well, fuck

Franken Stein - Anime Vs Manga - Foils

As I've noted before, one of the more facinating things about comparing the later Soul Eater Anime vs the later Manga part is seeing and comparing the ways characters and themes follow similar lines, sometimes with wildly different outcomes, or quality of execution.

And one of the more interesting examples of this is how each incarnation handles Dr Franken Stein's descent into madness, and ultimately rejecting the abyss in it's own ways.

Both rely heavily on foils and contrasts, with the Anime using Stein's lovelife by contrasting his feelings for Marie Mjolnir with his deeply unhealthy attraction to Medusa, while the Manga uses the character of Justin Law to showcase why Stein ultimately rejected total madness.

Both have the same themes, but uses wildly different means to tell their story.

The anime's biggest difference here is that it actually has Stein fall to madness, while in the manga despite all temptations, and just how close he dances at the endge he never falls in.

This by it's very nature changes Stein's story to one of recovery, rather than temptation.

Because Anime Stein gives in, and the anime is not shy about illustrating just what a terrible choice doing so is.

The anime is also different in that it very much builds upon already established character and storylines in order to tell it's tale.

The anime takes the plotpoint of Crona betraying Stein to Medusa, and uses it as a springboard to further both Marie and Crona's characters as they deal with the aftermath of that choice.

This ultimately would likely not have happened if Crona had not fallen back into obeying Medusa again, and so Thematically, Crona's fate and redepmtion is tied to Stein's.

And while Crona is deeply, deeply regretful, Marie loves Stein and so deeply, deeply angry at both Crona and Medusa, while also wanting to reacue Stein.

However, this is just one side of the story, because Stein's actual fall is also rooted in the other character motivation that this direction uses to tell this tale.

And that is Medusa and her genuine, and toxic attraction to Stein.

Stein and Medusa ultimately are very similar people, both love taking things apary, both love chaos, and both are brilliant minds.

Their attraction to each others qualities are genuine... But that is all it is. Attraction. There is no love involved here, as neither actually cares about the other as a person.

These two only compliments the other in that they bring out the absolute worst aspects about the other. It is a relationship built on perverse attraction to their love for destrution and hedonism, very much a mirrior to Maka and Crona, who ends up being very important to this section of the story.

It is also a relationship built upon being the easy road. Whereas all the healthy relationships in the series are built around having to take the hard road with your loved ones, even when it hurts, medusa represents Stein just giving in to his madness, to jump off the abyss because he sees something destructive, tempting and interesting there.

Medusa additionally takes this a step into even further depravity by adding body possession into the mix, adding a third party into this mess, one withouth any capacity for concent... Which is made even worse by the fact that the person in question is a child.

Watching medusa and how much joy she takes in having twisted Stein to her will, it is crystal clear that she not only understands just how fucked up this entire thing is, but she REVELS in it.

It is frankly one of the most disturbing things in shonen anime and manga fiction period, and though thankfully it does not go all the way to the logical and disguisting endpoint, it still leaves the viewer both disguisted, disturbed and impressed just how EVIL Medusa really is.

And on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Marie Mjolnir.

Whereas Medusa represents everything wrong about Stein's personality, Marie represents the opposite.

She represents Stein's caring side, his loyalty to his side and students, the man who was brave enough to stand alone against Medusa to buy his students time.

Hers and Stein's relationahip was one of genuine love, and understanding, not simply built on nothing but attraction and shared similarities.

Quite the the opposite, Stein and Marie could not be more different... And yet they love each other anyway.

I'll also note that the Anime portrays Marie and Stein's relationship in a different light than the manga does. In the manga, the entire point is to hammer in just how unlikely that these two people could ever fall for the other, while the Anime has the same premise but focuses on something else, namely how well this fits into Soul Eater's themes of different people coming together despite all their many, many differences.

When Stein ultimately makes the choice to go back to Marie, it doesnt feel like it's an unlikely choice, but instead one feels that it's the right one. It feels natural, that these two souls that fell away from each other once more found the other.

