Endwalker is the most controversial expansion

[Xirean]

So he absolutely has to lose his shit, when he can just do something about it instead?

To be fair. Some of the most relatable moments in the game are when people lose their shit. "We did everything that was asked of us, and still it came to this?"

[TaleraRistain]

as an adult that whole sequence of events was too predictable because throughout Endwalker there were very little stakes

So you've never watched a series or a movie or played a game where you knew what the outcome was going to be and you just wanted to see how they pulled it off? It's used a lot in media and not just media for children. It's a rarer case where the creators are trying to surprise the audience because the audience is always on the lookout for those small clues. That's why a lot have to resort to shock value and doing things that have little to no foreshadowing.

[Fiel_Tana]

He didn't act like that because he's an adult. Like you said. And if he did, he would've turned into a Blasphemy.

I really worry about some of the lessons that seem to have been taken from this story. :/

As an adult I can assure you that if someone I loved was in mortal danger I wouldn't simply shrug it off as inevitable. I'd do whatever it took to help them and I'd be furious at the person who had put them in that danger. I'd be even more furious if it was a self declared "supreme deity" declaring 'love' for their 'children' yet had left them in mortal danger without any plan to help them escape.

[KariTheFox]

I really worry about some of the lessons that seem to have been taken from this story. :/

As an adult I can assure you that if someone I loved was in mortal danger I wouldn't simply shrug it off as inevitable. I'd do whatever it took to help them and I'd be furious at the person who had put them in that danger. I'd be even more furious if it was a self declared "supreme deity" declaring 'love' for their 'children' yet had left them in mortal danger without any plan to help them escape.

Eh? Thancred absolutely had a problem with the Moon Evacuation plan, and was the first one to bring up the fate of Ryne, the first, and all the other reflections. Sure, he didn't lash out or scream but about it, but what would that have accomplished?

And Venat did have a plan for saving the people of the other reflections, the source, and the rest of the universe. It was y'know, "Send the WoL and thier friends to Ultima Thule to confront Meteion", which Thancred was very much a part of.

In fact, so strong was his desire to save the people he loved and his trust in his friends to see it through, that his sacrificial charge at Meteion created a LITERAL bedrock for the scions to exist in Ultima Thule on.

[aveyond-dreams]

Eh? Thancred absolutely had a problem with the Moon Evacuation plan, and was the first one to bring up the fate of Ryne, the first, and all the other reflections. Sure, he didn't lash out or scream but about it, but what would that have accomplished?

And Venat did have a plan for saving the people of the other reflections, the source, and the rest of the universe. It was y'know, "Send the WoL and thier friends to Ultima Thule to confront Meteion", which Thancred was very much a part of.

In fact, so strong was his desire to save the people he loved and his trust in his friends to see it through, that his sacrificial charge at Meteion created a LITERAL bedrock for the scions to exist in Ultima Thule on.

For one it would have made an otherwise lackluster character entertaining. Thancred was extraordinarily boring this expansion, and had very little of what made him tolerable throughout Shadowbringers.

And ah yes, Venat and her grand plans built almost entirely out of gluesticks and tape. And then a subsequent "sacrifice" that was negated not a half hour later into the zone. Such great writing. Now all my favorite Scions are alive so we can go to Taco Bell in the 13th together in 7.0.

[KariTheFox]

For one it would have made an otherwise lackluster character entertaining. Thancred was extraordinarily boring this expansion, and had very little of what made him tolerable throughout Shadowbringers.

And ah yes, Venat and her grand plans built almost entirely out of gluesticks and tape. And then a subsequent "sacrifice" that was negated not a half hour later into the zone. Such great writing. Now all my favorite Scions are alive so we can go to Taco Bell in the 13th together in 7.0.

I mean, it isn't really relevant if you liked Venat or her plan here. The fact is that it was a plan that would have saved Ryne, and Thancred was all on board.

If "getting on an experimental spacecraft and flying to the edge of the universe to directly confront the being threatening your loved ones" isn't doing anything about that threat, I have no idea what would satisfy you.

