Emet-Selch *Major Spoilers*

[Shougun]

Zodiark was demanding human sacrifice at an ever increasing scale, so if his plan was only to go back so far as to prevent the creation of that power that kept the primal in check, then no. I don't support that as a right move. Simply preventing the sundering isn't enough if the new god was going to demand that innocents give up their lives.

Not really a thought from lore read (just a thought of intention/possibility), but occasionally I think of that Mushi from Mushishi that gave the main character his one green eye trait. The one where the fish were absorbed into the darkness by a Mushi, and Ginko thought they were dead but really they had become some great white spirit or something within. With Zodiark not saying a 1:1 but that I had thought he needed more and more sacrificed as he was making the world whole again- inside himself. He was doing his job by taking it in, just needed to do it in bouts rather to get stronger and stay stable rather than yeeting everyone across the universe from being unable to hold it in. So not really a sacrifice as much as he was trying to take in the world's flaws, internalize and form them again, and at the end once absorbing the poison of the world big bang it out into a new universe (doing his job of making order out of the chaos, even if some didn't appreciate it- tempering those along the way).

Vaguely also like Sin in FFX with his whole mess going inside himself. That and Noah's ark. Zodiark is the ark, is Noah's boat. Perhaps there was supposed to be the next step of getting off the boat after the flood, but the boat was never properly filled in the first place because once the boat (Zodiark) was built another 'solution' came and kicked it. Might add a bit to tempering too since it'd be like your Zody passport, Zodiark tempered individuals ready for the next step in the purification.

Not saying it's morally good now just wonder if the those deaths were not just because he's a hungry boi wanting sacrifice and more like taking in and screening files (people) for viruses, altering (tempering), and then preparing to reprint everything 'purified'. And the whole process got hijacked.

Since I'm already playing super loose with 'reminds me of' anyways, I think of the Templars and Assassins with Zodiark and Hydaelyn (at least when Ubisoft doesn't try to make them super good/super evil and more onto arguing over how to best manage people, or like memes on that political compass).

I hope they don't make a super clear cut this is the good guy this is the bad guy in the end of all this, though I'm fine with one being a bit more 'right'/good just hoping not for pure evil vs pure good lol. Like when the kick happened I'm assuming that caused a lot of damage, being able to have some discussion on that perhaps rather than it being 'she gud, he bad'. Personally prefer the primals to keep a bit of that 'ideas made real' feeling (built around a core concept rather than a free flowing deity), even if the eldest are the most advanced and lively versions of that- keeping them in some ways trapped in their own cages of what core beliefs made them born.

Make Us Whole.

(For those confused, it's a dead space reference)

[Controller]

Yes the NPCs talk to you and the WoL listens then nods and does as he/she is told. On the other hand if you need to think or come up with a solution to a problem the WoL just stands there quietly and waits for someone better/more intelligent to do it for him/her.
The WoL is in the cutscenes as decoration to make it seem you matter when you actually don't. While it's true that many things in the world of FF requires killing, any mook who is "chosen" could do it just as well and considering you always need help, the WoL sucks at the only thing he/she is supposed to be good at. I mean in HW and with Emet-Selch you were so weak you needed a corpse to rise from their grave to help you and you still couldn't do it alone.
And all the "importance" you hear NPCs say is them all kissing you ass like any japanese mindless "chosen hero" story. Or any and EVERY "chosen hero" story that has ever been recycled.
I admit that i DESPISE this "chosen/destined/fated hero" garbage SO. MUCH.

To be fair in both those examples you mention something was either taken from you to make you weak or you were outmatched. It's not as simple as the WOL is just weak by default.

[MirronTulaxia]

Er... yeah, the Exarch is not remotely the same as the Ascians. The Ascians want to sacrifice innocent people who didn't agree to being sacrificed in order to negate the sacrifices made to create Zodiark. The people who summoned him did so of their own free will to boot. The Exarch is trying to stop a tragedy of untold proportions, with mostly willing help.