They are different people... But so what? They both have the bravery to gice this another shot, because they care about each other.

Also, just a bit of speculation on my part, but we never actually learn how Marie lost her eye in the phsyical world, but it shows up here, when she and Stein reaffirm their bond. That augfests to me that Marie probably lost the eye in circumstances that in some way meant something deep and profound between these two, given how important it seems to Stein.

If so, and especially if her losing it was Stein's fault in the first place, and mayhaps the reason they broke up, would add even more weight to her choice to gice this another go, forgiving him for his mistakes which deeply hurt her personally.

But again, this is total speculation.

Ultimately the Anime take on Stein is one that is defined by this contrast, the parallels and mirrors of Medusa and Marie, and Stein's ultimate choices between them.

Meanwhile, the Manga's foils is not between two differen people close to Stein, but instead about Stein himself as a mirror and foil to Justin Law.

Now let me be blunt. Justin Law is a very boring villain. There is very little compelling about him directly... But there is something compelling about the contrast between him and Stein.

Justin fell to madness because despite his rigid adherence to justice, honor and being a good person, he completely, and totally rejected any and all human bonds, with the only ones he made being made by complete accident, and ultimately he, in his madness, rejected even these.

He had no one to support him or draw strength from in his time of need, and so he fell to madness.

Meanwhile, Stein, despite being far, far more naturally inclined and much closer to madness from the get go, ultimately does not jump over the edge in the Manga... And the reason for that is his relationship with Marie Mjolner.

Ultimately Stein despite all his flaws devotes himself to Marie and helping her avenge her dead ex boyfriend.

And ultimately these two end up reconnecting their love just the anime, even to the degree that they get much further along in their reknit relationship than their manga counterparts.

However there are some massive differences between the two adaptions in this regard.

While the anime plays them getting back together again as a natural thing, the Manga instead plays up just how unbelievable and insane it is that these two somehow managed to reknit their relationahip, to the point where Marie actually protests that Stein is not her boyfriend, even as she is pregnant with his child.

I do actually like this take too... But I do prefer the Anime version, in large part because we actually get to see The critical turning point between Marie and stein, while the manga has their lighting the old flame happen offscreen.

It also helps that while the thematic differences between stein and Law are solid, Law is not a particularily interesting character, nor do him and Law have a deep connection.

Medusa is, and does have that connection. She is a delightfully EVIL and TWISTED villain, and her relationship with Stein makes the climax of Stain's arc, if much less of a spectacle, a much more emotional and thematically satisfying affair.

And thats even withouth factoring in the fact that this fight's outcome is actually about Crona, Maka and Medusa. Stein's fall and recovery is technically the sideplot, buy damn if it's not a great one.

I like Solas but he's a god with all the flaws gods tend to have. Hubris, arrogance, rigidity, a singularity of purpose, etc. In many ways he's closer to the spirits he loves than any mortal being and therefore finds it difficult living with the moral and emotional complexities of the present he's woken into.

As Sera says, his head is stuck thousands of years ago. He's still in that Evanuris court enacting his plan to free the elves from the other gods. A slumbering trickster wildcard who awakened to realise that his apocalyptic plan had unintended consequences and so decides to... enact another apocalyptic plan. The goober.

Like all gods he thinks in absolutes, there's no compromise, he puts a lot of importance on himself, and doesn't see the beings of Thedas as particularly real. Instead filtering them through the lens of a society and polytheistic divine melodrama that hasn't existed for over 7'000 years. A lot has changed in Thedas in 7'000 years. He cannot and should not control how culture and society evolve without him. Dalish culture is their own, they've made it their own, the truth of the gods are extraneous because it's always the people that matter and what they make of their beliefs.

He doesn't see it that way though. He sees it as him having screwed up and trying to fix his screw-up. Well, the people of Thedas sure are going to be acquainted with the truth of the Evanuris now, aren't they? As if they didn't have enough to deal with. I look forward to arguing with him inside my head.

