Final Fantasy 16: Everything You Need To Know About A Bearer

The world of Valisthea is an exciting yet ruthless place. Featuring overpowered Eikons, Dominants, and magic-bearing enemies, players won’t find any kindness in Final Fantasy 16. You might think having magical powers can save you from all the mess in the game. However, seeing a bearer in chains, and being enslaved, despite possessing magical powers, might change your thinking about Final Fantasy 16.

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Key Takeaways

• Magic might be the primary driving fuel of the exciting world of Valisthea. However, it does not define who holds the final authority in Final Fantasy 16. For example, a bearer is a supernatural being that can use magic without using crystals in Final Fantasy 16.
• However, despite having exciting powers, bearers are the most subjugated people in the game. They are used as slaves to maintain cities and as weapons during wars. Parents give their children to the government to enslave them when they discover they are bearers.
• The government physically mark these bearers on the cheek, formally adding them to the slave community, where they live the rest of their life until they die a miserable death. These marked bearers are also known as Branded in Final Fantasy 16.
• While Clive was also a bearer, he got his slave mark removed surgically and emerged as the protagonist of the storyline.
• Players will meet these bearers at various stages in the game. However, the notable scenes are at Cid’s Hideaway and Marth’s Rest, where these people live the most peaceful life. However, the Kingdom of Waloed and Iron Kingdom ensures bearers are treated worse than animals.
• Dominants also resemble Bearers in a way, as they both are bound to the Crystal’s Curse. Crystal’s Curse is a petrification phenomenon that brings a painful death to these creatures after a prolonged use of magic.

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Who Is A Bearer?

Bearers are enslaved people in Final Fantasy 16 with an inborn ability to conjure magic without using Mothercrystals. This rare ability, unfortunately, serves as nothing short of a curse on these enslaved entities. Various Valisthean governments use bearers as tools to access magic and leave them dead after Petrification.

Here are some disturbing facts about these unfortunate creatures in Final Fantasy 16:

• Mothers give off their newly born children when they find out their children are bearers with no sense of remorse or empathy.
• Only to conserve Mothercrystals, bearers are exploited their abilities forcefully to utilize them in wars, maintaining the decorum and beauty of cities in Final Fantasy 16.
• Usually, when a bearer is used for its full potential, its body stiffens and finally evaporates as sand in Final Fantasy 16. This marks the painful end of a bearer.
• Even though bearers are also humans, the general masses of Valisthea show no sympathy or kindness. It is because this practice has been going on for centuries.
• Unfortunately, bearers have accepted their fate and show no sense of retaliation or revolt.

What Are Branded Bearers?

Bearers were considered equally humans during Elwin Rosfield’s era. However, later on, to preserve the precious reserves of crystals, Bearers became an easy sacrifice for the common folk of all kingdoms. Here is how a bearer becomes branded in Final Fantasy 16:

1. Parents first identify their offspring as a bearer.
2. They hand over the bearer to the government of their respective region in Valisthea.
3. The government then physically marks the face of the bearer with a black sign using the ink from Wyvern Tail flowers of Sanbreque.
4. The black mark on a bearer’s face means he is formally branded as a slave and will remain so for the rest of his life.

Is Clive A Bearer?

Players can see a double-crossed black mark on Clive’s cheek during the prologue of Final Fantasy 16. It means he is also a bearer in the game. However, he is not low-born; Clive is a prince of the Kingdom of Rosaria. Born to the Grand Dutchy of Rosaria, Clive was the first-born prince destined to rule the region after growing up.

However, like all newly born children, he was also examined for his supernatural and rare abilities. Unfortunately, when he checked out as a bearer, Clive’s mother gave him up, and he was officially branded as a bearer in Final Fantasy 16.

With that, his subjugation started until he ran away and got his mark removed by surgery. Later on, he joined The Bastards under the supervision of Tiamat, where his journey starts in Final Fantasy 16.

While Clive removed his slave mark surgically, thanks to the skillful surgeon Tarja, the healer in Hideaway, not all bearers can do that. If anyone does so or assists other bearers to do so, he is immediately killed in Final Fantasy 16.

