Explaining the Term "Warriors of Light"

[Anonymoose]

Several threads have come up since August that revolve around a central issue: What the hell does it take to quality as a Warrior of Light? Legacy? Tattoo? Alternate story flags? How does this affect cutscenes? Are those touched by the Mothercrystal in 2.0 second-rate?

I'd like to clear this matter up once and for all.
My theory is as follows...

This is all a matter of convention and misunderstanding. The lore of the game is artificially organic. It's not systematically laid out despite being systematically crafted; it is meant to bear the illusion of having gone through stages of real-world development. Take, for instance, the bestiary. The diverse biology of mobs in the game was systematically designed by lorecrafters, but our bestiary was clearly written from a top down perspective that shows people were much more ignorant "when it was written" than we are "today." That's why the label "Coblyn" can apply to a genus, a species, and a unique mob.

The term Warrior of Light is "understood" differently by different NPCs at different times, but the label itself has a very specific, static meaning - and a lot of people are mistaking what that meaning is. In order to make everything clear, let's use some temporary labels.

The First Wave
[Player Characters] of Version 1.0 who were awoken by Hydaelyn between the Years 1562 and 1572 of the Sixth Astral Era.

Meteor Survivors
Members of the First Wave who did not complete the campaign against Nael van Darnus. (Get Tattoos)

Twelvesblades

Members of the First Wave who interrupted the Meteor Project by destroying the Lunar Transmitter, leading to the Battle of Cartenau where they were sent into a rift by Louisoix. (Get Tattoos + Alternate Story Content)

The Second Wave
[Player Characters] of Version 2.0 who were awoken by Hydaelyn in Year 5 of the Seventh Umbral Era.

In the game's Lore, there seem to be three possible reasons why NPCs don't recognize you.

1. You are a member of the Second Wave, a new adventurer that has no reputation of note.
2. You are a Meteor Survivor that did not build a noteworthy reputation in 1.0.
3. You are a Twelvesblade that was cast into the rift by Louisoix tapping into the power of Althyk at the Battle of Cartenau.

Now that we've got all that out of the way, let's address this whole Warriors of Light thing again. When NPCs try to remember the Twelvesblades, they cannot make out their features. They are a silhouette against the haze. For this reason, the NPCs have taken to calling them the Warriors of Light. Remember, if you didn't start the game with the alternative introduction, coming out of the rift, you were never sent into the rift. Either you were not at Cartenau at all, or you were weren't with Louisoix at the end. You are not a hazy memory.

One way to take this is that only the Twelvesblades are Warriors of Light, but this is not the only way it can be taken. The only reason the Twelvesblades were able to achieve what they did is that they were chosen by Hydaelyn.

Key Point:

Every Twelvesblade was chosen by Hydaelyn, but not everyone chosen by Hydaelyn is a Twelvesblade.

Therefore, another reading would be that all of Hydaelyn's chosen are Warriors of Light, but that the Twelvesblades, who were the only Warriors of Light known to the NPCs so far, are the ones who inspired the term in the eyes of post-Calamity NPCs. This fits much better with the franchise narrative set by Final Fantasy I.

For evidence, let's look at two scenes of the game.

First, we'll examine a quote during the quest Lady of the Vortex. In this scene, Cid reflects on his amnesia. He can't even remember when he first donned the goggles that cover his "third eye." In order to ease his frustration, you use the power of the Echo to elicit the memories from his soul. As he watches them replay, he recalls more and more about his past. As the memory of donning the goggles returns to him through the power of the Echo, represented by a bright light, he sees through it to the source of this gift - the player - who symbolically hands the goggles (the memory) to him, thus breaking the wall in his mind and allowing him access to his full identity.

I remember everything... My name, my people, and my purpose. Everything. Come! It would be rude to keep Garuda waiting! It took a while for the memory to return, but I remember you. The floating isle, van Darnus... We ended it, that day─or so we thought. Listen─let's keep this between the two of us, for the time being. If word got out that one of the Warriors of Light had returned, the eyes of the world would soon be upon us─our enemies' included. And that's the kind of attention we could well do without. What, isn't it enough that I know the truth? Don't worry. A <man/woman> of your talents won't go unnoticed for long. Someday, they will remember you─and you'll never know another moment's peace!

