#gaius baelsar

[asaltyarchon]

Whoever made this, may your pillows always be fluffed and cool and may you never hit a red light as long as you live.

I haven’t laughed this hard in a long mf time.

[credit to liffeh on twitter!]

#ffxiv #ff14 #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy 14 #lahabrea #gaius baelsar #fucking lmao #thanksgiving #turkey day #ffxiv memes

[alastryd]

cute ffxiv villain picmixes for your myspace :)

#final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #fandaniel #zenos #emet-selch #gaius baelsar #gaius #thordan #nidhogg #zenos yae galvus #emet selch #shitpost #gif #kawaiicore

[graha-stan-account]

This one is for the sprouts 🌱

Foreign agent plots invasion of neighboring nation with help of religion-fueled WMD, claims resulting total chaos and devastation was “not my intention”. How glib.

#I’m baaaaaaaack #gaius van baelsar #ffxiv arr #a realm reborn #ffxiv #gaius baelsar #my art #procreate

[fourteentheart]

Happy Valentione's Day!

This isn't so much about Valentione's Day than it is about love in general... I think it still captures the spirit of the day, tho! The different ways we can show one another love are vast and plentiful.

Transcript under the readmore.

PAGE 1 [I admit that saying "I love you" does not come naturally to me.]

--

Makoh'to: You want to toast the dried chilies until they develop a bit of a char, like this, then grind them into flakes.

Gaius: My eyes are starting to water...

--

Makoh'to: Make sure to generously season the hamsa breast!

Gaius: (What is considered "generous" ...?)

--

Gaius: Why not use a measuring cup for consistency?

Makoh'to: This bowl works!

Gaius: And if we no longer have that bowl?

Makoh'to: This one would work, too!

--

Makoh'to: Then a handful of diced onions...

Gaius: My hands are larger than yours.

Makoh'to: Hm...

Makoh'to: Two-thirds of your handful will do!

--

[I have told you before "I love you."]

[And you always reply "I love you, too."]

PAGE 2

[I want to tell you "I love you" every day, but it does not feel like enough.]

[Not after everything I have put you through. Asked of you.]

[But if learning new recipes with you...]

[...cooking your favorite foods...]

[... is a way I can say "I love you" then let his be one of the many dishes I will learn to make for you.]

Gaius, in Makoh'to's native tongue: Jao yak khao bor? (Are you hungry?)

Makoh'to, in his native tongue: Ah! Khoi yak khao haeng! (I'm starving!)

[Notes in Gaius's book]

Left Page:

...'to enjoys his food extra spicy

.. for padaek can take...

... out the container in...

Right Page:

One Makoh'to handful is roughly 125 ml

He uses a generous amount of seasoning

Note: He did not find a flat spoonful generous enough

The blue measuring bowl is in the cabinet below the spice rack.

... in lieu of bird's eye chilies

#ffxiv #gaiuswol #gaius x wol #gaius baelsar #wol #wolnpc #ace is done #ace's ffxiv comics

[vogelspinne]

#gaius baelsar #gaius van baelsar #ffxiv gaius #gaius ffxiv #ff14 gaius #gaius ff14 #ffxiv #ffxiv fanart #ffxiv art

[autumnslance]

Werlyt in Lorebook 3

So Werlyt gets a page expanding on its location and history a bit, to be expected as the new Encyclopaedia Eorzea 3 goes over both Shadowbringers and Endwalker content. What they do with its history as an Imperial province again paints Gaius in a better light...in ways we already knew were IC for him as established in earlier content, while also being straight up out of Machiavelli's The Prince in a way that makes complete sense for the Empire when dealing with conquered provinces, and how we've even heard before how some of them are ruled very much like native Garlean regions.

See, one of the oldest tricks in the literal book is you conquer a province, and especially if it proves unruly, you give it a nasty governor. Use them to root out the rebellious factions, while also tearing apart the old systems, stripping resources, crushing the populace, etc. THEN you send in a Reasonable Guy to take over who ousts the bad vicious leader, restores order, treats the people well, and so on. Now that new governor--and by extension his emperor for sending him--looks better in the eyes of the people, a problematic political/military rival has been killed/broken politically, the unruly elements have already been culled, and the people are just grateful for a reprieve from their misery. More acquiescent and "this isn't so bad after all."

