Freezing a Favorite Character

I have several major and minor NPCs in FFXIV that I like. Sometimes I like them so much that I create my own character based on them. Thus far I’ve made characters based on V’kebbe The Stray from the rogue quests, Magnai Orinir from Stormblood, Loifa Brighteye from the sage quests, and Quimperain Evertrue from the astrologian quests. My character versions all have different names than the NPCs to make them more my own. Sometimes the name change is as simple as a different last name and sometimes I end up renaming them completely because their story went a new direction. Even so, there always remains that spark of what made me like them in the first place.

One of my favorite major NPCs in FFXIV is Estinien “Wyrmblood” Varlineau. I first met him during the MSQ long before I pursued the dragoon class quests so all I knew of him was how he presented from the main story. When I eventually did the dragoon quests and encountered his “past” self I realized he’d undergone even more character growth than I first thought. Estinien took a while to grow on me, especially because he was always hidden in that dragoon armor and was so surly and narrow-minded through much of Heavensward.

The more MSQ I did and the more Estinien was in it, the more I liked him. I loved how his character grew and evolved and learned from his past mistakes and became such a good friend/big brother to Alphinaud. I also appreciated that Estinien always seemed to have faith in the WoL even when others still felt uncertain of their abilities. As someone who has always felt like any version of me being the WoL is a recipe for disaster, I genuinely enjoyed Estinien’s belief in me.

By the time Endwalker came around, I wanted all the Estinien the game could give me and it delivered! The scene in Thavnair where Estinien comes to our rescue riding upon Vrtra had me clapping for joy in real life as I sat in my chair. That part of the Endwalker story came at a very challenging and sad point in my life and having Estinien show up and give everyone hope was exactly what I needed. I’m always happier when Estinien is in a cutscene or helping us in a dungeon or trial.

There obviously wasn’t enough Estinien in Dawntrail for me and I wanted more of the Scions overall but I am glad he was there at all and seemed to be enjoying himself. I think it was the lack of Estinien in the MSQ that finally inspired me to make my own version of him so that I could see him whenever I wanted to and view the world through his eyes.

Usually when I make a character based on an NPC, I try to keep their look pretty similar to their in-game appearance. For my version of Estinien, I switched things up a bit and made him a Duskwight Elezen instead of an Ishgardian Elezen that uses Wildwood Elezen features. I love all types of Elezen but I feel like Duskwights don’t get enough love and thus my Duskwights outnumber my Wildwoods. Of course a Duskwight version of Estinien would have to have an appropriate name so I decided to name him Icestinien Frostblood in recognition of his blue skin and pale blue hair. I call him Ice for short and he is my “frozen” version of Estinien.

Estinien’s character hairstyle is not available in-game (someday I hope it will be though) so I got him the Bold and Braid hairstyle as soon as possible. I made him on Maduin because of the nice road to 90 boost still happening on Dynamis worlds. When I made him there was a sale on story and class boosts as well so I boosted him to 90 dragoon and got him right to Dawntrail. I have 40 characters and as much as I love the story of FFXIV, I don’t have the patience or time to run them all through every expansion.

I’ve been playing Icestinien for several weeks now and have been enjoying him greatly. He always has the Midgardsormr minion out and I swear little Grampa Middie perches on Ice’s shoulder way more than he ever has on any of my other characters.

Thus far, nobody in game has commented on his name or appearance, which is fine. I rarely get any acknowledgment of my NPC-based characters and I don’t do it for attention anyway. I do it to breathe more life into a character I already love and flesh them out in ways the game writers won’t.

For example, I highly doubt the writers will ever put him in the super modern casual clothing available in the game but I have no such qualms. He also has his own island now, which I think is something Estinien would do if given the chance.

With the 90 dragoon boost, I could’ve started Icestinien in Dawntrail right away but I decided I wanted to get him to level 90 dancer first. I accomplished that feat a few days ago and started him in Dawntrail shortly after. Dancer is my favorite class and the one I’m most comfortable playing so knowing the trials and dungeons in his future, I felt it best to have his dancing skills up to the task.

Ice is the first male character I’ve gotten to level 90 dancer and I love the etoile set on him! Eventually I’ll do the role quests to make it dyeable but for now, I’m okay with the black.

I have been playing Icestinien as dragoon through the MSQ as well and want to keep it leveled alongside dancer for lore reasons. It wouldn’t do to have a character with such a name not at level 100 dragoon before any other class. I will admit though that I’m not great at any melee class so he’ll be doing lots of expected floor tanking. But dragoon is a really fun and acrobatic class and I love jumping up out of view every other move.

I’ve decided that I want to get Ice the casual attire from the latest PVP series so I try to remember every night to take him through a Frontline or two. I do Crystalline Conflict too but I try to pace myself with PVP because I know it’s easy to get burnt out. He’s the only character I plan on getting the outfit on though and once he’s got it, I’ll be taking a break from PVP for my own sanity.

There’s much more to say about Icestinien Frostblood and his character development but that will have to wait because this post is already quite long. I promise to share more about him and the world around him very soon!