Warrior of Darkness (HW)

[Rannie]

Encyclopedia eorzea page 214



View image and make it bigger and read the first four words under where it says On The Warriors of Darkness

[rainichan]

You think the ones we met, and defeated in heavensward are the same ones as from the first?

There's some superficial resemblance, but I'm not entirely sure that holds up.

Rannie posted from the lore book, but they're the exact same ones. During one of the first scenes in 3.4

Arbert straight up says they're from the First in the quest Shadows of the First, after defeating Garuda in Xelphatol:

"Warrior of Darkness
Should I explain it to you? Very well. Consider it a reward of sorts for beating us here.

You know the tale of Hydaelyn and Zodiark, I take it. Of the great sundering, and the reflections it created?

Alphinaud
Across ten and three they were divided. Reflections of the Source, each possessed of shards of Light and Dark...

Warrior of Darkness
Just so. One of those reflections─the one nearest to the Source─is our home. And we were the heroes blessed with Her Light.

But not all worlds hold Light and Dark in equal measure. In ours, the power of Light was greater by far.

So the Ascians who once threatened our home were no match, and they fell before us, one after another, till none were left. Victory, we thought...

...And then came the Light─a flood of pure, blinding radiance, annihilating shadow and color and life itself. Ere long, it will consume our world, leaving naught in its wake but blank perfection."

One of the final scenes he tells us that they fought and fought and fought until there was no darkness left:

"We fought and we fought and we fought...until there was no one left to fight. We won...and now our world is being erased from existence.

We did everything right, everything that was asked of us, and still─still it came to this!

You of all people should understand! We cannot─we will not falter. We brought our world to the brink of destruction, and now we must save it."

In one of the next scenes, that's when Minfilia, as the Word of the Mother/Hydaelyn, says she'll travel with their souls back to the First to stop the Flood of Light:

"Minfilia
Blessed children of the First. The light of your world hath grown blinding in its radiance, but it is not yet absolute.

I will hie me to your world and there take unto myself the Light which riseth even now to drown it, as Darkness once did drown another."

Further from that, once you're in Shadowbringers,

Ardbert recognizes you and reintroduces himself as Ardbert. iirc it's a dialogue choice with your WoL, but you question his name and he says that they all used names that were used on the Source as opposed to their true names from the First to blend in, and that his name wasn't very creative since he just dropped the 'd' from his name and nothing else. The other choice confirms that he is one and the same:

???
...You...?
I know you... You're the Warrior of Light from the Source!

What will you say?

The Warrior of Darkness...?

???
What? Did you just... You can hear me!?
Oh, gods, how long has it been...?

...Aye...aye, that was what I called myself in your world... The “Warrior of Darkness.”

My real name is Ardbert. I used an alias in the Source. A daft one, looking back...

OR

And who are you?

???
What? Did you just... You can hear me!?
Oh, gods, how long has it been...?

...“And who are you?” she says. An enemy not worth remembering, apparently...

My name is Ardbert. In the First, I was a Warrior of Light, but in the Source you knew me as the Warrior of Darkness.

Ardbert
If you recall my tale, it was my comrades and I who caused the Flood.
We thought our home doomed. And so we listened to the Ascians─let them guide us to the Source, and tried to hasten their godsdamned Ardor.

I remember when we fell, defeated by you and yours. I remember our audience with Minfilia─how she listened to our pleas, and returned our souls to the First.

The Warriors of Darkness were modeled after Derplander (the midlander WoL we see in cutscenes) and his original party from the 1.0/End of an Era (Answers) cutscenes- his canon name is Meteor- for the sole purpose of having a nice, familiar feeling when seeing them, to be a mirror to the WoL stand-in for FMVs and promotional videos, and the designs were deliberate. It was a nice touch.

[ICountFrom0]

Encyclopedia eorzea page 214



View image and make it bigger and read the first four words under where it says On The Warriors of Darkness

Cool, lorebook, that answers that for me, thanks.

(and it's not that I simply hammered through, it's that it was rather a while ago and I'm forgetful in my old age. Thanks for those who actually answered, and didn't dismiss an old man because old)

Not getting that Ardbert's group are from the First... that requires either completely missing, misunderstanding, or outright not believing all following facts:

1. Ardbert outright saying they were from the First after Xelphatol,
2. Ardbert himself reappearing in the First, connecting with you on that previous contact, and on recognizable things you encounter like Seto,
3. The Cardinal Virtues in your role quests of choice all being connected to Ardbert and being identical to the Warriors of Darkness,
4. The actual cutscene in Amh Araeng showing a flashback to Minfilia teleporting the crew back to the First to stop the Flood at Nabaath Araeng,
5. That final button at the end of Shadowbringers showing them reuniting as ghosts.

Missing one or two of those I understand; I admit I did forget that first speech until I started recording cutscenes for use in videos, and I literally just now had to check if that Amh Araeng cutscene existed because I wasn't sure I didn't somehow imagine it.

Points 3, 4, and 5 don't actually connect, if you've forgotten 1 and 2.

So, no, I didn't miss 3, 4, and 5. Those make a lovely self contained story about the warriors in the first, but don't actually explain anything about them being on the source. The playthrough I'm watching hasn't yet DONE Xelphatol, so it's just been years since I've seen that and forgot it.

As for #2, I guess I just didn't read it that way. I took it as he seemed familiar because he's a part of the combined warrior of light. It completely didn't click.


So yha, not trolling, just old.

[Rannie]

Cool, lorebook, that answers that for me, thanks.

(and it's not that I simply hammered through, it's that it was rather a while ago and I'm forgetful in my old age. Thanks for those who actually answered, and didn't dismiss an old man because old)



Points 3, 4, and 5 don't actually connect, if you've forgotten 1 and 2.

So, no, I didn't miss 3, 4, and 5. Those make a lovely self contained story about the warriors in the first, but don't actually explain anything about them being on the source. The playthrough I'm watching hasn't yet DONE Xelphatol, so it's just been years since I've seen that and forgot it.

As for #2, I guess I just didn't read it that way. I took it as he seemed familiar because he's a part of the combined warrior of light. It completely didn't click.


So yha, not trolling, just old.

CRS (Can't remember shit) is a terrible thing one comes across in old age. As I slowly creep up in the years myself I find I sometimes have that issue. S'all good. Btw if needs be the xephatol, one life for one world and the rest are rewatchable cutscenes with the Unending Journey in the inns or if you have it as a furniture item ^_^.