I wonder what is preventing WoL from mentally breaking down

If the answer is 'that's just how he/she is', I guess I have nothing to say... but judging by how Fordola reacted to WoL's echo, WoL does seem to feel something whenever WoL faces trejedy. On top of that WoL got all these responsibilities and hopes he/she is carrying on his/her shoulders which can only make things harder for WoL. I wonder, if it will ever become too much for WoL and have a point where WoL just mentally breaks down. But then, I guess extremeental strength is also one of the stereotypical characteristic of a hero.

There's in entire job questline(Dark Knight) that covers this,

Wait for real? Is there a way to re watch job quests?

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Originally Posted by Minnel

Wait for real? Is there a way to re watch job quests?

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Yes :)

In an inn by default or in a player's House/FC estate/Apartment if one has the furnishing item for it, you can re-watch most any/all cut scenes via The Unending Journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D0o--E1kMo

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Originally Posted by Minnel

Wait for real? Is there a way to re watch job quests?

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Also, unless im mistaken, you can use the New Game+ system to re-play job quests. So rather then watch, go re-do the quests for the full experience. Side note: While doing the DRK quests, check out the quest journal. There are special notes there that only appear while you are on the quest and equipped as a DRK. This is a small thing that some people miss, but it adds a bit to the story.

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Originally Posted by Minnel

If the answer is 'that's just how he/she is', I guess I have nothing to say... but judging by how Fordola reacted to WoL's echo, WoL does seem to feel something whenever WoL faces trejedy. On top of that WoL got all these responsibilities and hopes he/she is carrying on his/her shoulders which can only make things harder for WoL. I wonder, if it will ever become too much for WoL and have a point where WoL just mentally breaks down. But then, I guess extremeental strength is also one of the stereotypical characteristic of a hero.

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I’ve never asked to be the WoL in the first place

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Originally Posted by Vencio

I’ve never asked to be the WoL in the first place

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One of my alts "quit" being a WoL after the Ifrit storyline. He just does pvp and squadron now.

I'd say it's mainly the luxuries that come with being savior and hero to multiple nations. For all the suffering and crap the WoL is put through, ultimately they're treated better than most aristocrats/nobles/leaders by most people that they meet. They get a lot of exceptions made for them, lots of cutting edge technology to help them out, and even a fancy dinner here or there.

They get to hammer out stress, literally, whether it be by crafting platemail armor or by bashing a monster's head in(or anyone's given whatever circumstances lead to that).

They have the capacity to be very wealthy, while also being self-sufficient. They are a strong person and a warrior, in spite of we who play as them.

A WoL played to the extremes is a master on the battlefield and a veritable tycoon when off it. My own main WoL has a fleet of Submarines and Airships, a large estate in Lavender Beds, and shows new adventurers the ropes providing any who wish for it a home. This isn't even in a roleplay sense, though I could very well write in the lived experience for it to be one.

The WoL is the Übermensch in all aspects of their life, except for the fact that they've adopted the Scions' morals(or at least seem to have). Despite having and even physically manifesting their psychological problems, they still ride roughshod over them, conquering them. They're put on display because they're really the only way we can relate to such a character, since we are not warriors ourselves(generally speaking, of course). Neither are we the best at literally everything we put our hand to, as is the WoL.

Personally, I think the WoL's greatest struggle is actually in retaining their humanity, and that this is the impetus for them hanging onto the Scions as friends, as well as why they help even the common man(also why they at times detest the chores they take on, as it is the expected, "human" thing to do).

I'd say the only way to really make the WoL have a mental breakdown is to point out that they are ever more not like other people, to really separate them, and point them into a mirror and then contrast who they are with what they want to be. Because what they want to be, they can never be, and thus far they avoid it mostly by stepping on it and tucking it far in the back of their mind. Dismissing it with a chivalrous attitude, as befits a hero of the people.

But once every challenge is won. Once every monster is cast down. Once the WoL must confront a life without challenges for them, then they will break, because having an endless opportunity to rest gives an endless opportunity to reflect, and all of their inner demons will stir to the fore. Leaving them with the choice to endlessly fight that inner self or to let it take the reins. It won't be Myste or Fray, but a new deep seated terrible part of the WoL's repressed humanity, perhaps a worse foe than we could imagine.

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Originally Posted by Vyrerus

I'd say the only way to really make the WoL have a mental breakdown is to point out that they are ever more not like other people, to really separate them, and point them into a mirror and then contrast who they are with what they want to be. Because what they want to be, they can never be, and thus far they avoid it mostly by stepping on it and tucking it far in the back of their mind. Dismissing it with a chivalrous attitude, as befits a hero of the people.

