Warrior of Darkness? (MSQ spoiler)

I'm sure this is a common topic by now, but couldn't find anything, so here goes.

What's the deal with this guy?

He is clearly the same guy from the ARR and HW cinematics; which at first I only thought of as the representation of our character, right?

But then he appears in the MSQ, in the same gear he does in the cinematics even, and he's, well, what so far appears to be our very anti-thesis, THE Warrior of Darkness (with a full party of "dark" versions of other classes).

Am I missing something?

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Originally Posted by Asghard

I'm sure this is a common topic by now, but couldn't find anything, so here goes.

What's the deal with this guy?

He is clearly the same guy from the ARR and HW cinematics; which at first I only thought of as the representation of our character, right?

But then he appears in the MSQ, in the same gear he does in the cinematics even, and he's, well, what so far appears to be our very anti-thesis, THE Warrior of Darkness (with a full party of "dark" versions of other classes).

Am I missing something?

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We don't know anything other than he's probably from an alternate universe, was told some "truth" by the Ascians, and now they're our enemies. So far, everything has been mystery and tease and we probably won't know more till 3.4 or even 4.0

There are a couple key differences between Derplander (the cinematic WAR -> DRG) and Darklander (The Warrior of Darkness): chiefly, the former wears normally colored artifact armor and has the base Bravura while the latter has a black-dyed version and the Bravura Atma (though it's probably glamours). Darklander also sports a goatee that Derplander lacks a la Mirror Universe Spock.

Also of note is that, if you pay really close attention during the Dragonsong "music video," Derplander appears to be carrying a Ragnarok [Zeta] instead of a Bravura. If it is a timeline shift, it would have to be before 3.0... but that's just conjecture.

Also in the Heavensward opening trailer and all successive patch trailers he changed from WAR to DRG and is now wearing DRG AF2 and a DRG Anima weapon, further distancing himself from his 'evil' counterpart who has remained as WAR right down to wearing black-dyed AF and an atma version of Bravura, as Cilia mentioned above. And if you look closely, 'Evil!Derplander actually has different coloured eyes to 'Real'Derplander - in all the promotional images, artwork and even the 1.0 opening that SE has released over the years featuring him, 'real' Derplander is clearly seen with blue eyes (some ARR trailers also depicted him with more reddish hair and a goatee though, but that's just embellishment I think - maybe he just spends a lot of time at the aesthetician? ;)).

'Evil!'Derplander though, if you look closely during the player's first encounter with him in

Loth ast Gnath,

has brown eyes, further evidence that they are not the same person. I have my theories, but until we know more, I'm going to keep them close to my chest (maybe the upcoming Lore book will reveal some juicy morsels about him and his evil counterpart?).

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

'Evil!'Derplander though, if you look closely during the player's first encounter with him in

Loth ast Gnath,

has brown eyes, further evidence that they are not the same person. I have my theories, but until we know more, I'm going to keep them close to my chest (maybe the upcoming Lore book will reveal some juicy morsels about him and his evil counterpart?).

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I just rewatched that scene yesterday and the Evil!Derplander had blue eyes. o.o

See

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/...20160125161258

Really? Hmm, they looked brown to me (or maybe it's just my graphic settings).

EDIT: Annnnd... it seems you are right - I just went back looking through my screenshots of 3.1 and Evil!Derplander indeed has blue eyes not brown. So, that was a nice theory while it lasted... phooey. :p

Anyway, thanks for clarifying that. :)

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Originally Posted by Asghard

He is clearly the same guy from the ARR and HW cinematics; which at first I only thought of as the representation of our character, right?

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Partly. Long ago, in the thread that was probably the last straw for "Do we really need a lore forum?" Fernehalwes dropped this:

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Originally Posted by Fernehalwes

But that still leaves one question—was the [CG Trailer] party an actual party, or were they merely symbols meant to represent you, the players? Well, you can breathe easy knowing they are both. They all ventured into Eorzea at the same time as you did. They all did similar quests, and lived through similar adventures. They exist as your characters exist (in a virtual world-sort of existence). The fact that you haven’t come across them is probably the same reason you haven’t come across my character, Amanda Hugginkyss (or maybe you have? /wink). They’re just somewhere else. Though, maybe you’ll stumble across their party in the future. Or maybe you won’t. How’s that for committing to an answer?

