Emet-Selch Is Not That Tragic

[Puksi]

Again, I do have to wonder why it's only comments opposing Emet-Selch's actions that are "policing", particularly when the topic of this thread is why he is NOT all that tragic. And, I mean:

Whether or not somebody is a hero is very much a matter of perspective and personal interpretation. You don't consider him to be one? Fine, but it really shouldn't 'bother' anybody for others to look on him fondly. He's a fictional character in a fantasy setting. People consume entertainment to be entertained and that accounts for all sorts of different tastes. I'm sure there's characters that you like that others don't - it's just how the world works.

Here you are telling me how I, personally, should react to the term "hero" being applied to Emet-Selch, when I said that it bothered me. Me, as in, me personally. That sort of looks like policing in itself, with maybe just a touch of bias.

As Alleo said, no one is saying you can't like this villain. Like away! But someone can like a villain and also accept what they did to earn that title, and understand when other people hold them accountable, regardless of their reasoning.
I've played most of the other games. And in the end, there is never a question that villains doing monstrous things (by the perspective of the playable cast, which pretty much always mirrors our own world) must be stopped, because the things they are doing are monstrous. Sometimes Square glosses over the magnitude of their deeds, like dropping the plate on Sector 7, if the characters involved prove popular. Sometimes, they have sympathetic reasons. But that doesn't change the fact what they did was wrong, and they couldn't be allowed to keep doing it.

We don't play Ancients, or Ascians in XIV. We play the people the Ascians are threatening with death. Good thing the writers ultimately know the Ascians are wrong, or this MMO would have been over before ARR was even finished, and Lahabrea wouldn't have had nearly as much fun.

And really, "emotionally charged phrases"? It's listing what the character actually did, lmao. Why would other words be used when those are accurate? If his actions (is that better than "atrocities"?) sound harsh, that might be because they are.

Though I would still be morbidly curious to hear anything in his list there spun in a positive light. But I expect his acts will just keep being brushed off by the "moral relativism" phrase, without any real effort to prove how they can be relative, even by game lore standards.

[Theodric]

Here you are telling me how I, personally, should react to the term "hero" being applied to Emet-Selch, when I said that it bothered me. Me, as in, me personally. That sort of looks like policing in itself, with maybe just a touch of bias.

Yes, it shouldn't bother you - for the simple reason that it isn't healthy to get overly invested in a fictional setting in the first place. Hence the push by myself and others for the approach of simply agreeing to disagree on the matter. I've already stated multiple times that I'm fine with people not considering him to be a hero. I'm simply expecting them to have the decency not to shame or swarm those who do consider him to be one. They're not doing anything wrong. They don't need to change their opinion on the subject.

The game has gone to great lengths to show that there's two sides to almost every story. Hydaelyn isn't a pleasant place for most people to live after all.

I think Alisae is a screeching, shrill harpy. Each time I see her open her mouth I roll my eyes. That doesn't mean that I'm going to ignore her contribution to the story and the themes tied to her just because she happens to rub me the wrong way. I don't think it's unfair for the antagonists to be given the same treatment.

[Puksi]

Yes, it shouldn't bother you - for the simple reason that it isn't healthy to get overly invested in a fictional setting in the first place.

lmao, that was my first post in this thread, and aimed at no one. On a videogame forum, about a videogame character, specifically a topic on how that videogame character is not all that tragic. If I had said "I love Emet-Selch", would I have been policed? Would I have gotten such concern for my health? Thanks, really, but I don't need it. I only have 38 posts on these forums, after all.

If it helps, I promise you, should Alisae do a fraction of what Emet-Selch did in the future, you will see me here questioning her--provided I am asked to call her a hero, and not a villain.