Wow, Wuk Lamat is really single-handedly ruining the DT story...

[PaleYonder]

There's also the factor that "low self-confidence" is often used in bad writing as a cop-out flaw "since there has to be one", one of those Mary Sue classics, and overcoming it as a main thing feels intrinsically unearned. It's the game/story/medium telling us "she's actually already awesome, she just has to realise how awesome she is". That's nothing, and doesn't feel like real development.
And then if one pairs that with the character having real tangible flaws that the player/reader/audience perceives but the story brushes over because the character needs to be praised instead, it becomes doubly frustrating.
People have been listing actual flaws they found with Wuk Lamat in various places, for example the fact that until the game she didn't bother to learn about the country she wants to rule over and yet feels entitled to the throne, her stubborn naivety born from a spoiled lifestyle while refusing to look complex realities in the eye, her lack of empathy for her closest family members, her superficial solution attempts to everything, her addiction to the spotlight and what have you. Had they been treated as the serious flaws they are and made a point of causing her trouble, and her seriously reflecting and changing her ways, backsliding here and there, getting frustrated herself at the tangible flaws, and then grown into a more mature person gradually within her own limits, it would have done wonders. Instead, the game taught us that she just had to get more confident, because she's already great and everyone will grow to love her. That's simply poor writing and will sour large parts of the audience on the character.

[Looma]

I think it is mainly the VA for the character... it was a really bad choice in my opinion that made an already unlikeable character into a complete annoyance.

[Xellith]

Her growth is very open to interpretation. The only real growth she shows is combat ability, and that is largely undeserved from start to finish. Lower her ability to enforce her ideals with violence, and suddenly it's not obvious she had much character growth. At the end of the game she is just as impulsive, just as emotional, just as childish, just as naive, just as selfcentered, just as irresponsible, just as intrusive, etc.

I think she's incompetent. She isn't fit to rule. Hell, even in her Dawnservant acceptance speech she said the Huk Huy of Kozama'uka taught her about their history and hopes! They are from Urqopacha!

[Daralii]

I think she's incompetent. She isn't fit to rule. Hell, even in her Dawnservant acceptance speech she said the Huk Huy of Kozama'uka taught her about their history and hopes! They are from Urqopacha!

That's on the new localizers. She doesn't refer to any locations by name in the JP version.

[Xellith]

That's on the new localizers. She doesn't refer to any locations by name in the JP version.

Haurchefant in JP is a bit weird and in English he is a bro. In English Wuk Lamat is incompetent. What I listed is just an example. What they let me read and hear is what I get to go off. I'd be fine if they rewrote them to not be incompetent and then said "please enjoy new game plus".

[Raven2014]

None of it, none of it is earned.

And this is why I feel anyone who compared Wuk to Shonen character is using the wrong label. "Growing pain" is a major, if not the main theme behind a Shonen characters, to fall and pick yourself back up, to gain a new perspective through tribulation. And the point is - and to have growing pain, the growing need to come from the pain. A few examples from the top of my head:

- Top Gun's Maverick: young, hotshot pilot whose bravado got his friend killed and almost lose his wing.

- Start Ocean 4's Edge: young, idealistic talented captain made a terrible mistake that shocked him into mental comatose, prompting his XO declared him unfit for command.

- FF14's Alphinaud: young, idealistic who thought he has the talent to save the world, until the world came crashing down on him.


The reason I'm using examples from both East and West, from bad, average to good is to show how common this trope is. For Wuk's writing to miss the trope so badly can either be one two things: the write didn't actually intend to write a Shonen character, or they fail so badly at writing one. If we go with the kinder interpretation, that leaves the question what trope Wuk actually being model after. That's why some us think she's actually meant to be a Mary Sue.

- Shonen characters get most of the grow from facing the consequence of their own hubris and action.

- Mary Sue often only get superfluous grow because they don't need it. They are already perfect, so the journey is more about reinforce their strength and exposure so the readers can see how cool they are.

I look at DT and find the second description fit its story way more than the first. Yes, bad thing/tragedy happened around Wuk, but it's never because of her. Rather, those are just events presented only to give Wuk the stage to become a hero. She always gonna come to the right decision, make the correct choice that everyone gonna be happy with, and if Wuk had any difficulties doing so ... I'm sorry the story didn't show it.


Alphinaud is like the perfect execution of a Shonen character due to what happened at the end of 2.0. Now imagine if that didn't happen, and Alphinaud lead his crystal brave and united Eorzea exactly the way he said he would ... that version of Alphinaud wouldn't be a shonen character, he would be a Mary Sue. And that's exactly the story of Wuk Lamak in DT.

[Xellith]

I saw someone mention the term Black Hole Sue and I think it fits.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...n/BlackHoleSue

[Ruris]

I saw someone mention the term Black Hole Sue and I think it fits.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...n/BlackHoleSue

If Wuk Lamat was a job advert, that would be the job description.

[Carin-Eri]

I think she's incompetent. She isn't fit to rule. Hell, even in her Dawnservant acceptance speech she said the Huk Huy of Kozama'uka taught her about their history and hopes! They are from Urqopacha!

To be fair, whilst I have some issues with Wuk Lamat this isn't one of them. She demonstrably realised that she couldn't rule alone, hence her asking Koana to join her.

[Kuro_Matsu]

I did the same. xD
At this point I was really tiered of her. I don't hate Wuk Lamat. She is okay. But..., it was really just tooooo much of Wuk Lamat all the time. So at a point I enjoyed every second she wasn't around and getting all the screentime.

Same for me. I usually like the single brain cell, genki type characters. I honestly like her character as a concept (outside of her becoming a leader of a country when she is most certainly not ready for the role). But we were almost always with her. It was to a point whenever we were to split up, I already knew I would be paired with Wuk Lamat. I would just turn off my brain and get the quest over with. It's been a long time since I've done that. Last time was at the beginning of Stormblood.