Final Fantasy XIV: Chronicles of Light, Volume II

by Square Enix

Genres: Fantasy

288 pages, Hardcover

Published December 16, 2025

About the author

Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. (株式会社スクウェア・エニックス・ホールディングス) TYO: 9684 is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series. Its headquarters are located in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo.

Reviews

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Final Fantasy XIV: Chronicles of Light, Volume I, I begged for Square Enix to also publish a short story collection featuring stuff around Shadowbringers and Endwalker, please and thank you. For once, a publisher not only answered my prayers to the letter; they've also made me want to lay down and wail for 47 years. That should be enough time to get over it.

I just! Love these characters so much! I love this world and the story writing around it so! Much!!! Okay, don't read this review anymore if you haven't played up through Dawntrail, but definitely don't if you haven't played Shadowbringers and Endwalker. Okay, byyyyeee~

Every single short story involving anyone from the Convocation of Fourteen and the Ancients punched me right in the gut. I am so, so incredibly emo about Lahabrea, Elidibus, Fandaniel, Venat, Hythlodaeus, Azem, and Emet-Selch. This is an insane sentence from the perspective of A Realm Reborn, but even back then, it's there. It's all there. "Answers," the Crystal Tower raids, and the MSQ have all the clues, and I'm so feral about it. How did they do this??

And what about the ot3 that is Emet-Selch/Azem/Hythlodaeus? All of Elpis knowing intimately how often these three seek each other other. How much Hythlodaeus can get away with teasing Emet-Selch because they know each other so well. How Emet-Selch so rarely smiles but does so every time he sees off Azem as they depart on a new adventure, brimming with pride. How Hythlodaeus knows their aetheric signatures better than any other and sees things so plainly. How long Emet-Selch waited for Azem to return in the Final Days and was forced to watch Hythlodaeus sacrifice himself so that the rest might have a future. How much Emet-Selch prepared for Azem, keeping the faith despite everything. How could they do this to me? How did they make my feelings even worse about this?

I could throw up, honestly. It was almost an emotional relief whenever I got to read a story about Estinien, a young Aymeric, Krile, Erenville, and many others. But honestly, I'd take a million stories featuring Etheirys and after. A part of me wants that to become a reality in the main story, but only if Yoshi-P and friends really have a story to tell. Shadowbringers and Endwalker are too perfect of a married whole to ruin just because of nostalgia and desperate yearning for more, but lord... the spirit and flesh are weak...

As with the first volume, it was a pleasure to experience stories from so many NPC point of views. You spend so much time as the Warrior of Light—even those of us who do the bare minimum of role-playing—that it's so fun to read the voices and perspectives of the other characters. Tell me more about their rich inner lives. I love that shit.

My incredibly subjective feelings about all of this aside, I guess I can manage a rating for all the stories individually.

"A World Forsaken" - 4 stars
"An Unpromised Tomorrow - 5 stars
"A Dream Partnership" - 5 stars
"Small Mercies" - 3 stars
"In the Beginning, Beyond the End" - 5 stars
"One Name, One Promise" - 4 stars
"Through His Eyes" - 1 million stars!!!!!!!
"Whispers from the Dark" - 5 stars
"Ere Our Curtain Falls" - 5 million stars!!!!!!!!
"Behind Every Manderville Man" - 4 stars
"Echoes of Delusion" - 5 stars
"The Burden of Duty" - 4 stars
"Her Father's Daughter" - 4 stars
"Set with the Sun" - 4 stars
"True of Heart" - 4 stars
"An Empty Throne" - 5 stars
"A Friendship of Record" - 5 stars
"A Question of Life" - 6 million painful stars!!!!!!!!!
"In Pursuit of Knowledge" - 4 stars
"A Question of Death" - 5 stars
"As Azure Fades" - 4 stars
"Bringer of Shadow, Bringer of Light" - 3 stars
"In Storm's Wake" - 4 stars
"A Legacy of Hope" - 5 stars
"Private Reflections" - 5 stars
"Footprints of a Traveler" - 5 stars
"An Abiding Aspiration" - 4 stars
"The First of Many Festivals" - 3 stars
"A Precious Gift" - 4 stars
"Days Gone By, Days Yet to Come" - 50 million stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fandaniel. · Rating 5 out of 5]

how dare the end of the book make me cry.

I do not turn to look. I remember a garden, and a sky,
and a man, and it is enough.

[Brendan Magee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Honestly its a 5 but thats just because I would recommend FFXIV to everyone I know as well, but if you haven't played its still a totally solid collection of short stories that just need a tiny bit of context to be accessible to anyone. The device of 'flashbacks' makes the purpose/themes of each story a bit more obvious and is the conceit for telling stories throughout the timeline. Basically all of the main themes of the game from hope, corruption, colonialism, post-war rebuilding, immigration, patriarchy, and self-discovery are all well represented and conveyed very succinctly. Totally scratches the itch of wanting to relive each expansion without dumping hundreds of hours into playing the game.
Bonus for including stories dedicated to cid+nero and hythlodaeus+emet-selch