Thancred... what are you doing? [3.1-2 Spoilers]

So, a friend and I were having a friendly chat, and the topic of eyepatches came up. She reminded me of an oddity that I had overlooked when 3.2 came out. Thancred, during the brief time we see him impersonating an imperial guard, lacks his new eye patch.

That... doesn't seem right, especially since, when he takes off his helmet, he is the same Thancred we have always known. His eye isn't missing, it isn't scarred or damaged... he's just wearing an eyepatch to look cool?!

He's a Rogue, shouldn't harming his depth perception be the last thing he would want to do? Especially now that he lacks the ability to use aether to augment his abilities. So... what's the deal, SE? Is Thancred blind in one eye and you were too lazy to give him a unique face texture or at least odd eyes with his injured eye being white like Y'shtola's are now? Or is he not blind at all and he's just being "cool," and making himself a worse combatant while he is at it?

His eye could be completely blind, despite it looking "normal" without his patch. A blind person can go without blindfolds/sunglasses, but some choose to use them anyway to make it easier for others to see that they are actually blind.

I thought he said at one point he was wearing it to impress women. So, same Thancred as always.

He likely remove it during combat, or its made of a see-through cloth

PArcher has it right - he actually admits that his eye was injured briefly while he was fending for himself in the wilderness, but that it had long since healed and that he continued to wear the eyepatch because it made him look roguish and mysterious, and thus, this being Thancred, a way to make himself attractive to women. :p It then becomes a running gag that it actually makes him look older than he is, much to his chagrin. :p

So yeah, his eyesight is perfectly fine, which is why he dispensed with the eyepatch while in disguise as a Garlean soldier while infiltrating the ruins of the Praetorium - it was utterly useless and would have blown the disguise.

How come so many in this forum seems to have overlooked one tiny detail...
Thancred himself tells you he never lost his eye. He almost lost his eye. Almost =/= lost. And iirc he states it's because ladies like his rough look now that he's keeping it.

Proof? Proof.
Last sentence roughly says 'It was an arduous journey and my carelessness almost cost me my left eye.'

Well. People were faster than me.

Well sorry for not remembering one minor detail from several months ago -_-

Eyepatches aren't hot. Of course he has to take it off to woo the ladies (a shave would be nice, too).
Masks, on the other hand. . .

Less jokingly, I imagine it's also a matter of pride with him. He doesn't like to admit he doesn't have the same capabilities he once did. The eyepatch is a constant reminder of it.

Thancred has obviously been shopping at the level 5 gear merchant ... there's an eyepatch for the head slot about every 10 levels or so ...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yuyuka3

How come so many in this forum seems to have overlooked one tiny detail...
Thancred himself tells you he never lost his eye. He almost lost his eye. Almost =/= lost. And iirc he states it's because ladies like his rough look now that he's keeping it.

Proof? Proof.
Last sentence roughly says 'It was an arduous journey and my carelessness almost cost me my left eye.'

Well. People were faster than me.

---

I'll be honest, I outright forgot about that throw-away line. Thancred... you're a brat.

It's hard to consider him as 'weaker' when he clashed with the Warrior of Darkness and managed to take down the Cyclops thing that threatened to interrupt the tournament. I might be being overly cynical but I really wish characters would stop being injured if the injury isn't going to actually have a strong impact upon their physical capabilities. It's fun, engaging and interesting when the protagonists lose from time to time - but for whatever reason the story seems to avoid that at almost every turn.

I do miss his original look though.

O_o I just notice the eye patch...... i was too busy looking at Y'shtola

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MiniPrinny

He's a Rogue, shouldn't harming his depth perception be the last thing he would want to do?

---

heh, tell that to all the aiming/scouting gear sets that include an eyepatch

Personally, I'd like to know why our own characters are so stinkin oblivious to some of these changes. Thancred's eyes completely changed color and no one says anything. Same for Y'shtola. We said nothing about her eyes either. Only Matoya brought it up once we were out of earshot.

But I wonder, if nothing is actually wrong with Thancred's eyes, does that mean the silvery-blue color is merely a cosmetic symptom of being caught up in the aetherial sea? If so, I'm not a fan of it. While I do like his new look a whole lot otherwise, I really miss the charming brown eyes he had before. In a cast where nearly all (if not actually all, now) of the important companions and characters had some-shade-of-blue eyes, it made him unique.

I'm not sure that's quite on topic, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Theodric

I do miss his original look though.

---

The scruffy long hair look really doesn't suit him.. SE honestly isn't the greatest with sticking to things all the tragedy that happened before HW seems to have gone (because we all know Minfillia will come back in some miraculous twist of fate) but Y'shtola who is supposedly dying a slow death won't because she's a fan favourite and it isn't even affecting her all that much, Raubahn can apparently still knock a full grown elezen back twenty feet create an ifrit circle and duel one on one with the WoL so losing an arm doesn't seem to have weakened him much or at all - and Thancred can solo a FATE I wish they'd at least commit to things when people are supposedly injured.

