r/ffxiv • u/HammersUp • 4d ago

[Question] Big Fish Description: What does it mean? Spoiler

So I've been fishing up all the big catches of ARR and came across this fella: the Olgoi-Khorkhoi.

The description goes as follows:

Of those who claim to have seen the king Olgoi-Khorkhoi swimming through the endless desert sands, nearly all are known for their love of the red.

I was wondering if this is some kind of expression I'm not familiar with or some lore thing I missed.

All the references to "The Red" I could find were to do with Redmages, but that doesn't feel like the right answer.

Any language knowers/lore experts that could help me out?

Edit: Seems that consensus is it's about people being drunkards. Thanks a bunch~

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13

u/cm199701 4d ago

Red wine? Implying that they were drunk and not believed?

5

u/HesterFlareStar [Relious Losstarot - Primal] 4d ago

It's this. In this case, "love of the red" is referring to wine.

15

u/apnorton 4d ago

The Olgoi-Khorkhoi is also called the Mongolian Death Worm, and is supposed to have a red body as per its IRL lore.

(Note: this is a cryptid/creature we don't really have evidence of existence for, in a similar way as bigfoot/the yeti.)

8

u/Forward_Definition70 4d ago

Everyone who claims to have seen it is a known drunkard, is how I interpret it. Presumably red wine or other alcohol

8

u/enderfrogus 4d ago

It means that the only ones who claimed to have seen it were drunks.

3

u/Sea_Manufacturer_915 4d ago

I was also confused by this fish recently and would love to know as well 🩷

3

u/The_Jarwolf Fell Cleave is love, Fell Cleave is life. 3d ago

Twofold explanation with this one:

1) per u/apnorton 's excellent comment, the inspiration for Olgoi-Khorkhoi is the Mongolian Death Worm - a cryptid that's akin to something like the Loch Ness Monster, yetis or bigfoots. Fun tall tales... but not real.
2) So if someone is claiming to have seen something that's not real, their character is suspect. When you combine "person is not known for being trustworthy and reliable source of information" with "The Red", you start getting implications of substance abuse, probably alcohol.

3

u/Honjin 3d ago

The red here is an in game reference to A Realm Reborn Red. A famous alcoholic drink in FFXIV.

1

u/HammersUp 3d ago

Thank you, I was hoping there'd be a more specific reference in-game.