World Heart
 Spoiler Alert!
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| The details below contain SPOILERS, you may want to view this after completing the storyline in-game. |
The World Heart is the original Godsphere created by the Overseers. Its power is the template upon which both the Godspheres and the Seal Stones are based.
Properties and Use
Power Absorption
As a holy relic created by the Overseers to suppress the Ancient Gods, the World Heart has the power to strip a god or a godlike being, such as a Transcendent, of all their power. Furthermore, the World Heart - if depleted of its power - can also absorb the power of a higher being and claim it as its own.
In order to activate this ability, one of two conditions must be met by the user of the World Heart:
- The user must defeat a higher being, allowing the World Heart to drain that being's power against their will. One instance of this was when the Adversary defeated Kaling, at which point the World Heart absorbed Darmoor's Transcendent powers bestowed upon her. If power is absorbed through this condition, it appears that the target will disintegrate and vanish.
- The user must make a covenant with a higher being, in which they swear to inherit the will and beliefs of that being in exchange for power. An example of this was when the Adversary made a covenant with Shinsoo to save Cygnus, causing her to willingly surrender her power to the World Heart. Unlike the first method, it appears that making a covenant with a higher being allows for that being to choose how much power they wish to surrender. Furthermore, surrendering their full power allows them to retain their form, rather than disintegrating.
In the case of the Adversary being a class wielding the power of an Ancient God or a Transcendent - such as Luminous, Zero, Kain, Pathfinder, etc - the World Heart did not immediately react to the power that they wielded. Although one reason for this is likely because neither of the two criteria for power absorption had been met, it is also heavily suggested that the World Heart will not turn against its wielder. During the Adversary's check-up with Gob at the Primacy's hideout, Gob - if the player is Luminous or Zero - will note that the World Heart's power has melded with the power of the Transcendent of Light or the Transcendent of Time, respectively. This suggests that the World Heart, rather than stealing the power of its wielder, will instead assimilate with the wielder in order to become one with them, thereby giving the wielder greater control over its power as it responds more strongly to their individual determination and desire.
Use of Absorbed Power
The World Heart is capable of using the power claimed from a god or a godlike being. One instance of this was when the World Heart created a divine shield around the Adversary using Shinsoo's power during their battle against Reina. Additionally, the World Heart maintains any pre-existing magical bond involving the being whose power was drained. An example of this was seen when the Adversary, through Shinsoo's power inside the World Heart, was able to utilize Shinsoo's mental link with the Empress in order to telepathically speak with her. Although the World Heart can use the specific power absorbed from a higher being, such as Shinsoo's shield being used during the Adversary's fight against Reina, the World Heart can also use the raw power stored inside it, such as when it created a barrier of pure energy while defending the Adversary and their allies against the High Flora at Tallahart. Additionally, the World Heart's raw power can strengthen the user, granting them divine abilities which can counteract other divine power. One example of this was when the World Heart's power allowed the Adversary to see through and shatter the illusion magic of Malefic Star, despite the fact that the World Heart did not contain the power of a higher being who wielded illusion magic.
Destiny Weapon
In addition to absorbing the power of the gods, the World Heart is also capable of assimilating with weapons containing divine power, absorbing that power into itself, and transforming the weapon into one connected to the World Heart's energy. This was seen with the Genesis Weapon, which originally contained the power of the Transcendent of Light - both the Black Mage's power of destruction and Tana's power of creation. Following Kaling's death, the elders assisted the Adversary in awakening the full potential of the Genesis Weapon through trials that strengthened the weapon with the power of the Adversary and the World Heart. As a result, the Adversary successfully melded the Genesis Weapon with the power of the World Heart, transforming it into the Destiny Weapon. Like the Genesis Weapon, the Destiny Weapon is capable of using the same abilities of creation and destruction left behind by the Black Mage. However, rather than manifesting as the Aeonian Rise and Tanadian Ruin, it instead manifests uniquely through the power of the World Heart. Additionally, the Destiny Weapon's assimilation with the World Heart allows it to exceed its original limitations, rendering it capable of growing even stronger than its original form as the power of the World Heart increases.
Activation
Very little is known about the conditions to awaken the World Heart's true power. Despite having the most expertise with using the World Heart, the elders are unaware of how to awaken its full power, and though they were aware that the World Heart could strip higher beings of their power, it came as a shock to them that the World Heart could make that stolen power its own. Based on their own research, the elders have determined that, unlike the Godspheres and Seal Stones modeled off the World Heart, the World Heart itself does not respond to the collective will of the people. During the Adversary's mission to Carcion, they began learning how to consciously wield the World Heart by using their own will and determination to consciously absorb power, rather than the World Heart reacting independently of them. Despite the Adversary gaining more mastery over the World Heart, they have not yet learned how to awaken the World Heart's full power. Following their battle against Limbo at Carcion, the Adversary's control over the World Heart increased remarkably - to the point that the World Heart would respond to nothing more than their instinctual willpower, oftentimes creating a protective barrier around themselves and their allies when they were in danger. Because of this, it is speculated that what the World Heart truly responds to is the individual determination of its wielder.
