Voidsent and sin eaters are monsters out of the Final Fantasy 14 MMO, both warped in similar ways but with polar opposites. While voidsent are warped by darkness, sin eaters are warped by light. It pushes the idea that a balance is needed, and that light is not inherently good and darkness is not inherently bad. However, while voidsent have always been around in Final Fantasy 14, the sin eaters did not come about until Shadowbringers.
The similarities and differences between these two groups are fascinating and say a lot about the nature of aether in the world of Final Fantasy 14. Both were accidentally created by Ascians in their attempts to get worlds such as the First and 13th to rejoin with Zodiark. While the 13th became the Void, the expansion of Shadowbringers solved the issue with sin eaters before it could share a similar fate.
The Creation Of Voidsent And Sin Eaters
The voidsent were created on the 13th reflection when the Ascian Igeyorhm defeated the Bringer of Light. Their defeat inadvertently made a Flood of Darkness occur. All the residents caught in the flood became voidsent and the world turned into what is now known as the Void. The world had only two survivors: Cylva and Unukalhai, who were saved by the Ascians to later help with their plans.
Sin eaters were made on the First reflection. The first sin eater was born when Ardbert defeated an Ascian named Mitron with a blade of Light while wishing light to banish all darkness. The Ascian was already Light aspected, and his defeat at the hands of Ardbert turned him into a sort of Light primal called Eden. The primal cast a Flood of Light (much like the Flood of Darkness on the 13th). While Minfilia Warde sacrificed herself so that the whole would not be consumed by the Flood, the people who were touched by the Flood of Light became sin eaters and began to invade the world that Minfilia protected.
Their Differences
While sin eaters have not appeared in the Source, a lot of voidsent have. This is because mages of the Source found ways to summon them in attempts for power. Examples of this include Emperor Xande of the Allagan Empire making a pact with voidsent such as the Cloud of Darkness to destroy the world and mages using voidsent during the War of the Magi. For now, there has been no attempts to summon sin eaters to the Source like voidsent have been in the past.
While sin eaters lack sentience and work purely by instinct (except for Vaulthry), voidsent can be a little more psychologically complex with their desires dialed up to uncontrollable. Sin eaters also have the ability to turn other people into sin eaters, while voidsent have not been shown to have such a skill. Despite sin eaters being able to spread their kind, Final Fantasy 14 has shown there are way more voidsent then there are sin eaters. This is because of Minfilia's sacrifice that stopped the Flood on the First. If she did not intervene, it is likely that everyone would have become sin eaters like the people did with voidsent on the 13th shard.
Their Similarities
Outside of being created by Floods of too much darkness and light, voidsent and sin eaters also are diverse and have a sort of hierarchy in power. High ranking voidsent include the Cloud of Darkness, Ferdiad, and Diabolos. For sin eaters in Shadowbringers, the most powerful are called Lightwardens. The higher ranking monsters tend to attract the lesser around them.
The survivors of the 13th, Cylva and Unukalhai, noticed how similar the voidsent and sin eaters were and decided to live on the First because they wish to learn a possible way to restore their shard from its Flood of Darkness. With the Warrior of Light's work on the First in expelling Lightwardens and returning a balance of darkness to the world, it is not far-fetched to imagine future expansions to explore how to deal with the 13th and the voidsent in the same manner.
Final Fantasy 14 is out now for PC, PS4, and PS5.
