Final Fantasy 14's most prominent enemy faction, the Garlean Empire, has a number of individual Legions that regularly pop up in the game's story and lore. If you were wondering what each of them is up to as of 6.0 then I have the answers right here!
Here's a fun fact: Did you know that the army of Final Fantasy 14 's most infamous enemy faction, the Garlean Empire, is split into 14 independently organized units, called Legions? The number 14 isn't a coincidence either: Most of them have some kind of objective loosely related to the Final Fantasy game they share a number with!
Knowing where each Legion is and what they're up to can help you predict upcoming plot beats in FFXIV's Main Scenario. 14 independent units is a lot to keep track of though! To save you some time and headache I've compiled a list of each Legion, their past actions and their possible futures.
A warning first, though. This article will spoil the following storylines:
- The entire MSQ up until 6.0
- The Endwalker Role Quests
- The Coils of Bahamut Raid series
- The Bozjan Resistance
- The Sorrow of Werlyt Trial series
- The Return To Ivalice Alliance Raid series
If you'd prefer to experience those storylines yourself first then you might want to bow out for now. As for everyone else, let's get started already!
Final Fantasy 14 Lore: Each Imperial Legion's Whereabouts
The Ist Legion
What have they done? The first Legion was the personal guard of the Emperor of Garlemald, right up until the last emperor, Varis zos Galvus, was murdered by his son, our best frenemy Zenos, back in 5.0! This sparked a bloody war of succession (first mentioned in 5.2) that had them battling the IIIrd Legion, led by Varis's cousin Nerva yae Galvus, for control of the throne
And then Zenos came back to Garlemald with his new Ascian friend Fandaniel in tow, Tempered a majority of its inhabitants and pretty much turned the entire country into a post-apocalyptic zombie hellscape. Real force of nature, that one, no wonder he was so cocky all the time.
The Ist put up a valiant effort surviving in the ruined wasteland that was once their home. Their Legatus, Quintus van Cinna, even dreamed of restoring the Empire to its former glory one day, fascism and all! When the Eorzean Alliance arrived in Garlemald in 6.0 he refused their help at first and even tried to blackmail them into leaving by taking the Leveilleur twins as hostages.
But when he learned that most of the other legions had either fallen in battle against the Tempered or surrendered to the Alliance, Quintus did the only reasonable thing (in his mind, at least): He disbanded the Ist Legion and committed suicide.
What are they doing now? The Ist itself doesn't exist anymore, but its former members and other Garlean survivors are currently cooperating with the Eorzean Alliance to reconstruct Garlemald in some shape or form. You should go back and visit them sometime!
The IInd Legion
What have they done? First, a Geography lesson. The continent of Ilsabard split into several regions, and we know a few of them already: Nhalmasque in the center, Garlemald in the North, Werlyt to the west, and Corvos to the south. The IIIrd Legion is said to have been in charge of Corvos.
What are they doing now? Good question! The IIIrd's occupation of Corvos is only mentioned in passing, when G'raha Tia talks about Corvos being the Garleans's supposed ancestral homeland and his own former home country. Whether they're still there and why they seem to not have reacted to the destruction of Garlemald in any way is a bit of a dangling plot thread, one that I'm sure will be picked up in the future.
The IIIrd Legion
What have they done? The IIIrd Legion supported Nerva yae Galvus during the Garlean war of succession, but they, along with their Legatus Vergilia van Corculum, were Tempered and forced to defend the ruined Garlemald from any would-be rescue efforts. After the IIIrd was defeated by the Eorzean Alliance they were cured of their Tempering and eventually joined the Ist and their reconstruction efforts.
Vergilia appears again in a bonus quest if you've done all other Role Quests, where you find out that her former favored candidate for the Garlean throne, Nerva yae Galvus, tried to resurrect and take control of the Primal Anima in the Tower of Babil, but was turned into a Blasphemy instead. She then joins your mission to infiltrate the Tower and kill what used to be Nerva once and for all.
What are they doing now? Unclear. I think it's safe to say that most of them died in battle either during the war of succession or after their Tempering. As for the rest, they've likely joined the remnants of the Ist in their reconstruction efforts, but it's never explicitly stated.
The IVth Legion
What have they done? The IVth Legion was responsible for bringing and keeping several major territories under Garlean rule, including Dalmasca, Nagxia and Bozja. During the war of succession in5.x their Legatus at the time, Noah van Garbranth, declined a call for aid from the IIIrd. He decided that the greater Empire was a lost cause and wanted to establish a new nation of his own in their occupied territories.
Then we showed up to help the Bozjan resistance drive them out of the country and sparked a string of similar rebellions in other territories controlled by the IVth, ultimately leading to their downfall. And we got some shiny new weapons in the process! Shame about Noah's "sovereign nation" plan though, that could've been interesting.
If you read the Field Notes on Lyon found in Zadnor you'll stumble upon an epilogue of sorts to their story: Noah van Garbranth was supposedly murdered by one of his own officers, Lyon rem Helsos, after the events in Bozja. I say "supposedly" because his body was apparently burnt beyond recognition, leaving the possiblity of it being a fake. Either way, the IVth more or less fell apart after that.
What are they up to now? The IVthas such probably doesn't exist anymore? Noah may or may not be dead, and his officers are still at large, so they might be making a comeback at some point in the future.
The VIth Legion
What have they done? The VIth was tasked with infiltrating Azys Lla, tracking down the technology used by the Allagans to capture and control Primals and steal it for Garlean use. And to their credit, they did come pretty close! But after seeing how volatile and unreliable the technology is, barely managing to contain the Warring Triad, their Legatus, Regula van Hydrus, had a change of heart.
