Legacy Characters Lore, Battle of Carteneau, Warriors of Light

[Innes]

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS
Pertaining to the adventurer characters from 1.0 Sixth Astral Era to 2.1 Seventh Astral Era,
do the adventurer characters themselves remember they fought in the Battle of Carteneau?
Do the adventurer characters themselves remember they are the Warrios of Light?
We receive lore from the NPCs, telling us they remember the calamity, but remember only silhouettes in light when trying to remember the adventurers from the Battle of Carteneau.
Did we forget also, and have hazy recollections?
The NPCs talk of these events, yet the adventurers never reveal to anyone that we are the Warriors of Light, or fought at the Battle of Carteneau? Why?
Halp plz.

PS since this update, just now saw the Legacy intro. Always viewed carriage ride in Unending Journey journal.

eye twitch

[Anonymoose]

Do the adventurer characters themselves remember they fought in the Battle of Carteneau?
Do the adventurer characters themselves remember they are the Warrios of Light?

I'd say they'd have to remember. Twice in the storyline, NPCs reveal to Legacy Warriors of Light that they actually remember who they are (Minfilia and Cid). That would have been a little awkward if we didn't remember, right?

Minfilia: Take comfort, for at least I remember you!
You: Who the hells are you?
Minfilia: Who am I!?
Thancred: Who is that?
Minfilia: You don't remember, remember?
Thancred: I do not.
Minfilia: You don't remember or you don't remember that you don't remember?
Yda: I don't think I remember them, either.
Papalymo: As if you would! You don't remember the Dunstan incident, and they named a Spire after him.
Yda: Oh, so this is Dunstan! It's so nice to meet you, Dunstan, I am Yd-
Minfilia: This is not Dunstan!
You: You people are weird and I'm not joining your cult! </action sprint "me">

The NPCs talk of these events, yet the adventurers never reveal to anyone that we are the Warriors of Light, or fought at the Battle of Carteneau? Why?

Because the notion cannot be expressed as a series of nods and weapon drawing.
Whyever you want - that's one of the things open to interpretation. Maybe you thought people wouldn't believe you. Maybe you doubted yourself being the only one in the world to believe otherwise. Maybe you don't like to act before you feel informed about your position. Maybe you figured if you just went with the flow, the giant crystal deity (who was probably more important and reliable than people) would have it covered.

[Melinia]

The NPCs talk of these events, yet the adventurers never reveal to anyone that we are the Warriors of Light, or fought at the Battle of Carteneau?

NPC: And then the Warrior of Light...
PC: You mean me.
NPC: No. I mean the Warrior of Light...
PC: I am the Warrior of Light.
NPC: Sure, right. Whatever. What kind of scam are you trying to pull?

[Enkidoh]

NPC: And then the Warrior of Light...
PC: You mean me.
NPC: No. I mean the Warrior of Light...
PC: I am the Warrior of Light.
NPC: Sure, right. Whatever. What kind of scam are you trying to pull?

Ironically I think you might actually be on the right track - it's mentioned repeatedly that because the identities of the Warriors of Light (as in, the original 1.0 adventurers who fought at Carteneau) are never actually determined by the public at large (really, as far as the narrative is concerned they never 'return'), unscrupulous characters have been taking advantage of their legacy by claiming to be a Warrior of Light to exploit gullible people. In particular, there are npcs in Gold Bazaar who say something along the lines of "never trust anyone claiming to be a Warrior of Light! They're thieves and fraudsters!"

The 2.1 Hildibrand storyline especially had a character named Humphrey who claimed to be a Warrior of Light who fought at Carteneau, even rattling off a lot of fast talk about 'magitek everywhere' and how he supposedly tried to save Louisoix. Of course when confronted about this, he actually does admit he's nothing but a fraud (he couldn't even defend himself against Gilgamesh after all ).

This basically shows that amongst the general population, even though the legacy of the Warriors of Light was the future survival of Eorzea and their actions were remembered by Eorzeans, when it comes down to someone claiming to actually be one, they're usually at the very least ignored, if not laughed at in disbelief, even regarded with contempt and spite. Hence it could be considered a 1.0 player character might have realized this and wisely decided to keep quiet, lest it causes unwanted negative attention to them.

It also explains the amount of fetch quests the player has to do and why even a 1.0 character is treated as a newbie at the start of ARR - because of this very thing of frauds claiming to be Warriors of Light for personal gain, trust is a very hard-won thing in the three cities, and hence adventurers have to work to earn that trust. Even towards the end of the game, Minfilia basically paraphrases that even though the player's unwavering devotion to duty and heroism is reminding people of the original Warriors of Light, it's their actions in the present, not the past, that ultimately count.

Accordingly, that's why regardless of whether the player's character was a 1.0 character with Legacy status but just spent their time crafting, a 1.0 character who finished the storyline (and hence was considered a 'Warrior of Light' who fought at the Battle of Carteneau), or a new adventurer drawn to Eorzea who started down 'the path' five years later, ultimately, only after defeating Gaius and the XIVth Legion, and sending Lahabrea back to whatever dark hell he crawled out of, albeit temporarily, all player adventurers are considered Warriors of Light for that.

[Naria]

Its demonstrated in game that when an actual warrior of light claims to be a warrior of light no one believes them, and also that the warriors of light's memories may be a bit messed up.

Originally posted by Una Tayuun in the Waking Sands post Scions of the Seventh Dawn:

Why don't any o' these blokes know who I am?! I swear I was one o' 'em Scions of the Seventh Dawn! Only we didn't have such a fancy name back then, an' the headquarters where in a far more convenient location. At least I think it was. . . Or is me mind playing tricks on me? Why can't I remember more clearly?

She's talking about the Path of the Twelve and its 1.0 headquarters in Ul'dah where she was a minor NPC. She mentions at other times that she and her companions--who her memories are fuzzy of as well but improve when she is reunited with them--were at Carteneau. Eventually she gives up trying to convince the Sions of her identity (which makes me wonder why Minfillia didn't just pull her aside and say "hey, I remember you!") just in time for her and her party to get killed when the empire attacks the Waking Sands.

[JarinArenos]

I'm more curious about the regular opening cutscene and the Warriors of Light pictured therein. Does anyone recognize this landmark?

[saber_alter]

looks like an impact crater from dalamud, partially warped with an abundance of over-aspected aetheryte.

[Naria]

When I 1st saw that in the trailer I figured it would be somewhere in Coerthas, but that's before we knew that its weather had been messed up by the Calamity.

[Nialle]

Maybe Cartenau?

[Anonymoose]

I'm not entirely sure, myself... I think it might be The Burning Wall in Eastern Thanalan as seen from a vantage we don't currently have.

The area the CG Warriors of Light appear in has the same square tiled pathway of the south(?) Shroud, so perhaps the trailer moves from the landing point in the Shroud to the hitherto yet unseen Coerthas Lowlands? The bridge on which we fought Gilgamesh (which looks to be undergoing large-scale repairs due to the Calamity in that battle) leads to the same area - perhaps it's TBA?

It's hard to tell, really, the way the scenery all blends together - and we know the CG videos arent 100% reliable as they tend to be developed before the in-game versions are finalized. For instance, we know lore wise that the Black Mage is the female Elezen from the Version 1.0 intro, yet CGI-wise appears much, much closer to the male Elezen also from said cinematic - which itself was developed before the in-game Limsa Lominsa Adventurers' Guild had been built and thus showed it as containing an aetheryte that would be moved before release.