Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[Gwenorai]

It seems to be one spirit, the mother of the wood which the Viera can commune with. The spirit is given female pronouns and tends to call the Viera her children. In the case of Fran, the wood calls her 'their child' or something of the sort. The way she's worshipped by the Viera and how the spirit considers the Viera 'children' does sort of touch upon Primal. Not much of a stretch considering what we know now. Strangely, when Viera leaves the wood they grow deaf to her voice and can no longer hear her on return if it's been too long.

[SturmChurro]

Super curious on what their reasoning is for finally leaving the jungle. I had my own speculation but seems far-fetched but also makes sense in a way. I always kind of wondered if the spirit of the wood is basically a primal and that the males are tempered, by said spirit. Thus why you'll never see a male venture out because they're extremely strict in regards to following the Greenword, as opposed to the females - that aren't tempered - won't. That way you're hardly going to see any males because they're tempered and loyal, barring the WoL mViera who obviously, due to being born with the echo, isn't.

I'm sure it's not as convoluted and it's just 'gotta protect wood, the spirit says go' type of deal. But it does get me interested on just what the spirit is. The Viera worship her.

The whole "them not ever leaving the jungle" thing looks to be an obviously filler in-world explanation on why we actually didn't have them playable. They can really write anything, even copy and paste female lore reasoning to males. Zenos/Fandaniel destroying the world wouldn't really work either, as a male viera WoL would start prior to those events, during ARR. Would work for NPC male viera in-world though.

[Kapalaka]

I am thrilled that male Viera will be in FFXIV. Thank you so much to the community for keeping it on the forefront and the developers for making it happen!

[MercuryD]

Honestly, a lore reason I'm hoping they go with is that mViera are more prone to Mist Frenzy which is why they generally live in seclusion or in small groups. Also, the Wood may act as a sort of filter which weakens outside aether/Mist. For that reason it would be dangerous for a male to leave for fear of frenzy/illness.

[Theodric]

The whole "them not ever leaving the jungle" thing looks to be an obviously filler in-world explanation on why we actually didn't have them playable. They can really write anything, even copy and paste female lore reasoning to males. Zenos/Fandaniel destroying the world wouldn't really work either, as a male viera WoL would start prior to those events, during ARR. Would work for NPC male viera in-world though.

A lot of the lore is also written to be wrong purposefully because it's written from the perspective of those with missing information or bias.

I'm cautiously optimistic that we might see one show up during the conclusion of the Save the Queen storyline, though if not hopefully we get to meet and talk to at least one or two during Endwalker.

[Halivel]

A lot of the lore is also written to be wrong purposefully because it's written from the perspective of those with missing information or bias.

This. Even an Eorzea Encyclopedia, a physical book that I suppose a lot of us have on hands, is written from the perspective of in-universe scholars, who aren't always sure nor right in their conclusions (much as the real life ones). 5.4 MSQ is a good example of that:

People believed for centuries that it's impossible to heal tempered, yet here we are, doing exactly that. And with a great success, too.

As much as wandering dramaturge said to us about Vieras, the only ones who could actually educate us about the topic are Viera themselves, because NPC aren't immune to being wrong.

[RyuDragnier]

As much as wandering dramaturge said to us about Vieras, the only ones who could actually educate us about the topic are Viera themselves, because NPC aren't immune to being wrong.

Just like how we learned firsthand from a Bangaa how the race are actually mammals, have hair that is shed and replaced by harder scale-like skin. Things never stated in any media with Bangaa until now...though that doesn't mean I'll ever accept it as canon (I refuse to let the only real reptilian race we've had in Final Fantasy be mammals!).

[WhiteArchmage]

A lot of the lore is also written to be wrong purposefully because it's written from the perspective of those with missing information or bias.

I'm cautiously optimistic that we might see one show up during the conclusion of the Save the Queen storyline, though if not hopefully we get to meet and talk to at least one or two during Endwalker.

If the models were ready to show by FanFest, and Zadnor is specifically mentioned as being on the border with Dalmasca, we might actually see one. Of course, that depends on if the dev team/Matusno was writing with the knowledge that male Viera would be ready in time.

On another thread I joked that maybe the Viera pulled a prank on the Dramaturge and at least part of his understanding of male Viera culture is woefully inaccurate, and honestly that would be hilarious. I would actually laugh out loud if we met a male Viera and he was puzzled by a surprised reaction, to respond that they're not THAT rare, they just keep to themselves, mostly.

[Ayer2015]

The beautiful thing about video games is that lore can be adjusted as needed.

[Gwenorai]

The beautiful thing about video games is that lore can be adjusted as needed.

But then you get a bunch of people screeching as usual. People still remember when a bunch of nerds got upset in WoW because they added PoC elves?