On the motive of Ascians

[Theodric]

They attack the Warrior of Light, sure - but my point is that the Warrior of Light should not be acting as the judge, jury and execution to begin with...and if he is going to fulfill that role then the nuances need to be explored. It just makes for a more interesting story than pretending as if the protagonists are perfectly justified at every turn. Many people are flawed and make mistakes in their lives - they do not necessarily deserve to die for those mistakes, especially without ever being given the opportunity to explain themselves.

I'd point to Attack on Titan for an example as to what I mean. I won't spoil the specifics, but there's a lot of effort put into exploring both sides of a bitter conflict. You get to see why specific characters act the way that they do. You see their struggles, some of the protagonists are effectively antagonists at times, whereas some of the antagonists are essentially protagonists. It goes to great lengths to explore different points of view without resorting to the awful trope of 'we're the good guys, so everything we do is righteous'. It shows that the protagonists can do horrific things, that they can make mistakes and that their judgement isn't always the best. So I'd love to see more of that in FFXIV.

After all, if this is truly going to be a story about 'balance' between Light and Dark then that it would all fit rather nicely. To the writer's credit, the Fordola situation may be a step in that direction...but I'm tempering my expectations as I'm not entirely convinced that Fordola and Yotsuyu aren't simply being redeemed and kept around due to their character designs. So far, any effort to redeem a male antagonist after exploring their point of view has led to their deaths.

I just want more fallout and negativity surrounding the Warrior of Light's actions in a way that doesn't just paint those who have a problem with him as bad guys. Imagine how interesting it would be if someone tries to seek vengeance on the Warrior of Light for cutting down a lover or sibling? They could very well fail, though it would highlight just how easily the Warrior of Light destroys people's lives. He'd still be praised as a hero elsewhere, naturally - his feats are just too grand to ignore - but even superheroes such as Spiderman and Batman have had to deal with such grim moral issues.