Elwin Rosfield

Elwin Rosfield is a character in Final Fantasy XVI. Elwin is the Archduke of Rosaria, the husband of Anabella and the father of Clive and Joshua.^[1]

History[]

Background[]

Elwin was born as the first son of the previous Duke of the Rosaria, the former Dominant of the Phoenix. When he was young, he also gained a younger brother, Byron. To ensure that the Phoenix would remain within to ducal bloodline, Elwin got into an arranged marriage with his own cousin, Anabella, that resulted in the couple giving birth to two sons, Clive and Joshua.

Elwin's ducal responsibilities also involved accompanying his father during the war with the Northern Territories, who invaded Rosaria due to the Blight forcing them from their lands. It was during this campaign that he would come across a seemingly motherless baby wolf and took it in out of pity, resulting in Clive taking it his pet named Torgal. In the end, Rosaria triumphed over the Northern Territories but allowed refugees into their lands. However, to ensure that immigrants would not revolt, Elwin took their ruler's daughter, Jill Warrick, as his ward, treating her as his own daughter.

After his father passed away, while everyone expected Clive to inherit Phoenix's power, the Eikon was instead passed to Joshua. However, since he was still just a child, Elwin was named acting Duke until the boy came of age. Throughout his reign, he crafted legislation to improve the situation of Bearers within Rosaria and eventually planned to emancipate them. He was also supportive of Clive as he tried to find a new identity for himself. This worsened his relationship with Anabella, however, as she was staunchly prejudiced toward Bearers and disdainful toward Clive for "humiliating" her.

Night of Flames[]

When reports started coming in that the Iron Kingdom might be trying a new invasion of Rosaria, Elwin took on the initiative. He ordered Clive to eliminate goblins from a deserted town before joining him, Joshua and the Shields at Phoenix Gate for a traditional ritual of guidance. Anabella was against Joshua taking part in this endeavor, but since he was the Dominant of the Phoenix, Elwin claimed his presence is needed. He also did this, because despite Joshua's health, he would eventually have to live in the world, not just remain locked in a castle. He was also confident about Clive's ability to keep Joshua safe despite Anabella's criticisms of him.

On the following night at Phoenix Gate, a feast was held, in which Elwin took part. But after, when the castle was quiet, assassins from the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, infiltrated the castle with the help of turncoat Shields and began to murder everyone they could find. Elwin was able to fend off the initial assassins and reunite with Joshua and Clive. Clive told Elwin and Joshua to flee the castle while he stays behind to keep the imperials busy, to buy them time. However, just as when they were about to reach chocobos to flee, another group assassins surprised them, and before Elwin could react, he was brutally decapitated. This caused Joshua to lose control of his Dominant powers, transform into the Phoenix and set the castle ablaze. This event would eventually cause Clive to summon a second Eikon of Fire, Ifrit.

Legacy[]

Following the Night of Fames, Rosaria became an imperial province with Anabella reigning as its vicereine. However, it was Anabella herself who orchestrated the assassinations at Phoenix Gate, all because she did not agree with Elwin's way of rule. Whereas Elwin ruled for his people and country, Anabella believed Elwin should have ruled for his bloodline and sovereignty, the people and country be damned. With Elwin's rule ended, the status of the common folk of Rosaria quickly declined. Anabella ruled over Rosaria as a tyrant, willing to have all the Bearers purged and anyone who opposed her, killed. Yet, there were still those who reminisced the golden days of Elwin's noble rule, such as the Guardians of the Flame, a league of former Shields sworn to fight for the good of Rosaria.

Elwin's sons, Clive and Joshua, both survived the Night of Flames, and in their own ways, they kept on believing in the way their father ruled over his people. When Elwin's surviving supporters saw that Clive was alive, many of them asked him to take his father's place as the ruler of Rosaria. Clive, however, refused, but nevertheless fought for the same ideals his father did; that every individual, Bearer or no, deserved to live in a world, where everyone are equals, able to decide their own destinies.

After the brothers reunited, Clive and Joshua would pay a visit to their father's memorial in Rosaria, to pay their respects. Joshua would also borrow Elwin's helmet for the battles to come before the brothers vow to make their father proud. As they began to depart, Clive felt, for a moment, that his father was indeed watching over them.

During Clive's final fight against the god Ultima (who was indirectly responsible for Elwin's demise), Elwin gave Clive encouragement by telling him "onward" as the latter parried the God's Darkness Unending attack with Odin's power.

Characteristics[]

Appearance[]

Elwin is a mature man with medium-length black hair and blue eyes. His bangs are sharply parted, and he has a goatee. He wears a red coat decorated with Rosarian emblems, with black sleeves and segmented coattails that nearly reach the ground, and had a thick, black belt around his waist. Underneath his coat, he wears a chainmail vest, and wears white gloves with black fingers.

Personality[]

Elwin Rosfield has shown to be a kind, fair, humble and open-minded ruler of Rosaria who excelled in both literary and military arts. Unlike Anabella, his wife, Elwin does not take too much pride in his royal status or lineage which could be rooted in how his own father died before his time, leaving him to inherit the throne without even becoming the Phoenix's Dominant. As a result, he believes that royal blood and status is meaningless if the kingdom were to be threatened and destroyed. His humble and kind nature ultimately makes him well loved by his people, even mingling with the soldiers under his rule and refers to them as his friends, joining in the soldiers singing during the feast at Phoenix Gate which makes him more personable around his soldiers and servants. Elwin would later be revealed to be more forward thinking than the other nations in regards to how they treat their Bearers. Instead of simply treating them as disposable slaves, Elwin treated them as human beings as much as he could get away with, such as having masterless Bearers as wards of the duchy, thus giving them a home and a purpose. He even attempted to pass a legislation that would give the Bearers more human rights to set an example to the other nations but would sadly fail.

Elwin has also shown to be a stern yet loving father to his family, mostly towards his sons. In contrast to his wife, who is thoroughly elitist and narrow-minded thanks to Joshua inheriting the Phoenix's power, and looks down on Clive for not inheriting that gift, Elwin genuinely loves both his children because of his humility. Elwin deeply disapproves how Anabella openly scorns Clive all the while coddling Joshua, yet it could be argued that he does not confront his wife about her behavior towards their sons mainly to keep their family stable and united in the face of the emerging threats. At the same time, and whenever Anabella is not present, Elwin shows faith in Clive's abilities as a soldier and supports his efforts to become the First Shield of Rosaria as his new purpose. Elwin even informed Clive, privately, that he was looking forward to the day his son would "shut her up". He also attempts to guide Joshua as much he can and provide encouragement towards his youngest son.

However, Elwin underestimated how cruel and arrogant his wife really was, nor could he have anticipated the lengths she would go to in maintaining her high position in the world, which included treachery, treason and murder. His death would leave the majority of his people distraught just as Clive would be left devastated at his father's death.

Etymology[]

Elwin is an Old English name meaning “elf”, “magical being”, and “friend”, and is a variant of Elvin, Alwin, and Alvin.

Citations[]