If you are not a Twelvesblade, the scene ends after the black text. If you are a Twelvesblade, he refers to you by the NPC's convention of the Warriors of Light - one who was sent into the rift and, for most, beyond their ability to recall.

Next, let's look a quote from the final scene of The Ultimate Weapon. You have just defeated the Ultima Weapon and are attempting to outrun the explosion while Gaius, who has sacrificed everything and failed, embraces the flames. Hydaelyn reaches out in response to prayers that the player be saved.

Warrior of Light. Beloved <son/daughter>. The Darkness hath fled before the unclosed brilliance of thy spirit. Yet it lingereth still beyond the sight of men, in forgotten corners of the world. In the depths of the abyss yet resideth the Dark One, watchful ever. Till this evil be cast out, never shall the world know aught but a passing peace. Yet for the present, a gentle light shineth o'er the realm of Eorzea. With thee at its heart. From sparkling mote shall it swell to glorious sun, and all the world shall bask in its warmth. Blessings and joy be upon thee. Go forth, my child, and be as a beacon of hope for Eorzea and the lands beyond, through all the days of thy life.

This wording is used regardless of context.

Hydaelyn's chosen are all the Warriors of Light. The ones who disappeared from Cartenau are just the ones who inspired the term in the eyes of the NPCs.

While we're on this topic, this also ties into a separate issue that players should be aware of. The game is systematically crafted so that all of these labels - First Wave, Meteor Survivor, Twelvesblade, Second Wave - lead to the same ending point: The Player is The Hero. You're not just a Warrior of Light, you are the central figure in the narrative. You are the Champion of Eorzea - there are just lots of ways that you could have come to be this way. This is why the Second Wave are not Second Rate. You are still The Champion, you just came to be so in a different way.

[HiirNoivl]

Warriors of Light are any Character Created in 1.0 that completed the quest "Living on a Prayer." The Character does not have to be on a Legacy account.

[Anonymoose]

Warriors of Light are any Character Created in 1.0 that completed the quest "Living on a Prayer." The Character does not have to be on a Legacy account.

Yes, when, say, Baderon, uses the term - that is what he means. What I'm getting at is that there's more to it and that this part is independent of "you beat United We Stand" (confirmed by Camate as the trigger to experience the alternate story). In The Ultimate Weapon, the Mothercrystal refers to you as a Warrior of Light regardless of when you started the game, regardless of what quests you did in Version 1.0. I double checked Legacy / New Player streams on YouTube/Twitch to be sure that regardless of how Cid's interaction went, this is what she said. Unless I've missed something somewhere, this clears up a lot of confusion.

[HiirNoivl]

Oh yeah sorry, I totally misunderstood. (I blame a coffee shortage.) I think you become a Warrior of Light after collecting all the Crystals of Light.

[Andaeron]

I feel like there is a fourth type of character, like my main. Whereas my alts are solidly Meteor Survivors (who barely broke 15 on any class), my main did the entire story up to Futures Perfect. He's not exactly a scrub, but did not take part in the final assault. So that explains clearly why I don't have the the void entrance, but I am baffled as to why NO ONE remembers or shows not the faintest glimmer of recognition. I think the only reasonable explanation lies with the Echo. When whatever happened to Bahamut happened, it "broke" the Echo, and anybody who had it (which is the power to see others' memories) was erased from others' memories. I think that makes it the perfect backfire, if you will. The only problem I see with that theory is that Minfilia herself has the Echo as well, so she would also have also been erased from others' memories.

The only other explanation I have is that there are a couple dialogue bits that I get as a non-Twelvesblade that are along the lines of, "Have we met? No, never mind." But this reeks of lazy writing, especially when I know that Second Wave characters get the same messages, meaning that it has nothing to do with the earlier bonds my character forged. I'm trying to reconcile this as I work out what my character has been doing in the five years since the Calamity, but these are the only ideas I have.