Even if no one finds out, removing marks from a bearer’s face is severely dangerous and can result in death. It is because the ink from Wyvern Tail flowers is poisonous, and if it accidentally joins the bloodstream, it will kill the bearer immediately.

Notable Appearance Of Bearers

Players often encounter Bearers on missions to complete the main story quests in Final Fantasy 16. While there are many cutscenes with heartwrenching graphics of these people being abused wildly, here are two notable appearances of Bearers in the game:

• A Bearer’s Lot, primarily a quest, is a sad tale completely dedicated to bearers in Final Fantasy 16. During this quest, Clive and Joshua will go to Glaidemond Abbey, in the West of central Rosaria, on the recommendation of Martha to meet a few branded bearers near death. 
• In another scene, players see a group of bearers fighting to defend their defenders. However, being outnumbered by the powerful empirical forces and low on health, they don’t stand a chance. Even so, they die honorably, not as slaves but as protectors and saviors.

  

Safe Vs. Unsafe Place For Bearers

There is no proper safe land for a bearer in Final Fantasy 16. The whole of Valisthea is ruthless and does not shy in persecuting these poor people. However, there are a few places where bearers are treated less rudely. Moreover, a few hideaways also ensure the safety of those bearers who ran away. Here is a brief detail of these places:

• The Kingdom of Waloed in the east is the worst place for Bearers as they consider them even less important than animals. The same is the case with bearers in the Iron Kingdom in the West.
•  The Grand Duchy of Rosaria is a relatively moderate place forbearers. While it used to treat them as humans before, overthrowing previous rulers changed the position of bearers to second-class citizens. Consequently, they are treated less as humans and more as slaves.
• Cid’s Hideaway is arguably the best place for a bearer in Final Fantasy 16. During the Hide, Hideaway quest, Clive gets to explore this place entirely and observe how these persecuted people from various regions of Velisthea live a peaceful life there.
• In a church in Galidemmond Abbey, Martha purchased and released many close-to-death bearers to live their final days peacefully in Final Fantasy 16. Players get to visit this place during A Bearer’s Lot quest.

  

Bearer Vs. Dominant

Here are a few similarities and dissimilarities between Bearers and Dominants in Final Fantasy 16:

• Dominants are different and far more superior creatures than bearers in Final Fantasy 16.
• Like any bearer, dominants can use their supernatural powers without using crystals.
• However, bearers can only use simple magic, while dominants can summon and control the most powerful creatures, Eikons, in Final Fantasy 16.
• Dominants are respected globally in Valisthea because of their usefulness in wars. They are considered different from humans, like bearers, but not treated as slaves.
• Another common thing between these two groups is that they both are bearers of Crystal’s Curse. You can find details about this Curse below.

Dominants and Bearers, or any creature with the ability to use magic without crystals, are bound to the Crystal’s Curse. This Curse causes extreme suffering that leads to a painful death. Here is what happens during this phenomenon of Petrification:

• As bearers use Aether of the World to use magic instead of crystals, their body takes a heavy toll.
• Petrification is an incurable phenomenon during which bearers’ and Dominants’ body stiffens up slowly after using magic for a longer period of time. 
• They will start losing mobility with time, and the stiffened parts will remain dead. It is an irreversible process.
• Finally, one day after using magic for a longer period, their body will stiffen completely into stones.
• The stones, over time, dissolve into sand, concluding the tragic death of these unfortunate creatures.

It was all for our guide discussing a bearer in Final Fantasy 16. Indeed the world of Velisthea is unjust, especially for these poor people. However, the transcend of one of these people, Clive, represents a ray of hope. The developers have done a beautiful job of illustrating this injustice and leading on with a bright finish. 

How do you like the storyline of Final Fantasy 16 so far? Tell us in the comments. While you are here, check out more from us:

• Final Fantasy 16 Scarletite.
• Final Fantasy 16 Griffin’s Location & How To Beat.
• Final Fantasy 16 Breaker Of Worlds.