The Road to 5.0

[Iscah]

What caught my attention was that Arbert's line could be taken a number of ways.

I took it as a "reins of history in the hands of man" kind of line at the time; Hydaelyn may have mortals' backs and Zodiark may hate them (allegedly), but the distinction between them is where we were born, and perhaps we cannot exist in a world without that distinction. Meanwhile, I was focused on how many people took it more or less as, "Hydaelyn's just as bad u juyz."

But ... clever ambiguity ... "Go ahead and take up Darkness if it suits your needs." Light doesn't mean good, and good doesn't mean infallible. Darkness can be a weapon wielded against evil, even if the will of Darkness does turn out to be evil (from our perspective). Whether it's the restoration of balance and Zodiark isn't so bad or we just need to fight the Light to prevent a flood while we prevent Zodiark's victory, it suits our needs.

The thing that caught my attention with Arbert's line is the follow-up.

ARBERT
We were blind to the truth once. So I tell you this, as one fool to another. Light, Dark, it doesn't matter. What matters is how you choose to use them.
We made our choice, and you see what came of it. So please... forge a better path. Seize a different fate.

Unless it's the English script being extra-ambiguous again... what was their "choice"? What came of it?

I don't feel like their original actions as Warriors of Light were really a choice.

On the other hand they chose to believe Elidibus and follow his oh-so-helpful advice that left them dead and playing villain in another world... although that ironically did lead to them finding another way to save their world that they probably couldn't have found without it - not because of Elidibus but because Urianger managed to outplay him.

So "find a better fate" than coming close to ruin and having to turn to Ascian advice to fix it? I don't know, it's complicated. Or maybe I'm just grasping at straws because I really really don't like this "become the Warrior of Darkness" business.


...okay, and somehow it's not until after writing all that, that it clicked it's "how you choose to use Light/Darkness".... which is back to that ever-so-nebulous question of what does it mean to wield Light or Darkness in pursuit of the greater good, and what relevance that even has to the Warriors of Darkness's actions in wielding their battle skills (which I don't consider to be directly allied to Light or Dark) in pursuit of driving the world to despair and calamity.

If it's just about wielding Light when we need to fight world-destroying Ascians and Darkness when we need to fight world-destroying Kuribu, that seems like something else entirely.

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It's also taken this second time through to work out (somewhat) why Urianger is going through this complicated plot instead of just suggesting they work together in the first place. He doesn't suggest "killing the Warrior of Light directly" until he's already seen that Arbert still has his Crystal of Light. And presumably he has to keep up the act so Elidibus doesn't catch on until it's too late. Still, I'm not sure that last battle was actually necessary...

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Another thing that keeps coming up at the moment (and is usually pointed out as an example that "Hydaelyn isn't entirely good") is Minfilia being possessed by Hydaelyn - but it seems that's a little more complex too.

MINFILIA
As the Ascians must serve as instruments of Zodiark's will, so too must others carry out the will of Hydaelyn.
But for the boon you have granted Her, She has grown strong enough to set me free, that I might serve as her emissary.
Your suffering, your sacrifice, your supplications - She has heard all. We will not let the First fall to Light.

So the "fully possessed" Word of the Mother seems like it might have been a half-stage - Hydaelyn called Minfilia to her, making use of Y'shtola's Flow spell rather than Her own power, but didn't even have enough strength to complete whatever process it is that establishes Minfilia as a 'free' emissary rather than absorbed into the mothercrystal.

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It also occurs to me that it's the First Shard, closest to the Source, that is in danger of falling to the Light, and the Thirteen that fell to the Dark... I don't know if that's significant in a relevant sort of way, but interesting nevertheless.

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Also the achievement title "No Retreat, No Surrender" - unless there's another significance I'm not aware of, that seems to be a shoutout to the movie The Book of Life.