Another famous literary example (and with a new movie a few months out) is Dune; once Harkonnen takes back Arrakis, he sends one nephew, Raban, who is literally nicknamed "the Beast", to be a horrible bully of a governor. His job is to root out the remaining loyal Atreides and quash the local Fremen. Then once Raban's atrocities were at their peak, Harkonnen meant to send in his heir, Feyd-Ruatha, to be the golden prince who would get rid of the problematic Raban (lethally if needed) and be accepted by the people as a decent leader. Of course, Dune's story rolls out differently, but the play is the same.

The Garlean Empire did the exact same thing in Werlyt.

For 30 years the subjugated nation was oppressed and stripped of resources. When the Empire's attention moved toward Othard and the military presence thinned enough a rebellion rose up, it was still crushed, but not before the previous viceroy was killed in the revolt.

Then Gaius van Baelsar came in and restored order. We already knew Gaius had a habit of appointing the right people for the job, regardless of race and social standing; he continued that in Werlyt, and was otherwise a good governor, working to ensure the populace was cared for, administered properly, even improved education and literacy rates. So after a few decades of crushing abuse...now Werlyt had a "reasonable governor" who treated them like people and took care of them, if still under the auspices of the Empire. They made it look like a better deal, and the previous guy was a mistake that shouldn't have happened.

This also tracks with pre-Praetorium Gaius as the "true believer" of Garlemald's Imperial mission of taming the "savage" lands and ushering them into the "civilized" ways of the Empire and adding those peoples' knowledges, cultures, skills, and might to the Empire to make everyone better. That "unity" aspect he and other leaders like Quintus van Cinna spouted while missing the hypocrisy. Gaius was a good governor because he thought that was the entire point--and then also led to his opposition of the Meteor Project. He never wanted to wipe Eorzea out, he wanted to bring it under Imperial control and govern it as he had Werlyt.

So for twenty years, Gaius was the reasonable governor getting good grades in cultivating Werlyt as a respectable and flourishing province of the Empire. Then he was sent to Ala Mhigo to conquer that, and through it the rest of Eorzea.

...And then Valens van Varro took over Werlyt and pretty much overnight undid everything reasonable a decent governor would do because of his jealousy over Gaius and his own ambitions for power, especially after the civil wars left the Imperial throne vacant. Also cuz again, they have to spend this branch of story making Gaius look better by making Valens cartoonishly bad at everything. Rather than trusting what they already wrote about a complicated man who truly believed in his mission until forced to see how he had been a pawn sowing misery his whole life. But they've tended to rewrite Gaius and his on screen characterization a lot as it is, and with Garlemald not getting an expansion of its own (they had considered it but ultimately worked its fall into ShB and EW), it feels like they hammer this point in Werlyt to speed run what was supposed to be an actual rehabilitation arc for the character.

And then it once again frames the quintent as rebellious heroes who thwarted Valens plans to use them and the Weapons project for his own ends and sure we'll let that go cuz the folks in Werlyt need something. They do have a named leader (Talbot Hunte) and a government set up and none of it really mentions Gaius, though we know they put him in charge of their military. Cuz yeah, he was one of their conquerers--but they also know that they can work with him and that he knows how to run an army effectively.

Also all the quintet are literally named "aan Baelsar" in their entries, though the main thing I noticed there was that Milisandia did in fact dye her hair red to account for the discrepancy in her child appearances in the various flashbacks. Apparently it was cuz she noticed Alfonse seemed very fond of one of their caretakers at the orphanage, and so Milisandia changed her hair to be the same color to try and get his attention, quietly pining for him for years but never letting him know about her not-quite-sisterly affections.

#final fantasy xiv #encyclopaedia eorzea #lorebook #sorrow of werlyt #gaius baelsar #shadowbringers #endwalker

[theknightsstars]

Gaius Baelsar

Little warmup sketch turned painting :)

#ffxiv fanart #ffxiv art #ffxiv #ff14 #ffxiv gaius #gaius baelsar #gaius van baelsar #warmup #digital portrait #digital painting #video game fanart #siri canis art

[pennyroyal-xiv]

you can actually buy this here! - https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/pennyroyal/white-snow-black-steel/

#my art #gaius baelsar #gaius #gaius van baelsar #the black wolf #ffxiv #ffxiv art #garlemald #heirsbane #endwalker #endwalker au

[stephenfairbrook]

So, a wolqotd prompt on Twitter got me thinking. It's probably a good idea Gaius never took his helmet off during Praetorium. Don't worry, Cid. Cab's not that shallow. (...probably.)

