Emet-Selch

[Elladie]

I'd ask for a Petition to Bring Back Emet Selch thread (or even be really crazy and start one myself) in the style of 'Male Viera please' or Unlimited BLU. But I know it would just end up in an argument /sigh. Even the lore forums get overheated these days! (And I really don't think the lore forums are the place for a thread for people saying Emet is best boi but I guess the moderators disagree since they moved it).

As I have said many times, I adore Emet. I hated him in SB and wanted to slap him every time I saw him. He slowly won me over - yes with his snarky sark lol - and now I can't bear getting Amaurot in expert because it makes me soooo sad! We're grown-ups, folks; we know he was a 'bad guy' in the sense that his purpose opposed ours (and involved a lot of death but generally so does ours). Stop jumping in our 'we love Emet' thread to tell us how weird we are for loving him.

If he did come back (and yeah I know it's very unlikely) I would hope he would be untempered Emet who can work with us or some such and redeem himself and solve the mystery of the Terminus event. For me he lives on in my Shoebill who never leaves my side. Actually he always leaves my side because he seems to love standing as far away as possible and giving me judgemental looks. But heh, that's Emet Selch!

[Esmart]

What part was relatable? The genocide bit or the insane mad god worshipper?

I do not consider you to be truly alive. Ergo, I will not be guilty of murder if I kill you.

If you had to erase all the FFXIV NPCs to bring back your loved ones, would you lose much sleep over it? I mean, looking from the outside - all the characters are NPCs, they are equal, so one NPC saying he's more alive than other NPCs - yeah, right. But the in-game logic is not the same.

[Scintilla]

Immortality is a pretty big deal, when everything you have and everyone you know (in this case) would disappear from around him. Now if this was the world of old, then it wouldn't matter since it would be natural for them, but he is the unnatural being in this case, which would very likely shift his perspectives and he would probably end up like the elves from Lord of the Rings for example, jaded and apathetic as the world passes them by essentially.

I'd agree that it would be unsurprising if he had shown such characteristics, given his long lifespan, but not that he should have them. Perhaps this was just a slight difference in phrasing that I took to be literal; I apologise for my misunderstanding if this was the case!

The reason he wants to do that really is just cause Zodiark is like, bring these guys back so I have more worshippers, also so I can eat all the things. Nothing he really wants to accomplish, rejoining, genocide, bringing back his old mates, is all just so Zodiark can live. This effectively makes him a slave to a genocidal god and whoever he was is long gone.

The tempering would probably have some effect, but if it was the only influence behind their actions, we would be seeing very little difference between the motives of Emet, Elidibus and Lahabrea. They all want the same outcome (Zodiark's return) but, from what we've seen so far, there appears to be some variation in what drives them to achieve it. To be sure either way, we'll need to wait and see what we learn of Elidibus and Lahabrea in the future patches.
I was also going to write more around our lack of knowledge around Zodiark's true nature, though Absimiliard has already answered that with far more eloquence than I ever could!

So why doesn't he doubt his beliefs, why isn't he questioning anything, all we see is him (and his kin) and their endless machinations, 100% devotion to the cause, which to me tells that they are essentially slaves to Zodiark's will at this point, draving the endless strenght, patience and faith in the endgame they have, working tirelessly without doubt or ever tiring, something that even almost incomprehensibly powerful beings would eventually face in due time.

Perhaps at one time he did question his beliefs, though I concede there's no evidence for or against this as of yet - like much else! From what he said prior to the final trials, he has spent a considerable amount of time living amongst the 'feeble fragments' he seems to detest so much. Whilst later on this was likely to have been for no reason other than to manipulate and further his cause, there remains the possibility that at the very beginning this may have been to gauge their competence and whether he felt the star to be in capable hands, eventually concluding that it wasn't.
After so much time and their task half completed with no going back, is he likely to cave in to doubt now? Even if he were to feel it on occasion.

[Naoki34]

I want to eat a grilled cuttlefish (seiche in french).

