Heavensward Ending (Spoiler)

[Remilia_Nightfall]

I also believe that the derplander is just a placeholder for "all of us". In the CGIs he is shown witnessing the "death" of Nanamo (like we did as PCs), as well as moving to Ishgard and switching jobs to impale dragons with spears as stiff as ice.

The Dark Derplander is, in my opinion, what our PCs CAN become if they keep going on their path - getting more and more powerful, annihilating everything that stands in their way (including dragons which, per se, were not evil at all).

As seen in FF3, the "Warriors of Darkness" are not inherently evil either - I see them as "anti-hero" stereotypes rather than antagonists.

Remember that, in the FF lore, there can be TOO MUCH light - and that is as bad as having Darkness engulfing everything. Balance must be maintained at all costs, and since Light has been winning for years now, it's time for Darkness to bolster up its strength and even things up.

Like the Light Emperor in FF2 and the Archbishop in HW, we can clearly see that Light can be twisted to "evil" purposes anyway. Hell, the Archbishop sees us as darkness incarnate just before dying - we might have been playing the role of Warriors of Darkness already without knowing it. What if Elidibus planned this? After all, the Archbishop kinda betrayed the Ascians so he had to be purged - his "Holy Light" had to be snuffed out. It's only natural that, if you help defeating the "Light", you are automatically a "Force of Darkness" - no matter if the Light you defeated was evil in the first place.

One thing that stroke me as odd the first time I read it was the line that King Thordan says on screen when he is defeated. It's something along the lines of:

"This is the power of Light..?"

Now, that can be interpreted in two ways. Either he is amazed by how pro you are at wielding the Power of Light, or he is doubtful that you are wielding Light at all. Considering how he sees you after that, I think the latter.

We in the west tend to believe that "light = good" and "dark = evil", but this should not be taken for granted.

[shinros]

snip

Yeah getting huge FF3 vibes from the story now oh and the Archbishop at the end was just wondering WTH are you the whole blackness thing was either his fear or viewing you as a force for darkness. I personally do view the bishop as a force of light as well. Oh I am calling it NOW at the end of heavensward we are going to become a warrior of darkness. Since they have now introduced this whole equilibrium notion now.

[Remilia_Nightfall]

Yeah getting huge FF3 vibes from the story now oh and the Archbishop at the end was just wondering WTH are you the whole blackness thing was either his fear or viewing you as a force for darkness. I personally do view the bishop as a force of light as well. Oh I am calling it NOW at the end of heavensward we are going to become a warrior of darkness. Since they have now introduced this whole equilibrium notion now.

Most likely. Either that, or the plot arc will revolve around us RISKING becoming WoD, but end up being saved by the power of love and remain loyal to Hydaelyn.

[Nadirah]

Yeah getting huge FF3 vibes from the story now oh and the Archbishop at the end was just wondering WTH are you the whole blackness thing was either his fear or viewing you as a force for darkness. I personally do view the bishop as a force of light as well. Oh I am calling it NOW at the end of heavensward we are going to become a warrior of darkness. Since they have now introduced this whole equilibrium notion now.

I can totally see a fall/redemption line going.

[Magis]

To those saying they won't mirror it because of 8 people.... SE did this before in FFXI. I think it was a Wings of the Goddess mission where you had to fight a shadow clone of yourself.

Just checked, its the mission "When Wills Collide" and it copies the first person to enter the battlefield.

I wouldn't be surprised if XIV does that or even shows the players clone locally on each client.

[Neophyte]

I don't think WoD will be a mirrored me. Simply because we already saw the WoD in our game, not only in some intr or promo CGI like derplander.

Elidibus talked to him and WoD did not look like my Lala... It would be pretty dumb, if he's a Lala next time and no human anymore.
There is absolutely no reason why they shouldn't use our char models in the moon-scene in the first place, if it's really us... this was no outside-game-promo-cutscene, so there is no "derplander replaces my charakter" here.

I mean.. I'm at the INN rewatching cutscenes second time (somewhen in distant 3.6 future) and then there is this derplander cutscene and next WoD-Cutscene it's me? No way this will happen.

EXCEPT the WoD is a shapeshifting creature.

[Frederick22]

the WoD

Again, the fact that they showed something similar to Derplander, is a clearly evidence that the WoD would be a mirror of our characters. As you know Derpander is the default WoL so its understandable that his WoD version was showed.
Why they didnt show our mirror WoD? Its not the first time SE does this, not showing the true beacuse they would release a super big spoiler very early, but what they do is jyst lefting smal clues for is so we can have your theories and speculations.
Also Se confirmed the presense of the WoD before the early acces, so its logic why they wouldnt show more related to it.

[Fenral]

Remember that, in the FF lore, there can be TOO MUCH light - and that is as bad as having Darkness engulfing everything.

Except our FF3 throwback story ended by completely ignoring the cautionary note that it was the Tower's overflowing light that started the downfall of Allag, deciding instead that light is always good and should absolutely be made to drown out the darkness, no matter the sacrifice. A bunch of the Azys Lla side-quests drop really ironic echoes of the message at the end of CT, though, so it may be that they fully intend to do a 180 on that plotline later.

Don't get me wrong, I know where you're coming from, but this game's writers have only ever been good at teasing that level of complexity.

[Frederick22]

snip

That dark the Archobishop saw is kinda a representation of fear, he was like terrified on the WoL beacuse of the enormus power he was. Remember the last thing he said "what .. who are you?"