The Warrior of Light: Plot Device, Mary Sue or A legitamate charatcer

[Anova]

I'd like to point out that Job leveling is just as Easy in Heavensward (if not easier) than it was in ARR, then again I doubt thatpeoplw owuld tkae the time to level alts during MSQ so..

You're wrong there. Some people do level multiple classes at the same time. Very few level all of them (but I've seen at least 1 player level every class, gatherer and crafters included, as they progressed in the story). I also called her crazy.

Anyway, my personal thoughts on the Warrior of Light is just some embarrassing title an Elezen teen stuck to me, much like that emo "sword of darkness" name he tried to stick me with in ARR. As for the whispers from Hydaelyn, that's just some kind of delusion or something sent from the Ascians to make me complacent. There's thousands of other adventurers better than me in the world anyway. I mean, I need to fight in a team against Titan and the others, while others can do it solo.

[Frederick22]

snip

Cilia about the hole thing about "that our character doesnt want to do this but he has no choice, beacuse if not the world would be destroy, etc" ( dont doesnt mean I do not agree on what we saw on the DRK quests, it was really my favourite was. I totally agreed with you on the thing about "weapon of light" . I just do not agreed in that we are Hydaelyn's puppet)
You need to think on your character's point of view. For example ( mine apologies, is the best example I could think of ). Based on some religions, what would be if God hymself ask you do an important mission? I mean is not more or less the same thing here? Yes, we have the hole debate of "why me", well if your character has not realise of the power he was, I cannot think on another thing of why he is the choosen one.

Another thing is that I'm sure, and I hope, that on a not so distant future our character will be leader, we will be leading men instead of following orthers. As you well saw, we are suffering this transformation on heavensward.

[Ashkendor]

I like to think of the WoL as an empty slate upon which this contest of ideas is played out. In the absence of certainty, he or she acts purely out of faith in the people who guide and direct him. Faith includes doubt or, rather, the ability to forge ahead in spite of doubt. How you choose to role-play that doubt would go a long way towards making your WoL more "real" to you.

I actually rather like the "blank slate" way that the WoL is portrayed. It does force you to fit the narrative, but it leaves a lot of the detail up to you. I don't roleplay per se, but I do have some loose headcanons for my character. Some days he'd rather hawk his wares in the markets or go dig up some rare collectible and spend the day BS'ing with Rowena, but he understands that there's things only he can do (as well as things that are expected of him even if other people could do them) and they don't necessarily happen according to his itinerary. There's maybe some well-hidden begrudgement or disappointment behind that stoic nod (especially in the case of the more menial tasks), but he consoles himself by doing whatever he likes when there's no impending Apocalypse (or petty fetch quest) to take care of. Basically, I enjoy multiple facets of the game and that's reflected with how I view my character's IC motivations. :3

Nothing especially important to do? I can totally see him leaving a note in the FC house: Going fishing on the Thaliak River for a few days. Please don't burn the house down while I'm gone, because we just redecorated and Momma Dhalmel (a nickname given to a Duskwight White Mage who is one of the FC officers) will quite possibly kill you all. I'll have a lot of paperwork to do if she does that.

I guess I just like to view my character as being as well-rounded as the number of jobs I have leveled up would indicate. :3

[Rookie1]

I guess as we trudge through the lore desert between major patches this discussion is bound to pop up more than once.

From my own experience, there are one or three places (yes, including that one that shall eat away at my soul until the end of time) where I feel our presence does more harm then good.

We're meant to be the hero, that shining beacon of hope, inspiring example for us all, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I def feel like I should of done more with that aspiring adventurer who lost her fiance and went mad

[jomoru]

Rant On: The use of Mary Sue as short hand for "poorly written protagonist" with the undercurrent assumption that "power equal bad writing" needs to die in a fire. Mary Sues as a concept only work when describing fanfictions. It cannot apply to original work and in trying to apply it for such you get any character that is "Strong" in setting people as "is that a Mary Sue?" Stop using it outside of fanfics it doesn't work. Rant off.

The WoL is a cypher and written as such, s/he is a visual for the players to experience the story which is as much game play as the cut scenes.

[The_NPC]

I just think we all work for the Adventure's Guild & are nothing but "Merc's-for-hire" (gota get a steady paycheck somehow hence why all quests give us Gil or something we want) as for MSQ we get some "special power" that seams semi-useless (cept for the anti-tempering field) and we got sent the Scions way by our employer long ago & just never learned to say no when they keep giving us money each quest/task... thou won't stop us from grumbling about it at any point in time.

[Risvertasashi]

Nobody asks how we feel or what we want.

Not directly. One of the things I did really appreciate about Heavensward, though, is that we did get some choice dialogues. That, in turn, let NPCs show some sensitivity to our feelings and desires, or those we project onto our protags.

Of course, everything you say is still basically true and, by its nature, the story is still very much on rails, but (at least for me) it helped ease the feelings on confinement a bit.

Some days he'd rather hawk his wares in the markets or go dig up some rare collectible and spend the day BS'ing with Rowena, but he understands that there's things only he can do (as well as things that are expected of him even if other people could do them) and they don't necessarily happen according to his itinerary. There's maybe some well-hidden begrudgement or disappointment behind that stoic nod (especially in the case of the more menial tasks), but he consoles himself by doing whatever he likes when there's no impending Apocalypse (or petty fetch quest) to take care of.

Not necessarily specific to FFXIV but... Sometimes I kind of wonder if any RPG heroes might end up not unlike Ender of Ender's Game.

[CyrilLucifer]

. It cannot apply to original work.

I am going to disagree with this.
I'd highly suggest reading Rhapsody: Symphony of the Ages for a perfect example. We, unironically, have a half-blood Elf who becomes the most beautiful woman in the world by walking through a rebirthing fire, (which also somehow makes her regain her virginity) and causes most people to fall in love with her at first sight through her beauty alone. When she is selfish, nothing is ever her fault, but the fault of everyone around her. She literally can do nothing wrong in the eyes of the author.
And this is only within the first 200 pages of the first book of the series.

I do agree with your point that being powerful shouldn't necessarily be considered "bad."

[Fenral]

Rant On: The use of Mary Sue as short hand for "poorly written protagonist" with the undercurrent assumption that "power equal bad writing" needs to die in a fire. Mary Sues as a concept only work when describing fanfictions. It cannot apply to original work and in trying to apply it for such you get any character that is "Strong" in setting people as "is that a Mary Sue?" Stop using it outside of fanfics it doesn't work. Rant off.

Objection! There's no actual consensus, and the trope as described here applies variably to Minfilia, Moenbryda, G'raha, Ysayle, and even the Warrior of Light, in spite of most of them being canon characters. The Canon Sue term, however, applies mainly to deliberate self-insert characters regardless of their characteristics, which the Warrior of Light technically is as well.

[Risvertasashi]

I think the list of characters you provide there just proves how absurd the term "Mary Sue" has become and proves jomoru's point that it's basically applied to anyone that is strong. I mean... Odysseus would be a worse offender than any of those and he's sort of the foundation of fictional writing.