Forbidden Knowledge
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Forbidden Knowledge
- Quest giver
- Matoya
- Location
- Matoya's Cave (Zone) (X:6, Y:6)
- Quest line
Heavensward Main Scenario Quests- Level
- 59
- Required items
1 On Aetheric Convergence- Experience
53,820- Gil
5,000- Previous quest
Matoya's Cave- Next quest
- An Eye for Aether
- Patch
- 3.0
- Links
- EDB GT TC
Main Scenario Progress: 326 / 987 (33%)
Heavensward Progress: 85 / 138 (61.6%)
“Matoya is in a mood to reminisce.
— In-game description
Rewards
- Unlocks
Steps
- Speak with Matoya.
- Speak with the enchanted broom.
- Speak with the enchanted broom at the Great Gubal Library.
- Enter the Great Gubal Library.
Journal
- Matoya shares with you the tale of her work on a device known as an aetheric converger, and how it led to a bitter falling-out between her and her peers. The fruits of her research were apparently compiled within a tome which now lies sealed within the Great Gubal Library, and you must overcome the dangers within if you wish to retrieve it. Ask Matoya for further instructions.
- Matoya loans you one of her servants to guide you to the Great Library and unlock its long-sealed doors. Make yourself known to this servant -- a broom.
- Having introduced himself as Broomsy, the surprisingly eloquent sweeping implement furnishes you with directions to the Great Library. Upon leaving Matoya's Cave, you are to make your way east; the library building will come into view upon gaining the collapsed bridge. Speak with Broomsy when you arrive, and he will unlock the door for you.
- The Great Gubal Library is ready to receive its first visitors in fifteen years. Brave the dangers within and retrieve Matoya's tome.
- ※Challenge the Great Gubal Library with other players via the Duty Finder, or with a party of NPCs via Duty Support. Both systems are accessible from the main menu as well as the dungeon's entrance point.
- You have survived the trials within the Great Gubal Library. Make your way back to the outside world.
- Upon defeating the library's final guardian, the Crystal of Water regains the power of the Light. Soon after, you find what you can only assume is Matoya's tome on the aetheric converger. Bear the book back to Matoya, who awaits you within her cave.
- Matoya confirms that you have retrieved the correct tome. All that remains is to put the knowledge it contains to use.
Dialogue
Optional dialogue
Being here calls to mind my days studying under Matoya. Though she was the strictest─and most irascible─of mentors, she led by example and inspired one to greater heights. Were it not for her sage guidance, I should not be the woman I am.
Do you see the tomes lying about like so many cheap romances? They are priceless. My professors at the Studium would have fits if they saw them in this state.
Accepting the quest
Start of voiced cutscene. 'Twas some fifty years ago, shortly after Garlemald had brought all of Ilsabard under its rule.
Faced with the threat of invasion, the people of Sharlayan scrambled about for a means to resist the Empire. For my part, I was tasked with developing an aetheric converger.
Ah, yes, a device which draws in aether and concentrates it to produce a destructive force.
But as my research neared its end, it was denounced by the Forum, who claimed that my device was more likely to destroy us than our enemies.
After that, they and I had a little falling-out, and I decided to seal away all the fruits of my research, lest the dunderheaded ingrates repeat any benefit. Petty, I know, but gods, it was satisfying!
Do mine ears deceive? 'Twas you, was it not, who was so fond of saying that all knowledge exists to advance mankind? That how it is used depends on us?
I don't remember. Perhaps. All right, yes, that was a pet phrase of mine. And that should give you a notion of how sick and tired I was of those spineless wretches of the Forum. All talk and no trousers, that lot. That's why I decided to remain behind rather than join the exodus.
You may have had your disagreements with my grandfather, but upon that point, your minds were as one.
With respect, Master—the fruits of your research should not be left to spoil. Will you share with us the secrets of the aetheric converger?
Aye, I will. All the information you need is contained in a tome I wrote on the subject. But you'll have to fetch it from the forbidden section of the Great Library.
You were not exaggerating when you said that you had sealed it away. Though the city is abandoned, the library's guardians are all but certain to remain. We must needs cut a path through them. Come—let us away.
Not so fast! You don't expect that you can just waltz on in, now, do you?
End of cutscene.
Optional dialogue
Do you see the tomes lying about like so many cheap romances? They are priceless. My professors at the Studium would have fits if they saw them in this state.
Being here calls to mind my days studying under Matoya. Though she was the strictest—and most irascible—of mentors, she led by example and inspired one to greater heights. Were it not for her sage guidance, I should not be the woman I am.
Speaking with Matoya
Oh, the Great Library's guardians shouldn't pose any difficulty for a hero like you.
But if it turns out you aren't up to the task... Well, then I'll know you can't be trusted with something as dangerous as an aetheric ram.
I'll put a pair of familiars at your disposal. One's a poroggo who'll help you locate the tome.
The other's that broom yonder, who'll let you into the library.
... Well? What are you waiting for? Introduce yourself boy/girl!
... Well? What are you waiting for? Introduce yourself boy/girl!
Optional dialogue
Among other things, Master Matoya is an authority in familiars. After we have tended to our task, perhaps I shall beg her for some insights on the subject...
The Great Library was more than just a repository for tomes; it also served as a center of research for countless fields of study.
Fields such as the development of arcane entities, the fruits of which were employed as the library's sentinels. We must be ever on our guard.
Are you going to introduce yourself to that broom or not? No skin off my nose if you don't.
Speaking with the enchanted broom
Greetings, good sir/madam. I am Broomsy, my lady's servant of some fifty years. May I say what an honor it is to serve you!
I am given to understand you wish to enter the Great Gubal Library. To find it, pray head east upon leaving this cave. The building will come into view shortly after you reach the collapsed bridge.