I think the "foodie vs badass Raha" unrest exists because his being an all-rounder (in more aspects than combat and bed) gets pointedly ignored lately. Don't squander the legacy we've been bestowed: a "true neutral" character is notoriously hard to write, but at the same time deeply fascinating to rotate. Let ALL of his facets shine. Look. He's literally round-shaped. LITERALLY.

I'll say it again, he's badass no matter what, the foodie is an aspect of him healing and allowing himself to live again after so long putting himself in a role where all he expected was to die and frankly?

To embrace living after so long being a dead man walking, to embrace the joy of being merely human, all the pitfalls and peaks it may bring; isn't that in of itself, an act of courage? Isn't it sort of inherently metal and badass to be torn from your facade you've worn in different hues since childhood, from your self-designated fate, even, by the power of love, and to embrace that love as a core aspect of yourself?

Like I think that's super fucking badass actually because it's hard as HELL to choose to love. It's harder still to choose to love someone long since disregarded, discarded--yourself. The act of choosing self-love and joy after so much hardship is inherently a badass act imho

so we all agree Ghoul's shirt being blue like Lucy's uniform is a symbolism of his humanity right? like sure it's faded and buried under the layers but it's still there

The blue and gold were the Ghoul’s signature colors first. The vault suits are inspired by Cooper Howard's cowboy hero colors, not the other way around. The Ghoul is still wearing his same shirt he wore 200 years ago.

So the Ghoul is not wearing Lucy's colors, Lucy is wearing the Ghoul’s colors.

It changes the meaning of the color symbolism. In a normal story, the monstrous character subly wearing the hero's heroic colors would mean there's a deeper humanity that will come to light.

In this story, the humanity in the colors ARE his. They’re already his. The twist is the "hero" is unknowingly parading the monster’s humanity. Lucy the hero is a follower of a corporation that tricked away Cooper’s face, his colors, his good name and then destroyed all of it, and is still, 200 years later, using the stolen valor of his good image as a movie hero, family man and a Marine veteran like a puppeted corpse.

Every detail of him being a monster is due to the corporation whose uniform she wears, every hint of his humanity is retained in spite of what she is wearing, and the only vestigial goodness or humanity in the colors she is wearing is due to him and was tricked from him in the first place.

So to me there’s both a hopeful hint of his humanity when looking at him, but also this crawling horror of corporations when looking at her. The monster feels heroic and the hero feels horrifying. And that extra couple layers of irony gives their scenes a lot of interest

Shout out to Soken and the Musical Team working for FFXIV for beating us to death with the progression leitmotif of Ascians.

Thunderer: Dark and uncertain. You know like the state of ARR at the time. Just got done gutting 1.0 and making something patchworked together and hoping it all works out.

Amaurot: Soken is diagnosed and the ticking of the clock suddenly becomes haunting. Cold, somber as Emet-Selch's memories of all that he lost and can never hope to gain again.

To the Edge: Fragmented, the clicking of the clock is faster as Soken deals with the disease. This is to him as Lacrimosa is to Mozart. A requiem for his love of music and all his memories. Elidibus's fragmented memories, never to be whole again. Never to go back to as he was. Forever lost and only a name and legend.

Fleeting Moments: The clock is gone. Soken is cancer free. We return to a time when Themis was whole. When he was more than simply Elidibus. He has a name, he has motivations, he is working for the future of his star again. Triumphant, sweeping with the Shadowbringers leitmotif sewn in. Here's to a brighter future from a bittered past.

I absolutely love Urianger's walking-on-water scene, and I think what I love most about it is how much he's trying not to ask for help and what that says about him and where he's at right now.

At first glance it's easy to respond just as Alisaie does, gods above Urianger you have two friends with you who can breathe underwater, just ask, but the thing is he is trying so hard right now not to ask any more of the Warrior of Light than he already has. Look at how different this is from the early game's "Primal needs slaying? Dangerous thing needs doing? The Warrior of Light will do it!" coming from everyone. Urianger in particular is agonizingly aware of how much he has asked of all of his friends but especially Minfilia and the WoL. He knows what they went through to save the First and he knows it was ultimately all because of him that any of the Scions were dragged into this in the first place.

