Lets talk about villains

Quick Notes on Sophia:

She was the Meracydian "Goddess" of balance, but she's effectively a True Neutral. Word of God (well, word of Koji Fox) states that all she cares about is balance. If the world leans toward too good, she's evil. If evil, she's good.

Her song, while nice, was revealed to be a pretty grim story about how when a Meracydian girl who's father died in the war against the Allagans prayed to her for help when her mother began to mistreat her out of grief, Sophia told her the only way to restore the balance of her family ("with balance will your worry part") was to kill her mother, then upon doing so, Sophia then said the loss of her mother only further imbalanced her family, and the only way to restore it was to kill herself. ("One last step only leaving, an empty hearth down by the sea.")

Garlean occupation of Ala Mihgo (since I saw a question about it):

To keep it short, call it bad (or good?) timing by the Garleans to have swooped in immediately after a civil war ended in the overthrow of Ala Mihgo's "Mad King" Theodoric. Weak from years of his madness and a bloody civil war, plus the Garlean's Magitek advantage, Ala Mihgo couldn't really fight back.

I forget where I read it, but Xelphatol and its harsh winds/Ixal threat is the only reason Garlemald didn't invade Ishgard first (it is further northeast of Eorzea, and remember Xelphatol makes up a rather large portion of the northeast of the continent).

Unpopular Opinion, I enjoyed Teledji and I miss having antagonist with a very punchable face that personally provokes me. (maybe Asahi will change that?)

He didn't have any magical powers, he had political powers. While he was driven by simple greed he created sense of danger in me as I was going through 2.x like some big storm was coming.
There was something about the fact I could see him scheming but couldn't get the full picture while he'd totally lie through his teeth and smile like we're best of friends. Yes greed and power seem shallow but the fact he was planning such a big assassination and dragging us in was why I give him all my player love.

I just wish he had longer downfall than his swift end in 2.55 so I could be part of it rather than just watch Raubahn do what we all kinda wanted to do. And yeah, one can say, Lolorito is more or less the same but... not really. He is comfortable where he sits and he isn't going anywhere nor doing anything while Teledji was a megalomaniac and that made him interesting to me. (ok and I liked his design more, shoot me. I'm sad he is all forgotten now.)

I enjoyed Nabriales way more than Lahabrea. Lahabrea felt like this plot armor villain who just throws something on your way just because. He felt like the embodiment of Toto Rak - long tedious and I just want to be over with. Nabriales on the other hand felt so much more provocative and aggressive and at the end pushed us into extremes, something we... didn't really do with Lahabrea cause he was just kinda... there. I realize it's in the ascians' nature to be these lurking in the shadows figures but I really enjoyed having an aggressive ascian going straight at us.

Same for Ilberd. Absolutely loved him and the Griffin build up and honestly was absolutely excited at the idea of seeing more of him in Stormblood but yeah... there went that.

Nidhogg I enjoyed as an enemy but I didn't feel him as my enemy. I felt he was Estinien's enemy and all I was doing was to save my friend. I felt like a hero in someone else's conflict. Nevertheless I enjoyed him more than Thordan.

Zenos I enjoyed greatly cause I felt like he provoked me. I felt he was more interested in me than doing whatever evil thing there had to be done in the plot. I'm the hero, I like feeling provoked! He didn't have some large goal beyond a good fight with us but to me that was enough. :)
From story perspective, he doesn't seem like that great of a villain compared to the others, again I think because he didn't have any goal beyond... live for that one moment we delivered at the end of Stormblood.

Nidhogg and the Griffin (had understandable motivation, did their job, and I liked the fights). Favourite primal gotta be Ravana though I like both Sophia and Garuda mentioned before.
Liked the idea od Warriors of Darkness, but found the realisation pretty meh. I rather the villains stay villains, redemption arcs given to popular characters often make them bland and lose whatever made me like them in the first place. Mixed feeling on the Ascians, I'm interested in how their thread develops, but I'm not too fond of them as of now.

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Originally Posted by ThirdChild_ZKI

Garlean occupation of Ala Mihgo (since I saw a question about it):

To keep it short, call it bad (or good?) timing by the Garleans to have swooped in immediately after a civil war ended in the overthrow of Ala Mihgo's "Mad King" Theodoric. Weak from years of his madness and a bloody civil war, plus the Garlean's Magitek advantage, Ala Mihgo couldn't really fight back.

