Final Fantasy 14 Reveals Long-Awaited ‘Final Race’ Option

Highlights

• Female Hrothgar will be added as the final playable race in Final Fantasy 14’s upcoming Dawntrail expansion, with a character appearing in Patch 6.55.
• The full trailer for Dawntrail showcased the new Caster DPS Job called Pictomancer, wielded by the lalafell character Krile Baldesion.
• Patch 6.55 will see a female Hrothgar, the daughter of Tural’s ruler, seek the aid of the Warrior of Light in a rite of succession.

During the 2024 Tokyo Fan Fest Keynote, Final Fantasy 14 producer and director Naoki Yoshida revealed that the female Hrothgar would be the final playable race added to the critically acclaimed MMORPG. Though they will not arrive until the launch of the Dawntrail expansion, Final Fantasy 14 players will soon meet a female Hrothgar character in the upcoming Patch 6.55.

The 2024 Tokyo Fan Fest Keynote started with the full trailer for Dawntrail, which revealed the Pictomancer as Final Fantasy 14‘s upcoming Caster DPS Job. Wielding a magical paintbrush and palette, the lalafell character Krile Baldesion was chosen to wield the new Job’s powers in the trailer. While no release date was given for Dawntrail‘s release, Yoshida stated that the release window of summer 2024 was still accurate, and said that an internal release date was their target. But, FF14 players will have to wait just a little longer to get more details on when they can explore the New World of Tural and take up the mantle of the Viper and the Pictomancer.

However, at the end of the trailer, the last playable race for Final Fantasy 14 came into clear view. Initially teased during the end of Patch 6.5, Growing Light, a female Hrothgar was shown on screen. Known as the daughter of Tural’s current ruler, the leonine warrior will appear in Patch 6.55, which will launch on Tuesday, January 16. She will request the aid of the Warrior of Light and their companions in a rite of succession to determine the next leader of Tural. During the final keynote segment, Yoshida and Final Fantasy 14 localization lead Kate Cwynar revealed a trailer that showed how the female Hrothgar would look in-game, using the updated graphics of Dawntrail.

Like their male counterparts, the female Hrothgar are from the Ilsabard continent and have claimed territory in Bozja and neighboring nations. Despite their small population, the female Hrothgar have a natural disposition to leadership and have sleek, muscular forms. Compared to the male Hrothgar, the females do not have hunched backs, but their height range remains unknown. Though the Hrothgar and the Viera have longstanding issues with visible headgear, Yoshida said that it was one of the features being addressed during and after Dawntrail. Yoshida reiterated that the female Hrothgar would be the game’s final race, but left the door open for Final Fantasy 14 players to make future suggestions.

Reception to the female Hrothgar was positive among players, with some claiming they are exactly as they imagined. Though 2023 was a good year for Final Fantasy 14, the reveal of the female Hrothgar for Dawntrail ensured a fast start to 2024 for Square Enix.