tritoch

[tritoch]

ok so like. imagine. you're a high-ranking government official and one of your colleagues has announced his decision to step down and retire, and named his successor, so you and your coworker-bestie-husband(™️) go on an official administrative business trip to go meet said guy. and then you arrive and you find A Cat in the bushes outside the office. it's in poor shape but its microchip says it actually belongs to your other colleague-and-friend. you are bullied into taking the cat to the vet AND letting it tag along despite your protests. and you finally find the guy you were supposed to meet and the cat is like. staying in the room. where you are supposed to conduct aforementioned highly confidential job interview. and you try to shoo it away but the guy you're trying to interview is like No i want the cat to be there. Because i'm nervous. About the job interview. Let the cat stay. I trust him because my pet bird loves him :). so the cat gets to stay. and then you keep going and you bump into yet another old acquaintance of yours (now retired and living her best hippie life) (which is highly frowned upon) and she goes Oooooh! Is that my cat you've found? :) and you're like, what the fuck is the deal with this goddamn cat, but you can't say that outright because you are a government official on a very important mission, so you go "i wasn't aware you even had a cat? also the microchip says it belongs to our other colleague" and she goes "oh well no i don't but clearly this cat is wearing the collar i give to all my pets so it must mean he's come from the future :) where i will own this specific cat :) hi little kitty! pspspsp!" and you're like, what the fuck is wrong with everyone today? and then the cat looks at you and says "she's right. i come from the future. when everyone has been turned into cats since the world ended. also i will kill you in about twelve thousand years from now. fucker."

[tritoch]

finally starting that big post of "wol think thonkers." first five under the cut.

Where is your Warrior of Light from? What was their home like growing up and what set them out on their journey?

Wolund grew up about a day's ride west of Rabanastre; he lived as the ward of his aunt, the operator of a caravanserai, a walled roadside inn for merchants and travelers. His childhood was largely peaceful and safe, with his days spent helping to run the caravanserai. His aunt also taught him the martial arts of the Verdant Path; a master herself, she had covertly opposed the Garlean occupation of Bozja alongside the resistance, but fled for Dalmasca when a severe injury to her leg left her with a permanent limp.

Wolund was just 14 when the Garleans swept through Dalmasca. With his aunt increasingly relying on him, he had no interest in becoming a part of any resistance to the Empire, and tried to keep his head down. In his early 20s, he fathered a child with a Keeper of the Moon Mi'qote merchant who regularly passed through the caravanserai. He was 23 when a local magistrate came through, looking to fill a quota.

Wolund underwent a twenty-year conscription as a legion auxiliary; while he saw relatively little action for the majority of his time, events conspired to place him in the VIIth Legion just before Carteneau. He survived, and served out the rest of his time, and returned to the caravanserai outside Rabanastre as Wolund pyr Anadezhda. He found both his aunt and her new apprentice: his now 20-year-old daughter. He spent only a short time there before a local Imperial magistrate sought to employ him as part of his household guard. Unable to tolerate yet more years of serving at the behest of Garlean officials, he fled overseas, first to Kugane, and thence to Eorzea.

What city-state did your WoL start in? How did they feel about it then, and how do they feel about it now? (ie, did their experiences sour their perception, or make them appreciate it more?)

Wolund started in Limsa Lominsa, which in many respects reminded him quite a bit of Rabanastre, if rather rougher around the edges. Still, the city's mercantile and individualistic culture agreed with him. He first found employment as a customs official at Mealvaan's Gate, and working for the city-state facilitated his further identification with Limsan culture.

Though he still regards Rabanastre as his home, he quite readily enlisted with the Maelstrom when they approached him in ARR, and has worked quite closely with them over the years, rising to the rank of Captain. He regards his isle in the Cieldalaes as his primary residence post-Endwalker, and, notably, pays taxes to Limsa Lominsa.

How do they feel about being Hydaelyn's chosen? (Feel free to break it down from ARR's "Champion of Eorzea" all the way to "The Savior of Etheirys" as much as you like. Have those feelings changed, or just grown more complex?)

Wolund no longer minds the role itself; he sees himself as uniquely positioned, empowered, and obliged to use his talents to protect the world, and rises to meet the occasion. When he sent the rest of the team back to the Ragnarok in Ultima Thule, that wasn't a desperation move but a supreme act of confidence. This isn't necessarily healthy—it's actually sort of weird to go around believing that not only are you capable of overcoming any odds, but that it's your moral obligation to do so for others at any price. But he feels great about it!

It hasn't always been that way. Wolund felt deeply ashamed of his inability to fill the role of Champion of Eorzea properly in ARR and HW. From the attack on the Waking Sands and the death of Noraxia, to Hydaelyn needing to come to his aid against Lahabrea, to failing to guard Alphinaud against his own errors, to the disaster of the Banquet (with everyone apparently sacrificing their lives for him specifically), to Haurchefant's death, in his eyes he basically goes from unmitigated failure to unmitigated failure. He compensates by basically pointing himself in whatever direction Alphinaud tells him is the right direction and killing whatever stands in their way.

