i think there’s something kind of neat about the way arr is written a bit in that early 2010s very edgy “apolitical protag” life is super arbitrary and cheap way for the most part…like hearing about adventurer parties you briefly met all dying brutally in copperbell mines & edda’s entire situation, and much of the poverty, prejudice, and general other sufferings all throughout eorzea are seen as nothing more than an immutable prop of the world that, most importantly, has nothing to do with you beyond an isolated quest. this still continues a bit onto heavensward, starting with the early coerthas quests, learning about the way ishgard frames heretics and tortures them into madness and how soldiers die for nothing and lie about their deaths to their parents, deluded in their beliefs and whatever. people ate each other when strongholds were abandoned to the horde. you hear about it, you turn in the quest, you move on. still, you do all these little duties, meet all these people, and some of them tell you some things that are oddly poignant or honest or grateful or funny or meaningful in return…
you fetch a ring from snowcloak and learn about some dude’s love through his belief and actions, you go check out a dead goobbue and you get someone empathizing very eloquently with your wanderings in return, you throw a bucket of water over a miscreant’s head at a bar and the duskwight guy getting targetted on feels a little less alone in that moment, you hunt some birds and learn the bitterness of workers getting booted out of costa del sol by the wealthy. like you do stuff, anything, and it matters to somebody and you gain a place in the world through every connection you make….through them, this world you knew nothing about slowly starts to make more sense. and even if it all comes off as arbitrary and shitty, you still get curious about their lives, and what they’ll say to you next. the scions are really pretty much the same, but they stay a little longer; their sense of a greater purpose ever hovers in your periphery. the soldiers you fought with are all euthanized for being tempered, livia massacres the waking sands…again, no different from all the other tragedies, but then again, you remember their conviction and through the echo even bore witness to some of their last words and wishes. you understand it happened because of something. it may not hit for some people yet, but these things are already the wol’s tragedies as well.
and then you meet ysayle, who calls you a fucking idiot and leaves. LMFAOOOOO
and then HW hits and the whole bloody banquet ordeal and suddenly, you are taken in by one of those random people you helped out. and like stuff really starts to matter because of this connection you have to this friend of yours, because once again, your involvement was returned, and this time when you reallllyyy needed it. and it’s not just a one off favor this time, it’s like…I care about the household my friend grew up in, I care about his duties at work, I care about the society he lives in and the framework in which he’s expected to be born and die in, and how to free him and the people he knows, the people in the place that took you in, from this endless war. that arbitary suffering suddenly becomes your personal concern where it used to be a backdrop. like you were already very much a part of eorzea by the time of operation archon, but this time, you’re not in it because you’re a hero, you’re in it because you kind of owe it to someone. and then you think about that random woman who called you a fucking idiot a little while back and you understand. you get that this could happen to anybody with anyone at any time, this giving a shit so much, because you inevitably met them, and that the same thing happened to her. she bears the echo as well, so she knows it very much like you do. You get that it was impossible to live in that selfish, detached, apathetic, mindless way you began. you get that you’d be an idiot to not try and understand the truth of your circumstances.
FOR MEEEEE [pic of long skeleton] personally this point came way early in arr due to a select few quests to where I felt like my character really was obligated to the world of this game for the experiences they gave me alone, and because I was personally invested in edda & the ala mhigans & the tribes, but I can recognize that HW is when the writers themselves switch gears in this regard. And as time goes on irl, when some people slowly start saying, hey actually caring about some shit is good, this is reflected directly into the story. the wol from this point only ever gets more deeply entangled in the lives of others, and their journey is all the more richer for it. If you gave me 2.0 alone, I never would have believed that we would get to liberate ala mhigo, but that’s where we went. And with shb, would the adventurer you were, who took quests off the board for the reward, for “a living”, risk your life and soul for this random ass world you dropped into now? and this reaches its zenith in EW where it’s like…you saving the world is also saving yourself. and the idea that heroism is not anything more than recognizing and offering hope for the pain & joy of others, who all live in this world you love so much, and seeing it in yourself…the thing you were learning to do since the beginning…LIKE THE fact that it got there from the arr wol is so crazy 2 me. our little guys gained meaning and purpose just by scuttling around and meeting people
kaledo-art
yousharknotpass
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