And sure, it's easy to poke fun at him for trying to walk on water rather than learn to swim, as Alphinaud does (and look, the twins have Urianger-roasting privileges, I'm not picking on them), but from another angle, he went and sought the help of the fae again at who knows what cost just to try and get around what I think from his dialogue is a genuine fear of deep water, just so he could handle this himself and not have to lean on his friends any more than he already has. And when it doesn't work, he's obviously embarrassed, not just at the indignity of falling in the water and having to be rescued, but also because he failed at something he's supposed to be good at, magic.

And of course, when Bismarck asks for help with the barnacles, the obvious thing to do is to ask the Warrior of Light and Alisaie. But his pride is still stinging from the previous failure and he just... doesn't want to ask any more of his friends than he has.

If he could, I think it would always be Urianger's instinct to handle everything himself and never involve anyone else, never ask for anything, never be a burden. That might even work if he didn't have an enormous heart that was always trying to help and do the greatest good and save the world--though it still wouldn't be good for him, in the end, because it would just isolate him further. He's still in the process of learning that not only can he not do it all alone, no one wants him to!

(Edited to add: I am still in post-Shadowbringers and haven't played Endwalker yet, so no spoilers please!)

I used to really love the first romance scene with Astarion (and I still do) but it hits so much harder after you know why he's doing it. That he's purposefully seducing you for protection and blood, that he's forcing himself to sleep with you, and this is a mask he's wearing.

It's a sexy scene and really feeds into the vampy (pun intended) jump-your-bones version of him you get at the start of the game. The whole thing starts out with him being so confident and suave, saying that he's wanted you ever since he set eyes on you and how you want to be known and tasted. It's like everyone's perfect vampire romance novel.

He's laying out the bait that's worked thousands of times over and luring you in. And you can just get right to the kissing if you want.

But, you can also stop and ask him, "And what do you want?"

And for just a moment the mask drops. This is not the same cocky seductive face we've had up until now. This is vulnerability showing. When has anyone asked him what he wants? When has anyone cared? Does he even know the answer to that question?

So he pivots. The mask snaps back into place immediately. He turns back into the master seducer and feeds you a line about shared ecstasy to get you back on track.

And then comes what is, to me, the pivotal moment. He asks you "That's what you want, isn't it? To lose yourself in me?"

Something I love about confronting Cazador is how he obviously never processes that Astarion has friends until it's too late.

Petras and Dalyria must have mentioned that Astarion wasn't alone when they met him, but when you read Cazador's journal? He's 100% fixated on Astarion. How Astarion stood in the sun, how Astarion was willing and able to disobey him. And when Astarion shows up, Cazador barely acknowledges the party at all - and sure, that's partly because this is Astarion's moment in the narrative, but Cazador doesn't so much as ask why these random strangers are there! They're not part of his plans, so they don't exist.

And then they immediately save his errant spawn from the ritual and start beating his ass.

Just. What must have been going through Cazador's head when that fight starting turning against him? 'Is that... the Blade of Frontiers? Why is a monster hunter - and is that a cleric? - helping a vampire spawn? An undead? Ah, but they must be treating it as a necessary evil to have a chance to slay me, of course - hold on, why is the cleric healing Astarion? Why does that wizard keep Counterspelling everything I'm casting at Astarion, why waste the spells when I'm not even targeting him? Did... did that druid just cast Daylight on Astarion's weapons? And that brute of a tiefling - that's not just disgust in her eye when she looks at me, it's fury - and she keeps putting herself in front of Astarion, why in the hells would she - she's running right at me- '

I hope that one of the last things Cazador ever knew was the choking realisation that Astarion didn't just come back strong, or free. Astarion came back loved.

👏👏👏👏👏👏!!!!!!!!!!