He was quite shaken by the battle with the Warriors of Darkness. On the one hand, their relentless assult and indomitable will (which could have ultimately proved successful, were it not for Urianger's intercession) reflected the terrible truth that they carried their world's hopes on their shoulders. On the other hand, watching Minfilia and Urianger move decisively to alter the fates of entire worlds convinced him that he no longer had the luxury of pretending to be the Scions' pet eikon slayer. Starting with the Eorzean Alliance meetings that lead into Stormblood, he started taking his role as Warrior of Light much more seriously. And that's the language he thinks of his role in, not merely Hydaelyn's brave little spark or the defender of Eorzea, but a militant champion for all things good and right and just in the world. He found that where he previously believed the world too complex for him to act, he now believes himself not just capable but obligated to singlehandedly and forcefully defend the good in the world. And he's afraid to let anyone else help because he can't lose them too. At night, Myste's words repeat in his head.

Woe betide the man who stands opposed to the Weapon of Light, for death will be his reward. Death for him and his kin and all that he holds dear.

Woe betide the man who stands with the Weapon of Light, for death will be his reward. Death for him and his kin and all that he holds dear.

It's not good stuff. There's a post-Endwalker fic bubbling where he really struggles with self-sacrificial impulses. Going into Dawntrail, he's trying to figure out who he is if he's not literally constantly fighting for good. We'll see what it brings!

What do they do in their down time? Do they have any hobbies outside of Primal-slaying and world-saving? Are these lifelong hobbies or recent interests?

Wolund's whole stupid thing is being omnijob and doing every quest, and if you do that, it clearly is your hobby. I think the skill he actually takes seriously though, and prides as his own, is his skill as a Culinarian. He also takes fishing quite seriously, because he thinks as the only Fisherman going to places like Ultima Thule or the moon, he has an obligation to catalogue everything he can (and…see what's edible).

How do they feel now that "it's all over" (the story of Hydaelyn and Zodiark)? What do they plan to do next? Or is their story finished - and if you're retiring them, what does retirement look like for them? Do you have someone else taking the stage going forward?

Wolund has no idea what's next for him. He won't be retiring; maybe (out of game) if they'd swapped out Meteor, but as long as he's going, Wolund is going. I think the Island Sanctuary was sort of a quiet group effort by his allies to give him something to occupy his time and force him to sort of reflect on what he wants next. I don't think he's arrived at an answer.

He's working to catalogue the traditional forms of the Verdant Path for historical preservation, but he's gradually coming to terms with the idea that he doesn't have to do anything in particular next. He is extremely personally wealthy as a result of his long years adventuring and now the Island Sanctuary, and he likes adventuring and combat and helping people. He's probably going to use his funds and personal connections to keep going in that line of work until he falls dead…and that's assuming he doesn't Echo right into another body.

I don't know if he'll reconnect with his daughter and her mother. They're outside the scope of the game, and therefore the stories I tell with him.

#lions and lily flowers #wol oc

[tritoch]

revisiting the annex cutscenes and i love that y'shtola is like "you got possessed ha your luck SUCKS your soul must be cursed or something *gets serious* hey i shouldn't have said that. some really fucked up actually has happened to your soul. i'm sorry."

like queen the point is well taken and i seriously appreciate your support but i have to be honest i do NOT think about my soul as like. an organ to get offended about.

[tritoch]

look i know a lot of people don't like the stormblood return to ivalice alliance raids and they're very long quests and they're intentionally annoying and matsuno's writing really isn't the best fit for ffxiv but you have to understand. you have to understand. some of us were once young gay idiots and seeing this

was like getting run over by a freight train. my god. the doomed yaoi of it all. still get chills thinking about it. twenty fucking years of thinking about delita and ramza and finally we get the AU reconciliation timeline to fix their estrangement??? im a mainline game???? unbelievable.

#ffxiv #fft #return to ivalice #delita heiral #ramza beoulve

[tritoch]

ffxiv: a realm reborn

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#MOUNTAIN GOATS FFXIV CROSSOVER SPOTTED

[tritoch]

did you guys know about this oc stuff. you can just make a guy. big if true

[tritoch]

i've seen posts before drawing parallels between FFXIV paladins and 5e oath of the ancients paladins since the name and principles of the subclass are fitting for the warrior of light

what i've never seen anyone point out before, however, is that this is not the only thing that makes it relevant, because it also has access to FFXIV's most impactful ability: the power to summon the Cutscene Chains

at long last...the power of the ancients, in your hands...

#paladin #ffxiv #pld #also the reason ffxiv paladin isn't like regular dnd paladins is because like...it's a different thing. #and the only real reason it's called that and not “knight” is probably because they didn't want to overlap knight and dark knight #reading people complain about the ffxiv paladin not being divine is one of my pet peeves lmao #there's nothing more inherently religious to the figure of charlemagne's paladins than there is to say arthur's knights imo #you only think they have to be divinely associated because you were bamboozled by dnd. and probably not even a good edition!