Criteria for Wielders
Although its activation criteria can be speculated upon, it is unknown how the World Heart determines its wielder, as the fact that it does not respond to the will of the people means that it chooses its Vessel through its own unique conditions. Although the Adversary was innately recognized as a worthy wielder, they were initially unable to consciously use its power, with the World Heart frequently acting on its own in response to detecting divine power. Nevertheless, there were several instances of the World Heart implicitly recognizing the Adversary as its user, such as when it used Shinsoo's power to create a protective shield around them during their battle with Reina. Unlike the Adversaries of Odium, who were forcibly fused with the Godspheres, Hundun - like the Adversary - was able to retain his ego and sense of self. It is heavily likely that the reason for this is that the World Heart - which does not respond to the will of the people - does not require the erasure of a Vessel's ego and additional reprogramming for the Vessel's sole desire to align with the will of the people.
There have only been two known cases of the World Heart being wielded by a user. The first case was with Hundun, who was forcibly fused with the World Heart by the elders and forced to serve as the power source for Odium. The second was the Adversary, who was given the World Heart by Hundun, after which they undertook the mission to restore its power to full capacity after ages of being depleted as Odium's battery. Unlike Hundun, who was completely fused with the World Heart, the Adversary has exclusively used the World Heart externally, rather than being fused with it internally as they had been with the Seal Stone. On several occasions, the Adversary has been advised by Ancient Gods such as Keira and Gob to remain cautious about using the World Heart, lest they get drawn in and consumed by its power, for which they are frequently warned to "look within themselves". During the mission to Tallahart, it was noted by Baldrix that the World Heart was truly within the Adversary, suggesting that they are on the verge of fully becoming one with it. Based on Hundun's testimony, it appears that the fatal consequence of being fully fused with the World Heart is that the wielder is divested of all their power, leaving them dependent on the power cycling through it in order to remain alive. Because of this, it is possible that the warnings given to the Adversary about being consumed by the World Heart's power may refer to this phenomenon, in which their life force will become inexplicably tied to the World Heart if they become a fully-realized Vessel for it.
In addition to the World Heart's own criteria for determining a worthy wielder, the elders of Grandis created an additional safeguard to prevent the World Heart's power from falling into the wrong hands. This was done by infusing the World Heart with the spirit of the First Adversary, who serves as the World Heart's guardian and tests the resolve of those who wish to wield it in order to determine whether they are truly worthy of claiming its power. Within the World Heart is an inner realm, where the First Adversary will face one who grasps the relic. The wielder must first face the First Adversary in combat in order to demonstrate that they possess the strength to claim the World Heart. If the First Adversary is defeated in the test of strength, the wielder will experience a test of resolve through a vision of the First Adversary's memories, in which the Vessels of Odium will put the wielder's resolve to the test by showing them the suffering and loss that they may face by meeting the Adversary's destiny. If the wielder's resolve is deemed to be sufficient, however, the First Adversary will grant his blessing to the wielder, allowing them to return from the inner realm and successfully claim the World Heart.
History
The Ancient War
The World Heart was created by the Overseers in order to quell the chaos of the Ancient Gods. The Overseers bestowed it upon the elders of Grandis, who mass-produced weaker imitations called the Godspheres, which they fused with Vessels in order to create Adversaries. After a long and protracted war, the Adversaries successfully defeated the Ancient Gods. Following the end of the war, the World Heart's power permeated deep into the continents of the different worlds. Soon after, the elders realized that they were unable to handle the immense power of the World Heart. In order to ensure that no one would misuse it, the elders hoped to deplete its power. They forcibly fused it with Hundun, the strongest of the Four Perils, and enslaved him as the power source of their laboratory, Odium, while also infusing the World Heart with the spirit of the First Adversary to serve as its guardian. They then created mechanical Constables and sentinels, such as Guardian Kalos, in order to ensure that no one would enter Odium. With Hundun and the World Heart powering such a vast and complex mechanical defense system, the elders hoped to keep the World Heart safe while slowly depleting its immense power over the span of many ages.
The Seal Stones
Eons later, Freud extracted the World Heart's power, which had permeated into the continents of Maple World, and used it to create his own form of the Godspheres, which he called the Seal Stones, as they had been created with the intent of sealing the Black Mage.
Reclaiming the World Heart
During the siege of Odium, the Adversary encountered Hundun in the heart of the laboratory. There, they learned that he was in possession of the World Heart, which Hundun called the last Godsphere of Odium. Wanting an end to his suffering, he chose to give the World Heart to the Adversary, who was seeking a new Seal Stone in order to face Darmoor. After Hundun surrendered the World Heart, he immediately passed away, as he had been dependent on the World Heart's power after it had drained him of his energy. After being tested by the spirit of the First Adversary and deemed worthy, the Adversary - upon learning that the World Heart's power was nearly depleted - decided to visit the elders in Shangri-La, hoping to ask for their help in restoring its power.