[Iscah]

I'd ask for a Petition to Bring Back Emet Selch thread (or even be really crazy and start one myself) in the style of 'Male Viera please' or Unlimited BLU. But I know it would just end up in an argument /sigh.

I don't feel like petitions to change things in the story are a good idea anyway. Let the writers write their own story, and not be expected to change their plot to bring back a dead character just because enough people ask for it.

[Misutoraru]

Even if he is not tempered he will still try to figure a way of rejoining. He do not consider rejoining our scattered souls killing. If like alphinaud convince him our live mean something, and rejoining will wipe out many life, in him mind the sundering was already a genocide to his people, all he does is return those he love at all cost. I would do the same if I am him. Evil/Villainly is merely a point of view and where you stand

[Misutoraru]

I don't feel like petitions to change things in the story are a good idea anyway. Let the writers write their own story, and not be expected to change their plot to bring back a dead character just because enough people ask for it.

Dead should stay dead, but would love to see more flash back of him

[SaberMaxwell]

I'll paraphrase (Mainly cuz not in-game to watch the cutscenes again) Ardbert's bff forever, Seto, regarding Emet x Unbroken WoL:

"It's not the soul you're born with that determines who you are."

It would make our final battle against Selch supremely tragic if we were his lover in a past life. Perhaps it's the moment he recognized us and saw our ancient soul without a doubt he decided more or less to take a powder as it were; how can you kill someone you love, even if they're but a fragment of their former selves?

Notice his goal halfway through the fight became "we must reclaim these vain reflections!" Stark contrast to "I'm going to erase your stain from history!" Earlier.

All that said and even if we were his lover... That doesn't mean we are now. Saber and Ardbert share a soul, perhaps, but they're distinct people. The same is most likely true of Saber and the Ancient who had the whole soul.

[LineageRazor]

Should is most likely the wrong word to use there since this sort of thing is highly subjective. That said, the archetype of the jaded immortal has been used in works of fiction time and time again. One might even say it's one of the most commonly used tropes in stories that feature excessively old and/or powerful immortal beings. The archetype is typically invoked when an immortal is of such age that even other immortal beings in the same setting seem young by comparison. We've no clue just how much the tempering changed Emet-Selch, but I do believe he could reasonably have developed much the same personality as what we got to see in-game without ever having been subjected to it at all. That man (if you can call him that) is, at least according to himself, even older than Zodiark and Hydaelyn.

It's certainly a common trope, but it's definitely not the only trope. Personally, I'm delighted to see them take the path less tread. We get plenty of the "old and cynical" from the dragons and Omega, in this game.

[Bright-Flower]

I'd ask for a Petition to Bring Back Emet Selch thread (or even be really crazy and start one myself) in the style of 'Male Viera please' or Unlimited BLU. But I know it would just end up in an argument /sigh. Even the lore forums get overheated these days! (And I really don't think the lore forums are the place for a thread for people saying Emet is best boi but I guess the moderators disagree since they moved it).

As I have said many times, I adore Emet. I hated him in SB and wanted to slap him every time I saw him. He slowly won me over - yes with his snarky sark lol - and now I can't bear getting Amaurot in expert because it makes me soooo sad! We're grown-ups, folks; we know he was a 'bad guy' in the sense that his purpose opposed ours (and involved a lot of death but generally so does ours). Stop jumping in our 'we love Emet' thread to tell us how weird we are for loving him.

If he did come back (and yeah I know it's very unlikely) I would hope he would be untempered Emet who can work with us or some such and redeem himself and solve the mystery of the Terminus event. For me he lives on in my Shoebill who never leaves my side. Actually he always leaves my side because he seems to love standing as far away as possible and giving me judgemental looks. But heh, that's Emet Selch!

I like Emet as a character.

But I think bringing him back would be a mistake. His exit from the story was perfect, and I don't think anything they could bring him back to do or say would be as good as 5.0.

Sometimes, it's better to just let a character go out on a high note than contrive ways for them to stick around. I feel the same way about

Arbert. His final scene in the ending was perfect. I don't want to hear from him again after that despite him being a highlight of 5.0.