Are dwarves the new race for 5.0?

[maknaeline]

honestly, i doubt it. lalafells pretty comfortably fit the 'dwarves but cute and childlike' trope final fantasy has long been fond of employing when it comes to including a "short" race, being that they're the latest addition to other races like the pelupelu (ff10), the litty (crystal chronicles), tarutaru (ffxi and the clear predecessor to lalas), all of whom are notably on the shorter end and distinctly childlike. while we've had proper dwarves in a earlier titles (the latest iirc ff9), i have a lot of doubts that they would bring it back now. i just don't see squeenix bothering when said trope is already so comfortably subverted and filled by lalas.

that being said, i think it would be interesting if we got another humanoid race to match hyurs, potentially being garlean and doman. this would be difficult to implement, though-- and doman would serve better as a third 'tribe' option for the races we've seen to have doman counterparts (hyur, roe, etc) instead, if they went that route. but it would make sense for them to add a garlean race of sorts, if they could figure out how to work it out, especially since garleans do have distinct physical differences from eorzean hyurs and hyurs in general (on the taller end, their third eye, etc).

all that would remain would be trying to explain away their lack of affinity for magic, and how to include them in the story from the beginning without heavily breaking lore. it would certainly be an interesting move. unfortunately it holds a lot of the same roadblocks that including the padjal might-- for lore reasons, it's not likely. but it doesn't hurt to hold out hope.

then, if we're to think that they're looking toward past final fantasy races for inspiration, there's a couple of candidates they could revamp to include:

- the guado of ff10, although it would likely be more inspiration than direct port, and more akin to seymour's appearance than full-blooded guado. considering their ties to the afterlife, i can definitely see ways they could be implemented into ffxiv's lore and culture rather comfortably, perhaps hailing from a far-off land garlemald has already conquered.

- the aegyl of ff12: rw, if they wanted to add a bird-like race. the wings would be a problem, however-- i doubt they would stay, especially considering how much that might break lore. but if they were to turn to ff12 for more inspiration on what kind of player races to include along with viera, the aegyl make the most sense to me.

honestly though, i think they'll come up with something new, more than likely. i suspect either something to complement the likes of elezens and roes, or another animal-like race. i wouldn't be surprised if they did stick to only vieras, but if they are including a second race as well, then i doubt it'll be animal-like to balance out the fact that vieras are bunny folk.

sorry for all my rambling, i just thought i'd drop this here, lol. :P

(edit: also thought i would mention that although my main character doesn't reflect it, i've played through heavensward and know some of the spoilers of stormblood. so that there's no confusion!)