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy 14 #praetorium #warrior of light #cabernet shiraz #gaius van baelsar #gaius baelsar #cid nan garlond #cid garlond #ffxiv cid #ffxiv comic #ffxiv fanart #my art #my artwork #miqo'te #female miqo'te #miqo'te wol #garlean

[cosmicseashanty]

Favourite FFXIV characters! You can find the template here.

Thancred won in two categories, so I made him share with second places.

#ffxiv #thancred waters #gaius baelsar #cid garlond #drusilla varus #lahabrea #raubahn aldynn #papalymo totolymo #my art #2023

[gnbrkrs]

More Gaius in Clive's outfit.

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #gaius van baelsar #gaius baelsar #ffxiv gpose #gpose #ffxiv screenshots

[zabka-zee]

Gaius can easily put his foot down when it comes to outlandish requests from Elodie... But from Allie? Not so much!

#art #elodie aurifort #viera #ffxiv #gaius baelsar #allie baelsar

[puddraws]

charm designs of your favourite garleans. based on the emperor portrait housing item

#zenos yae galvus #jullus pyr norbanus #asahi sas brutus #gaius baelsar #ffxiv

[sainsa-in-eorzea]

this quest had no business making me this mf sad

#ffxiv #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv screenshots #post endwalker #endwalker #ff14 endwalker #ffxiv endwalker #endwalker spoilers #ffxiv spoilers #gaius baelsar #gaius van baelsar

[fourteentheart]

I was chatting with @illumancer about big man tits and thought of this... Lahabrea and Gaius casually standing there while their fans show their support in the background lmao

#ffxiv #lahabrea #gaius baelsar #lahawol #gaiuswol #i mean technically... #ace scribbles #it was fun to doodle their bodies mindlessly while also trying to practice a lil. i am v happy with how gaius's grab came out... #just in case cw: shirtless

[anneapocalypse]

Gaius Baelsar is the most interesting Garlean character to me and has been even since before he turned up alive and got a bunch more character development and as a bonus turned out to be Very Handsome under the helmet. I really, really dig him. My favorite villains are always the ones who believe themselves to be the hero. Bored sadism just doesn't interest me. Some people find that kind of motivation compelling, and I get it, that's cool, it just does nothing for me. I'm way more interested in the ways a character can fully believe they're doing the right thing and be so wrong. (But also, y'know, not entirely wrong. Not about everything.)

And that's Gaius. On first watch the framing of his offer to Cid, and then the Warrior of Light, in the Praetorium is a bit baffling; Cid himself asks why Gaius would bring up his father's change of heart and his own distaste for war before asking him to rejoin the Empire.

But it all makes sense when you look at it from Gaius's point of view. Especially in light of his later monologue about Eorzea's faith "bleeding the land dry." Gaius believes that the tendency toward primal worship is so dangerous that Garlean rule is the only solution. He believes that the Empire's rule is the only path to lasting peace.

And he believes that the WoL and Cid deep down share the same goals as him, if he could only make them see it. He's not even entirely wrong. The whole point of the Scions is that they recognize the threat posed by primals, and seek to stand against them. They just have very different ideas of how to go about that, ideas which are incompatible with Gaius's at the time.

Gaius of course is about to find out just how badly he's fucked up, and he's perfectly set up for a redemption arc where he seeks to right his wrongs, with the same core values but a better understanding of his true enemy, the Ascians who have manipulated people into seeking the power of primals, himself included.

I was truly delighted with his return, and continue to be so as certain things set up in Praetorium have finally come back in Shadowbringers.

(I'm still at 5.3, so no spoilers please.)

#gaius baelsar #anne plays ffxiv #afk by the aetheryte #stormblood spoilers #shadowbringers spoilers #arr spoilers