Astarion is so interesting with his charlatan background when considering his approval/disapproval versus what actually gives him inspiration... it really can add a lot of nuance to his character.

in Act 2, there's a scene where you're in a den of enemies and you're being told to handle a group who failed their mission any way you see fit. You can kill them, fight them honorably in battle, or let them go. If you let them go, Astarion disapproves. Later, you're questioned as to why you let them go, where you'll get a persuasion or deception check: if you pick persuasion Astarion doesn't approve but he does get inspiration.

So now, he's not approved, exactly. But he's inspired. Which reads very, very interestingly if you're going for a "good" ending with Astarion. He disapproves of you saving the goblins. Why? He approves in most cases of you sparing "monsterous" things: the goblins in act 1, the hag, the gnolls. Why does he disapprove saving them here?

Well, the circumstances are different. You are, literally, surrounded by enemies at this point. And you're choosing mercy in an environment where that is objectively the stupid thing to do. But Act 1 shows us he wants us to be understanding towards "monsters" ; what he doesn't want is for us to be put into danger doing it.

Which makes sense. 200 years of abuse. If you play through his story, you know how compassion was treated by Cazador. And Moonrise tower, with it's viscera hidden in the walls and all these casual cruelties, must feel a bit like going back. So it's easy, then, for Astarion to fall into the mindset again; you've shown mercy where it isn't safe to show mercy. You're going to get yourself killed. of course he disapproves.

But then, later, he does approve of you lying about their fate (or, more accurately, you're intentions). He's inspired by it. He disapproved of what you did, but if you successfully lie about it he turns that around. Kindness doesn't have to be a death sentence. Mercy doesn't have to be weakness. Yes, it's more dangerous to be compassionate: that's what makes it so important.

So, in a "good" playthrough the way this can be read is Astarion, fearing for you, himself, the crew because you're choosing the wrong time to be nice. Only for him to be inspired when it works out. When no one gets hurt. Everyone gets to live (for now), even though you choose to be kind.

And I would like to add: it's only a -1 approval if you spare the goblins. Given there are actions in this game that can make approval sky rocket or plummet I think it's significant that acts of compassion only ever net a -1, consistently, throughout Acts 1 and 2.

I think a fair reading then would be: it's not that Astarion hates kindness or goodness or compassion. It's that Astarion has, quite literally, only just escaped 200 years of abuse. Kindness after horrors often chafes worse than cruelty, especially when it's long-term sustained horrors. Where was that kindness for him, throughout the last 200 years? Where was the compassion then? It's not anger towards you for choosing kindness: it's mourning the fact that no one ever showed that towards him. Of course he disapproves; if people are truly good and kind and compassionate and worth saving... why did no one ever save him?

This was one of my favorite moments between Carmy and Sydney.

Sydney is working expo. She is struggling. If you watch the beginning of episode 10, she is staying calm, but her voice is quaky. She does not sound 100% confident or in the moment. We have seen her command the kitchen before and run the pass but the energy from her feels different this time. Things start to heat up and she is feeling the pressure.

She tells Carmy, “I’m feeling a little, uh, swamped here. Do you want to switch with me?”

It’s quick but if you watch closely, Carmy looks up at her face and into her eyes, twice. He looks at her deeply and makes an assessment before responding. It’s as if he’s checking her and thinking, wait is she actually ok? She’s not sweating, she’s not shaking, she doesn’t look like she’s going to be sick. It is only after he makes this assessment and he knows that she’s ok that he responds. She’s alright and that means he can encourage her to keep going.

He speaks in a calm, low, gently encouraging voice and tells her, “No, no, no, no, no. You’re good. You’re good. No, no, you’re fine. Let’s go though. Keep going.”

In this moment, despite how he might feel about the way she’s running the line, if he had given in and switched with her, this would have meant letting her fail. He promised her earlier he wouldn’t let that happen—“I won’t let you.”