But once every challenge is won. Once every monster is cast down. Once the WoL must confront a life without challenges for them, then they will break, because having an endless opportunity to rest gives an endless opportunity to reflect, and all of their inner demons will stir to the fore. Leaving them with the choice to endlessly fight that inner self or to let it take the reins. It won't be Myste or Fray, but a new deep seated terrible part of the WoL's repressed humanity, perhaps a worse foe than we could imagine.

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Zenos was onto something, huh...

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Originally Posted by Minnel

I wonder what is preventing WoL from mentally breaking down .

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It's up to you I think, there is a lot of implied downtime in the story, during which your character can use whatever coping mechanisms you picture them using.

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Originally Posted by Minnel

If the answer is 'that's just how he/she is', I guess I have nothing to say... but judging by how Fordola reacted to WoL's echo, WoL does seem to feel something whenever WoL faces trejedy. On top of that WoL got all these responsibilities and hopes he/she is carrying on his/her shoulders which can only make things harder for WoL. I wonder, if it will ever become too much for WoL and have a point where WoL just mentally breaks down. But then, I guess extremeental strength is also one of the stereotypical characteristic of a hero.

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Judging by some posts in the forums, mayhap they already got broken! XD
I think in the end, they have endured so much pain, trauma and this is their life: to face challenges after challenges.. That they get used to it.
Not that they are ok with, but it is as part known of their journey.

Not everyone is going to be mentally down. If I was my WoL in real life then I'll just carry on. I'll probably be more serious though because... you know... people's lives are at risk here, but wouldn't mind taking the burden.
Maybe this is why DRK questlines weren't a big deal to me.

Edit: The Edit is to clarify more.
Since the WoL personality is at large depending on the players themselves. You can find many players like me who would carry on, but you would also find many players who would quit, stop, retire, or have their mentality broken down. It's up to you to decide what's your headcanon and what's not. This brings to mind that some players do not regard their characters as the WoL but rather as regular folk or simple adventurers or anything else.

Elai - the only one of my PCs who is (head canon) the WoL - drank A LOT after Carteneau. After her best friend died in HW she lost the plot for a bit - even more booze and worse than booze - but she dragged herself out of that pit. She's realised that fighting - the technique of warcraft rather than murderising things - is what keeps her sane basically. The physical and mental exertion of honing her skills to the ultimate. Kind of like Zenos in a weird way but then again absolutely nothing like Zenos.

The point being, the on screen WoL will never have a breakdown. S/he/they can't, not overtly, because lots of us have head canon things going on that the devs do their best to facilitate. So if your WoL does collapse, OP, its up to you to choreograph that

Given how short a time frame the game is estimated to be in, then chances are the wol has enough time to begin processing some of the various things, but then things go downhill again, the wol is likely at the point where their reaction after exposure to such matters is much less impactful than each source would normally be. Especially once they realised that they can just punch the problem out once conditions are good.

In other words: they aren't breaking because they are getting used to shit going south so much.

Something that comes to mind, the initial dark knight questline deals specifically with lots of built up frustration. Chances are, some of the events that went off didn't harm the wol as much as they could have because they weren't exactly close to the people involved at the time. eg the attack on the waking sands. At this point all that's happened since the wol joined is getting thrown into battle vs ifrit since they couldn't be tempered, then ordered about while the other scions do sweet f all.

Remember the wol by the time they meet the scions has already had to deal with lots of death, usually at their own hand. They may have also already seen one major kidnapping plot if they started at limsa

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Originally Posted by Recon1o6

Remember the wol by the time they meet the scions has already had to deal with lots of death, usually at their own hand. They may have also already seen one major kidnapping plot if they started at limsa

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Also on themselves. How many times did we put our WoL to dangerous situations, only to be slain and restart the duty with the power of Echo.
We lived it. Up the the point where their hearts stopped beating.

Not to mention, there might be some duty/instance that the WoL did not die then and there, but were to be subjected to something worse when they lose..

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Originally Posted by Minnel

If the answer is 'that's just how he/she is', I guess I have nothing to say... but judging by how Fordola reacted to WoL's echo, WoL does seem to feel something whenever WoL faces trejedy. On top of that WoL got all these responsibilities and hopes he/she is carrying on his/her shoulders which can only make things harder for WoL. I wonder, if it will ever become too much for WoL and have a point where WoL just mentally breaks down. But then, I guess extremeental strength is also one of the stereotypical characteristic of a hero.

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Fordola was always a perpetrator and never a victim. With the echo now she feels what it is to be a victim and what she has done to other people. And this bothers her a lot. And the DRK questline with Fray is fine. :)

Cheers

I feel like how much stress the WoL is under is maybe a bit overdone in general.

