SHADOWBRINGERS

[Melichoir]

Again, its relative to how well the light is doing overall.

Consider the current age: Weve been victorious against....

Titan
Garuda
Ifrit
Shiva
Nidd
Shinryu
Garlemald on numerous occassions
Dragon Space Pope
Diablo (and all Raids connected to Him)
Bismark
Zurvan
Ravana
Sophia
Sephirot
Alaggan Junk
Omega Weapon
Lakshmi
Ultima Weap
Lahabrea and Ascian ilk broadly
Wars of Darkness

These are All victories for the light, so to speak. Story wise, we as the WoL havent actually flat out lost to often. We almost always overcome. Now, if the Ascians ultimate goal is to bring about Zodiark, and the Light was such an easy push over, why isnt Zodiark actually around? Its more likely that every single previous age had similar warriors of Light, doing the exact same thing, and racking up victories over time. We know there were previous WoL cause FFXIV 1.0 Had them, which was before the next age change.

But lets assume that Ascians are losing the battles but winning the war with key victories. This still falls into the bigger point: Hydaelyn is free to to as she pleases, Zodiark is not. This would infer that Hydaelyn and Zodiark were both around and about at the same time at some point, and that Hydaelyn's forces was victorious in defeating Zodiark's forces. As such, we might be living in a "light" era, where she has had supremacy for a while. We wouldnt know this probably because it goes farther back than the races written history. This would mean that broadly, the power dynamic is already tilted towards Hydaelyn and she wants to keep it that way, while Elidibus wants to tilt it back towards neutral. (I point to Elidibus because of the ascians weve seen, hes not so hung up on letting Zodiark free for the sake of "Cause Zodiark is cool", and more for "returning the balance of things.")

Now considering this is a FF game, Its likely that Zodiark is just a big baddy who wants to obliterate everything ultimately with a "I will purge this world and return everything to zero!" nihilistic mentality. But as far as I can remember, we actually know very little about Zodiark, except whats been told to us by proponents for Hydaelyn. Those who are opposed to Hydaelyn have stated that if the light wins to much, that would also result in the ultimate end of the world.

Point is, how well the darkness is doing is completely contingent on things we dont actually know but are assuming to be the case. So far we've been warned by the Warriors of Darkness to be aware that always winning in favor of Hydaelyn can result in a terrible end for the world too. Outside of the Ascians, theyre the first group to tell us to think carefully about proceeding forward.

As for Minfillia, I sppose shes still alive then? That whole sequence was..odd. But for all intensive plot purposes shes out of the picture. But still, she becomes a light sponge on behest of Hydaelyn. This actually gets the Warriors of Darkness to leave, more or less. You know, the people who do pose a threat to Hydaelyn?

Again, Hydaelyn doesnt seem to be exactly operating on the most noble of principles here, and the warning given by teh Warriors of Darkness still stand. Doing Hydaelyns work to much will result in the same fate, and yet here we are, still pushing forward.