Looking back, I think this scene was among those that hit me the hardest upon playing through Stormblood for the first time.
After several failures in quick succession - losing two vital strongholds to the Resistance and driving the Ananta to summon a primal - Fordola has been ordered to report directly to Zenos. As she approaches the throne room, she and one of her subordinates pass a pair of Garleans ranked not much higher than her. The men call her “savage,” among other things, and suggest that her failures were only to be expected for someone of her heritage, but so too do they imply that she only ever received her command in the first place through sleeping her way to the top.
The look on Fordola’s face in response is what gets me: in that moment, she’s so much more sad and hurt than she is angry. She even keeps her subordinate from fighting back on her behalf, to spare him further trouble; it definitely isn’t for her own sake, since she walks into the throne room expecting to meet her death, just like everyone else who has disappointed Zenos so far.
And Zenos is possibly at his most terrifying yet right here, as he focuses all his attentions on Fordola. He notes her fear, and she responds that she is only afraid of “dying having achieved naught” - to which Zenos describes her powerlessness as a “raging inferno” that’s a threat to herself and to others.
Fordola accepts the viceroy’s criticism without protest, as ready as ever to meet her end… and then Zenos changes tack. He orders Fordola to say what is truly on her mind and takes hold of her possessively, threatening to take her eye if she refuses to speak. It takes only a moment for her to scream what she wants: the power to bring vengeance to everyone who has ever looked down on her.
And right then and there, Zenos offers her exactly what she’s looking for: the means to “transcend” her weaknesses, and another chance to risk her life to achieve great things. It goes without saying that Zenos has his own agenda - yet no matter what his plans are for the young Ala Mhigan pilus, he makes a point of emphasizing that his plan will allow her to fulfill her dreams. This more cunning and manipulative side of Zenos isn’t often in the forefront throughout the story, but it’s used here to devastating effect on a young woman who has been forsaken by both Ala Mhigans and Garleans for her entire life: he breaks down her last shreds of confidence, forces her to divulge her deepest secrets, then tells her that only he can give her what she wants and needs.
I can certainly understand people who don’t like Fordola, especially given the horrible things she’s done and condoned throughout the story - but she’s easily one of my favorite characters in this expansion so far. This was the scene that drove that home for me, because it presents her in all her multifaceted glory: as a loyal friend and commander, a young woman manipulated by the one figure in her life she has left to trust, and - maybe most importantly - a passionate Ala Mhigan fixated on finding some sort of self-worth through battle and combat.
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