Final Fantasy 14’s new goofball is the MMO’s latest fan sensation - thanks to a spicy scene where Wuk Lamat goes full cat meme

Wuk Lamat sweats in a cutscene from Final Fantasy 14's 6.55 patch
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 14's new feline momma has quickly become a fan favorite, as is tradition with new FF14 characters, mainly because she channels her inner crying cat meme.

Final Fantasy 14 recently introduced its first story-centric female Hrothgar in patch 6.55 to prepare for the character's hugely important role in the upcoming Dawntrail expansion. Newbie Wuk Lamat is set to summon our Warrior of Light over to the expansion's new region, thus kickstarting the MMO’s next nig arc, but her contributions to the plot pale in comparison to her memetastic introduction

As you can see in one cutscene, Wuk Lamat seems nonchalant at the sight of spicy food when eating out with some other big-eared friendos. "It's not like we don’t have spicy food in Tural too!" she says, right before scooping up some red-hot stew and fading into an internal oblivion due to the heat. 

She even disturbs some very important, very businessy exposition to convince us that "it's nothing," while still visibly shaking. Maybe she's more loveable goofball, less feline momma after all. Watch below, it's a laugh. 

As expected, or maybe, as designed, the character quickly became a community sensation with Wuk Lamat memes and fan art sweeping across the fandom. Social media surfers quickly pointed out the similarities between Wuk Lamat and the teary cat meme that’s been a mainstay on the interwebs for a decade.

Other fans photoshopped the character next to Sean Evans (the Hot Wings, Hotter Questions man) who often sits opposite sweaty strangers going through internal crises. Here are a couple more fun and funny fan posts for any fellow Wuk Lamat lovers.

Sena Bryer, the English voice actor behind the character, actually has a pretty fun story about how she landed the role. Bryer was an active Final Fantasy 14 player for over a decade, and even (unsuccessfully) interviewed to become a community representative at one point. Things worked out in the end since the character is now the face of a thousand community fancams. 

Elsewhere, producer Naoki Yoshida recently acknowledged that the MMO had a "bad" history when displaying darker skin.

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.