Quote Originally Posted by Lauront View Post
How on earth do you think Rome operated? The story, nevertheless, doesn't present them in the same vein as Nazis, and if you want to argue that they don't specifically aim to destroy the Primals for the danger that they pose to Eorzea, back it up.
None of it is a direct parallel, though I actually quite like the "Allag as Rome" comparison. I simply said that Garlemald comes off as more of a modern Imperialist dictatorship than an ancient one, and it's entirely because of the way the game itself has presented them to us. You can conjure up potential sympathetic reasons for their actions all you want, but the actual evidence provided in game doesn't support a sympathetic view. Not yet, anyways.

Speaking of evidence! That the game itself has never presented the Garleans as especially concerned for the Planet helps, but as always, my primary source for Garlemald's anti-Primal drive is Moose's The Rise and Fall of the White Raven. It's made pretty clear that Garlemald's first major offensive in Eorzea (after capturing Ala Mhigo) was to control the source of regional Aether in order to prevent Primal summoning because of the difficulties Primals presented in Othard, and that article being endorsed by Fern himself makes me throw quite a bit of stock behind its interpretation of things.

So, yeah. The greater good of Garlean Expansion is their reason for doing what they do. But, if you can find evidence of their Primal crusade being motivated by the greater good of Hydaelyn, I'd love to see it.