Also Thancred can't see the future, he had no idea charging at Meteion would result in him exploding in a cloud of dynamis, give everyone a breathable atomosphere and land to stand on, and eventually be reversible. He just charged at the person threatening his loved ones with a desire to protect them and faith that his friends could back him up. Really, when you think about it, that's exactly the kind of irrational lashing out that you're asking for. What more could you ask of the man?

[aveyond-dreams]

I mean, it isn't really relevant if you liked Venat or her plan here. The fact is that it was a plan that would have saved Ryne, and Thancred was all on board.

If "getting on an experimental spacecraft and flying to the edge of the universe to directly confront the being threatening your loved ones" isn't doing anything about that threat, I have no idea what would satisfy you.

Also Thancred can't see the future, he had no idea charging at Meteion would result in him exploding in a cloud of dynamis, give everyone a breathable atomosphere and land to stand on, and eventually be reversible. He just charged at the person threatening his loved ones with a desire to protect them and faith that his friends could back him up. Really, when you think about it, that's exactly the kind of irrational lashing out that you're asking for. What more could you ask of the man?

Her plan, like many of her other decisions, were ridiculous gambles that came at a high cost. It derailed what was otherwise a coherent story.

Thancred's "heroic charge" does nothing to remedy the fact that he was as useful as the stuffed Alphas that my retainers bring me this entire expansion. I would ask that he actually have some personality and show anger, human reactions to what is going on around him.

This isn't asking much.

[Theodric]

It's a problem that will only persist, I fear. The game has a very bloated cast of characters and we've reached a point where characters with similar skillsets and personalities now compete with each other for screen time. Furthermore, it's harder for new or forgotten characters to be introduced to the forefront again due to how little room there is these days.

I'd very much appreciate the cast being trimmed down, ideally through a combination of death and retirement.

FFXIV would do well to take lessons from the backlash towards WoW's story. Forcing certain characters to be present all the time in every major storyline often serves to breed contempt.

If we're going to the Thirteenth then it would be an excellent opportunity to call upon the various characters tied to the Void Ark storyline give that they have ample experience dealing with Voidsent.

[RyuDragnier]

This may come as a surprise to you but men do tend to act that way when the people they love are in danger. They get angry, and do what needs to be done. Thancred's passive behavior was as shameful as it was boring. For someone who fought tooth and nail for his adopted daughter to simply stand there was unbelievable.

As averse as I am to trying to link in-game scenarios to real life-not too long ago there was a situation in which parents openly defied the powers at be in order to directly intervene and rescue their children for a deadly situation. Thancred, given all we saw of him in Shadowbringers, would have led the van from the front in such a situation.

Instead the Thancred of EW just gave a stern look at most. Give me a break.

Thancred was also trained to be a spy. Meaning putting on airs, hiding your emotions, and keeping cool under pressure. He acted completely in character for somebody with that training.

[aveyond-dreams]

Thancred was also trained to be a spy. Meaning putting on airs, hiding your emotions, and keeping cool under pressure. He acted completely in character for somebody with that training.

Even spies can show emotion. Even Gaius cried as he was forced to kill Alfonse in the Diamond Weapon and end his suffering, and yet Thanred can't be bothered to act like human when he faces his daughtered being abandoned on a Shard condemned to oblivion? Do you see why things aren't adding up here?

One of the coldest and sternest characters in the game could act like the father he was but Thancred after all his development in Shadowbringers was capable of nothing more than rolling over and recklessly charging at a little girl only to get turned into a rock. Forgive me if this sort thing existing in the writing gives me pause, because there is no way I personally would have allowed for this character to remain utterly stagnant and no more relevant than the "This is Thancred" meme for an entire expansion.

Even the whole "covid writing" doesn't fully excuse this, one thing is preventing anything bad from happening to any of your comfort characters as EW is clearly guilty of, but even the other scions had something more no matter how small. It's another thing is to have them be so unmemorable that they are more defined by things that they didn't do, or twitter memes. If nothing more of interest can be done with this character then he is the second I want to see gone, after G'raha Tia and all the fluff surrounding him first, because he's easily the more damaging force on the story than Thancred.