FFXIV – The Dead Ends (Theme Song with Beautiful Footage) – Endwalker OST

The Dead Ends is the final dungeon in Endwalker. In an attempt to completely despair the Scions, the glimpses of three separate worlds are recreated by Meteion to show them the tragic hopelessness that has befallen all other life in the universe. Each of the three areas of the dungeon represent a different world whose civilization had given up all hope and became extinct through differing situations. It is sad to see the end of the story for the Scions, but for this footage, I gave them one last chance to shine. This is their final march, their final victory..

The first area tells the story of a world that suffered its’ demise from sickness and plague. The details within the long forgotten seashells are murky, but they speak of an aquatic species that rose from the sea, spreading pestilence across the land. They themselves were the curse. In the starting area, the corpses were still in the diver suits scattered about, but as you make your way further in, the suits are empty with nothing but ooze running from them. They had become the flans and umbrils and other enemies, crying out in pain and requesting death. One of the seashells implies that Meteion had visited and “asked her question”, to which the reply was that death is the only remedy to suffering, and there is no meaning to be found in such misery.

The second area tells the story of a world completely ravaged by unending war. As bloodshed between the Global Citizens and the Freedom Fighters rages on, the Citizens develop a warmachine known as the Peacekeeper, that they would use to defeat the Freedom Fighters and end the war. The Peacekeeper calculated that the only way to sustain the peace was to eliminate all lifeforms, and he can be seen periodically launching rockets at everything in sight. In the starting area, there is a Citizen attempting to sneak forward and he makes comments that he can end all of this if he can just make it to the terminal. He then runs ahead and climbs up a ladder before disappearing through a tunnel while the Scions fight their way through the war torn streets. After the Peacekeeper is fought and defeated, this same Citizen runs down a slope to a terminal and unleashes a massive barrage of missiles that appear to destroy the entire horizon. He then initially claims that “He did it! He killed them all!”… before slumping a bit and realizing that he killed everyone else on all sides and he was all alone now. Meteion comments that there was “no one left to answer”.

The third and final area tells the story of a world at the pinnacle of perfection, and a civilization not all too different than our beloved Amaurotines. Their race was prosperous and complete, full of the most wise scholars born with the gift of creation magick. A long forgotten essence reveals that they had been visited by Meteion and when asked what life means to them, they realized that they had no answer. They realized that in their enlightment, they had lost life’s joy and become empty. So they created a beautiful and magnificent beast name Ra-La, who would unleash his golden wings and heed their prayers for sweet death. I question their change of stance, personally, as it is a stark contrast to the equilibrium this race had achieved. However, it is mentioned that Meteion would not accept their initial answers and kept asking them repeatedly, possibly suggesting some type of influence over them.

This is a well crafted dungeon and I have enjoyed running through it and trying to figure it out. Sometimes we blow through these things too quickly, without seeing all of the tiny details. One last detail I found interesting is that Meteion’s bird form is a beautiful blue throughout the first two areas, and then she changes to a dull lifeless black for the final area.

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