[Controller]

Isn't he from the future? Is thats so then technically it hasn't happened yet so that alone makes him different then Emet.

[Tsaranoga]

Your complaining how you hate "chosen one" stories while also complaining that the Warrior of Light doesn't matter and about how weak they are. Can you pick a consistent side in this arguement? Do you hate that the Warrior of Light is too important or not enough important enough?

You don't need to be "chosen" to matter or to be strong, that's just the unbelievably and undeniably shitty writing.

[BlitzAceRush]

Being the "chosen one" doesn't mean your choices aren't your own, it depends on the story.
Aang from Avatar was the chosen one, he messed it up initially and even when he did finally fulfil his "destiny" he did it his way, flying in the face of what everyone told him he "had" to do and saved the world in a way he could live with.

[Morningstar1337]

Being the "chosen one" doesn't mean your choices aren't your own, it depends on the story.
Aang from Avatar was the chosen one, he messed it up initially and even when he did finally fulfil his "destiny" he did it his way, flying in the face of what everyone told him he "had" to do and saved the world in a way he could live with.

I'm certain the same also applies ro Korra from her eponymous sequel series as well

But, yes having a destiny and free will are sometimes not mutually exclusive.

[TeraRamis]

Er... yeah, the Exarch is not remotely the same as the Ascians. The Ascians want to sacrifice innocent people who didn't agree to being sacrificed in order to negate the sacrifices made to create Zodiark. The people who summoned him did so of their own free will to boot. The Exarch is trying to stop a tragedy of untold proportions, with mostly willing help.

The Ascians A) don't really regard people as people, because Eorzeans are the broken, twisted remnants of a more evolved earlier race. If the entire human population suddenly devolved into Homo habilis, and you were one of like 20 people left, you would almost certainly view the bulk of "new humanity" as an abomination beneath you. And B), the Ascians were willing to step up and sacrifice themselves (voluntarily to empower Zodiark twice. So I think it's understandable that Emet-Selch and co. feel like they have paid their dues.

This is what makes good - re: not Zenos - antagonists compelling: because we can empathize and understand-with their motives, even if we might not necessarily agree (honestly, I'm at the point now where I will not rule out Hydaelyn being a cleverly-disguised foe; the ultimate 'great threat' to all existence). It's an issue that Final Fantasy games have struggled with as long as Squaresoft has existed, and they have a pretty spotty track record on it from game to game.

[BlitzAceRush]

It's not much of a noble sacrifice worthy of praise if you then turn around and go.
"We saved the world by choice, now save us because we say so."
It's like taking a bullet for someone, then getting up and choosing someone or something you consider lesser than you, someone of a lower status or say a dog and then holding them/it in front of you to take more bullets, you stopped being noble the moment you picked up the dog/other person.

Claiming they're our betters is just their justification, fiction and real life is littered with people using that as an excuse, the holy crusades, WW2, Rome to name a few. To them it makes them noble and just, to everyone they're killing, it makes them monsters.

[Crushnight]

The difference to me between the Exarch and Emet/Ascians is consequence of their actions.

Exarch has come from a future where the Eighth Calamity happened and now we are not having that Eight Calamity this the future is changed yet he is still around. This is significant as you can imply that the bad future still exists thus no one is sacrificed thus Exarch has killed no one, but if the bad future is erased yea Exarch murdered whether willing(Euthanasia) or not(Manslaughter) a single world's worth of people for reasons he believes is just.

Emet/Ascians have already murdered 7 worlds worth of people, they just think those people are beneath them, that doesn't make it justifiable, to them yea to us no.

Exarch's consequence is left vague, Emet's is not, this is why the Exarch isn't viewed as negatively despite having parallels to Emet, until we get told what happened to the bad future which regards to its existence neither side is wrong to think Exarch is a Savior or as bad as Emet.