Thavnairean onions are the most important vegetable in Final Fantasy XIV. Your chocobo is your best ally when completing quests, performing FATEs, or killing hunting monsters. It's in your best interest to level up as quickly as possible so you always have a Pocket Tank, Pocket Healer, or a little extra damage while you're in the open world. You will need to feed your chocobo one of these onions each time it reaches level 10. Since chocobos are maxed at level 20, you will need a total of 10 to complete your chocobo progress. .
Obtaining Thavnairian Onions can be a tedious task. Many free societies grow onions in bulk for their members, as distributing the burden of planting and watering among several gardeners makes it much easier. But an industrious gardener can certainly grow them on their own.
Using thavnairian onions
Once your Shock Buddy reaches level 10, they will stop gaining experience points. Feed your chocobo an onion, whether it's in the stable or in the open world, and they can earn the experience points needed to reach level 11.
Thavnairian Onions as a Quest Reward
There are two quests that reward Thavnairian Onions:
- Get a stable job: Once you complete the level 50 main storyline quest "The Better Half", it unlocks an Ishgardian side quest called Landing a Stable Job. Collect it from Mathye's The Jeweled Crozier (X: 6, Y: 9).
- The true nature of a hunter: This quest has some prerequisites. You will need to have completed 3 side quests in the Dravanian Foreland: "Pest Control", "A Step in the Right Direction" and "Garbage Duty". Once you've done these three, visit Hervoix in Tailfeather (X: 32, Y: 23) to pick up this quest and get your onion.
Growing thavnairian onions
Growing your own Thavnairian onions is a labor of love that can take weeks. You can either buy Thavnairian Onion Seeds from the market and grow them yourself, or cross other common plants to get the seeds. Thavnairian onion seeds take 10 days to grow. If you are crossing each other to get the seeds, expect to spend an additional 5-6 days waiting for your crosses to sprout.
The easiest method we have found is as follows:
- Cross the Krakka Root and the Mirror Apple to get the Curiel Root.
- Cross almonds and mandrake to get Nymeia Lillies.
- Then cross Curiel Root and Nymeia Lillies for a chance to get Thavnairian Onion Seeds.
- Plant your onion seeds
There are a number of other potential crosses that will produce thavnairian onion seeds listed on the FFXIV Gardening site.
