The Warrior of Light: Plot Device, Mary Sue or A legitamate charatcer

[Morningstar1337]

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted on this board.

Anyway I wanted to discuss the role of the Warrior of Light in the grand scheme of things and if you think they are a well rounded character or a plot device (and why you think that)

[Yesui]

WoL is a gun. The good guys point you at the bad guys and the bad guys die. Then when the good guys get caught off guard they forget to use their gun and you stand there with your mouth hanging open.

[Anonymoose]

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted on this board.

Welcome back!

I wanted to discuss the role of the Warrior of Light in the grand scheme of things and if you think they are a well rounded character or a plot device (and why you think that)

On the WOL as a general concept? In my opinion, as games have become the vessels of complex settings and narratives, there's just not the same place in the world for the "faceless hero" as there used to be. Final Fantasy doesn't even pretend to let you name your characters or give them personalities anymore; those days are long gone. Except... that's what an MMO is unless they relegate you to a sidekick in your own adventure (which some actually do).

I think the Warrior of Light is just Square Enix seizing the opportunity to return to the ways of old, where the hero was just... the hero. You decide their names and roles, you imagine their personalities, you project whatever thoughts you want onto their stoic nods and weapons draws. It's at the same time a blank template begging for meaning and the main character of the story.

How the WOL and their powers as a narrative mechanic end up being utilized in the grand grand scheme of things, I'll have to reserve comment on until the end, but for now, it's nice to have an opportunity to experience Vintage Final Fantasy - chosen by the crystal to wander the land and kick the arse of everything they've been putting bandaids over for the last several millenia until inevitably we slay some gods and take the reins of history back for man.

Whether it's a love letter to the past or a generic oversimplification of a hero, these are debates for wise men with skinny arms.

[TinyRedLeaf]

I wanted to discuss the role of the Warrior of Light in the grand scheme of things and if you think they are a well rounded character or a plot device.

The TL;DR version of Anonymoose's reply is that it's entirely up to you, the player, to decide if the WoL is just a tool or a person in his or her own right.

It's difficult to describe the WoL as a "well-rounded character" when the game doesn't give the character that many opportunities to make moral choices. Simply put, FFXIV isn't that kind of game.

But that doesn't prevent you from rationalising the choices the WoL was forced to make, and to adapt them to your role-playing ideas. I know I have, and I haven't had the same angst over the controversial ending of patch 2.55 as many other players apparently had.

I think it would be more useful, to consider how the WoL relates to the overarching themes of the story. The story, to me, is about ideology and belief, and how things can easily go awry when they are taken to extremes. Within this context, everyone is trying to find an "answer", a way out of the "cycle none can break".

The answer, unfortunately, is elusive. More importantly, no one can claim with any certainty that his or her "answer" is definitely right. In the end, it boils down to faith.

I like to think of the WoL as an empty slate upon which this contest of ideas is played out. In the absence of certainty, he or she acts purely out of faith in the people who guide and direct him. Faith includes doubt or, rather, the ability to forge ahead in spite of doubt. How you choose to role-play that doubt would go a long way towards making your WoL more "real" to you.

I hope that made sense.

[Belhi]

I think they walk a fine line in allowing the character to be yours while having it fit the narrative they built. Certianly compared to other MMOs FF14 allows you very little movement in your characters nature. Your a hero. They allow some cosmetic properties open for personal 'head canon' but in the end they sit as the central character in a set narrative.

As for the WoL's role in the story? I think they have done pretty well. The WoL isn't a Mary Sue just by virtue of how often things don't work out. Mary Sues don't have what happened to the WoL had happen to them at the end of 2.55. The WoL is certainly very powerful and is effectively the champion of one side of a frankly divine conflict but its handled well cause in many ways the WoL is still pretty down to earth.

For now I'd call the WoL a legitimate character. We certainly aren't sideline characters.

[Odds_Ends]

I actually like it.
It feels more like you mean something in the story compared to other MMOs where you are sometimes just an nameless sidekick to central lore characters.