[tritoch]

every time i think about venat i cry a little such a good complex character i love that the big revelation is that she was just a person trying to do the right thing, that she didn't know better than us or anyone, she just made a choice to entrust the future to us. imagine meeting your god and she's just a woman who really did love you but made some fucked up decisions along the way

[tritoch]

*thinking so hard a little trickle of blood comes out my nose like i'm taxing my heretofore undiscovered psychic powers to their limit* magnai comphet

#magnai #ffxiv

[tritoch]

hermes was a sad and lonely man and whenever he asked questions everyone would just laugh him off. he just wanted to know what gives life meaning. and venat was like i’ll think about your question. i’ll walk to the edge of the universe for 12000 years to answer. none else can understand the bizarre bond of kinship between them in my mind. for 10+ real life years hydaelyn’s big song was called ‘answers.’ and then they were finally like here is the guy who asked a question. 

#a lot of people like to be like well people were NICE to hermes #and like one. no they weren't lmao they appreciated him as a coworker but like #emet-selch is the Embodiment of Ancient Values and Morals and he spends all of elpis a hair away from calling hermes a freak #and two. and this is important. there's a literal magic flower that shows how you feel in elpis. #and he's the *only one.* the ONLY ONE. who feels the way he does. not a SINGLE other person there comes CLOSE to ever understanding him.

[tritoch]

aymeric goes to therapy

[tritoch]

Out of all the Final Fantasy summons Alexander is by far my favourite and I wanna know how it was pitched because it is a buckwild concept

It is a massive steampunk robot the size of a castle

The robot can be summoned by magic for some reason

The essence of the robot has multiple times been summoned directly into existing fortresses which then turn into the robot

The robot uses "holy" type magic for some reason

Its signarure attack is called "Divine Judgement" implying it has a code of ethics it enforces

The robot can sometimes control time for some reason

The robot has no legs except sometimes it does

It is sometimes depicted as having four giant angel wings

It was named after Alexander the Great for some reason

Just look at it

[tritoch]

...more pics.

the matching reds...

also makes me continue to think i should switch to warrior as my story main in dawntrail...reflects wolund post-zenos fight. but i hate overlapping with story characters gah.

uh....huh. frivolous wol crackship thoughts on the ffxiv/ffxvi crossover below

i know this is clive earlier in the game and that he has a couple different looks. but i'm always thinking of what i assume is the last, beefiest clive. so in my head he's a big guy. but 1) i assume this is a slightly younger clive based on his appearance and 2) i forget that hrothgar are Big sometimes. but they put wolund next to that guy and you know...there's just something about being two masc bisexual mage knight protagonists who fight with sword and spell and are clearly traumatized, ig. anyways i took ten million screenshots

also why did they make his eyes soooooo shiny. he's so moe...

[tritoch]

sentences written by an insane person: what yoshi-p does with the ending of the ffxvi crossover quest is something i never thought i'd see someone do with this large of a media property this successfully, and the closest comparison i can think of is unironically andrew hussie

[tritoch]

oh NO. FUCK ME. HELP. I FORGOT WOLUND HAS TIES TO IFRIT BECAUSE ITS THE FIRST PROPER PRIMAL SUMMON YOU GET AND HIS STARTING CLASS WAS SUMMONER.

uh....huh. frivolous wol crackship thoughts on the ffxiv/ffxvi crossover below

i know this is clive earlier in the game and that he has a couple different looks. but i'm always thinking of what i assume is the last, beefiest clive. so in my head he's a big guy. but 1) i assume this is a slightly younger clive based on his appearance and 2) i forget that hrothgar are Big sometimes. but they put wolund next to that guy and you know...there's just something about being two masc bisexual mage knight protagonists who fight with sword and spell and are clearly traumatized, ig. anyways i took ten million screenshots

also why did they make his eyes soooooo shiny. he's so moe...

#also i feel like all the wandering minstrel stuff about twin stars could very easily be taken as a shards thing #esp since i assume we won't actually visit every shard over the game' #the parallels as they say are paralleling

[tritoch]

uh....huh. frivolous wol crackship thoughts on the ffxiv/ffxvi crossover below

i know this is clive earlier in the game and that he has a couple different looks. but i'm always thinking of what i assume is the last, beefiest clive. so in my head he's a big guy. but 1) i assume this is a slightly younger clive based on his appearance and 2) i forget that hrothgar are Big sometimes. but they put wolund next to that guy and you know...there's just something about being two masc bisexual mage knight protagonists who fight with sword and spell and are clearly traumatized, ig. anyways i took ten million screenshots

also why did they make his eyes soooooo shiny. he's so moe...

#figuratively sitting here like: huh. weird brrrrrring noise in my brain. oh haha like the meme. size difference machine goes brr----WAAAIT.