Who's "the ruiner" in the lochs?

[Odstarva]

There are two statues outside Ala Mhigo, both half destroyed:

One is The Destroyer, which one can assume without much difficulty that it would be Rhalgr.

The other is The Ruiner.





Would this be the last king the Ala Mhigans had, Theodoric, the king that had gone mad? Would it be the first Ala Mhigan king, Anshelm Cotter?

Thoughts, speculation, what do you guys think?

[Anonymoose]

This confused me at first, too ... seeing Ruiner instead of King of Ruin or something of the like.

But your gut is right on - it's Theodoric.

[Lukha]

>_> I wonder if the statue itself isn't a bit of a reference to Ozymandias...

[Mieck]

This confused me at first, too ... seeing Ruiner instead of King of Ruin or something of the like.

But your gut is right on - it's Theodoric.

I wonder who destroyed it?
Stick with me, not as mental as it sounds. I'm sure the Garleans destroyed the statue of Rhalgar (as the questline in the Peaks confirms when you go hunting down the other statues), but wouldn't they have left an enormous, gurning statue of the reason why Ala Mhigo fell as yet another reminder of who was now in charge?

[YianKutku]

I wonder who destroyed it?
Stick with me, not as mental as it sounds. I'm sure the Garleans destroyed the statue of Rhalgar (as the questline in the Peaks confirms when you go hunting down the other statues), but wouldn't they have left an enormous, gurning statue of the reason why Ala Mhigo fell as yet another reminder of who was now in charge?

I doubt the Garleans would deliberately let the statue stand. It's too much of a risk of people with selective memories going "well, the King of Ruin may have been terrible, but not as terrible as these Garleans".

The Garleans want to be seen as liberators, and having a huge statue of the ruler they liberated the city from just for spite seems a little too far for them.

Having said that, I'm not sure the Garleans would go out of their way to demolish the statue, though. Rhalgr being torn down is understandable, given the Empire's stance on gods and Primals. I wouldn't be surprised if they just let the statue of Theodric succumb to the elements, though.

[Theodric]

I did not expect him to have anime hair.

In hindsight, I probably should have expected that given that it's a Final Fantasy game and all.

As for how it was destroyed? We can only speculate. Given how well kept the entrance to Ala Mhigo itself is, though, I think it's safe to rule out the elements as the cause. The sightseeing log refers to a watchtower nearby as having been abandoned since the Garleans took over the region but that is in pretty good shape despite having been neglected.

[RobinMalvin]

I wonder who destroyed it?
Stick with me, not as mental as it sounds. I'm sure the Garleans destroyed the statue of Rhalgar (as the questline in the Peaks confirms when you go hunting down the other statues), but wouldn't they have left an enormous, gurning statue of the reason why Ala Mhigo fell as yet another reminder of who was now in charge?

It's possible the statue was destroyed by the rebel forces during their attempt to overthrow Theodoric. For Garlean to destroy it is also possible and given the king's reputation, possibly the only thing no Ala Mhigan hate from Garlean.

The thing that bothers me is how the Garleans could leave the outskirt of the city such a big mess with broken structures and abandoned canons, possibly even leaving the ashes covering the loch. If it's Zenos, I can see why he wouldn't bother, but Ala Mhigo was previously ruled by Gaius, who despite being Garlean, was supposedly just and cared to people under his command.

[Theodric]

It's likely that things were tolerable under Gaius, yes - but Zenos undid much of what Gaius accomplished and actively encouraged those under him to be cruel and stoke the hatred aimed at Garlemald. He also wasn't loyal to Garlemald's cause - actively sabotaging what his father and other reasonable Garleans had worked towards.

[Enkidoh]

I wonder who destroyed it?
Stick with me, not as mental as it sounds. I'm sure the Garleans destroyed the statue of Rhalgar (as the questline in the Peaks confirms when you go hunting down the other statues), but wouldn't they have left an enormous, gurning statue of the reason why Ala Mhigo fell as yet another reminder of who was now in charge?

Actually, I think the Garleans are actually in the clear here - the Rhalgr statue was most likely destroyed by Theodoric's troops, as he actually outlawed the worship of Rhalgr after the purge of the Order of the Fists of Rhalgr, declaring only the worship of Nymiea the Spinner as the 'one true god' that Ala Mhigians must revere (and putting to death those who refused to comply). Clearly, the destruction of Theodoric's own statue was caused by Ala Mhigans later wrecking their revenge against symbols of the despotic tyrant in turn when he was overthrown.... before the XIVth came marching in and occupied the place.

So I have to say that the Garleans are probably not the ones to blame for once (it also explains why the statue is called simply 'The Ruiner' and not 'The King of Ruin', it sounds slightly more derogatory as to modern Ala Mhigians he's basically become a damnatio memoriae (borrowing some Garlean Latin here) who refuse to even acknowledge he was king due to his atrocities.) - the damage was clearly caused by Ala Mhigans.