Warriors of Light question. Explanation needed.

[Enkidoh]

The term itself is somewhat ambiguous, but originally, it referred to the adventurers who fought at the Battle of Carteneau. Gameplay wise these were a certain group of version 1.0 players, specifically, those who passed a certain point in 1.0's storyline, namely, destroying the Lunar Transmitter. During the battle this small group of adventurers was displaced in time into the Void by Louisoix in a last ditch, 'fling a light into the future' effort to save Eorzea (this was what was shown in the 'End of an Era/A New Beginning' trailer).

When these adventurers returned, five years had passed (the start of ARR), and for reasons not entirelly explained, immediately after the battle, a sort of selective amnesia had descended across the survivors who remained behind, who were able to remember that there had been adventurers who helped defend Eorzea, but for some reason they could not remember their names specifically, nor remember their faces - it was if their memories of these adventurers were obscured by a bright light. Hence they were termed 'the Warriors of Light'.

Ultimately, both the original Warriors of Light, those other adventurers from before the Calamity who survived, and new adventurers who have just begun to take 'the Path', all become the Warriors of Light by the end of the 2.0 storyline. Minfilia even states this, that it's not what you might have done in the past that's important, but what you have done in the present which is what ultimately counts, and that their achievements throughout the main scenario have begun to remind others of the original Warriors of Light. By the end, this is attained because the player was given the Echo by the Mothercrystal, the player is therefore her 'champion' in a way (having succeeded in gathering the Crystals of Light), and because of this, all player characters ultimately become a Warrior of Light.

And yes, from the perspective of a version 1.0 player who satisfied the requirements, the world does end up remembering their identity in the ending, but from the perspective of a new player character, the 'original' Warriors of Light never returned as far as they're aware. Essentially they just become an ideal for adventurers to aspire to be like, which ultimately the player achieves themselves. A certain line from Answers actually sums this up nicely: "Look to those who walked before, to lead those who walk after."