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So it seems that our friend Derp!CG_Midander was effectively forked into Dark!CG_Midlander and DRG!CG_Midlander ... unless DRG!CG_Midlander is himself still both a trailer man and his own man.

What I'm trying to say here is that the above are correct, we know nothing.

With a (seeming) lack of larger hints, I just took a shot from the hip that (barring timeline f[KUPO!]kery) they're adventurers from the world that was destroyed during the Seventh Umbral Calamity and that Elidibus has provided them with just enough information to fill them with doubt about their previous course of action, but not enough information to make them realize they can't trust him.

Is there much support for any of that? Not really. But I'll whittle it down as more information comes in; not much else I can do but stew over which probably-wrong theory fits my headcanon best, lol.

After re-watching the 1.0 ending trailer and the "WoD defeats Ravana" cutscene, I am convinced that the Warriors of Darkness are the companions Louisoix Leveilleur teleported away at the end of 1.0.

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Originally Posted by Inchinzu

After re-watching the 1.0 ending trailer and the "WoD defeats Ravana" cutscene, I am convinced that the Warriors of Darkness are the companions Louisoix Leveilleur teleported away at the end of 1.0.

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Well, yes and no, at least from a narrative perspective. Gameplay wise, the 'companions' you mentioned that were sent five years into the future during the Calamity by Louisoix are actually the 1.0 players who satisfied the story requirements, and who in ARR had a slightly different main scenario with slight dialogue differences where they are eventually revealed to have been the original Warriors of Light. But a little suspension of disbelief is needed here, as for everyone else, new players and 1.0 players like me who did not sadly satisfy those requirements (namely, passing a certain point in 1.0's main scenario) as far as the narrative goes, the original Warriors of Light never returned.... so things just end up confusingly going around in circles.

As Moose mentioned though, Ferne confirmed back on the 1.0 forum (which Moose copy and pasted above) that 'Derplander' and his friends both represent the player in trailers, and are stand-alone characters on their own. Thus the appearance of these self-proclaimed 'Warriors of Darkness' while the 'real' Derplander is coincidentally still appearing in trailers in lieu of the player's character, shows that the two are clearly not the same. But again, we'll find out more in 3.4 and beyond (and hopefully the lorebook will also shed at least a little light on this mystery ;)).

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Well, yes and no, at least from a narrative perspective. Gameplay wise, the 'companions' you mentioned that were sent five years into the future during the Calamity by Louisoix are actually the 1.0 players who satisfied the story requirements, and who in ARR had a slightly different main scenario with slight dialogue differences where they are eventually revealed to have been the original Warriors of Light. But a little suspension of disbelief is needed here, as for everyone else, new players and 1.0 players like me who did not sadly satisfy those requirements (namely, passing a certain point in 1.0's main scenario) as far as the narrative goes, the original Warriors of Light never returned....

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I'm being a bit pedantic here but 1.0 WoL(s) (in the fought at Carteneau sense) did return in all scenarios. There are a few of them in them in the Waking Sands prior to "All Good Things" and they are quite confused as to why they have been forgotten, how they had skipped five years and at first were a bit addled themselves (I extend this as a reason as to why the 1.0 character doesn't announce who they are as soon as they make it back to their city state). Since they died fairly early on, I'm presuming that no one besides Minfilia realized who they were.

Enki's correct about the 1.0 characters. I did complete 1.0 storyline and my 1.0 character's opening CS was different--she was teleported into South Shroud by Louisoux. There were a couple different cutsences/dialogues in ARR, particularly in the Binding Coil,

(where Louisoux flat out states he teleported the PC into the future)

and one two bits of different dialogue in Heavensward that I can think of.

The Warrior of Darkness derplander might still be connected to Louisoux's time teleportation shenanigans but it is probably not as straight forward as him being one of the forgotten WoL, unless the WoD are forgotten WoL that even the returned 1.0 WoL forgot about.

I'm going to be a bit annoyed if that's all it is.

FF has a known twist where the good benevolent being turns out to not be soo benevolent. I reckon the WoD were either told the truth or they were tricked.

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Originally Posted by Laerune

FF has a known twist where the good benevolent being turns out to not be soo benevolent. I reckon the WoD were either told the truth or they were tricked.