Truth to be told, back when I started playing I got the impression that Eorzea was a dangerous place and that life was rather short and brutish for the average inhabitant. I feel my character would be no stranger to people close to them dying.

The obvious answer to that question is that whatever answer that people come up with will say more about the person writing it than it will say about the coping mechanisms of a incredibly powerful hero, and that’s by design. We’re meant to fill in those gaps ourselves and as a result each persons answer will be unique, much like their character is.

For all intents and purposes, they already have, at least once.

The entire 30-50 DRK questline showed they were incredibly close to having an actual mental breakdown, if Fray appearing wasn't already a case of it. Then after Haurchefant's death, 1 week passed without us doing ANYTHING. Exactly 1 week without us controlling the WoL. That's how hard they took it, and it's somewhat implied by dialogue choices that the rest of the 3.0 storyline was us on a revenge trip out of grief. Then there's the level 60-70 questline pretty much HAVING the WoL have a mental breakdown, even ending with the job trainer asking if they need to talk to him, to let it off their chests.

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Originally Posted by Larirawiel

Fordola was always a perpetrator and never a victim. With the echo now she feels what it is to be a victim and what she has done to other people. And this bothers her a lot. And the DRK questline with Fray is fine. :)

Cheers

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That's a pretty gross oversimplification considering her father was literally killed by an angry mob right before her eyes for no real fault of his own.

I think it is because we are behind the character and want to see what's next. That's why we went to the volcano to investigate. We are curious and want to see what's up. And we are globetrotters as the name Azem connotes. We track events and hunt them down (like azimuth and stars). I dunno, I guess that is what our character does. We go from one questgiver to the problem and back. It must be a strong force of our character.

6.0 will end with the WoL waking up in a mental hospital and everything is just hallucination

I know this is a boring answer but I think it's just up to you to decide. I know for most of us each answer is different because we all have a different perception of who our WoL is inside. I know for me my WoL is already a bit twisted inside in that she doesn't actually care for being a Hero, the role just allows her to fight strong beings and that's enough. But for you the answer might be entirely different. I think sometimes it's nice to remember this is an mmoRPG at the end of the day. It's your journey. :3

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Originally Posted by Yuella

6.0 will end with the WoL waking up in a mental hospital and everything is just hallucination

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The names of your doctors? Zoey Dark and Heidi Lynn.

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Originally Posted by GoldStarz

That's a pretty gross oversimplification considering her father was literally killed by an angry mob right before her eyes for no real fault of his own.

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He was collaborating with the colonizers of his homeland, that's pretty decent fault.

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Originally Posted by SnowVix

He was collaborating with the colonizers of his homeland, that's pretty decent fault.

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Collaboration in occupied countries is NEVER a simple topic to approach, not in this setting, and not in real life. Ala Mhigo, the premiere military power of Eorzea, was utterly flattened, first under the weight of its own civil war, then the Garleans swooping in. The Eorzean Alliance as a whole did nothing to prevent this. To the Ala Mhigans, salvation wasn't coming. The creation of Baelsar's Wall only solidified that.

What do you do next if you have a family? Well, you can resist, sure. Drive away those filthy imperial colonizers. But failure to do so means not just your death, but that of your family, or their enslavement at the very least. Stormblood addressed this very well: the spirit of revolution isn't as easy to kindle as people think it is. And while Gaius was authoritarian and Lawful Evil to the core, he was one of the few who promoted a genuine meritocracy. So of course people are going to be drawn to that, to try rising through the ranks in the new order that they have no way of knowing will ever end.

Of course, we know Gaius's meritocracy wasn't flawless, far from it in fact. And he enforced the laws of a totalitarian state, no matter how it's spun. But Fordola's father really was NOT killed through any fault of his own. The mob were awful people for killing him, and the imperials who watched and let it happen were even more awful.

Colonizers is the wrong word to use. The Garleans are conquerors, subjugators, and occupiers. To be colonizers they'd have to have sent settlers, and the settlers would have had to have built their own towns and such, and then dominated the region economically/culturally. The Garleans took from the Ala Mhigans, and layered their own things on top of what was already there. Replaced the national anthem etc. Imperialism is not Colonization.

Examining how the WoL is in cutscenes, it is clear they do suffer a lot behind the scenes. Fordola even points it out that they suffered more than anyone ever should have. And they definitely suffered more during Shadowbringers.

If I recall, one of the answers the WoL can give Fordola when questioned is because of the people they lost and those that can yet be saved. Essentially, they are driven by the desire to protect those around them. The call to adventure probably helps, but based on the DRK storyline, they have become more cynical since their stary eyed newbie days.

All and all, it's based on the perspective and personality imprinted. This post is more or less based on details gained from the story.