Night of Flames

The Night of Flames (フェニックスゲート襲撃, Fenikkusu Gēto Shūgeki?, lit. Phoenix Gate Attack) was a battle in Final Fantasy XVI that took place in Year of the Realm 860 between the Holy Empire of Sanbreque and the Grand Duchy of Rosaria. Under secret orders from Holy Emperor Sylvestre Lesage and the Duchess Anabella Rosfield of Rosaria, forces of the Imperial Army, who were allies of Roasaria, betrayed and attacked the Rosarian castle Phoenix Gate with the aid of Rosarian turncoats in the dead of night.

Before the battle[]

Elwin Rosfield, Archduke of Rosaria, realizing that war against the Iron Kingdom is coming, assembles his troops and makes for Phoenix Gate to pay tribute before battle, accompanied by his son Joshua and Lord Commander Rodney Murdoch. They are later joined by his eldest son Clive and his companions Tyler and Wade. Upon reaching the Phoenix Gate, the Rosarian forces celebrate before turning in for the night.

Battle[]

A caravan arrives, supposedly bringing supplies. Revealing themselves to be Sanbreque soldiers, the men from the caravan slit the throats of the guards at the gate and proceed through it, where they and dozens of other troops that Joshua recognizes from the night's festivities begin slaughtering the Rosarian forces.

Wade quickly seeks out Joshua to bring him to safety and Tyler is gravely injured in battle, though he is healed by Joshua, and the three are joined by Clive, Elwin, and Rodney. Elwin, Wade, Tyler, and Joshua prepare to flee while Clive and Rodney stay behind to fight the Sanbreque forces. Elwin sends a stolas back to Rosaria to warn them of Sanbreque's treachery, but it is shot down.

Clive and Rodney fight their way through the Phoenix Gate and are confronted by an Imperial Dragoon known as the Knight of the Blinding Dawn. They slay the dragoon and search the traitors' bodies, finding sashes issued to the Rosarian forces the day before and realize that imperials have been among them for some time. They rush to check on Joshua and Elwin but Clive is confronted by a hooded figure, claiming that "they" have found him, and is struck by an intense headache.

Elwin, Joshua, Wade, and Tyler prepare to flee on chocoboback but the Sanbreque forces catch up to them and reveal the dead stolases. Elwin is beheaded while defending Joshua. Wade attacks the Sanbreque traitors in a rage, but they and Tyler are incinerated when Joshua is overcome by the Phoenix. Wade survives while Clive screams to his brother to not let the Phoenix take over. Clive is taken control of Ifrit himself, incinerating Rodney, and unconsciously attacks Joshua. Immediately prior to his incineration, Rodney expressed disbelief at there being a second Eikon of Fire.

Joshua regains enough clarity in his Eikonic form to notice the newly-transformed Ifrit, and fearfully demands to know who he is. After Ifrit attacks him, Phoenix flies high into the sky and descends while demanding Ifrit leave him alone, the force of impact shattering the forest and ground beneath them. Warning he will kill Ifrit if he does not stay away, they engage in free fall down the new crevasse. Joshua expresses shock upon realizing that Ifrit is an Eikon of the same element as him. Their fall eventually takes them to the Apodytery, with Ifrit pinning Phoenix down before the latter knocks him off. Recognizing the location and how Ifrit is risking destroying Rosaria Castle with his actions, Joshua decides to fulfill his vow to protect Rosaria. Ifrit's Hellfire seemingly kills Phoenix, but he regenerates via Flames of Rebirth, before tackling Ifrit and flinging him back to the surface. Ifrit recovers and viciously beats Phoenix down. Despite Clive's seeming pleas for Ifrit to spare Phoenix, Ifrit seemingly kills him.

Aftermath[]

In Rosaria, Anabella betrayed her family and country to keep her prestige and has her handmaids killed as retribution for "failing" to prevent Joshua's seeming death as the country is conquered by Sanbreque. It is implied afterward that Joshua's death was Anabella's only true regret from the event. Clive is found barely alive in the remains of Phoenix Gate, and is initially ordered to be killed by his mother before she decides to enslave him for the Empire and put him to their front lines. To cover up Sanbreque's treachery, the incident was blamed on the Phoenix going rampant. Despite being presumed dead, in reality Joshua is rendered comatose for the next five years^[1] and is saved by the Undying. He eventually adopts the identity of Margrace and does his own investigation into the circumstances that occurred regarding Clive's unexpected transformation into Ifrit while also subtly aiding Clive. Due to the trauma caused by the forced transformation into Ifrit, Clive lost all memory of becoming Ifrit and assumed someone else did it, becoming vengeful and desiring to hunt Ifrit down in response to Joshua's "death".

The Iron Kingdom learned of Rosaria's fall and invaded the duchy, killing the men and taking the women, including Jill Warrick. They did not take control of the territory and Sanbreque took the Grand Duchy, which he annexed and transformed into an imperial province. As a result, the Triunity treaty of 859 between Rosaria, Dhalmekia, and Sanbreque, was disbanded,^[2] and Dhalmekia and Sanbreque's relations soured.

Upon seeing how the Empire treated the "Branded", Rosarian Bearers who served the Grand Duchy fled to Eastpool where they were looked after by the Mayor of Eastpool.

It would later be revealed that the hooded figure that caused Clive's transformation into Ifrit was in fact the god Ultima, who desired Clive for being the ideal body for Mythos. Joshua would later reference this event when confronting Ultima at Drake's Head when explaining he now knows Ultima was responsible for separating him and Clive before confronting and ultimately sealing the god away within himself via his Phoenix powers.