Zodiark: Good or evil? thoughts

[Slatersev]

Just wanted to point out that "working" with the sundered is pretty much explicitly stated by Emet-Selch in the last quest of 5.0 "Shadowbringers" as a response to you saying you will stop him



The ascians are guilty of genocide from a sundered point of view and they aren't goody two shoes I assure you! But, Emet did genuinely try. As we learned from Tiamat, mankind without any ascian interference is going to fight amongst itself, the people of Meracydia fought over territory and only compromised once they went to a higher power in Bahamut who served as mediator. I can't fault Emet for believing that a world of inhabitants who kill each other at the drop of a hat is a far cry from the Utopia he once knew and loved.

Oh I know the lines, my point is that for as much as I love Emet, he can't really talk about the things he does with mortals as proof of giving it an honest shot when he was still actively working for Rejoinings the entire time.

Like, simply put, he never states he put his plans on hold to try to really see what the Sundered life could be. He actively worked to manipulate them the entire time, so even when he was "trying", it can't really be read as a fully sincere attempt because there was never a time where he wasn't sabotaging them.

It's like joining a company wanting and expecting it to fail, actively working to make sure it does and then pointing at it and going

"See, it could never work". It's simply impossible to take it on good faith.

Which is kinda the point, for as much depth as they gave him, his words are obviously supposed to be tinged with his bias'. Were not supposed to take literally everything he said at face value. Especially with things like YoshiP pointing out at fanfest we haven't gotten Hydaelyn/Venat's side of the story

His Moral Relativism line for example, an amazing line but he contradicts it alot, and his short story especially makes it pretty obvious he's actively lying to himself about it.

Which in some ways makes him more sympathetic, and in some ways makes him worse, because on some level he knows what he tells himself isn't true but he is still using it as a justification.

It's really complicated, messy and contradictory, all on purpose by the writers, and its great. Makes him a fantastically nuanced character. But all that nuance doesn't mean he can't also be full of shit at times, and when it comes to his claims about sincerely trying with mortals, he totally is. But again, that's what makes him great