva's final appearance, she grants Clive a means of escaping from Barnabas, but also directly attacks Barnabas before the scene fades to black.

However, Shiva's most impactful moment occurs when Clive's group reaches the Sanctuary at Drake's Breath. Here, Jill confronts her father Imreann, the leader and high priest of the Iron Kingdom, who is responsible for her deepest traumas. Jill was forced to employ Shiva's powers for horrific acts of war. Displaying her Semi-Primed abilities, Jill overcomes Imreann's guards, only to face off against the monstrous Liquid Flame.

Jill initiates an intense assault on Shiva, while Clive strives to weaken Ifrit. As the Sanctuary becomes engulfed in lava, Shiva's Diamond Dust conjures a battlefield for the impending confrontation with Liquid Flame. Eventually triumphing over Liquid Flame, the power of Shiva's magic aids Clive in severing the Mothercrystal, eliminating the root cause of religious zealotry in their nation. A shaken Imreann denounces Jill as a monster and is met with a shocking act as she impales her own father, declaring, "I have vanquished the monster," thereby liberating herself from the haunting past.

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