Awfully weak story... or is it? [WARNING:SPOILERS]

[Aenarion]

The same can be said for a good man with a few bad eggs in his military. One man can not control every action his troops take when they are around.

One soldier was viciously cutting down an already dead man in the Waking Sands when they took Minfilia. The White armored commander shot that imperial for disobeying her and she's obviously fiercely loyal to Gauis. She could be copying what Gauis would have done.

Unless I see a cutscene specifically showing showing something truly immoral I can't believe he was a truly bad guy.

There is far more evidence to show he was a man trying to do his way for the greater good. Like Durian from the Wtachmen, killing millions to save billions.

You're really grasping at straws here.

Did Hitler personally run the camps? Did Tojo gas and experiment on prisoners himself? Of course not, dictators seldom do the dirty works themselves, but did they authorize it? hell yes. Gaius RULED Ala Mhigo, to suggest that labor camps and systemic exploitation of the local population could be the work of "a few bad eggs" in a super-authoritarian state is laughably ignorant at best.

Seriously, the examples you're using, it's like claiming a mass serial killer is actually a nice guy because he helped an old lady cross the street in the morning. FFS, that scene in the Waking Sands is to show thte players how ruthless and how little Livia cared for people's lives, even one of their own.


FFXIV isn't some deep philosophical character study, Gaius is about as typical as it gets for your sunday morning ruthless tyrant B that tried to rule with an iron fist, which has only been done about 238749023847283907 different times already.