He tries to get Tina to help but she can’t. His voice rises in concern when he tries to get Marcus to help her. In this moment I really felt like he understood how much she needed help but he will not pull her off the line or trade spots with her because he wants to keep his promise to her and he wants her to prevail.

It’s a small scene, a quick look that could have gone unnoticed, but there was so much behind the way he looked at her to check her well being, and the way he spoke to her, gently and encouragingly, in this moment that it really sticks out to me in a beautiful way.

You can feel how he cares for her, and wants to protect her but also how much he believes in her and truly wants her to succeed.

I know we’ve heard Elidibus voice in the MSQ and it makes sense to cast the same VA for the same character. But just don’t think the voice suits Themis very well now that we know what he looked like in the past.

I think the shock comes with how young they made him look. He's canonically the youngest member of the Convocation. And with such a pretty face, that deep velvet voice just feels jarring at first.

I myself was initially like "wait, is Elidibus a fucking KID??" because he was just so smol (esp in his masked form after the 5.3 fight).

But despite being the "baby" of the Convocation, Themis is indeed an adult. The man's well past puberty, and some guys just have that deep baritone going for them.

After awhile, it didn't seem so strange to me. He's a pretty boy with a sexy voice.

Good for him. 😏😆

"Cool motive. Still murder."

I follow a bunch of ffxiv related blogs (because of course I do, its a fantastic game and I want to watch other people rave about it too) and I have seen just about every take on Emet-Selch that is possible it feels like. From the "poor little meow-meow" to the above quote ripped from Brooklyn Nine Nine to the rallying cry of "Emet-Selch did nothing wrong!"

The question that FFXIV asks, over and over again is - faced with overwhelming grief, do you look forward? or back?

Heavensward is about the loss of family. Stormblood is about the loss of home. Shadowbringers is about the loss of love. and Endwalker is about the struggle between looking back or looking forward.

So reducing Emet-Selch down to "cool motive. still murder." kind of ignores the real question being asked which is can you let go of the worst loss of your life and move on to something, if not better, at least brighter than where you are now? In your grief, do you destroy everything around you because it no longer has value for you, or do you accept the wound and move forward into a future that no longer holds that which is most important to you?

In your heart, are you Sam Gamgee, holding to the quiet things of home and hearth and that spring brings a green world and that somewhere children will laugh, even if its in bombed out streets? Or does your grief compel you to ruin all you see, in the hopes that enough of it will make the world relent?

I don't know. This game is full of real emotion and incredibly hard to answer questions and surface meta kind of only goes so far with discussion of tropes and literary devices and that the dungeon design kind of took a step back because of the new Duty system.

Who are you when the light of your world goes out? What are you willing to do to bring it back?

Emet-Selch did a lot of things wrong. And we know why. We see why. The game tells us. It allows us to understand and critique his actions simultaneously.

That's good storytelling.

It’s no surprise that Hythlodaeus is one of the most beloved characters to come out of FFXIV. He’s charming, loyal, funny, and just downright adorable.

But if we compare him and his talents to other Ancients of his time, he’s pretty…average, despite his keen sight. He can’t transform. He’s pretty terrible at manipulating aether. When he was nominated for the Convocation seat and refused it, people didn’t disagree. They essentially said, “Yep - you’re right. Hades is a better choice.” And went with him instead.

Hythlodaeus himself downplays his own importance, using words like “abysmal” to describe some of his skills. And when other Ancients are soaring to great heights and using their talents to make the Star better, he says that his purpose is to support Azem and Emet-Selch - their dreams, their talents, their purpose.

But if we look at Hythlodaeus’ role in Shadowbringers and Endwalker, we see that his importance is pretty essential. Despite implying he was the weakest link of the Azem/Emet/Hyth trio, he was actually the one holding them together. Once he sacrificed himself to Zodiark, the pair split - Azem going one way and Emet another, with the latter descending into grief and madness because of the loss.

But despite being in Zodiark’s clutches for millennia, Hythlodaeus’ influence remained, and his actions (or the actions of his shade) became critically important to saving the star.