[Alberel]

The entire concept of the Warriors of Light in previous games was that they fought to protect the crystals of light. I always interpreted it that way in XIV as well. It's not about what the player's character has or hasn't done; it's about what they fight for. If Hydaelyn beseeches you to fight for her then you are a Warrior of Light.

The fact that Hydaelyn and Minfillia both outright call you by the title should make it pretty damn obvious to be honest. Anyone that got confused about it simply wasn't paying attention to dialogue.

[KimimiAvesta]

The reason I'm so salty about the issue is because, as far as I've ever seen, there was no indication that a specific quest needed to be completed in 1.0 to earn the alternative ARR story until after ARR came out :/

If anyone can provide pre-1.0 shutdown evidence to the contrary please share a link, I'd love to be wrong on this

Edit just to clarify - IIRC there was a "letter" on the old Lodestone website calling *all* able adventurers to Cartenau, not just those that had destroyed the Lunar Transmitter. I'm just not understanding the distinction (in game or out) between those that fought at Cartenau and did destroy the transmitter and those that fought but didn't. From my perspective I was able to best *two* Primals and unite Gridania/Ul'dal/Limsa to a common cause... but then ARR says that rather than go with everyone to the fight-or-we-all-die battle I... went away? Had a holiday? Got scared? Then I decided that when the coast was clear I thought I'd pop back on a carriage and literally act like nothing had happened?

This is doubly confusing because I *was* whacking Imperials right up until the servers went down (well, when the servers weren't giving me connect/disconnect errors anway), so I'm really struggling to reconcile what I did do with what ARR says I did.

[Catapult]

You may have participated at Cartenau, but did you have a reputation? Did you become a Lieutenant and knock out the backbone of Garlemald's key strategic establishment? Did you earn yourself recognition on a level to be assigned leadership roles and inspire the minds of hundreds of lesser-ranking people who looked up to you?

Did you give the GC leaders and Tavernkeeps enough of a reason to think explicitly of you when all hell broke loose?

I think that is the angle that matters.

[PapesseLudovique]

An NPC explains that they're called 'Warriors of Light', because those who try to remember the faces of the heroes from The Battle of Carteneau always see the warrior's faces shadowed by a bright light behind them. Even those who fought alongside the Warriors. Thus, the people came to call them Warriors of Light.

Every character made is a Warrior of Light, and participated in the past events (as far as the story goes). As indicated with Cid's flashback scene aboard the airship.
Players who participated in said events simply get a special tattoo, and alternate intro.

But all players' characters are the heroes from Carteneau, sent five years into the future. No one recognizes us, because of the magical "Warriors of Light" effect. Which is done simply as a plot device to make each character equal. That no player is more special or legitimate, than another.

[Enkidoh]

Actually that's not totally correct - the developers confirmed a while ago that only 1.0 players who attained a certain point in 1.0's storyline (ala, the destruction of the Lunar Transmitter), were actually the original Warriors of Light (symbolized by Derplander and his party in the 'End of an Era/New Beginning' trailer), who had been at Carteneau and who were sent forward five years by Louisoix.

Only these players got the special 'Legacy' opening where they materialize outside their starting nation and walk in through the gate instead of arriving on a chocobo carriage with a stupid merchant, and are frequently mentioned by NPCs as 'being familiar', and who are eventually remembered as the 'original' WoL by the end of the game.

Everyone else who had played 1.0 had no explanation as to how they survived - it was just handwaved away that somehow they did. All their the story dialogue is the same as that a newly arrived adventurer to Eorzea gets, there is no difference at all, regardless of how far they got in 1.0's storyline - npcs who should remember them never do.

Having said that though, by the end both 'non-original Warriors' 1.0 characters and new characters are regarded as new Warriors of Light anyway, having attained the same level of greatness that the originals did, making the arguement irrelevant anyway.