Did we usurp the 2.0 "Derplander"?

[Aryalandi]

So I just finished up the current patch storyline a week or so ago and it got me thinking about something that I brushed off near the beginning of the game as being an easter egg.

There comes a point where you go to speak with Momodi in her bar and she is giving the "beginning adventurer speech" (which she apperently repeats to every new adventurer she meets as a matter of canon) to a male midland hyur who is a gladiator with the familiar "derplander" (Arbert) model.

The original character so far as I know was a gladiator who started in Ul'dah then some time down the line became a warrior and famous "Warrior of Light"

So now I wonder if our characters by virtue of simply getting there first were able to essentially /steal/ all of the events that would have led to him becoming the storyline hero (with the potential for a massive downer ending) in the first place (ie: primal slaying, fighting the empire, ect)

It may just be a matter of me over thinking things for the fun of it but it seems to me that were it not for the fact that our characters exist the Ul'dahn "Derplander" may very well have awoken to the echo and could well have walked a very similar path to ours, but instead he is never seen again.

Meaning he could very well have been doomed to a life of pointless fetch quests and leves by our taking all the important work from him, leaving him stuck just imagining all of the things that "could have been" had he become an adventurer sooner, thus why he is always in the cgi intro videos representing us and how he can be both a representation of us and yet still be his own character.

(Yup.. the intro videos are all just in poor derplanders head as he does his daily leve grind and kills just enough monsters to earn some gil which he spends drowning himself in stale ale at some bar in limsa.. a bar that he had to /walk/ to because he never made a big enough name for himself to even be given an airship pass or chocobo license.. poor guy, we ruined his life)

[Alleo]

Well derplander was always a stand-in for us and was just used as a face for advertisement because they could not make so many different WoLs. I believe that the one that you saw in the bar was just another generic adventurer and only there to bring a little life into the game. We have a lot of adventurer groups in the game like for example Edda's group. The derplanders face is also the default face for the male midlander hyur (which you can see on a lot of rmt spammers) and they probably did not want to go the extra mile to create a unique face for him just for that one little scene.

We are derplander and derplander is us and imo we did not steal anything from anybody. And just because we are the WoL and her last trump card would not mean that others could not become famous too. I mean one WoL can only do so much and its not like there wont be other people that need help too. If he still is only a lowly adventurer without a name to himself than he just needs to "git gud" because we might have had a little luck and help on our side thanks to the echo and later blessing but we are also just a very capable person. Before steps of faith we tried to recruit some adventurers for help but a lot of them said no because it was too dangerous. I believe that we are kinda the exception since we risk our life quite a lot which not all adventurers seems to do.

So short answer: No I dont think that npc has any deeper meanings and is just another generic adventurer.

(Btw. I do find it "bad" that they used the derplanders face for the WoD..its so confusing for a lot of people.)

[Aryalandi]

Well derplander was always a stand-in for us and was just used as a face for advertisement because they could not make so many different WoLs.

We are derplander and derplander is us and imo we did not steal anything from anybody.

These parts are not /entirely/ accurate, since it has been said that while yes "derplander" is a stand-in for our characters he is also his own character.

The reason why he is the default hyur in the first place is because he is the face of the game (the only difference being that the actual character has somewhat darker hair)

Now i am having all sorts of fun thinking of all the shenanigans "derplander" may have gotten up to having nothing better to do..

[Canadane]

He existed in 1.0 too.

[Alberel]

These parts are not /entirely/ accurate, since it has been said that while yes "derplander" is a stand-in for our characters he is also his own character.

The reason why he is the default hyur in the first place is because he is the face of the game (the only difference being that the actual character has somewhat darker hair)

Now i am having all sorts of fun thinking of all the shenanigans "derplander" may have gotten up to having nothing better to do..

Derplander is his own character in the same way that each of our avatars in the game is their own character. When I'm playing as Alberel, Alberel is the WoL and all these others players (you guys) are just average adventurers of no particular importance to the world. When you are playing as your character, in your story my character Alberel is just a typical average adventurer. In the trailers Derplander is the WoL in his story, but when we are playing he is just a typical generic adventurer.

The comment about Derplander being his own character is just saying he's the same as any other player in the game from your perspective. It doesn't mean he has his own story or anything. You're welcome to speculate about what he may be doing in the world but it would be no different than writing fan fiction about another player's character.

[Aryalandi]

*Siiiiighs...* well that got surprisingly dull very quickly.. unexpected.

Ok I give, think generic things
>.> *goes back to her own interesting world where derplander is wandering around somewhere, possibly drunk off of stale ale, or maybe saving someones family pet from a treant*

(Surprising and Incredibly disappointing "well SE was just being lazy, he is just an rmt model/generic adventurer" mindset going on...)

[Enkidoh]

You are correct though Aryalandi, in that Derpander and his party are both meant to be a stand in for the player's character in trailers/promotional material, and are their own individual characters as well. Koji-Fox confirmed this back before launch on the old 1.0 forum in this now archived thread:

So yes, the Midlander male, Miqo’te female, Roegadyn male, Elezen female, and Lalafell female in the recent trailers are in fact the same ones that appeared in the 1.0 trailer! (Yes, the black mage is the Elezen female from the morbol party, not the snooty male from the Midlander’s party. The robe & hat conceal some of her more distinguishing features, and we all know there was no bust size adjustment feature back in 1.0).

But that still leaves one question—was the party an actual party, or were they merely symbols meant to represent you, the players? Well, you can breathe easy knowing they are both. They all ventured into Eorzea at the same time as you did. They all did similar quests, and lived through similar adventures. They exist as your characters exist (in a virtual world-sort of existence). The fact that you haven’t come across them is probably the same reason you haven’t come across my character, Amanda Hugginkyss (or maybe you have? /wink). They’re just somewhere else. Though, maybe you’ll stumble across their party in the future. Or maybe you won’t. How’s that for committing to an answer?

That leads to the interesting question, where are they now? Clearly Evil!Derplander and his ilk are not 'our' Derplander and his party (being from a parallel Hydaelyn), so they don't count. Given that 'our' Derplander is still being used in promotional imagery for the game, it's pretty conclusive that what Koji-Fox mentioned way back in 2012 is still canon to this day. But again, the question needs to be asked. Where is Derplander and his friends?

Heh, it could almost be a game in itself - Where's Derplander?

[Powe]

But again, the question needs to be asked. Where is Derplander and his friends?

Heh, it could almost be a game in itself - Where's Derplander?

Probably got killed in Aurum Vale.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Derpander and his party are both meant to be a stand in for the player's character in trailers/promotional material, and are their own individual characters... That leads to an interesting question, where are they now?

There was a man who dreamt he was a butterfly. He flew hither and tither, without a care in the world. But then he awoke, and was a man once more. Only now, he cannot be sure if he was a man dreaming he was a butterfly, or if he's a butterfly, dreaming that it's a man.

The Derplander, both NPC and PC at the same time.

[MikeWW]

He became Wario because the story doesn't make any sense.

The story about the money for FF7's Marlene's schooling had more meaning to me than the entire story of 3.4.