[Spoilers inclluding 7.0] My "True" Main Character Theory

[Enkidoh]

WoL isn't even a real character lmao. They're just a device, and they might as well be a tool for people who actually have motivations, plans, and directives. All the WoL does is copy whatever the good guys are carrying onto themselves and carry out difficult deeds and feats that an MMO story that requires the player be in the center of it all carries out. In definition the WoL is the protagonist, but it's nowhere near other FF games where the main character is actually a character with their own personality, past, relationships, and characteristics.

Emet asked, who are you? WoL is no one, nothing.

Actually, you're mistaken there on multiple fronts - the WoL is a character in so much as the story revolves around them. While it's certainly true they are also a narrative device to move the story forward, they are also the central protagonist in that the story literally could not exist without them and that their story is the main story (this is unlike FFXI where the player's character literally is just a sidekick along for the ride while the story NPCs like Zeid and Lion who are the real protagonists that get all the credit for your efforts). And with the revelation in ShB that they are the reincarnation of Azem the Wanderer, stating that they are 'no one and nothing' is completely wrong and missing the point entirelly.

And not every FF game has a dedicated protagonist with a fully fleshed out story or even identity anyway - some FF games they are just blank slates left to the player to create an identity for them, dating right back to 1987 and the very first FF game especially which FFXIV actually has a lot in common with. In FFI, the party was literally a party of nameless generics also called the Warriors of Light who were literally only identified by their Job class - there was literally no backstory for any of them other than they were young and each bore a dulled Crystal. FFIII was very similar (although the DS remake altered it and gave them names and identities, the original Famicom version they were just generic adventurers nicknamed 'Onion Kids' due to starting with the Onion Knight Job.).

Although FFII was the first FF game to feature named protagonists, party members, it was only with FFIV did each successive game have actual named protagonists (and FF Tactics kind of did both, with a main protagonist (Ramza) and guest named characters, with a bunch of generic adventurers that could be fired, end up killed or rehired with impunity). And it should go without saying FFXIV's MMO predecessor FFXI also had a generic player character who had zero backstory other than "they're a new adventurer from a foreign land".

So FFXIV's "your character is a blank slate" concept is hardly unusual for the series.

[Vyrerus]

While it's certainly true they are also a narrative device to move the story forward, they are also the central protagonist in that the story literally could not exist without them and that their story is the main story (this is unlike FFXI where the player's character literally is just a sidekick along for the ride while the story NPCs like Zeid and Lion who are the real protagonists that get all the credit for your efforts).

Whoa, whoa, whoa. That is a grave misreading of FFXI's storylines. Full stop. The adventurer in FFXI is a big, pivotal deal in every storyline in that game (Especially Rhapsodies), though they aren't always treated with the respect they deserve.


They don't get full credit from the world like the WoL does in FFXIV, but they get full credit from the NPCs directly related to each storyline they participate in at the time of going through it.

I mean, there is a mild disconnect with its presentation in that NPCs don't recognize you from prior encounters because the timeline for the game has the consistency of silly puddy. But I'll go through it storyline by storyline except for the Voracious Resurgence( 1. it's not finish and 2. I haven't touched it yet).

Nation Missions up to Rank 6: The first storyline for the game. The adventurer winds up being the responsible for stopping the rebirth of The Shadowlord, and does defeat the Shadowlord in combat. They are lauded and promoted by whatever nation they do it for.

Rise of the Zilart: It begins with Lion rescuing you from the Zilartian Princes / Ark Angels after you defeat the Shadowlord as a, "Hey this is actually what happened when The Shadowlord blew himself up." But it ends with Lion, Zeid, and Aldo being unable to match the power of Eald'narche. So the adventurer steps up and takes him down. Lion then sacrifices herself to stop his final attempt at activating the Crystal Line as Yve'noile ferries his soul off to the afterlife. Zeid and Aldo part ways with the adventurer, Zeid telling them, "I speak for all of Vana'diel when I say thank you <Adventurer's Name>."

Chains of Promathia: More important than ever before, the Adventurer becomes the vessel for the Mothercrystals' lights, unwittingly aiding in Selh'teus's plan to restore light to Al'taieu's crystal and prevent the advent of the Keeper of the Apocalypse. Other characters slowly unfold this truth over the course of a convoluted 8 chapter(43 or so missions) tale. By the end of the storyline it's implied that Prishe and the adventurer are beyond mortality, and this is what allows them to aid Selh'teus in fighting the Twilight God. It is also explicitly why they can deny/ignore his mind enslaving telepathy.

Treasures of Aht Urhgan: The adventurer becomes a double agent. A spy for the middle lands, and a mercenary for Salaheem's Sentinels. With the Empress Nashmeira II personally growing attached to them, and claiming them to be her mercenary for all eternity. This is offset somewhat by Naja Salaheem treating the adventurer like dirt, but even she knows deep down and admits by the end that they are her most powerful and valuable merc.

Wings of the Goddess: Stumbling into a derelict Atomos maw, the adventurer is flung back in time to the Crystal War era where they become pivotal in the war effort. In addition to this, they find out that they have actually been sent back to a point where timelines diverge, and encounter the Walk of Echoes, as well as Cait Sith, an avatar born of Altana's Tears. They quickly become tasked with stopping their own timeline from being doomed to the actual Atomos's maw, and go on to fight the compelling Lady Lilith for the right to exist. There's a bit more to it than that, but they more or less get acknowledged as the world's savior by Cait Sith, a divinity's familiar. (Not too mention by Lilisette who would have been condemned to non-existence without their aid).

A Crystalline Prophecy: Without the adventurer, Aldo could not have stopped the Seed Crystal, so the Antiphon wouldn't have nipped its song of oblivion in the bud by being able to marshal the lifeforce response from the denizens of Vana'diel.

Moogle Kupo D'etat: Rent a Rooms would be Pay to Stay, the horror! This one revolves specifically around the adventurer and their rent a room moogle.

Shantotto Ascension: Adventurer and Shantotto rack up another funny world endangering story that only the adventurer could stop.

Abyssea: Joachim makes it explicitly clear that only the Adventurer is up to the task of crossing into the world of Abyssea, a twisted apocalyptic Vana'diel, and stopping it from ending.

Voidwatch: Similar to Abyssea with less story.

Seekers of Adoulin: The adventurer gets a leg in with Arciela, who's basically royalty. Becomes the most pivotal pioneer in all of Adoulin. Gets compared to August, the founder of Adoulin from hundreds of years ago. Literally fights with and defeats monsters whos family monster name in the data is, "Super Beings."

Rhapsodies of Vana'diel: Altana literally hands down responsibility of pushing back the Cloud of Darkness to the adventurer in a face to face meeting in Lumoria. The player character is implied to have achieved divinity.

So, I mean, it's just patently false to claim that the adventurer in XI just remains some nobody and everyone around them gets all the credit. There's just not an entire side cast cooing in awe of them at every other cutscene.