I shall go and fetch my fellow familiar on my way to the entrance. When your preparations are in order, pray come and meet me there. It will be my pleasure to unlock the door for you.
Optional dialogue
What are you loitering around here for? Hurry up and fetch that book!
I am Pero Roggo, ribbit, and it shall be my pleasure to guide you in the library.
As a child, I would often come here. Not only on Master Matoya's errands, but for my own research besides.
The Great Gubal Library... Whatever the reason, it boggles my mind to think that such a grand repository of knowledge could be abandoned.
Speak with Broomsy at the Great Gubal Library
You stand before the Great Gubal Library, one of Hydaelyn's foremost repositories of knowledge.
Alas, it has fallen into disuse since the exodus some summers since. In all those years, its halls have welcomed not the coming of a single soul—its floors felt not the loving brush of a broom...
M-Mine apologies, madam/sir! Pray pay no mind to the dreams of a humble broom. You are doubtless eager to venture within and retrieve my lady's tome. I shall unlock the door at once. When you have what you seek, pray return to the cave and report to my lady.
Optional dialogue
I wish you good fortune in your search. When you have found what you seek, pray return to the cave and report to my lady.
The Great Gubal Library (with Duty Support)
Pray lead the way.
With pleasure, ribbit!
Even at a glance, I see many interesting tomes.
'Tis a pity they had to be abandoned.
Is that supposed to be a grimoire!?
Yes, but not the kind you want to read, ribbit.
Everyone hale and whole, ribbit?
Thank goodness we weren't crushed...
Watch out, ribbit!
What a curious familiar...
Is that a treatise on the New World I spy?
Ah yes, I've read that one. I can recommend it.
The entrance to the forbidden section is just ahead, ribbit.
Which makes this fellow here the gatekeeper.
Argh, oil everywhere! You shall pay dearly, accursed mortals!
I am undone...but my master's seal is broken!
I wouldn't have guessed it weak to fire.
On account of being bound to a tome, I would assume.
An arcane entity that can summon familiars!
The guardians of the forbidden section are a class apart.
Forbidden tomes can certainly assume many forms...
Master Matoya's tome is at the far end, ribbit.
Yet another guardian...
Did you ever doubt it? Come, let's finish this.
Oh, for the time to pore over this collection...
Post-duty cutscene
Start of voiced cutscene.[The fifth of six crystals surrounding the player reignites.]
So this is the tome. Excellent.
Let us take it to Master Matoya at once.
End of cutscene.
Optional dialogue
As expected, the library was rife with dangers, but full glad I am that I could accompany you.
Depending on her mood, Master Matoya may well have forced some of us to stay behind to help repair her sentinels. With her, there's simply no telling...
Ahem... Despite how it may have sounded, I do not exaggerate when I say it was a tremendous learning experience to observe one of Master Matoya's familiars. The insights I acquired, I shall put to good use.
Delivering the tome to Matoya
I take it you found the tome. Well, let's see it, then.
[The player hands over the tome.]
Aye, this is it all right...
I must say, the experience brought back memories. Just like the old days, you still send people into the thick of danger as if it were nothing more than a mundane errand.
But we were able to accomplish our task thanks to Pero Roggo. He is an eminently capable familiar - a creation worthy of the great Master Matoya - and to simply witness him in action gave me a better understanding of arcane entities.
Should the opportunity present itself, I should very much like to employ this knowledge for the betterment of mankind—create a new variety of Carbuncle, perhaps...
Don't get ahead of yourself, boy. Louisoux's grandson or no, it'll take another decade under me before you can call yourself a scholar, and a deal more than that to make you a scholar worth a damn.
As you may have gathered, Master Matoya is not easily impressed.
...Indeed. Ahem. So, shall we examine the tome?
History
Prior to the addition of Duty Support to 
The Great Gubal Library in patch 6.3, Alphinaud and Y'shtola stayed behind, and Matoya had the following dialogue in place of "Not so fast! You don't expect that you can just waltz on in, now, do you?":
Not so fast, you lot! Shtola and the boy are staying with me.
I need help to make new sentinels to replace the old ones you walloped. There'll be board and lodging, don't you worry, but know that you'll have to work for them. Hard. I'll have no sluggards in my house!
Note that Sheila Steafel, Matoya's original voice actress, died in 2019, so it is unknown who voice acted the new line.
As part of this change, Alphinaud received two new voiced lines in the cutscene after completing the dungeon (when previously he stayed behind in Matoya's Cave).
Alphinaud and Y'shtola's optional dialogue changed upon returning to Matoya's Cave. It was previously:
At the Studium, I had the good fortune to be tutored by some of the finest scholars in Sharlayan. I can safely say, however, that Master Matoya exceeds them all. How I should have liked to listen to her arguing with my grandfather...
You have the tome, yes? Then hurry and show it to Matoya that I might be free of her stifling attention.
Y'shtola's current optional dialogue alludes to the fact that she and Alphinaud were forced to stay behind to repair the sentinels prior to the update.
Finally, the dialogue at the end of the quest upon talking to Matoya changed from the following after handing over the tome:
Aye, this is it all right...
Shtola! Boy! Put down whatever you're doing and come here! Forename has returned with the tome!
Shtola! Boy! Put down whatever you're doing and come here! Forename has returned with the tome!
Thank the gods. But another minute under Master Matoya's exacting supervision, and I would have certainly lost my mind—or mayhap merely my temper. Some things never change indeed...
Well, I for one appreciate the exacting supervision. In the short while we have been here, I feel I have gained a far better understanding of arcane entities than I did during my entire time at the Studium.
The remaining lines are unchanged until the final line, which was:
...Indeed. Ahem. So, uh...Forename has returned with the tome, has he/she not? Shall we examine it?