How many Warriors of Light are there post EW?

Hi Lore Experts,

I was having a discussion in General randomly about the Warrior of Light and how replaceable our MC is.

I know the definition of who is a Warrior of Light has shifted over time between 1.0, ARR, and revelations in 5.2.

Does anyone have a clear understanding of who is considered a "Warrior of Light" canonically? Also what is the difference between a Warrior of Light and someone with the Echo? Post 5.2, is anyone with the Echo considered a "Warrior of Light"?

Thank you for any clarification.

Edit: Saw this thread after I already posted: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...t-and-the-Echo I found this helpful but was still confused if everyone with Echo is considered a WoL.

Not really sure on the answer as such, but I would say that the story itself indicates our character is the only person referred to/considered to be the Warrior of Light on the Source, as a byproduct of their deeds. And our character is certainly the only current (i.e. not in the past tense) one directly referred to by said title by various characters and Hydaelyn herself.

It doesn't help that the meaning of the term has shifted repeatedly throughout the game's life so it's confusing as to exactly who it applies to. At it's most basic though, it's applied to YOU, your character. Originally it was applied to the adventurers who fought at Cartenau (and who specifically had defeated Nael van Darnus), who then disappeared as a result of Louisoix's teleport spell, but the aetheric shockwave muddled everyone's memories (convieniently) so everyone left in Eorzea could no longer remember who they were exactly, only being able to remember them as a vague sillhouette - "as if their faces were obscured by a bright light", and so were called "the Warriors of Light" (plural).

Gameplay wise, this is specifically former version 1.0 players who satisfied a certain story aspect of 1.0 (they completed a certain boss fight), and so if they started ARR with this character, they were that original WoL incognito. For everyone else though, the story treats it as if the original WoLs never returned, only becoming an ideal to aspire to as an adventurer, to be altruistic and to rush to the defense of the realm and the world at large in spite of the danger. And by the end of ARR, the player is treated as a "new" WoL, or WoL Reborn, regardless if you were the original one (with memories restored), a veteran of Eorzea pre Calamity (but not the original WoL), or an adventurer recently arrived in Eorzea "five years later" - all were now the Warrior of Light. And this is still the same even past EW.

Of course a little suspension of disbelief is needed with other players in order for the story to work, in that from your perspective in the story everyone else is just a talented adventurer with the Echo and Blessing but not the WoL (which is the explanation how other players are able to join you on your adventures).

So really story wise there is basically anything between one and five WoLs at the start of the story (in 1.0), but by ARR and for that matter EW, there is only really one: you.

There's only one one the Source. Who knows how many are active on the remaining shards excluding the 13th as of 6.4 as no one seems to go by that title or any other similar title. There's at least two we know for sure on the 1st or at least baby WoLs on the 1st.

This is too ambiguous a question to have one answer. I'm just sticking to the Source on this point for simplicity's sake.

'Warrior of Light' within the general mythical/legendary contexts isn't a clear number, but is probably really big... and also probably not very useful. It comes more down to how others see them than any inherent quality; we've met plenty of people who could bew considered 'Warriors of Light' in that context. Hell, Hildibrand is outright called one at one point. Echo/Blessing of Light (which are not the same but are effectively the same for this discussion) is not needed for this, but might help.

Then you've got the 'people who disappeared in the Calamity' definition of the Warriors of Light. The people who disappeared from the world and memory at Cartenau, and are only remembered as figures indistinct against a bright light. That's a much smaller number, and I'd say low triple digits at best, more likely somewhere in the double digits. But none of these people are inherently special, they were just at the right place at the right time, and presumably pretty good at fighting. If we found another Warrior of Light that was at Cartenau, there's nothing saying this person would be any more exceptional in a fight than, say, Curious Gorge. Presumably these people all had the Echo/Blessing of Light, but we don't know.

