The WOL and Mass Murder

[PastelGothGuy01]

that definitely wouldn't be my wols response considering he sees all ascians as unrepentent monsters (not the ancients, the ascians). at best hed just abandon them and travel to perfect his omnicraft skills.

I'm just saying "If" it happened.

[Kranel_San]

As a WoL I have killed many bad guys and now I feel bad about killing them....

Joking aside, Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't think much about it, but it's not that difficult. What kind of enemies and mass murders we have committed?
That against wild beasts and tribes who were harassing, killing, and sacrificing people?
That against Garleans soldiers who were marching towards your land for occupation and colonization behaviors?
That against vengeful dragons who want to kill everyone?
That against a mindless army of light-aspected monsters?
Sure it's a mass murder, but the WoL did it for the greater good of people and didn't deny assistance to anyone who needed it at any time (Be it from a man or beast)

I think this is the reason why DRK questlines weren't a big deal to me. I'm already at peace with the idea from the beginning.

[sidurgu-12]

As a WoL I have killed many bad guys and now I feel bad about killing them....

Joking aside, Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't think much about it, but it's not that difficult. What kind of enemies and mass murders we have committed?
That against wild beasts and tribes who were harassing, killing, and sacrificing people?
That against Garleans soldiers who were marching towards your land for occupation and colonization behaviors?
That against vengeful dragons who want to kill everyone?
That against a mindless army of light-aspected monsters?
Sure it's a mass murder, but the WoL did it for the greater good of people and didn't deny assistance to anyone who needed it at any time (Be it from a man or beast)

I think this is the reason why DRK questlines weren't a big deal to me. I'm already at peace with the idea from the beginning.

the only guilt i had was for the unwilling tempered but until 5.x we quite literally had no other option than to kill them since they now existed only to create more tempered and primals.

[Cleretic]

For me the only time we killed someone and I felt bad about doing it was in the 30-50 Dark Knight quests. And that's largely because it's a weird combination of 'exactly and unambiguously our character's fault' and yet also something we didn't really have a say in. Which is a weird mishmash of feelings where I don't really feel guilty, because I had no say in what happened, but I feel betrayed that the writing shoved such a weirdly dark turn onto the character.

I think the thing that balances it out all the other times is that, with very rare exception (mostly in the ARR 'we don't know what our tone is yet' phase), there's a fundamental empathy behind what we're doing, even to the people we kill. We know the people who become sin eaters are gone, and mourn who they were even if we kill what's essentially a monstrous empty shell. We know that the dragons we fight are mostly brainwashed and have no choice but are also fighting for their people, and we remember that we aren't exactly taking the most moral side in the fight. We know that the Ascians were (ostensibly) good people who've done horrible things to get back a society they think is greater than what we've lost, and we remember that Amaurot was a thing even as we fight to preserve ourselves over it. Even when we kill, it is not in cold blood.

...also, we don't often actually perform murder, because that implies we were the aggressors. Most of the time it would be considered 'wartime casualties' at best or 'involuntary manslaughter' at worst.

[Magikazam]

As a WoL I have killed many bad guys and now I feel bad about killing them....

Joking aside, Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't think much about it, but it's not that difficult. What kind of enemies and mass murders we have committed?
That against wild beasts and tribes who were harassing, killing, and sacrificing people?
That against Garleans soldiers who were marching towards your land for occupation and colonization behaviors?
That against vengeful dragons who want to kill everyone?
That against a mindless army of light-aspected monsters?
Sure it's a mass murder, but the WoL did it for the greater good of people and didn't deny assistance to anyone who needed it at any time (Be it from a man or beast)

I think this is the reason why DRK questlines weren't a big deal to me. I'm already at peace with the idea from the beginning.

Yea I'm sure 90% of the Garleans soldiers are chaotic evil best who just want Eorza's downfall. Or are we gonna forgot the fact Conscription is a thing in Garlemald?

Don't get me wrong IDC since it is a videogame, but it is still stupid and immersion-breaking to see mass murder being ignored cause ''Well it okay the man was wearing black and red outfit so he's evil soldier lmao''. In real life, when conscription was a thing during World War, your average soldier didn't care at all about the politics behind the war, it was mostly the fact your option was to run away and be deemed as a traitor, or kill the other dude on the other side who has the same options as you.

I'm not saying we should have a story plot that goes that deep, but it was just kinda ironic when Zeno was first introduced as a chaotic evil monster even before he said a single line, cause he went and attacked Ala Migo soldier, while we are portrayed like a Pure heart hero, while we did the exact same thing as him, but to his side.

[Kranel_San]

Or are we gonna forgot the fact Conscription is a thing in Garlemald?

So what? When they're marching toward you, do you want to welcome them with open arms and hugs? It's either you (The person and the whole of Eorzea) Vs them.
As soon as the chance came (In 4.x patch series) the alliance tried to negotiate with Garlemald to find a middle ground. So it's not that they didn't try as soon as it was possible. It's that there is no other option. You or them.

[RukoBoshi]

QUOTE=Kranel_San;6054458]

Or are we gonna forgot the fact Conscription is a thing in Garlemald?/QUOTE]

So what? When they're marching toward you, do you want to welcome them with open arms and hugs? It's either you (The person and the whole of Eorzea) Vs them.
As soon as the chance came (In 4.x patch series) the alliance tried to negotiate with Garlemald to find a middle ground. So it's not that they didn't try as soon as it was possible. It's that there is no other option. You or them.

Exactly, no matter how much of an understanding we have of their situations, it doesn't change the reality of the situation. They are invaders and often try to kill us, even if they are conscripted, if someone comes at you with the intent to kill you're pretty justify in doing your best to kill them.

QUOTE=Magikazam;6054037]
I'm not saying we should have a story plot that goes that deep, but it was just kinda ironic when Zeno was first introduced as a chaotic evil monster even before he said a single line, cause he went and attacked Ala Migo soldier, while we are portrayed like a Pure heart hero, while we did the exact same thing as him, but to his side.[/QUOTE]

It depends on the perspective. Unlike Zenos, we can be portrayed as a pure heart hero because we are on the opposing side.
During the Garlemald section of Endwalker, the Garleans we meet who knows who we are, despise us. They see us with fear.
Because they see us like the people in Ala Mhigo or Doma sees Zenos.

[Cleretic]

Also if Magikazam is pulling in Zenos' first scene to claim that we're not better than him, it should really be pointed out that Zenos' first scene wasn't him murdering an Ala Mhigan soldier, it was him murdering one of his own soldiers for the only reason of 'cowardice'.

If you think the WoL is as bad as that, I question your ability to read whatever evidence you think you have.

[Jaquan]

Yeah right... No better than Zenos. The guy whose entire creed was that the killing is goal in itself. The guy who purposefully made the live in areas under his rule a living hell in hopes that the locals will raise against him so he can get his rush of adrenaline from his precious hunt. Definitely a spitting image of WoL /s

[sidurgu-12]

Yeah right... No better than Zenos. The guy whose entire creed was that the killing is goal in itself. The guy who purposefully made the live in areas under his rule a living hell in hopes that the locals will raise against him so he can get his rush of adrenaline from his precious hunt. Definitely a spitting image of WoL /s

it only works if you hyperfocus on the combat side while ignoring every noncombat situation while staring through a bottle of mud. honestly the whole mirror thing was one of the few massive negatives i had for endwalker. thank God we had option 3.