Invasion of Shangri-La
With Tai Yu's help, the Adversary traveled to Shangri-La in order to meet the elders. However, the elders refused to help the Adversary upon learning that they had defied the will of the world by retaining their humanity and avoiding their death upon fulfilling their purpose and killing a god, which was meant to be the destiny of all Adversaries. Soon after, however, Kaling invaded Shangri-La with her Perils. The Adversary fought Kaling in combat and managed to defeat her. The World Heart then reacted to the portion of Transcendent powers that Darmoor had given to Kaling, causing it to absorb her strength and restore part of its power. After the Adversary defeated Kaling, they returned to the elders, who told them about the World Heart and its properties. As the elders were unaware of the conditions needed to awaken the World Heart, the Adversary decided to begin a new journey to find out how to awaken it, as well as to face Ancient Gods and Transcendents to absorb their power and restore the World Heart completely. Soon after, the elders learned that the Adversary wielded the Genesis Weapon, which had been given to them by the Black Mage. The elders determined that the Genesis Weapon's full potential was yet to be revealed, and so they aided the Adversary in combining the Genesis Weapon with the power of the World Heart, allowing it to surpass its limitations and transforming it into the Destiny Weapon, capable of growing stronger as the World Heart did.
Battle in Arteria
After Reina kidnapped Cygnus and took her aboard Arteria, the Adversary met with Shinsoo, who bestowed a portion of her power upon the Adversary in order to help them rescue the Empress. Using Shinsoo's power, the Adversary was able to establish a mental link with Cygnus in order to learn her location aboard the battleship. During their fight against Reina, the World Heart created a divine shield around the Adversary with Shinsoo's abilities. Following the battle, the Adversary met with Shinsoo and a comatose Cygnus in Leafre, where Shinsoo surrendered the remainder of her power to the World Heart.
Mission to the Dark Sea
Following the battle in Arteria, the Adversary traveled to the Dark Sea in order to investigate the power of the Ancient Gods. There, they faced off against Malefic Star, a clone body of the Apostle Ymir, who had cast out her inner malice and sealed her in a temple beneath the Dark Sea. During the mission, the World Heart reacted independently to Malefic Star's divine power, strengthening the Adversary's abilities by allowing them to see through and dispel her illusion magic. After the Adversary defeated Malefic Star, the World Heart instinctively absorbed her power, destroying her physical form.
Mission to Carcion
In Carcion, the World Heart reacted to Darmoor's power permeating the waters of Carcion, which had mixed with the divine power of the Ancient God, Keira. During this time, the Adversary began attempting to consciously use the World Heart's power, allowing them to extract the infected divine energy inside the Anima of Carcion, while also absorbing Keira's power across the region. However, the Adversary would later return most, if not all, of Keira's power back to the goddess so that she could use its energy to defeat Limbo. Following the mission to Carcion, the Adversary met with Keira and learned of the two conditions required to absorb the power of a god: either to defeat them or to make a covenant with them. In the aftermath of the battle, the Adversary discovered that the World Heart, having grown even stronger, was now reacting even more sensitively to the Specter energy in Carcion in the form of a rejection reaction, despite having remained unaffected by that same energy at the start of the mission.
Mission to Tallahart
After the Apostles' raids to steal the power of the Ancient Gods, the Adversary traveled to Tallahart in order to stop the High Flora from taking the power of the Ancient Gods resting within. There, the Adversary discovered that the World Heart had grown even stronger after the mission to Carcion, even responding to their innate determination to defend them from their enemy's attacks. During the expedition, the World Heart grew exponentially stronger as it absorbed the full power of the Ancient Gods of Tallahart, including the supreme god Noctis. Nevertheless, this was secretly allowed by the Apostle Baldrix, who had been tasked by Darmoor with assessing the Adversary's condition as a Vessel, as well as to allow them to further complete the World Heart for Darmoor's ultimate plan. While dispelling Baldrix's power left behind at Noctis's seal, the Adversary used the World Heart to absorb the residual energy, which had been mixed with the power of the gods that Baldrix had channeled in his draining crystals, allowing them to see some of Baldrix's memories when he still retained his Flora body.
Known Power Absorbed
- A portion of Darmoor's Transcendent power was absorbed from Kaling, her three Perils, and the polluted waters of Carcion, which contained Darmoor's power mixed into the energy of the invading Specters.
- A portion of the Black Mage and Tana's Transcendent power - which was left inside the Genesis Weapon - was absorbed after the Adversary assimilated it with the World Heart, transforming it into the Destiny Weapon.
- The full power of Shinsoo was given to the Adversary during the invasion of Ereve.
- The full power of Malefic Star, who held a portion of Ymir's power, was absorbed into the World Heart during the mission to the Dark Sea.
- A portion of Keira's power was absorbed into the World Heart from the waters of Carcion that contained her divine blessings, although either some or all of it was returned to Keira before most of it was stolen by Havoc. The little power left to Keira was later used to cleanse the pollution of the waters.
- The full power of all the Ancient Gods of Tallahart - including the supreme god Noctis - was absorbed into the World Heart, with the sole exception of Luce, whose power was given by the Adversary to Noctis after it was stolen by Baldrix.
- A small amount of residual power left behind by Baldrix was absorbed into the World Heart, which was mixed with the power of the Ancient Gods contained inside his draining crystals.