Overqualified Healer

Champion of Eorzea, blessed by the Mothercrystal. You've bested tyrannical warlords, fearsome dragons, and god-like beings. You've liberated nations, aided in their restorations. You rub shoulders with their leaders and the common folk alike. With every victory, every adventure, every grand feat, your legend grows. Everyone knows your name. Everyone knows what you've done. Everyone knows what you're capable of doing.

'It's the blessing of Hydaelyn,' they say; 'the power of the Echo,' 'the unwavering soul of Azem'. Only the Warrior of Light could do what you do, only someone destined to usher change and defend the very star from destruction. Allies and enemies alike agree; there is nobody like the Warrior of Light.

But that's where they're wrong. You may be special, or chosen, or destined... but you don't feel that at all. All you feel is the pedestal you never asked to be put on. The perceived gap between you and them is staggering. They think you untouchable; so far removed from human you must be a god, or something greater. You aren't a person to them any more. You're a symbol. An idea. A concept. Intangible.

while it's true that lyse is a person of colour and people of all shades exist across the board, the white saviour criticism is about square enix's choice to have the character representing revolution against an empire as blonde and pale, in a world where many communities are still healing from the after effects of western imperialism. considering real world beauty standards and their relationship with imperialism should have been somewhere in this conversation.

And also yeah... I get WHY they made Mamook like that when it comes to food, because it's sort of the motivator for them to do like everything the way they did it, and it's meant to be a messed up society, where anyone who had any thought of change just left and went to the city or overseas entirely. Like, their first thought always has to be that Mamook is so doomed that they'd rather just leave. And the struggle to grow traditional crops was always cited along with the war and dangerous wildlife.

That said, I think they could have focussed on the existing Mamook food culture more, because they had to be eating more than bananas, there IS wildlife, fish and plantlife in abundance down there even if it's weird, and necessity means cultures in extreme areas always end up with really unique and specific types of cuisine, usually based around burning, mashing, fermenting, pickling and otherwise hyper-processing seemingly inedible stuff to wring out any flavour and nutrients it might contain.

And Yak T'el was specifically the food-centric zone in the first half, but all we learned about was najool leaves at the top, and that the xbraal had the bounty of the forest when it came to choices of veggies and spices. If the second half of the zone had been appropriately longer (it's SO much shorter! I hate it!!) they could have really shown us the mamool ja making really weird foods which turn out to also be tasty, if strong and unusually flavoured, and we'd learn how they HAVE been getting by, even if it's borderline and labour intensive and still lacking variety/overall freshness. And that just having meat that doesn't kill them to hunt, and fruit that also doesn't kill them to hunt (love you branchies <3) if they could share with the top half, they would actually be on the path to fine.

I mean if anything, making them entirely independent undermines the message of the Rite showing that their cuisines can, should and do fusion - we should be bringing some sort of ultimate pickle back up to the top of the forest so they can share flavours XD But, I guess, being self-sufficient in order to re-grow their population after so many left, and to tempt some home, would also be a valid approach to the Mamook Society Quests. The idea that Mamook has enough to eat now from the MSQ could be built on to say they wish the people who'd left would come home and un-insular their society and beliefs. Since we didn't really touch how they'd all become conservative grandparents again after we made everything good with Bakool Ja Ja's parents.

Tiisol Ja just want to sell her merch shirts on the cash shop though, and over-focus on tacos like that's the only American culture anyone knows in the broad sweep after all the research that went into the little details of the game is like... emblematic of some of the problems. So it's not surprising the reference back to Mamook is so broad strokes and sounds so ridiculous even if you do try and remember the context. There's so much more she could have said, like how their staple bread was a stodgy lump and that taco shells were a whimsical and fun way to approach food that wasn't born out of necessity and it made her see food as less than a month long chore to make one small jar of something, and something she could engage in artistically... idk, like, at least give Mamook some credit and making it sound like they only ate rocks and banana leaves there...

personal faves:

'turrets? uh.... good luck!'

