The Greystone Bastard (naming lore query)

[Tenkuu]

IDK I think the Warrior of Light IS seen as a tool. This actually comes to a head in the Dark Knight quest chains. Part of the reason so many people love Haurchefant is he is genuinely attached to you and sees you as a person. The Scions do not dislike you, you are family, but you are also a means to an end for them. Alphinaud calls you his "champion" and is relieved when you come out of ordeals like the Vigil unscathed because it means he won't have to find a new one. Heavensward has him actually physically traveling alongside you and him learning to see you as a friend and not a tool is actually part of his character arc.

I believe that taking Alphinaud purely at his word is a mistake, for three important reasons. First, Alphinaud in ARR isn't really the type to talk about his feelings; he grandstands, puts on a brave face and is still in the middle of finding his purpose, but unlike Minfilia, he's pretty much all business about it. He didn't even like Eorzea when he first arrived here. This leads me to the second reason: Alphinaud has only just begun to find his purpose by the end of 2.55, and is just getting comfortable with his skills when he gets the rug pulled out from under him by Ilberd. Third: him calling you his champion is more in reference to you generally being the Scions' champion, and it's true anyway, so it's not like it's an insult. He's a kid, after all. In some ways, he's still going to act like one.

As regards the Scions though, they are *all* means to an end for everyone else, and have been for several years. They've also used others for their own purposes. It's a business relationship between their organization and others. However, amongst each other, none of you are means to an end: being able to get stuff done doesn't at all make you so.

To be entirely fair if we say no to fighting a primal, you're dooming quite a number of people. So it's not really a choice in that aspect since there's not really many people at all who can take down a primal like the WoL can.

Although I do think the WoL is being used because it's convenient. Yes I still think the Scions are our buddies (they definitely started seeing us as someone they could use for their organization but it grew past that) but they know if there's ever something they need, they can ask the WoL and the WoL will say yes (like the tame example of Yda sending you to get flowers--sure, she was kinda depressed etc. etc. but even Rowena pointed it out--WoL never says no). Which is why Hauchefant feels a bit different because he never really asked you to go risk your life to take down a primal for the good of the realm (at least as far as I recall)--I don't really recall him asking you to do anything rather he's there to back you up. I think perhaps the Scions are just so used to the WoL basically doing whatever for them so they come to rely on them which creates a feeling of being used.

The Scions helped you and gave you a lot of information about various things before they owed you anything, and that's really important to remember. So no, I don't think it grew from being used; rather, you became more useful as time went by and your strength grew. If you want to say that we had potential and they saw it though, that is definitely true. Also, we were not the first person to kill a Primal, and the Company of Heroes pretty much killed the toughest one of them long before us: Titan.