In the end, Regula sacrificed himself to give us a shot at defeating the last of the Triad, Zurvan, and his body was returned to the VIth.
What are they doing now? Well... hm. Not much? They're still just kind of hanging out in Azys Lla. It almost seems like even FF14's writing team forgot about them? Whether they still consider themselves a Legion or even part of Garlemald is unclear.
The VIIth Legion
What have they done? Oh, the VIIth? Not much, they're only responsible for the most world-altering event in FFXIV's history:
Even by Garlean standards the VIIth Legion was pretty awful! First they launched Project Meteor back in 1.0 and crashed the artificial moon Dalamud into the Carteneau Flats to win a decisive battle against the Eorzean Alliance. Which might have worked if Dalamud hadn't doubled as a prison for the elder primal Bahamut.
Bahamut was only free for a few minutes, but that was already enough time to cause the 7th Umbral Calamity and permanently alter the landscape of Eorzea. Their then-Legatus Nael van Darnus, was killed sometime before the Calamity, saving her from having to explain to her superiors why she knowingly caused an apocalypse.
The VIIth later reformed under a new Legatus, Valens van Varro, who decided that this legion didn't have enough crimes against humanity and FFVII references under its belt yet and launched the Weapon Project. This project had them outfit reverse-engineered anti-Eikon warmachina with an emergency system that would let them consume their pilots to fuel a transformation into clones of highly revered Imperial Legatuses.
Valens decided to use Gaius Baelsar's adoptive children as the pilots of these monstrous machines and send them into battle against the Eorzean Alliance to gather combat data and perfect the Diamond Weapon. This inevitably backfired and ended with Valens being murdered by what remained of the Diamond Weapon in about as gruesome a death scene as FFXIV was probably allowed to show.
What are they doing now? The VIIth legion is gone, hopefully for good this time. With their leader(s) dead and their former territories reclaimed by the Alliance they shouldn't be able to cause any more trouble anytime soon.
The Xth Legion
What have they done? Good question. We don't really know anything about the Xth's actions before 6.0. What we do know is that they survived the initial tempering in Garlemald, but their attempts to coordinate a counterattack with the other surviving Legions ended in failure because of desertions, supply issues and communication breakdowns.
In the end, they surrendered to the Eorzean Alliance and gave them the code phrase that let them defuse the conflict with the Ist Legion.
What are they doing now? In all likelihood they've been disbanded and are helping the reconstruction efforts in Garlemald, though nothing definite has been stated in-game.
The XIIth Legion
What have they done? The XIIth Legion was Zenos zos Galvus's old crew and responsible for the Garlean occupation of Doma and Ala Mhigo, and also crushing any liberation efforts that popped up in those regions. After the events of 4.3 everyone resembling an authority figure in the Legion had either died, "died", deserted or been captured by the Eorzean Alliance, so the Legion as such probably doesn't exist anymore.
Zenos himself did technically die at the end of 4.0, but he got better and went on to cause a whole bunch of mayhem by himself up until 6.0. Still. considering that that included him committing patricide on the Emperor of Garlemald himself I think it's safe to say that his adventures weren't associated with his old Legion anymore.
What are they doing now? You'll probably find a few stragglers of the XIIth hanging out at old Imperial outposts in Doma and Ala Mhigo, but they'd been abandoned by the Empire even before it went kaput, so don't expect the XIIth to be making a grand return... well, ever.
The XIVth Legion
What have they done? A lot of things, actually! The XIVth Legion and their then-Legatus Gaius van Baelsar conquered Ala Mhigo and almost conquered Mor Dhona before the father of dragons himself Midgardsormr showed up, said "nay, you shan't" and took down their entire airship fleet, putting their invasion on hold for a decade or so.
After Project Meteor (i.e. in 2.0) Gaius made another attempt at conquering Eorzea with the help of the Ascian Lahabrea, this time using the newly-unearthed Ultima Weapon. This ultimately ended with all of his outposts in Eorzea being taken back by the Alliance, all of his generals either dying or deserting, the Ultima Weapon setting off a magical nuke in his base of operations before getting exploded itself and Gaius himself going MIA for about 3 expansions.
Gaius himself is still alive (somehow), but has decided that he probably isn't suited for this whole "conquering foreign nations" thing and is helping the Eorzean Alliance instead. He's mentioned that he's staying out of the Garlean reconstruction efforts because to Garleans he is a controversial figure, to say the least, and his presence would probably do more harm than good.
His former second-in-command Nero tol Scaeva is also still around, for better or worse. You'll usually run into him in optional content, but he also has the occasional cameo in the MSQ to annoy his self-proclaimed rival Cid.
What are they doing now? Well, technically some former members of the XIVth are still hanging out at old Imperial outposts in Eorzea, but similarly to the XIIIth they've kind of been abandoned by everyone and can't really be called a Legion anymore.
What about the other Legions?
The Vth, VIIIth, IXth, XIth and XIIIth Legion are more or less MIA. They've never been mentioned in any meaningful way in-game, and after the destruction of Garlemald it's very possible that they were killed or disbanded off-screen. But much like the mysterious IInd Legion in Corvos I wouldnt rule out the possibility of them appearing in the future just yet! For example, we might run into the XIth Legion during the FF11-themed Echoes of Vana'Diel Alliance raid series in the upcoming expansion Dawntrail.