Quote Originally Posted by Ririta View Post
And the thing is how in FFXIV manipulators have always been seen as the most evil beings, from the syndicate in Ul'dah to Thordan to Varis to Vauthry and Emet-Selch, even when they have good intention (Thordan for example).
I can definitely see the parallels between Thordan and Hydaelyn. Thordan was truly convinced he was righteous and that he would bring peace to his people. Literally right after he transformed and started his monologue about his plans, I already knew we'd end up fighting him. It didn't matter that he had good intentions, our character gave that determined look we get when we're about to throw down lol. The fact that he was using power from a millennium of prayers gained by manipulation of the people who were ignorant to what truly happened in the past was pretty messed up. I guess his reasoning was it was better to have them believe in something than to learn the truth and lose faith, which he ended up using as a power source.

And in the same way it's interesting how all of the WOLs and others who Hydaelyn has "called" to serve her are also ignorant of the truth about what happened in the past and are operating on very limited and skewed information. All of mankind, including us, seem to have been manipulated by a person or group in order to fulfil their own agendas whether they have good intentions or not. Although Hydaelyn saw herself as helping to free mankind in the long run, it came at the cost of betraying her own people and basically "making" a whole new type of human who would be more susceptible to things like manipulation.

The sad part about all of this for me, is the fact that all the sundered had no choice in anything - they are literally the products of this horrible betrayal and are mostly ignorant of the true history of the world they live in. The "chosen" ones among them end up caught in this war between two sides that they never asked to be in. It's actually really messed up.