Quote Originally Posted by vientown View Post
the grand company leaders will always stand on a hillside of any major battle, it makes no sense to lose the main leader of a grand company. that's absolutely ridiculous, if they died there'd be an enormous loss of morale and the entire grand company would fall apart, they're just too valuable.
This. Remember, Eorzea, while not completely medieval times, shares many parts of it due to its fantasy-esque setting. In the Middle ages and even into the 1800's (ex: USA's war with Britain for independence) It was a common thing for commanders to be a while away from the battlefield, and even if they were there they were often allowed to live (and leave) to return another day.

This mimics how the battle went, with the three leaders watching over the fight and relaying the orders to troops. The commander's role is to essentially "play the game of chess," where the soldiers are the pawns and the battlefield is the game board. The commander relays the orders to the pawns, allowing them to take out the opponent's pawns. If they notice a bad move or a potential trap, they have their pawns move accordingly, etc.