[Cilia]

In the strictest sense of the word, yes, we are the protagonist hero of the story and a character.

If you want my personal opinion, our claim to both of those titles is shaky at best.

For most of the story, we're just an unbreakable weapon the more influential people in the region point at whatever's threatening them this week. Amalj'aa going to summon Ifrit? Throw the Warrior of Light at them! Kobolds upset because the Limsans broke a land treaty and threatening to summon Titan? Throw the Warrior of Light at them! Ixal summoned Garuda? Throw the Warrior of Light at her! Garleans stepping up their activities? Political strife in the region? Millennium-long war against a sadistic dragon dating back almost to a country's founding?! Yep, just toss the Warrior of Light in that direction and it'll be resolved!

Nobody asks how we feel or what we want. They just assume we're complicit in their actions and we do kind of agree to go along with it (*stoic nod*). Still, aside from a few lines at the beginning and end of 2.0, we have almost no opportunities to define our character. Hell, at one point Alphinaud jokes that if someone disagrees with his option he'll just have "his trusty Warrior of Light box their ears." (I know it's a joke, but most jokes have some measure of truth in them.)

We are a silent protagonist and flat character. I know it's a throwback to early titles (technically, I and III are the only Final Fantasy titles with silent, nameless protagonists) and a limitation of the MMO genre. Still, while my character does a lot of badass things, she is still just a tool to be used by the important people. Some people will point out that in MMOs the player character tends to be an accessory to the big lore characters. This is, for most intents and purposes, true even here: while we are Hydaelyn's chosen, we still have no real will of our own and just take orders from big lore characters or follow them around. Even at the end of 3.0, when all our friends and allies are occupied keeping the Garleans off our back, we still have Midgardsormr to give us orders. We have common goals, and the beginning of 2.0 does allow you to decide what your reason for coming to Eorzea is, but outside of that we're blank slates with no character - just a weapon to point at threats.

... unless you do the DRK 30-50 line, where for 20 glorious levels your character is explored. But that's another topic.

Despite being tremendously powerful and successful, I still wouldn't call the Warrior of Light a Mary Sue / Marty Stu. To qualify for that they have to have actual character... and, despite our best efforts, don't succeed at everything they attempt the same way that character archetype does. (We can pick up most any fighting style in a matter of moons, where it probably takes years of study and training for others, but that's just because the Blessing of Light is hax.)

[Khalithar]

... unless you do the DRK 30-50 line, where for 20 glorious levels your character is explored. But that's another topic.

Glorious indeed. Definitely sums up my head canon about my how my character feels a lot of the time.

I mostly feel as though our character is the plot device to make things happen. I don't necessary feel like the sidekick to the major lore characters, rather when they all turn and look at me to fix things when some major new threat is brought up, I feel more like they're staring at me like a dog with a leash in it's mouth. Helpless without me to do things for them.

[Morningstar1337]

(We can pick up most any fighting style in a matter of moons, where it probably takes years of study and training for others, but that's just because the Blessing of Light is hax.)

I'd like to point out that Job leveling is just as Easy in Heavensward (if not easier) than it was in ARR, then again I doubt thatpeoplw owuld tkae the time to level alts during MSQ so..

[Fenral]

I guess as we trudge through the lore desert between major patches this discussion is bound to pop up more than once.

From my own experience, there are one or three places (yes, including that one that shall eat away at my soul until the end of time) where I feel our presence does more harm then good.

We're meant to be the hero, that shining beacon of hope, inspiring example for us all, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. In some places, though, I feel like an enabler. Like my presence is allowing those around me to take the easy way out, because I'm the invincible hero capable of righting all wrongs. The people around me don't need to take control of their lives or evaluate their own potential, because ultimately I'll be taking care of things either way. It comes across as being better for everyone for them to resign themselves to just leaving it to me.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like a lot of the characters we meet end up losing out on the depth they could have had in a proper stand-alone work because the MMO story needs to make our presence work and continue appealing to players as the power fantasy that, for all its recent pretensions, it still very much is.