Tale of Emet [FF14 x Nier Reincarnation event story]

[KariTheFox]

And ya know what? I don't blame him for his prejudice and contempt. There is a massive difference between real life bigotry [Which I stand against with every fiber of my being] and something in a video game where the man was legitimately correct when the prejudice began for him. He can see souls and could see these people were lesser than his own, and at the end of the day just wanted his friends back, something which even Alisae says she'd like as not do the same.

Emet-Selch is absolutely not "legitmately correct" about sundered people being "lesser" in some way. He is judging them on a completely arbitrary standard 'aetheric density' and dismissing them because they do not have sufficently dense souls, despite clearly being actual people. The only difference between this and real life bigotry is that aetheric density of souls is a made up fantasy concept.

And sure, he wants his friends back. Maybe I would do the same in his position, but I'm not going to be suprised when some people object to all the death I'm causing for the sake of my friends, and kill me for being the genocidal megalomaniac that I am.

Heck, even Emet-Selch accepts his L and takes it in stride, it's one of the reasons I actually quite like him. (And it's actually funny I get lumped in with "Venat lovers who hate Emet-Selch" so much. If you forced me to do a character ranking, I'd put Emet-Selch above her.)

[SpectrePhantasia]

Emet-Selch is absolutely not "legitmately correct" about sundered people being "lesser" in some way. He is judging them on a completely arbitrary standard 'aetheric density' and dismissing them because they do not have sufficently dense souls, despite clearly being actual people. The only difference between this and real life bigotry is that aetheric density of souls is a made up fantasy concept.

Sorry I recognize this was some few pages ago but what? Emet-selch did not just judge the Sundered based on their nebulous 'aetheric density.' That wasn't anywhere close to the crux of his argument. If you looked at his character, especially at the end of 5.0, and concluded that he was just a fantasy racist, I feel like that's missing the mark by a mile. Emet-selch judged people for their vices; war, hatred and disease, all things that, if not caused by their frailer bodies, were caused by their inclination towards violence. The society he lived through had none of these terrible, terrible things and he was one of the few people to watch this transition firsthand. Endwalker aside, what makes him compelling as an antagonist was that his bias had a genuine point behind it. Of course, deep down he was using it to justify atrocities, and that is what makes him a villain, but trying to spin the idea that the Sundered aren't incredibly different is taking it too far.