Is anyone else dying to get to Garlemald?

[Theodric]

I'd say it's as simple as Garlemald not being the 'bad guys'. There's a difference between villains and antagonists as far as I'm concerned. The former are irredeemable and the latter are simply individuals who are opposed to the protagonists due to differences in opinions. In a setting such as this where the world is incredibly messed up already it is completely understandable as to why some individuals and factions take the route of well intentioned extremism. The writers themselves are not painting Garlemald as irredeemable - just like they did not choose to paint Ishgard or the Dravanians as irredeemable.

It's largely biased players doing that due to a bizarre obsession with trying to erect a pedestal to stand atop and claim moral superiority. Aside from it being a fictional setting morality is by no means a simple matter to discuss. Just like law and politics it's all very nuanced. Murder and theft may be against the law - and rightly so - but individual cases may very well be handled differently due to the circumstances involved. Someone stealing a TV for the sake of greed is going to be handled differently to someone who steals food to feed their starving family. Someone who murders another person in cold blood is going to be treated differently to someone who kills in self defence or out of vengeance for years of abuse.

Now, applying that mentality on a large scale...we have Garlemald. They seek to save the world as a whole and eliminate the threat of Primals/Eikons. A noble enough goal and one the protagonists share. The only difference is the methods involved - with Garlemald willing to go to extremes to achieve their objective.

...and the only reason they do go to such extremes is because they do not have the luxury of being able to fall back on the Warrior of Light to solve their problems like the Eorzeans and Domans do. If Garlemald is going to be reformed then the Eorzeans themselves need to acknowledge the nuances involved and the reasons behind their actions. Garleans only came to take such an aggressive policy in the first place due to years and years of abuse and being pushed around so much that they were forced from fertile territory and forced to carve out a living for themselves in a wasteland. It kept their numbers low, it forced them to become hardened and driven by efficiency and pragmatism. They reclaimed their territory upon gaining access to Magitek. Then they expanded further.

There is a cycle of hatred that needs to be broken by both sides much like with the war between the Dravanians and the Ishgardians. Continuing to push for war with Garlemald and claiming it to be 'just' simply proves their fears correct - that 'savages' will seek to take all that they hold dear.

Then, of course, there's the simple matter that it probably isn't a good idea to try and push such a powerful organisation into a corner in the first place. Desperation brings out the worst in people, after all as we have seen many times before.

I agree with Kallera in regards to wanting to seek peace. At the very least, I want to see at least one of the protagonists make a point out of trying to secure peace between Garlemald and Eorzea. Preferably more, because it's getting tiresome seeing them complain about losing their allies to Garlemald's forces when they themselves are doing nothing to try and reach out. Zenos could not be reasoned with, obviously - but others such as Baut and Regula could. There's no reason for them to assume that all Garleans are unreasonable. They already know from Ishgard that things are not nearly so simple or obvious as they appear.

...but that isn't brought up. It's treated like a self contained story. Nobody says 'we put an end to a thousand year war, we achieved the impossible...now let us band together and find a way to resolve this new conflict'.

...and they really should because realistically taking on Garlemald should not be so simple as it has been presented thus far. As a conflict it has also gone on for much less time than the bitter war between the Ishgardians and the Dravanians and as such the possibility of peace should not be seen as a lofty, out of reach goal. Not. After. Ishgard.