Is this a plothole? Question about the Endless

[Lady_Silvermoon]

That's why Otis is the biggest ... let's just say - problem - with the writing. Whatever that 'problem' is (bad writing, incosistent, plot hole) will change from PoV to PoV, but it is a problem. Just copy and pasted my take on this about a month ago about it:


If anyone still hold onto the idea the Endless should be treat as real people and what we did at the end has a case to be argue for genocide, I have one character would invalidate the validity: Otis.

First, the idea of digitalize human is not exactly a new or unexplored concept, but for the viewer/player to treat the projection as real people, the writing usually have to include some underwriting to make the memory unique in certain way. One that pop into my head right away is the anime Zegapain. Humanity got wiped out with a decease, and have to live inside virtual world. However, because it's a lot of data to replicate an authentic version, each person only have one copy stored in a quantum state. The data can be transfer between terminal, but it's always have to be the whole package. If the data is corrupted or damage, the "person" will suffer something akin to sickness. If its host terminal is destroyed, the data is gone forever - aka death.

Second, look at the fact that there are two Otis existing at the same time, for me basically render any argument that can be had about the Endless as real person moot. Because it shows that what we see is indeed, nothing more than data that can be procreate at will because they are not unique. Otherwise, if I kill one Otis it's the murder of one person, but if the system simulate 10 Otis, does that mean i committed murder ten times?

Otis is the only evidence that Cahcuia isn't just lying to us. Besides Otis and Erenville's comment, everything else points to us dissipating 1/3rd of what the FF14 universe considers a living person, and every argument that it's acceptable reminds us that we condemned the Ascians for doing the same to what they considered 1/14th of a living person.

The problem isn't that Otis exists. The problem is that Otis exists AND we're told this is the actual memory aether of the actual people and while those people are acting exactly the same way they did in life, downstairs souls are being used as currency, which brings into question if the thing in the vending machine downstairs Cahcuia or the thing gleeful to see her son after so long is Cahcuia. Most people would point to the squealing bunny woman as "the real" Cahcuia and not the white cube in someone's headgear. And that's a problem given what they are trying to sell us on.