I agree with your general sentiment, but I'm positive Y'shtola has an escape in Matoya's crystal eye. SE is even cheating away her life drain because popularity. Y'shtola basically being immortal due to her nature as the game's representative is one of those choices I don't think I can ever agree with, but accept as an inevitability. At least with Shantotto in XI, she didn't have a lot to do with the MSQ in XI outside of one small section in ToAU and was more used for amusing side quests or side events.

(Wouldn't it be better return such a supposedly powerful crystal to Hydaelyn, though? Would that even be possible at this point?)

Raubahn - that one I have no explanation for, especially because it wasn't terribly long in-game ago that he was rotting away in jail, his muscles no doubt suffering some atrophy in that time. I can't imagine he would be back at full strength just yet, especially learning to fight with one hand. But yeah, fantasy, I guess. Rule of cool and whatnot.

Edit: That's not to say I want all of these characters to sit around passively on their behinds because of their disabilities, but at least having them more restricted for more than half of a patch (not even half of an expansion in Raubahn's case) would be nice. I think Thancred's recovery taking a full patch from 2.0 to 2.2 was fine, for example.

There was a character in the Suikoden series - Georg - he was in Suiko 2 and 5 - in 5 he wore an eye patch for a bit. He took it off much much later in the game and his eye was fine. He said that he wore it as a reminder of the injury and to never be careless in battle.

Neither do I - but I do wish it could have affected them a bit more or at least y'know at all? Raubahn who is supposedly totally accustomed to a dual sword fighting style now doesn't only show zero signs of being weaker but can almost best the WoL in single combat?? with no sign of his disability affecting the fight (save for the end where he stays on the ground for a long time but im taking that as more shame of losing instead of actual pain...) I'm just not happy with going from the edge of death in halatali to taking out everyone except yourself in one go.

Maybe I'm being too critical of a fantasy game though...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CyrilLucifer

Raubahn - that one I have no explanation for, especially because it wasn't terribly long in-game ago that he was rotting away in jail, his muscles no doubt suffering some atrophy in that time. I can't imagine he would be back at full strength just yet, especially learning to fight with one hand. But yeah, fantasy, I guess. Rule of cool and whatnot.

---

Actually it's been quite a lot of time between the quest where we save Raubahn and the end of the 3.2 story. It might not seem like it, but from one quest to another it could pass minutes, days or even weeks. I'm pretty sure it's been months since the thing with Raubahn, atrophy or not he used to be the top combatant of the coliseum and the leader of the maximum military power of Thanalan, so a few months is more than enough time to get back in shape.

Funny thing, according to Gerolt it's been 2 years since patch 2.2, meaning we're 7 years post calamity now.

Thancred is just doing another round of hiding the fact that underneath the suave exterior he is a callous shite of a man.

I think the answer here is much more simple than everyone is making out. He's a noob. He lost all his levels in the aetherial river.
Does nobody remember wearing a leather eyepatch in their early adventuring days? I do, and my eye was fine. Thancred's new outfit is very much
Does nobody wonder why it was his job to pull away that one mob during the grand melee and not some other throwaway? Those are exactly the kinds of jobs we pass off to our weakest, most inexperienced DPS.

Or it's glamour.(fullstop) The whole rest of his outfit looks like it's level-15-to-17-dungeon-loot-tier.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cooperal

I think the answer here is much more simple than everyone is making out. He's a noob. He lost all his levels in the aetherial river.
Does nobody remember wearing a leather eyepatch in their early adventuring days? I do, and my eye was fine. Thancred's new outfit is very much
Does nobody wonder why it was his job to pull away that one mob during the grand melee and not some other throwaway? Those are exactly the kinds of jobs we pass off to our weakest, most inexperienced DPS.

Or it's glamour.(fullstop) The whole rest of his outfit looks like it's level-15-to-17-dungeon-loot-tier.

---

On the one hand, Glamour does require a catalyst, so it is possible that it can cast the spell without any other forms of aether but the prism itself. Ont he other hand, it seems to be a spell, and its already implied that Thancred lost the ability to glamour anything, which is why he look older (though the eyepatch certainly isn't helping)

I was under the impression that he is cosplaying as riku from kingdom hearts.... >_>

To anyone saying "why is Thancred not physically weaker??" It's because his main injury was not physical. He is technically weaker since he cannoy manipulate aether anymore but that does not affect his physical prowess

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Frost_Tear

I was under the impression that he is cosplaying as riku from kingdom hearts.... >_>

---

Since when did Riku have an eyepatch?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

Since when did Riku have an eyepatch?