Then one of the stranger, the one you just met a while ago and shared drinks by the way, just hear this thing that’s never been stopped and went “Hell YEAH, I’ll go and fight that train! Wouldn’t be the first time I killed one!” (If you played the Omega Questlines)

Remember he just MET us, but no one else is going to fight that thing so WHY NOT?

Yeah you can get your buddies, the more the merrier, to fight this train, it’s called the Doomtrain by the way, and he will drive the transport for you while you duke it out with the train.

Now speaking of the train, I want to note this train likely sees us, and the train Lumull’s driving in a way that we are intruding in its territory.

Another train on its turf?! That’s a no-no. Of course it’s going to destroy it, only one train can ride the tracks and that’s this thing.

Note also he has to keep mainly focusing on ahead and can look back in times he can, so he is blindly trusting us that we can kill it while it knocks away the carts. He doesn’t know how strong we are, has no clue if this will really work because the outcome is he dies or probably his sister gonna kill him. What he has to lose? He’s terrified, this thing is a war machine that terrorized everyone and taken many loved ones.

Yet his ass is going to sit on that conductor’s seat, drive that train no matter what damages are taken, and pray the thunderous heavens you will succeed or die trying.

Dude has massive stones.

ala mhigo was torn by garlean invasion, their entire people scattered and forced to leave to the rest of eorzea. there are so many displaced ala mhigans that LITTLE ALA MHIGO EXISTS, FULL OF ALA MHIGANS WHO COULD NOT LIVE WITHIN GRIDANIA OR UL'DAH

Rejected by the elementals of the Twelveswood and unable to adapt to Ul'dahn custom, Ala Mhigan refugees eventually settled in southern Thanalan. In exchange for supplies, the residents allow the Immortal Flames to maintain a presence, and Little Ala Mhigo now serves as a post whence to watch the movements of the Amalj'aa

you literally interact with meffrid in A REALM REBORN

IN FUCKING GRIDANIA

WHERE THE PALACE OF THE DEAD THING IS. IN THAT SMALL CAMP. BECAUSE HE TOO WAS FORCED TO FLEE

how can you look at lyse in the eye and see stormblood in a vacuum and not understand that the entire point of lyse becoming the face of the resistance is the fact that ala mhigo does not abandon her children, regardless of where they are and who they are? that she rejects this position of power over and over because she understands she's unfit to lead as someone who didn't fight for her own homeland?

THE LITERAL GYR ABANIAN ANTHEM THEY SING AT THE END OF THE MSQ EXPLAINS IT. COME YE WAYWARD BROTHERS, BEREFT OF HEARTH AND HOME

this is why lyse is tied with hien, because he was born DURING garlean occupation. he has never seen a free doma, this is something they insist upon on his side of the story. they are linked because hien has never seen the country his father died for and yet he is here to continue the fight and ensure doma is liberated. its the exact same for lyse. hien's life hinged on the desire for freedom, if his own people didn't want to be free then he was going to kill himself because there is no point in him fighting for and existing as a symbol of freedom. both of them had their people acknowledge they're needed!

wayward brothers! in the lyrics of gyr abania's anthem!

wayward daughter! as the theme for tsukuyomi!

this is why yotsuyu is also important! why fordola is important! they are still, at the end of the day, daughters of their own countries who matter as much as anyone else who embodies the perfect upstanding citizen! it matters that yotsuyu is treated as doman (even after the questionable decision of giving her amnesia which just. feels like an easy "feel bad for her bc we couldn't figure out how to make a victim turned perpetrator seem empathetic"), because her pain and suffering came as a result of doman patriarchy. it matters that fordola grew up as a "priviledged" ala mhigan child within garlean camps! because neither group accepted her or her family in the end, because she was always going to be seen a traitor and a savage regardless of what she does and what she accomplishes!