How many Warrior of Light exist in story?

[Alise]

I notice that as we progress, the story telling always refer us players as "he" or "she" or "the one and only". So assume there is only one WoL ? However in actual game play, we are many. We do party, hunt, chat, and sell. And sometimes during the story when we fight some boss, we also split into many also, despite in the story there were only one of us and a NPC.

Then again, when Warrior of Darkness showed us, they come in team, so it look like there were more than one WoL on their world. Then why we only fight them alone with the NPC and not seek other WoL in this world for help? Do other WoL exist at all in the lore?

[Anonymoose]

The term Warrior of Light has a few meanings throughout the story, coincidentally being the name the Mothercrystal calls those chosen who take up her cause and receive Crystals of Light, the historical records of such saviors from past eras, and those who fought alongside Louisoix at Carteneau that none can recall.

Generally speaking, when not referring to a fellow crystal bearer or those that Louisoix cast into the rift, the player character is the only one referred to as Warrior of Light, and the game just takes it for granted that this warrior has adventurer allies - especially within the ranks of the Free Companies.

The use of the term in the plural has plummeted aside from these historical references and allusions to legend.

[Eloah]

To tack on to what moose said, the total amount of "Warriors of Light" or Hydaelyn's choosen that we know of is 4. Us, Ysayle, Minfilia, and Krile. Basically, anyone with the Echo, whether or not they have risen up to the "prestige" of these 4 is unknown. I have my suspicions about Urianger, since he seems too close sometimes to issues related to echo users and primals in regards to tempering. There is also a debate on Thordan possibly being given the echo from Zodiark.

[Vexander]

To tack on to what moose said, the total amount of "Warriors of Light" or Hydaelyn's choosen that we know of is 4. Us, Ysayle, Minfilia, and Krile. Basically, anyone with the Echo, whether or not they have risen up to the "prestige" of these 4 is unknown. I have my suspicions about Urianger, since he seems too close sometimes to issues related to echo users and primals in regards to tempering. There is also a debate on Thordan possibly being given the echo from Zodiark.

I do not believe possessing the Echo makes one a Warrior of Light, because it seems to be an unspoken thing that the Warrior of Light's Adventuring allies also possess the Echo and thus are immune to tempering.

The primary qualifier to be a Warrior of Light is possessing not just the Echo, but ALSO the Blessing of Light. The two appear to be two completely different powers, as when Midgardsormr took away the Blessing of Light in 2.55, the Echo was a power our characters still retained. If anything, to have the Blessing of Light would require one or more Crystals of Light as well. The only other person with the Echo who also had a Crystal of Light that we know of is Ysayle, but that wasn't any indication that she had the Blessing of Light.

My guess is the Blessing of Light comes directly to the Warrior of Light from Hydaelyn through Crystals of Light.

I'd like to ad that other wol are shown interacting with hydaelyn in more than one cut scene including the first hear feel think one... I agree with moose on his interpretation of its various uses...

I think those individuals were either bearers of the Echo, or just plain everyday folk, considering the ending of 2.0 where we strike down Lahabrea includes a number of characters we know do NOT possess either the Echo -or- the Blessing of Light.

[Okamimaru]

I'd like to ad that other wol are shown interacting with hydaelyn in more than one cut scene including the first hear feel think one... I agree with moose on his interpretation of its various uses...

[Shadotterdan]

I think that we can assume out "adventurer companions" that we take with us for raids and the like possess the echo, but they are not fellow warriors of light, not in the same sense as your character. Though... some content seems to act as though you went through yourself, maybe assuming that story wise the npcs with you at that time subbed in for the other party members (like Alisae in BCoB).

[Belhi]

The Player is the official 'Warrior of Light'. To be fair that is a label given by the public so really the fact only the Player is recognised as the Warrior of Light is because no one else has been yet. There can be more than one Warrior of Light at a time.

Storywise, the Player seems to be specifically Hydaelyn's chosen champion. Both Midgardsormr and the Ascians seem to suggest as much. She has many agents but the Player is a special case and Hydaelyn invested a lot of energy to protecting the Player while they grew in strength.

[Eloah]

I do not believe possessing the Echo makes one a Warrior of Light, because it seems to be an unspoken thing that the Warrior of Light's Adventuring allies also possess the Echo and thus are immune to tempering.
The primary qualifier to be a Warrior of Light is possessing not just the Echo, but ALSO the Blessing of Light. The two appear to be two completely different powers, as when Midgardsormr took away the Blessing of Light in 2.55, the Echo was a power our characters still retained. If anything, to have the Blessing of Light would require one or more Crystals of Light as well. The only other person with the Echo who also had a Crystal of Light that we know of is Ysayle, but that wasn't any indication that she had the Blessing of Light.

GAH!!!! What I originally wrote got deleted, I hope this is similar to my original, T.T

You are misinterpreting the context with the meaning. Similar to what Moose said, the phrase Warrior of Light has different connotations based on who and when you ask. In the present time the current usage is because the people are referencing the "Warriors" of Carteneau, whom they can only remember with a flash "of Light". But anyone with the Echo is one of Hydaelyn's Warriors of Light, they are just not referred to as such since that phase means something different to them. This is confirmed canonically by the 4 individuals I mentioned, The Warriors of Darkness, Y'shtola, and Matoya. But as I mentioned before not everyone with the echo will rise to prominence like the 4 we know of, some might not even know what it is as it manifest differently in each individual. But as someone mentioned in a later post, we do seem to be Hydaelyn's "pet project". Basically its like this, if you have someone doing something for you and they are doing a good job, you're gonna make sure they have the resources and tools to continue doing that job. Basically we are helping Hydaelyn, so she is helping us help her i.e. she gave us the blessing of light.

The Player is the official 'Warrior of Light'. To be fair that is a label given by the public so really the fact only the Player is recognized as the Warrior of Light is because no one else has been yet. There can be more than one Warrior of Light at a time. Storywise, the Player seems to be specifically Hydaelyn's chosen champion. Both Midgardsormr and the Ascians seem to suggest as much. She has many agents but the Player is a special case and Hydaelyn invested a lot of energy to protecting the Player while they grew in strength.

I'd say that's about right

[RokkuEkkusu]

I believe that in the ARR intro cutscene where the character meets Hydaelyn, Hydaelyn calls that person one of the "chosen many".

I am not sure if that implies that there can be more than one Warrior of Light. However, since the companions that fight alongside the character don't fall under primal influence and tempering, Hydaelyn might have a point.

[MiniPrinny]

-snip-

This. When you get your first crystal (water), you get to commune with Hydaelyn again, and in that cutscene there are hundreds, if not thousands of Warriors of Light. Every streak of light you see around Hydaelyn in that moment is a Warrior of Light.

What makes the PC different in the MSQ is that they are a Warrior of Light who has accomplished much more than defeating a weak ascian, they have bested trial and primal, one after another. They have overcome cataclysmic enemies.

The Warrior of Light that the MSQ follows is sort of the Elidibus of Hydaelyn's chosen many, the strongest and wisest. But they can't do everything, that's where the others come in, the lesser Warriors of Light do stuff that the PC can't, like take out ascians as needed or protect the people where the politicians fail.

Edit: I should note that me calling the numerous chosen lesser Warriors of Light is conjecture based on the events of 3.4. We saw that just a sole crystal of light was enough to overcome incredible odds and become god-like in power. So if we were to assume that everyone we saw at that moment were those with the Echo who had manifested a crystal of light. Then we as the Warrior of Light are likely far from alone, there just aren't many, if any, who have manifested all six crystals.