---

It's a joke I like to make because riku in KH1has medium length hair and when we see him again in KH2 he has long hair and is wearing a blindfold he doesn't even need :)

And thancreds new super serious broody attitude also reminds me of riku xD

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zari

To anyone saying "why is Thancred not physically weaker??" It's because his main injury was not physical. He is technically weaker since he cannoy manipulate aether anymore but that does not affect his physical prowess

---

He was shot directly in the knee at the end of 2.0, though. I won't speak for anybody else but personally I found it rather boring that the WoD was chased off by Thancred. The Scions and WoL win far too often and even when something 'bad' happens they still manage to succeed. I just think we need to see the main characters in this game humbled from time to time in such a way as for them to actually lose now and then. It makes for a much more interesting story overall and many of the main titles in the franchise never avoided such a thing happening from time to time.

As long as the WOL is involved, we are never going to lose. The most we had happen is us getting incapacitated or outnumbered and the Scions' worst thing was being driven back. If no one is the main character, a bridge can be dropped on them at any time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MilesSaintboroguh

As long as the WOL is involved, we are never going to lose. The most we had happen is us getting incapacitated or outnumbered and the Scions' worst thing was being driven back. If no one is the main character, a bridge can be dropped on them at any time.

---

it think its possible to pull "never" off, even in a mmorpg like this. whether the writers think the story should go there is the question. We could end up being too successful, with adoration of our abilities eventually becoming fear, or overreliance.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kallera

it think its possible to pull "never" off, even in a mmorpg like this. whether the writers think the story should go there is the question. We could end up being too successful, with adoration of our abilities eventually becoming fear, or overreliance.

---

Or worship, Primal/Eikon-creating worship

I'm hoping for the fear part, honestly. I mentioned it like...5 months ago? But If the truth of even part of the Echo's abilities came out, I can see people turning on Echo users.

It's creepy enough that we can basically invade someone's memories at will, but we're posed to be able to (and already have) do more than that. Even if it's not necessarily true, rumors can escalate very quickly.

Not even related to the Echo, "The WoL is favored by the Goddess!" can very quickly turn into "The Goddess is weakening from overexertion because She spent her energy on the WoL rather than sustaining Herself!" which unfortunately leads to "it's the WoL's fault Hydaelyn is dead!" from the more irrational.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CyrilLucifer

...Not even related to the Echo, "The WoL is favored by the Goddess!" can very quickly turn into "The Goddess is weakening from overexertion because She spent her energy on the WoL rather than sustaining Herself!" which unfortunately leads to "it's the WoL's fault Hydaelyn is dead!" from the more irrational.

---

So far it seems that Hydealyn the goddess seems...obscure. You hear more people talk about about the Twelve or Primals then you do her. The Students of Balesion might be another story, but between the Bilbiothecs taking an isolationist stance and the Ascians wiping Val off the map, Krile might be the sole survivor, which really the gap of people that know about the mothercrystal to those that do not.

On the other hand, Garlemald an the GC leaders ha to know of the threat of Primals somehow, but the former seems unlikely an the latter mightjust ha notice the aether-raining properties...

Come to think of it, has there been any areas that ha been reduce to a wasteland by Primal attacks (INB4 Carteneau)?

I agree, but that's really what I meant by "truth coming out." I'm not sure if Hydaelyn's origin story is going to released, because I do see the Scions at least intending to to stick with the FFXI Promathia/XIV Phoenix route and keeping it a secret so that the worldview of the majority isn't unbalanced, however, if it is it might lead to some interesting cultural conflicts.

It's totally not happening, is it?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CyrilLucifer

I agree, but that's really what I meant by "truth coming out." I'm not sure if Hydaelyn's origin story is going to released, because I do see the Scions at least intending to to stick with the FFXI Promathia/XIV Phoenix route and keeping it a secret so that the worldview of the majority isn't unbalanced, however, if it is it might lead to some interesting cultural conflicts.

It's totally not happening, is it?

---

I love that sort of thing. Imagine how ironic it'd be, too? Especially with the Scions and WoL having opposed Ishgard's Archbishop to expose the truth about Nidhogg only to then cover up different information themselves.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Theodric

I love that sort of thing. Imagine how ironic it'd be, too? Especially with the Scions and WoL having opposed Ishgard's Archbishop to expose the truth about Nidhogg only to then cover up different information themselves.

---

Yes! That's exactly what I was going for, I might have worded it badly, though.
I don't know, maybe it's just me misinterpreting their goals, but to me to Scions really seem to be for retaining stability, hence why I don't think they would reveal the truth of creation to anyone. But at the same time, I also believe that such things should be known, even if they are unpleasant (which is why the decision at the end of CoP was a bit irritating to me).