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And which game did that? Only one I know at the top of my head was FFX.

Well, off the top of my head XII did that with the Occuria. That's kinda why I don't want Hydaelyn to end up being a villain. I'd rather both Hydaelyn and Zodiark to be more grey-and-complicated, but ultimately for Hydaelyn's intentions to be good.

Totally forgot about them. But even then, the Occuria seemed very suspect at the start.

It's a classic trope in Japanese RPG's in general, not just the Final Fantasy franchise. Grandia 2 is an excellent example of the trope in question as is at least one of the Breath of Fire games.

I hope we fight the warriors of darkness in a fight like XI's Ark Angel fight. I kinda sorta view them as this game's Ark Angles.

well from what I seen, I think I know how our character isn't with or is the WOD, the elezen lady in the opening from 1.0, a Fantasia potion and the old elezen guy saving you from being a WOD or enslaved by those darn Ascians. :)

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Originally Posted by Powe

the elezen lady in the opening from 1.0, a Fantasia potion and the old elezen guy saving you from being a WOD or enslaved by those darn Ascians. :)

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The female elezen GLA from the malboro battle in the 1.0 opening is actually the elezen BLM in Real!Derplander's/Evil!Derplander's parties, the male elezen in the Drowning Wench in the same opening according to Ferne parted company with Derplander after the 1.0 opening movie and is currently MIA.

The End of an Era/A New Beginning scene was meant to show the BLM's model as being more obviously female in appearance, but Square Enix Visual Works mucked up and gave the model a male elezen body shape. Ferne clarified this a while ago, in the huge old 'CG Midlander' thread on the old 1.0 forum (the same thread that actually led to the Lore forum being added in the first place!):

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Originally Posted by Fernehalwes

So yes, the Midlander male, Miqo’te female, Roegadyn male, Elezen female, and Lalafell female in the recent trailers are in fact the same ones that appeared in the 1.0 trailer! (Yes, the black mage is the Elezen female from the morbol party, not the snooty male from the Midlander’s party. The robe & hat conceal some of her more distinguishing features, and we all know there was no bust size adjustment feature back in 1.0).

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So basically, Derplander's party in both End of an Era and the ARR/Hw trailers, opening movie, and also Evil!Derplander's party the BLM is actually an elezen woman and not a man. This isn't a weird inversion of what happened with Nael van Darnus in T9 though (being simply a mistake made by SE Visual Works), but that's an entirely different barrel of moogles! ;)

They also botched up the Heavensward trailer by having Derplander fighting Hraesvelgr instead of Nidhogg and there was no time left to correct it, so they went with it. Funny how that turned out since we fight Hraesvelgr anyway.

We don't yet know who the WoD are, but they all seem to at least be inspired by the 1.0 cgi characters. It's still hard to tell, but the BLM Elezen looks looks male to me:
http://cdn4.dualshockers.com/wp-cont...09/FFXIV-3.jpg

look up the FF14 Wiki it will help you fill in everything about everyone.

so far this is what we have about WoD "In the past, the Warriors of Darkness fought the Ascians before later forming an alliance with them"

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/W...l_Fantasy_XIV)

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

basically, Derplander's party in both End of an Era and the ARR/Hw trailers, opening movie, and also Evil!Derplander's party the BLM is actually an elezen woman and not a man.

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Except its definitely a male Elezen in Darklander's party, not female...

I can't find the exact post at the moment but back during 1.0, Ferne said that the Elezen BLM in the CG party was female so . . .

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Originally Posted by myahele

We don't yet know who the WoD are, but they all seem to at least be inspired by the 1.0 cgi characters. It's still hard to tell, but the BLM Elezen looks looks male to me:
http://cdn4.dualshockers.com/wp-cont...09/FFXIV-3.jpg

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That's because it is a male. Contrary to what Koji wrote for that character, the dev team continues to create him as a male elezen.

Also, https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...ame_as/d7kfwh1

http://imgur.com/nBRXY4o

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Originally Posted by Tanama

That's because it is a male. Contrary to what Koji wrote for that character, the dev team continues to create him as a male elezen.