Then we come down to the individual definition, as in 'the player character'. There is only one of us, unless you want to get really annoying about shards. So then we have to approach this one a little differently: what makes us special? What would someone have to do to replace us if we suddenly died? And honestly, for the most part the answer remains the same as with the previous examples: There's nothing special about us. We're just pretty good fighters that keep turning up to extreme situations. We've got protection from tempering from the Echo/Blessing of Light, but that's coming up increasingly less often and isn't exactly a one-person thing; Krile could replace us. All Estinien would need to replace us is constant access to a warding scale, and frankly he'd probably do a better job.

There's the Azem thing with us, but frankly I've never seen evidence that part of us is actually doing anything exceptional other than 'giving Emet-Selch a case of The Feels'. You'd have to do some figuring to replace us pre-Shadowbringers for that reason, but you could replace us now and it wouldn't really matter.

Thanks for all the replies! In the context of the discussion I was having elsewhere, we were trying to determine how replacable our PCs are.

I appreciate breaking down the various definitions "Warrior of Light" has.

In regards to us not being special - maybe I am reading this wrong, but would we not have more of our soul reforged than anyone else on the source after we reunited with Ardbert in ShB? I think that could set us apart. I do think in the narrative we are usually portrayed as uniquely necessary to solve quite a few problems as well, previously also seemingly getting more attention from Hydealyn than anyone else as a Chosen.

These responses were still very helpful though and defining the version of "Warrior of Light" one is referring to seems helpful in discussions about this.

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Originally Posted by ZephyrMenodora

In regards to us not being special - maybe I am reading this wrong, but would we not have more of our soul reforged than anyone else on the source after we reunited with Ardbert in ShB?

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Okay, but I don't think that's ever mattered beyond the exact moment it happened. Just because there is something unique about us, doesn't mean it defines us.

If the question is how easy is it to replace us or if there was/is someone we haven't been introduced to yet who could take our place then the answer is no. We can look at the UC8 timeline for that. There didn't seem to be anyone trying to take on the role of WoL after we and most of the other known echo users died. Thinking back to said timeline it's odd that there's no mention of actual Zenos. Or I'm remembering wrong. So he A) didn't get his body back or B ) he died in whatever body he was in from Black Rose. As sure he would normally not be the 1st you'd think of as wanting to take up the mantel, but his Great Grandfather, Father and Fandaniel released a chemical weapon that killed his one true friend. I don't have Elidibus in that group as if defeating him in Zenos's body at Ghimlyt was the balancing point then we either try and Blade of Light him and only manage to destroy Zenos's body or he ends up in a Mitron situation.

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Originally Posted by SannaR

As sure he would normally not be the 1st you'd think of as wanting to take up the mantel, but his Great Grandfather, Father and Fandaniel released a chemical weapon that killed his one true friend.

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Fandaniel had nothing at all to do with Black Rose. He was just an underling at that point, taking instructions from Emet and Elidibus.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

Fandaniel had nothing at all to do with Black Rose. He was just an underling at that point, taking instructions from Emet and Elidibus.

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I know he wasn't. I mentioned him due to him probably being active at the time.

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Originally Posted by SannaR

I know he wasn't. I mentioned him due to him probably being active at the time.

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You know he wasn't, yet literally said he was.

Releasing Black Rose was a scheme Emet came up with. We have no reason to link Fandaniel to it, any more than any other plot by an individual Ascian over the course of all six games. He will have been active the whole time, doing unknown Ascian stuff.

I'm sorry I didn't separate him well enough. When I put him in the group while excluding Elidibus as he is iffy it was meant more as a we know these are still around and that some were responsible for the unleashing of Black Rose statement. I was already getting wordy in my sentence when I made the post.

I think anyone with Echo/Blessing of light would count, and someone with heroic feats too. But I do think there’s definitely multiple WoL or at least multiple WoL level adventurers. Multiple times in the story before a dungeon or trail, we’re told to gather our most stalwart adventurer allies, and in the first we fight though a bunch of the WoL Elidibus summons. There’s only 8 shards left and all those warriors were summoned, so by that logic we can, at least canonically, reason that there’s a few hundred in the source. Our character is called THE WoL, while the others who would fit the bill are called Elite Adventurers. This is at least my take on it