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The Shadow Lord is one of if not the most important characters in Final Fantasy 11, but far more people haveplayed its MMO successor, Final Fantasy 14, and are less familiar with him. As one of the central figures in his game, The Shadow Lord has deep ties to the lore of Vana’diel’s world and is a key figure in the Final Fantasy canon.
As the original and primary antagonist of his game, The Shadow Lord is generally considered to be the main villain of Final Fantasy 11, much in the way Sephiroth is for Final Fantasy 7, or Kuja for Final Fantasy 9. If you’re curious aboutone of the central figures of Final Fantasy 11and understandably don’t have time to play an entire MMO to learn about him firsthand, we have you covered.
Who Is The Shadow Lord?
Before he was the Shadow Lord, he was a Galka named Raogrimm, considered to be the greatest swordsman of his people. Although a beloved figure,he had issues with the way the other races treated cultures they didn’t understandand carried a deep rage inside himself.
Sympathetic to the maligned Beastmen who were often treated as little more than monsters by other races, he would often spare them in battle andshow a kindness that they rarely saw from other members of the so-called Enlightened Races.
Assigned by his people to join a party of adventurers from different nations,he trekked across the world to investigate the ruined city of Fei’yin. The party included Raogrimm, Cornelia the Hume monk, Ulrich a Hume warrior of great fame, a Tarutaru white mage called Iru-Kuiru, Yow Rabntah the Mithrah ranger, and the Elvaan knight Francmage.
The expedition didn’t go well, the group splitting up in the empty wastes of Xarcabard as they struggled to find a route to their destination.This left Raogrimm alone with Ulrich, a circumstance that would change Vana’diel forever.
Galka are one of the playable races in Final Fantasy 11, large humanoids with a vaguely bear-like appearance.
The other playable races are the human Hume, the elfish Elvaan, the diminutive Tarutaru, and the feline Mithra.
How Did He Become The Shadow Lord?
Ulrich was deeply jealous of Raogrimm and his skill with a sword andhis romance with another member of the party, Cornelia. As Raogrimm was a Galka and Cornelia a Hume, such a romance was forbidden.
Thecorrupting energies of Xarcabard drove Ulrich to act against his better nature, causing him to attack Raogrimm, and strike him down without warning. When Raogrimm asked him why, Ulrich was only able to respond that he had never liked him.
As Ulrich moved to deal another blow, Cornelia reappeared and threw herself in the way, taking the wound herself. Ulrich fled, leaving Raogrimm to hold Cornelia as she died. Unfortunately,he had already sustained mortal woundsand also died.
As he passed,his rage at the betrayal resonated with a crystal deep below the earth, awakening it and granting him the power of the crystal.
It granted him a new body and a Kindred army, demons that would oversee the Beastmen soldiers he would recruit.He arose as The Shadow Lord, seeking vengeanceagainst those who had led to his suffering.
Galka don’t reproduce in the way that other races do, instead reincarnating as younger versions of themselves with no memory of their past.
They have someone who is known as a Talekeeper, a Galka who retains not only their own memories but those of all Galka for the past two hundred years.
Raogrimm was a Talekeeper, the remembered rage of all his people contributing to his rise as the Shadow Lord.
What Did The Shadow Lord Do?
The Shadow Lord tracked down the remaining members of his ill-fated expedition,blaming them for their parts in his death even though only Ulrich had betrayed him. He found and eliminated them one by one,finishing with Ulrich, who had been tortured by his guiltover betraying his friend.
After eliminating them,the Shadow Lord was a vengeful tyrant, leading an army of Beastmen and demons against all of the Enlightened Races of Vana’diel for their arrogance,sparking what would be known as The Crystal War.
He was only defeated by a gathering of nations known as the Alliance of Altara. It was a small strike force led byVolker, Ulrich’s nephew, who ultimately cut him down in his throne room and put an end to his campaign.
