6.0 Predictions: Will it be Garlemald, Sharlayan, or Meracydia?

[YianKutku]

And to continue this thought and address Gaius. He is in the process of Redemption. He is the Empire's ideal leader. Strong military ties, independent thinking, and yeah willing to change in the face of the truth. You don't have to like a Gaius leading a reformed Empire and you definitely don't have to forgive him, but you also don't have a heart if you can't see that he is the best thing for them when they are ultimately defeated and discover the truth of their conquests and wars and history manipulation from what essentially boils down to overpowered cry-baby Ancients.

Gaius is terrible for a hypothetical reformed Garlemald because of his "strong military ties". Gaius's ranting in the Praetorium about strength being the primary criteria for ruling a nation is textbook fascism (as famously described by Umberto Eco, among others), and I'm pretty sure intentionally so, given how it's supposed to be a "this is what the villain believes" monologue.

So Garlemald needs someone as far removed from the military as possible to lead them. A negotiator who advocates peace and reconciliation, including all the people who had been kicked out of Garlemald for advocating peace and reconciliation (Cid, Maxima, the cast of the Prima Vista; probably Lucia as well, although her circumstances are different). This is clearly not Gaius, given he had initially been declared a traitor and rogue not because of his actions in ShB, but back in ARR, when he directly disobeyed imperial orders, and attempted to take over Eorzea by force with his XIVth Legion. In other words, the opposite of peace and reconciliation.

And then later, after he realized the "truth" that should have been very obvious (ie just because you're strong doesn't give you the right to rule, especially if you borrow the strength of creepy Ascians), he didn't decide to renounce Garlean oppression and work towards making amends for his actions as Legatus of the XIVth. Instead, he went on a one-person crusade against Ascians, and recruited his travelling companions with that justification. In other words, he continues to try to use violence to solve the immediate problem in front of him. Even in the sidequests he's in, his primary motivation is about his adopted children, which is kind of laughable considering how terribly he treated his other adopted daughter Livia.

I'm not saying Gaius is beyond redemption. I'm saying he's a bad choice for potential leader of Garlemald. He simply has not displayed the skills and temperament needed to bring Garlemald out of the darkness of the Ascians. Give him some military leadership, fine, as long as a tight rein is kept on him so he doesn't go off on another conquering spree "for the good of Garlemald" like he did in ARR.

The problem with trying to name a good leader for a reformed Garlemald is we haven't met many named Garleans who would potentially want the job, so our pool of candidates is quite small. I strongly suspect we'll be introduced to a brand new character that happens to fit the slot of "good sympathetic ruler". But if I had to give a name out of the ones we know, I would say Maxima quo Priscus. His upbringing was described as "progressive", and he spent his career advocating and fighting for the rights of the annexed population of the nations conquered by Garlemald. He's clearly a negotiator of some sort, given he was part of the ambassadorial entourage to Doma, and was obviously not privy to Asahi's personal schemes. And he has the trust and respect of the Populares, since he was appointed de facto spokesman when the Populares fled into Eorzea from Varis's purge.

Maxima is a significantly better choice for a potential leader of Garlemald than Gaius.