Spoiler: Question regarding the Return to Ivalice storyline

So, I just finished RTI and though I feel like I followed most of it, there's still one thing that's kind of bothering me.

In the cutscene where the WOL uses the echo to see into the past, Delita is seen asking Orran to stay and work with him. Orran declines, saying that he doesn't want the church finding out about his history (presumably that he's been branded a heretic) to keep it from impacting Delita.

He is then later burned at the stake by the church.

I read up on some of the FF tactics lore, and what I don't get is this. After everything the church did, why did Delita allow it to remain as it was once he became king? It seemed like his intention was to double cross the church eventually, so why not take the opportunity to do it once it had been exposed that they were trying to summon Ultima?

I get that Orran was planning on the church essentially confiscating all of the copies of the durai papers, sequestering them away until it fell out of favor--but even so, surely Delita would have been able to intervene on behalf of Orran if he wanted to. For that matter, the XIV Delita says that he wanted Ramza to become his knight--something which the church would obviously have opposed due to his heretic status.

Was it just to try and consolidate power? Was it to try and keep the truth about Ramza from becoming exposed prematurely? I haven't really been able to find a satisfactory answer.

The FFXIV Return to Ivalice stuff is like an alternate universe to the FFT stuff. Not the same Ramza, Delita, or Ultima. Not the same timeline. Just the aesthetic is the same.

RTI makes more sense on its own, when you ignore FFT.

FFT makes more sense on its own, when you ignore FFXIV RTI.

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Originally Posted by SpiritualOcean

The FFXIV Return to Ivalice stuff is like an alternate universe to the FFT stuff. Not the same Ramza, Delita, or Ultima. Not the same timeline. Just the aesthetic is the same.

RTI makes more sense on its own, when you ignore FFT.

FFT makes more sense on its own, when you ignore FFXIV RTI.

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Fair enough, but even with the isolated FFXIV story--delita was the king. Why not intervene to keep Orran from being burned at the stake, when he clearly had a high opinion of him?

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Originally Posted by Odakai

Fair enough, but even with the isolated FFXIV story--delita was the king. Why not intervene to keep Orran from being burned at the stake, when he clearly had a high opinion of him?

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If it's anything like how it was back in the medieval era, the Church had more power than royalty. They could make or break kingdoms, and would convince those that believed that those who did not believe were worth warring with and killing. Real world example, The Crusades.

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Originally Posted by Odakai

Fair enough, but even with the isolated FFXIV story--delita was the king. Why not intervene to keep Orran from being burned at the stake, when he clearly had a high opinion of him?

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If Orran was a heretic, then intervening to prevent his death opens you up to being branded as a heretic. The sensationalism not only played out in medieval times, but hundreds of years later in Salem with the witch trials, then again during McCarthyism.

Ivalice in Tactics was very much a world where the church held the real power, so it stands to reason that the same would be true for XIV!Ivalice. Delita probably didn't have the pull to do that, at least not without being branded a heretic himself.

Trying to keep Ramza's truth from being prematurely exposed, like you suggested, may very well have also been a reason.

Delita in Tactics never wanted to change the status quo - he just wanted to game the system.

He doesn't care about Ramza, he cares about how useful he can be while climbing the ranks. And he makes it clear.

He manipulates Ovelia and finishes her when he no longer needs her to be king (yeah, she tries to stab him, but she is no warrior and is pissed about his schemes).

Delita actually orders Orran executed, and when Valmafra refuses, it is implied he has her tongue cut. And she is the closest thing to a friend he has after the first chapter.

After the War of the Lions, the Church of Glabados was weakened (the Lucavi are gone, most of the Templars are dead, and so is the pope) and Delita probably made an alliance with the remaining clergy in order to consolidate his power. He had leverage after all, since he could prove the church double crossed all the noble families in Ivalice.

Delita in Hydaelyn is a total different person, as people said. Since he probably wasn't that scheming on the Source, I believe he could not risk a power struggle.