In shade Amaurot, he helped the Warrior stay calm and not succumb to the light, giving them vital information on what happened during the Final Days.

He provided the crystal of Azem, allowing the Warrior to summon allies in important battles that would’ve been lost had they not been there.

On the moon, he stopped the other shades from hindering the Warrior’s progress.

In Elpis, he recognized the Warrior’s essence and convinced Emet-Selch to help, allowing the Warrior to learn of Meteion and Hermes, as well as provide information to Venat for the future.

In Ultima Thule, he helped Emet-Selch bring the Elpis flowers forth, making Meteion realize that all hope hadn’t been extinguished.

If we could ask Hythlodaeus what kind of role he played, he’d probably downplay it and say it was small. After all, he sort of says that in Ultima Thule, saying “he won’t say no to a bit part.” But as we can see, even the the ones who may think they aren’t important, are. Without Hythlodaeus, key events may not have played out, and both Azem and Emet-Selch would’ve had drastically different destinies.

It just goes to show that no matter how “abysmal” we may feel, we are still important. Small things can have big impacts, and even if we aren’t considered the hero who saves the day, our actions still matter. In fact, they may be the very thing that helps save the universe.

Hyth is THE best boy of ffxiv.

actually no, im not gonna restrain myself to the tags. I've never played ANY final fantasy game but i think Emet-Selch is a very cool take on a villain who isn't evil n i have a lot of emotions about him

i initially compared FF14 to a zombie apocalypse, which i don't think is WRONG (Humanity being mutilated imitations of Ascians ≈ Zombies being mutilated imitations of Humanity) but being able to say that AND still appreciate that Emet-Selch is A Villian(tm) depends on some prerequisite over-thinking on the nature of Existence As You and how one would apply that to eldritch beings and as much as i love talking those are some difficult words :/

so instead of zombies — let's go with dogs.

let's sayyy that reports come in, tomorrow, that a horrible Thing will obliterate the world. let's say it's a plague, or a super-parasite. it is On Its Way, and it Will Kill Everything. this is a 100% guarantee.

you're part of a group of the world's greatest minds. this group steps forward and says "hey, we think we can stop this, but we need to test it on human subjects and it will probably kill them." they open to volunteers. millions of people apply. they die, but because of their sacrifices, a solution is found — let's say it's a super-strong pesticide. everyone else survives, but the planet is left a complete wreck.

the world's greatest minds come back again. "we're pretty sure we can adapt our solution to fix the planet, but we need to test it on humans again." again, millions volunteer, and again, millions die, and again, their sacrifices save everyone else. the former pesticide rejuvenates the planet. it might even be better than before.

a third time, the greatest minds speak. "hey, a lot of the people who've volunteered aren't actually dead. they're in comas because of our solution and we've been keeping them alive. we think we can adapt the solution to save them, but we need more test subjects. we won't ask the people to go through this again — we'll use plants and animals instead. it'll put a dent in the ecosystem, but it's the only way."

In response, a new group of people speaks up. "no, we should just stay as it is, the solution has caused us enough pain as it is. we should just move forward and let those people stay gone."

the two groups argue. they fight. a second 'solution' is made, in secret, to kill the first. it's released.

this new solution kills the first and, for the sake of our comparison, turns the entire population into dogs. several dogs, actually. each person becomes several dogs.

only, like, 3 people aren't dog-ed. you're one of them. you're one of the people who saved your species, and now you're looking at the end of it.

what would you do?

would you hate the dogs? i mean, i love dogs. i don't think i could hate them for existing. they didn't ask to exist, after all. maybe you could try living with them? make a fancy snouted mask to fit in? learn to bark and growl like them? maybe you could adopt a puppy, or try to direct a pack. maybe if you get bored you could try making packs fight.

actually, i think you would hate them. just not immediately.