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What about Doma and Othard?

I was partial to Gaius van Baelsar and Regula van Hydrus. Gaius is a great villain for the aforementioned reasons.

Regula wasn't around for long, just the end of Heavensward and for the Warring Triad quests, but he struck me as just as calculating and efficient. Anything necessary for the glory of the Emperor. Even when he died, it was because he calculated that his actions were of more use to the Emperor than his own life, and there was no hesistation.

I'm also hoping that we see more of Fordola coming to our side; there's still more they can do with her character.

Given the story, I can't see the WoD as villains, but they did have some good development for the time they were in the story.

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Originally Posted by ThirdChild_ZKI

[B]To keep it short, call it bad (or good?) timing by the Garleans to have swooped in immediately after a civil war ended in the overthrow of Ala Mihgo's "Mad King" Theodoric.

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It wasn't either, Gaius was the one that instigated the entire civil war so he could capture the region with minimal resistance.

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Originally Posted by Caitlyn

What about Doma and Othard?

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Doma is to Othard as Ul'dah is to Aldenard (namely City-State>Continent)

And from what it sounds like (memory of the lore book and lack of coffee are debuffing me atm), pure Magitek and military might advantage is what did it. Garlemald is also pretty fond of conscripting people from conquered nations then sending them to fight elsewhere, though it seems like being particularly good allows you to work from home for the sake of the empire (Yotsuyu, Asahi, and Fordola to name a few)

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Originally Posted by Addicted

It wasn't either, Gaius was the one that instigated the entire civil war so he could capture the region with minimal resistance.

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The situation was pretty much a powderkeg as is, with Theodoric being a pretty crappy head of state. It was a pretty bad turn for AM all around. Look what he did to his own family (Skalla).

Gaius is the only one worth mentioning. The rest of the villains suck. None of them are really memorable.

Lahabrea is my favorite antagonist.

If Igeyorhm's entire background hadn't been relegated to the lore book (don't do this again SE, please) I'm sure she'd absolutely be number 1 for me, for characters following her particular trope are my favorite. I'd have loved to see her expanded. Instead she was thrown on the bus.

I like Yotsuyu in 4.0, as well, but hers is more of a like just because she's so over the top and fun.

First, 2 of my favourites:

Personally I feel Gaius was an excellent villian, mostly becuase of the speech he gives in Praetorium. Making us question what we do and if our goals/beliefs really are right - I actually found myself agreeing with most of what he said, just not his method of dealing with it.

The Griffin was excellent - built up over a huge period of time, we got a real history of him and see how he changes to what he is. Plus he is used well to highlight dilemmas and flaws in other characters and fill in a bit of the social effects of pre-game and of what we do.

Then a couple of unsures:


Nidhogg...i'm not sure about. I think partially because they just wouldnt let him die (a recurring theme in this game it seems) and...I don't know. I understand his motivations they just seemed in some ways a touch...bland? plain? It's like all he was all rage, he has no other personality or character. At he same time though, he felt threatening; powerful. Also the fact he was kinda in the right was a nice way to make him more understandable.

Zenos - What to say. There was clear potential there, but he just ended up falling flat.
The little extra at the end of 4.1 and 4.2's MSQ really just ruined him totally for me. After all the cutscenes and everything at the end of SB base they then do that. But I could rant about that for forever.
Plus side, he was a good mirror of what we could be, what we could become. Plus his motivation is actually kinda cool. He's been made into this super being, so powerful he feels no fear, he can't understand or really empathise with anyone as he's just on a different scale is actually kinda interesting - except they did very little with it bar make him look like a spoiled brat.


Finally, the Warriors of Darkness - much potential, unfortunately they were a 1 patch here'n'gone which I felt was a massive shame. Still, they showed some important new sides to the whole Hydalyn and Ascian business.

Overall, i'm hoping the whole little bits from the end of 4.1 and 4.2 fizzle and instead they focus more on the new character they introduced in 4.2 - he, and his...organisation has the potential top be quite interesting depending how they play it.