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Yet Koji-Fox himself stated flat out that the BLM is a woman not a man. Hence, I'm going to apply Occam's Razor to this and thus I suggest the BLM's appearance in Evil!Derplander's party seeming to be male as simply the 3D modelling artists repeating Square Enix Visual Works' mistake (presumably working directly from the End of an Era trailer instead of the lore/writing team), given the Warriors of Darkness are meant to directly resemble how Derplander's party appeared in that cutscene.

Either way, I'm liable to take Koji-Fox's word as correct, given he is, you know, one of the actual lore creators for this game and thus his word is basically gospel storyline wise. ;)

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Originally Posted by MilesSaintboroguh

They also botched up the Heavensward trailer by having Derplander fighting Hraesvelgr instead of Nidhogg and there was no time left to correct it, so they went with it. Funny how that turned out since we fight Hraesvelgr anyway.

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*snicker* It would be cool(and I'm sure someone thought of this) if that was what happened in the WoDerp's world: That Hreasvelgr was the one to witness Ratatoskr's death(and thus go mad). Itll probably just stay a lying trailer though.

It could also explain his disdain and annoyance of our actions, He remembers events differently, and is seeing our actions from what happened in his own world as "doing the wrong thing" or "siding with the villains", much like...if we were viewing events in a world where the Crystal Braves continued to function in Eorzea, knowing what happened in our own memories.

Not to mention his Ascian BFF can be feeding him exaggerated truths to further his cause.

Maybe in their world, it was the female Elezen that left.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/...rairie-Dog.gif

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Lots of :)

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Then lets change it to the man elezen, he coulda went missing because the mother crystal willed it to be or you know something something plot hole.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

There are a couple key differences between Derplander (the cinematic WAR -> DRG) and Darklander (The Warrior of Darkness): chiefly, the former wears normally colored artifact armor and has the base Bravura while the latter has a black-dyed version and the Bravura Atma (though it's probably glamours). Darklander also sports a goatee that Derplander lacks a la Mirror Universe Spock.

Also of note is that, if you pay really close attention during the Dragonsong "music video," Derplander appears to be carrying a Ragnarok [Zeta] instead of a Bravura. If it is a timeline shift, it would have to be before 3.0... but that's just conjecture.

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Darklander & Co. Have the Derplander & Co's color armor and weapons in their Echo flashback with you.

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Originally Posted by Causality

Darklander & Co. Have the Derplander & Co's color armor and weapons in their Echo flashback with you.

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That's part of the hypothesis (borderline theory, arguably theory, but I'm just saying hypothesis to placate my nemesis) - the WoDs are from an alternate reality where, say, the world was destroyed in the Calamity.

Or... something.

They're from an alternate timeline / reality but were seduced by the Dark Side, which explains the differences. And how they seemed to know we'd show up to fight Ravana. Or something. It's hazy, but...

I have yet to see this brought up anywhere but in the lvl 5(ish? not sure) quest where we meet the mothercrystal for the first time we are not alone. Back then i didnt read more into it as i assumed it to be the other players. But now that we know that only our own characters has the blessing of light it doesnt quite make sense to me that others are communing with hydaelyn. One thing to note is that when i went back to watch the scene, the characters that appears are a male sea wolf roegadyn and a female elezen and 3 others too far away to describe any features.

http://i.imgur.com/xw1J1Z5.png
http://i.imgur.com/0XgAFsD.png
http://i.imgur.com/J5D1msQ.png
This last picture have 6 blobs of light as we the player are in the front.

While the gender of the elezen has been changed it does strike me as odd that other WoL's appeared , and that they are fairly similar to the setup provided by the new WoD. Would it be too farfetched to assume that the WoD was planned and teased from the getgo without us even having a second thought about it?

On one hand...

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Originally Posted by Gamer Escape Interview with Koji Fox (E3 2015)

A: In one of the early quests, you see other people in the aetherial realm flying around the Mothercrystal. Who are they? Other adventurers?

KF: Yeah, the Mothercrystal talks to many people. You’re the Warrior of Light, but she has to have other options. Not everyone is Warrior of Light material and there are lots of other things going on.

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On the other hand, who's to say those aren't the adventurers in question? <KojiVoice> Speculate, speculate, speculate! </KojiVoice>

EDIT.

Nevermind, somehow skipped a page in the thread confirming the model.