it might take looking into a husky's face and see your best friend's eyes looking through you. maybe it takes being bitten for how loudly you grieve. maybe it takes you seeing them not for what they Are, but for every conversation you'll Never Have Ever Again. every joke and love and loss and petty workplace grudge that they've replaced with bark whine bark bark woof. they're not people. they could never BE people. no matter how much they howl and snap and war and tear into each other's mangy fuckin throats over rotten trash and you cry and sob and plea they're. just. dogs.

i think you'd try to bring humanity back. no matter how many dogs die in the process, i think you'd try. it would be worth a thousand dogs, if you could bring back ten people.

you'd work with the other survivors. you'd plan, and experiment, and lead the dogs in circles, and you'd try and try and try but the mutts keep WHINING and BITING and KILLING and on one hand you can understand the need for survival but this is for THEM this is for US why don't they get that WHY, WHY WON'T THEY JUST LET YOU SAVE THEM?

imagine the joy you'd feel when one day, a dog that's been a little too smart, a little too capable, finally stands up.

it says your name, it looks you in the eyes, and you can tell that it finally sees you.

and then it rips your throat out.

"I am salvation given form. Mankind's first hero, and his final hope."

Though Elidibus is speaking as the original Warrior of Light here, he's also--unknowingly--speaking his own truth.

We learn in elpis that the World Unsundered was (at least to the majority of mankind) a utopia. Peaceful, beautiful, stewarded by loving and disciplined people. A world that had no need for heroes, until the Final Days.

And the hero that stepped up? Not venat. Not azem. Venat waited; she knew she had to. Azem walked away and chose neutrality (likely at Venat's behest).

Themis. Elidibus. The youngest member of the Convocation, the analytical and gentle Emissary. HE stepped up and said "I'll become whatever is necessary to save our world." And he did.

And 13,000 years later, with his memories deteriorated to near nothing, that was what he had left. That one duty. Become whatever is necessary. Mankind's final hope.

And he brought that single-minded determination against us, because he couldn't remember that he once loved us.

Reblogging myself already to point out that unlike our sweet little amnesiac up here☝️, Emet-Selch could remember that he loved us, and decided he was gonna fucking murder us anyway.

Because he's a dick.

Midgardsormr and Hydaelyn's covenant.

I like to picture this moment from the perspective of the Ascians. Can you imagine how furious they must have been? Their enemy was powerful, but isolated. While she may have empowered champions over the eons, it taxed her significantly to do so, and even the mightiest of them lacked the perfect confluence of opportunities to act enjoyed by the modern Warrior of Light. They were empowered mortals, but they were still mortals.

And then this huge alien thing shows up, this construct of shockingly dense and sophisticated aether, nigh-immortal and dangerous enough that a mere simulacrum of one of its children would later suffice all on its own for an Umbral Calamity. And he immediately enters into a pact with Hydaelyn, that he will guard the star, if she permits his children to live there. And then his brood propagate in staggering numbers, becoming the dominant life forms in Dravania and Coerthas to the northwest, and Meracydia in the south, but really daring to go wherever they damn well please.

I wonder how much the desire to neutralize Midgardsormr informed the initial plans for the invasion of Eorzea. Sure, Silvertear Lake was a worthy target in its own right. No doubt "Emperor Solus" was glad to exploit the chance to unleash a tide of aether and make the dissemination of the corrupted Ascian Summoning technique easier. But as we've learned in play, unleashing Primals was mostly a feint, a way to keep Hydaelyn's champions busy. Gaius may not have known it when he lead the charge, but I'm starting to think the Agrius was designed only to be a suicide bomb directed at Midgardsormr's heart.

The official timeline places the Battle of Silvertear Skies and the Bozja Incident in the same year, and suggests that the first modern wave of people seeing the vision of falling stars and awakening the Echo occurred somewhere in between. It would be a nice twist if the reason Hydaelyn was hunting for new champions at that precise moment, casting her net wider than she ever had before, was because her oldest guardian had just been vanquished (or at least, as we learn, been exhausted until he fell into a dormant state from which it would take him centuries to recover.)