Zenos yae Galvus

Character
Name:	Zenos yae Galvus
Occupation:	(Former) Crown Prince of the Garlean Empire
Relationships:	Warrior of Light (friendship/obsession), Varis zos Galvus (family), Fandaniel (collaborators)
Fandom:	Final Fantasy XIV, Dissidia Final Fantasy
Other:	Zenos yae Galvus from the Endwalker trailer
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Zenos yae Galvus is an antagonist in Final Fantasy XIV. He served as the main antagonist and final boss in the Stormblood expansion, and is slated to play an important role in the upcoming Endwalker expansion.

Canon

Zenos is notable among Final Fantasy XIV antagonists in that he repeatedly defeated the Warrior of Light before losing to them in the final battle of the Stormblood expansion. He has an obsession with the Warrior of Light as the first person to ever defeat him in combat, and wishes to stage an even greater battle than the one they had in Stormblood.

Fandom

While the exact nature of his feelings for the Warrior of Light remains somewhat ambiguous in canon, fandom frequently interprets them as romantic and/or sexual. The fact that Zenos canonically refers to the Warrior of Light as his friend is often explained with Zenos being sexually inexperienced or clueless in those cases. Some fans also connect his fixation on fighting and canonical lack of interest in basically everything else with asexuality or aromanticism, or headcanon him as aro because of how strongly he feels for the person he calls his friend. Zenos may also be depicted as yandere when it comes to the Warrior of Light.

Zenos is frequently depicted as a masochist and/or sadist. Violence-related kinks such as knifeplay or swordplay are popular with Zenos fans. Owing to his massive size, many smutfics with him also feature pronounced size difference themes. Contrary to the common theme of the taller character being the dom/top, however, many fans see him as a submissive bottom.

Some Zenos fans explore a canon divergence in which Zenos ends up becoming a Scion of the Seventh Dawn in their fanworks. This frequently goes hand in hand with a redemption arc.

In an interview published on October 13, 2021, game producer Yoshida responded to a question on Zenos becoming a reaper in the Endwalker expansion:

“It’s not really the case that we wanted Reaper to have a big role in the story, or have a big impact in the story, but it might be that there is some reason why Zenos has gone down that path,” Yoshida said. “So of course, since Zenos is a Reaper, he would obviously be using an avatar. Zeno’s only friend is the Warrior of Light so in that respect maybe his avatar is some sort of variation of our Warrior of Light. (Laughing) But please be sure to, I haven’t put it clearly here, look forward to seeing what happens with Zenos.”

Designing the world of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker – An interview with Naoki Yoshida

Following this statement, fans of Zenos immediately began forming theories about Zenos' reaper avatar being another shard of Azem from the 13th Shard, as well as creating fanworks of Zenos interacting with such an avatar.

In a 2020 NHK poll, Zenos was voted the 94th most popular character in the Final Fantasy franchise.

Shipping

Due to his canonical fixation on the Warrior of Light and his lack of interest in most other characters, Zenos does not get shipped with characters other than the Warrior of Light very much. Other than Zenos/WoL and Zenos & WoL, the only other ship involving Zenos among his top ten relationship tags on AO3 is Asahi sas Brutus/Zenos yae Galvus, and even that barely makes the cut and is often used on one-sided relationships.

Pairings

• Zenos yae Galvus/Warrior of Light
• Zenos yae Galvus & Warrior of Light
• Asahi sas Brutus/Zenos yae Galvus

Example Fan Works

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fanfiction

• Worlds Apart by ThatWindingPath

Fanart

• "he just wants to be your friend" by starstray
• "😚😚😚😚😚😚" by PYdiyudie
• "🔥" by FenrirPrime
• "ゼノス＆アヴァター" by sayakajou_ff14
• "Hello, my friend" by BellPepperArt
• "☾ ☆ Casual ☆ ☽" by MortinfamiART

Cosplay

• "Zenos Endwalker." by ChezahDE

Other

• "finished up Zenos and his new glam for Endwalker!" by meriadocknows

Archives and Fannish Links

• Works featuring Zenos yae Galvus on AO3
• Zenos Appreciation Week on twitter

Trivia

Zenos yae Galvus was the second Final Fantasy XIV character to be added to the Dissidia games, following Y'shtola Rhul.

Resources

• Zenos yae Galvus on finalfantasy wikia