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The Eldest One, leader of the Deep Ones
The Eldest One (known as True Ancestor in Japan) is a character from Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City. Eldest One is the major antagonist of the game.
Eldest One is the leader of the Deep Ones, the alien race who seek to end the existence of the humans. Despite Eldest One's name and powers, it takes form of a infant Deep One when the player first meet the Eldest One. Although extremely powerful, before the game took place Eldest One's powers weakened for some reason, allowing the Abyssal King's army to capture, and to imprison in the caves below the Deep City. Of Eldest One's many abilities, one of the most notable ones is being able to spawn Deep Ones from Eldest One's shadows.
The explorers first met on the Eldest One's prison, deep inside the Molten Caves, as a task given by the Abyssal King. Eldest One immediately summons a Deep One and a Deep Lady to attack, but those are ultimately defeated. After that, depending on the player's decisions, they may meet the Eldest One again, and even help the Eldest One to redeem itself from the Eldest One's past mistakes.
Story[]
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Eldest One's true form
The eldest one is always depicted as a calm being, rarely changing its tone - though Eldest One invariably acts as if completely in control; during its first encounter with the party, Eldest One regards them with mocking obeisance if they attempt to attack the Eldest One, regarding them with the same respect a predator might give a mouse: Eldest One sees the humans of the party as beneath it. This supreme confidence aside, Eldest One still reacts coldly and logically, with almost chilling reasonability.
More emerges if the player attempts to make peace between the Deep City and Armoroad. Perhaps for the first time in Eldest One's existence, the Eldest One appears to lament its decisions up until this point. Eldest One's reasoning is intentionally ambiguous: hints are equally placed that the Eldest One had feelings for the Princess and that Eldest One viewed these feelings as weakness, and urged the party to purge her corruption as a way of destroying those feelings. Still other hints suggest that Eldest One had no feelings for her at all, and simply guided the party in such a way as to bring about Eldest One's resurgence of power, since Eldest One's pact with Gutrune left Eldest One weak enough for the Deep City's forces to isolate and capture the Eldest One. More hints suggest genuine remorse. Eldest One also wonders if humanity and the Deep Ones can coexist with each other (due to the Princess approaching the Eldest One without fear), and may end up asking the player's guild for their thoughts.
The interpretation remains up to the player. In the end, it matters little: Eldest One fights the party in the form of the Progenitor out of obligation to the Abyssal God, acutely aware of Eldest One's role in the greater scheme of things, created by the Abyssal God and ultimately sacrificed when necessary. While Eldest One shows hesitation in Eldest One's final battle, and respects the party as champions of their kind, Eldest One's superior attitude remains. When finally slain, who tells of how the Abyssal God came to Planet Earth. Eldest One also fades into the sea with satisfaction that Gutrune is able to reunite with her brother Seyfried. As Eldest One's last words, who tells the player that in order to end the conflict with the Deep Ones, their God must die.
Trivia[]
- The Eldest One is the first major villain of the series who isn't a human.
- Although the Eldest one is often referred as a male, its often implied that he is, in fact, genderless, or rather, hermaphroditic(both male and female).