Quote Originally Posted by Fenral View Post
Oh, it's not that I'm overlooking those moments, it's just that, in the grand scheme of things, so long as the WoL is portrayed as the king piece that must be kept alive at any cost, including the lives of our allies, our symbolic value becomes increasingly dangerous. So long as we keep on winning, it's fine (and the Parting Glass quest no longer counts as a defeat), but if our fallibility were ever proven on a grand scale, after everything we've succeeded through, it would be the end. Not because we'd lose our only shot at victory, but because the belief that our only hope of victory had been lost would have disastrous implications for a world where beliefs can be made manifest.

The light of hope isn't some frail thing that must be kept alive through sacrifice. It's something that never goes out, because there's no such thing as a truly hopeless situation. Ever. Period.
That's the thing. We aren't the king piece. Hydaelyn is. We are the queen. The strongest and most powerful piece on our side of the board. The thing is its late in the game and the enemy is in a much stronger position than we are. We have to defend our king but we cant win unless we are successful in our offense as well and the WoL is key to that offensive plan, at least in part due to the lack of other pieces Hydaelyn has left to field. Likewise the queen cant be wasted playing defence. Doing so risks leaving the board in control of the enemy.

I'd also point out the light of hope goes out if you lose. If everyone was dead there wouldn't be much hope. Sure us dying might not kill the light of hope per say but the way the story has painted it we are down to Hydaelyn's last play. She doesn't have the strength left to try again. The WoL is a key piece for her forces.