All of these events occurred20 years before the events of Final Fantasy 11, but the Shadow Lord would plague the players just as much as he did history. He resurrected andsought to resume his crusade, but immediately was confronted by a group who had deduced his original identity.
They called out to Raogrimm, allowing his spirit to emerge from the dark shell of the Shadow Lord. It is revealedhe was resurrected deliberatelyin an effort to then wipe him out entirely, an effort that seemed to succeed as he was cut down.
The remnants of his spirit are later joined with those of other villains, butthat figure is also defeated before it manages to become a real threat to the worldand its people, releasing what was left of the spirit of Raogrimm once again.
Did The Shadow Lord Return?
As the most enduring villain of Final Fantasy 11, the Shadow Lord didn’t stay down for long. When Raogrimm had first transformed into the Shadow Lord,a portion of his soul had splintered off and resided in Dynamis, the dreamworld.
Over the following 30 years, this piece of Raogrimm would grow into its own,separate Shadow Lord who would be known as the Dynamis Lord. Trapped in the dreamworld, the Dynamis Lord had no way to enter the real world as he was an incomplete soul.
Dynamis also features in Final Fantasy 14, although not as the same thing. In Final Fantasy 14, it is a form of energy more abundant than aether, reacting to strong emotions.
It does not appear to have any link to the Final Fantasy 11 Dynamis aside from the name and an association with darkness.
The Dynamis Lordsought to reabsorb what was left of the rest of the spirit of Raogrimmwho had been the original Shadow Lord. That part of him, now freed of his mortality and the Shadow Lord persona,called out for help to resist becoming part of the Dynamis Lordand making him whole.
The ghosts of the other members of his expeditionhelped Raogrimm recruit adventurers to fight back against the Dynamis Lord, requiring them to venture into the dreamworld itself to combat him and his evil.
The dreamworld in Final Fantasy 11, Dynamis, is an alternate dimension where the forces of darkness have won the decisive battles they lost in the real world.
It was created by Diabolos, one of the five terrestrial avatars of the world. He is a key part of the setting’s lore, as well as serving as a boss encounter and a summonable avatar.
The Dynamis Lord was defeated in a climactic battle in an illusory Xarcabard. With the remaining evil of his soul banished,Raogrimm was finally free from evil influence.As an incomplete spirit, he still couldn’t leave Dyanmis but was charged with overseeing it by the creator of the dreamworld, Diabolos.
The other five members of his expedition, including Cornelia and Ulrich, join him in this vigil, reunited in their eternal watch while the heroes who helped defeat the Dynamis Lord return to the real world.
Players combat some version of the Shadow Lord three times across Final Fantasy 11 and its expansions. He is fought as the final boss of the base game, returning as a boss in the Wings of the Goddess expansion.
The Dynamis Lord features as a separate boss and is a distinct entity, while also being part of the same spirit which formed the Shadow Lord.
If counted, that brings the number of Shadow Lord boss fights in the game to 3, which is a fairly high number for an MMO boss.
Is The Shadow Lord In Other Games?
Although he is the main villain of Final Fantasy 11, that isn’t the only game the Shadow Lord appears in andhe can be found across other parts of Final Fantasy media. He features in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as an enemy boss, as well as featuring as a boss in Pictologica Final Fantasy.
He also appeared in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade as a Legend character, Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a boss, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, and Mobius Final Fantasy as a card.
As many games as that is, it isn’t all. He also features as a card in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game, and again as a card in Triple Triad through the Final Fantasy Portal App. He even appears ingames outside of the Final Fantasy series.
He was featured as a card in Lord of Vermillion and was also featured heavily in the Final Fantasy collaboration with the mobile game Puzzle & Dragons. That doesn’t make the Shadow Lord the Final Fantasy character with the most appearances, but it’s no small amount either.
The Shadow Lord is slated to appear in Final Fantasy 14 as part of the Echoes of Vana’diel raid, introduced in the Dawntrail expansion. This is justone of many Final Fantasy 14 crossovers.
