The Legacy of Alexander and the Xaela [Spoilers]

[PhantasticPanda]

I feel it is important to point out that the info in that tribe list is actually flawed being Eorzean scholar understanding and in universe is based heavily on 2nd and 3rd hand accounts.

The differences between the text on the Goro (horse marriage) and Dataqi (living in the saddle, rarely camping) and the truth (Goro swear life friendships with their horses and the Dataqi just migrate very often) shows how flawed that info is.

The first Goro we meet at Reunion supports the text of the horse marriage... Seeing as how he talks to his horse as one would talk to their love. While at the same time, the text also states that reproductive mates are chosen, so its clear that they don't exactly mate with their horses. Marriage doesn't have to imply anything sexual and we see a lot of that in history. In this case, its just be a special bond between two individuals (or horse in this matter).

It's entirely possible that the Hotgo may not be as innocent in all this as people believe. Consider this...

Mide and Dayan start their new tribe. They came from an era where their tribe was wiped out by the Dotharl - and if they passed on this knowledge to their descendants, the Hotgo culture would naturally be one very distrustful of the Dotharl. Very likely, in fact, they would be quite hostile toward them - something which may very much have puzzled the Dotharl in the early days, as, to their knowledge, they'd done nothing to earn that enmity. The Hotgo shot first!

To avoid their fate, over the course of history the Hotgo may have taken steps to try to wipe out the Dotharl, and some of those steps may have been dishonorable. Poisons, assassinations - perhaps even murder of the "easy" targets among the Dotharl, such as their children. It's entirely possible that the Dotharl wiped out every woman, man, and child because whenever survivors had been left previously they invariably regrouped and redoubled their harassment of the Dotharl. The last, most recent purge was the Dotharl finally deciding that enough was enough, that the only way to save themselves was to wipe out the Hotgo completely.

Still quite distasteful, to be sure - but perhaps a bit more understandable.

And, as we know, the Dotharl failed anyway. There WERE survivors - Mide and Dayan for starters, but who knows how many others might have been away at the time of the massacre? The Hotgo may yet live on.

As for folks who are distressed by Mide and Dayan being "trapped in a time loop," I wouldn't be too worried. As far as we can tell, the two of them lived a very prosperous life in the past, and were able to form a new tribe of their own before passing on. I'd say there could be far worse fates than that.

THe question is, would Dayan and Mide stoop to those levels, considering they had the mindset to actually activate the Enigma Codex and control Alexander from within? To create a perfect would from the broken. We also don't know how far into the past when they were able to begin their tribe again. And they began again as children. Would that have wiped their memories of their adulthood? Even with the idea that the Hotgo shot first, that still doesn't change the fact the Dotharl are known for their revel in massacre. They take pleasure in it, and I'm sure other tribes don't take kindly to those sorts of attacks on their own people either. Even after returning to the Azim Steppes and speaking with Sadu after Doma Castle, she calls the Garleans poor sport and boring.

There are a number of inconsistencies regarding the Hotgo's own description as well, since Mide is never seen wearing face paint. She's also a skilled machinist, which wouldn't make sense for a nomad of the Steppe unless she left a long time ago and/or the Hotgo still had access to the information in the Enigma Codex, which would enable them to make weapons far more advanced than what we see other denizens of the Steppe using. This would explain the heavy Dotharl casualties, small population, and accordingly more defensive attitude we see them with.

I just wanted to point that Mide isn't actually a skilled machinist (until probably recently). That probably better falls on Dayan. I don't have the quotes on hand but when Mide tells the tale of her story and her meeting Dayan, it was Dayan's plan to find the Enigma Codex and use it. During this time, she fell in love with him, and states that while she hardly knows or understands the things that Dayan tinkers or builds with, but she'll try her best to help him. We know that the Hotgo responsible for the Enigma Codex created it while studying with the Sharylans. It could be possible that Dayan was related to this specific Hotgo. I HOPE THIS GETS COVERED IN A LORE PANEL.