Quote Originally Posted by Theodric View Post
Is this not a case of simply moving the goalposts? It was stated with certainty that it was not possible for a Pureblood Garlean to wield aether, though an exception was found - and we've not yet delved into their homeland to see how many exceptions to the rule exist.

Or is every scrap of lore put forward now at the mercy of potentially being inaccurate because it just so happens to be present in the game's lore book?
If Garlean sorcerers were a real thing and had the ability to do more than "aqua vitae", then why does the lore double-down hard on Garleans not being able to cast magic everywhere else in the game? Why have none of the high profile Garleans we've met and battled with cast damaging spells on us? Why do in-game sources mention multiple times about how they use conscripts for their mage forces? And why do they spend so much time, money, and energy in Stormblood to create the resonant if Garleans have been able to cast magic this whole time?

Like I've said before, even disregarding the lore, they're still the enemy through the whole game and yes, there are exceptions, but the whole point of those characters is that they're exceptions. WoL isn't special until they start collecting crystals and they're not treated as special by the city-states until partway through the storyline. Why would a pureblood Garlean be running around without getting arrested? The only other pureblood Garleans who are mixing among the Eorzeans hide their 3rd eye. If we have a playable Garlean hide their 3rd eye too, then what's the point?

That leads into the fact that they're not different at all from what we already have. The only distinct feature of the Garleans is their 3rd eye. Otherwise the purebloods use elezen body models and head but with hyur ears.You can keep mentioning adding bunny ears to midlanders to make viera or how hrothgar are furry roes, but they have actual different faces/body models and distinctly different features. SE took and extremely lazy route for Garleans. A tiny handful of NPCs have their own unique faces, but even they use 100% elezen bodies that are not modified at all. If SE had more going on with them I may be singing a different tune, but that's not the case for now. It's possible existing Garleans might get more love pending a graphics overhaul, and I would welcome it because I've always had a problem with how they're portrayed, but then we get into complete conjecture territory.