Haurchefant Memorial at a recent 30th anniversary event

[DamianFatale]

;-;

[Usho]

I miss Hauchey-kun so much. Having multiple copies of his painting in my house AND apartment helps but... ; ; ....sorry I need to cry in the corner. Carry on.

[Nandalowell]

Where can I buy one? ; ;

[Iscah]

Where can I buy one? ; ;

Tomestone exchange at Rowena's shop in Idyllshire.

I assume it's the same one that's now hanging in his 'office' at Camp Dragonhead, which I don't think looks that good. But then all the character portraits creep me out a bit for some reason.

[Ryaz]

Tomestone exchange at Rowena's shop in Idyllshire.

I assume it's the same one that's now hanging in his 'office' at Camp Dragonhead, which I don't think looks that good. But then all the character portraits creep me out a bit for some reason.

You would hate the basement bedroom in my house. I've got portraits of many of the characters lining the walls, including Haurchefant. Minfilia is right above my bed.

Only one I really need is The Admiral, but its never on the MB for a reasonable price.

[Zeonx]

I don't see what was so great about him.

He jumped in front of a beam that the warrior of light probably could of deflected himself and died.
I don't call that being a heroic I call that throwing his life away for absolutely nothing.

[Lukha]

Can we PLEASE stop putting major spoilers in the title of posts in the general forum? This isn't okay guys and it's the second time this month.

[Alleo]

The title is a big huge spoiler for everyone that did not do the MSQ to that point so maybe it would be better to have other titles for future threads?

On the topic itself. Its kinda interesting that Haurchefant is one of the few NPC characters that can still get a "too soon" message from players. There are a lot of deaths in this story and yet its often him. I am honestly also still sad and probably will never truly get over that death, because it was obviously just done to evoke certain feelings from the player base and its also done in a scene where the WoL could have easily avoided the attack..so I can get over a lof death but not this one and seeing him being milked that much by SE makes it even worse since I truly get the feeling that they only did that to sell his death..

So I am quite sad but angry at the same time..not a good combination..x)

I don't see what was so great about him.

He jumped in front of a beam that the warrior of light probably could of deflected himself and died.
I don't call that being a heroic I call that throwing his life away for absolutely nothing.

I love his character because he was a friend to us. He cared about the WoL as a person and not as a savior or weapon. He did not throw away his life for a cause (which a lot of the characters did) but to save us as a person. (And no I also already liked him before HW) But I agree that he threw away his life for nothing. We should have easily seen the attack and Haurchefant had enough time to warn us about it and run towards us..while we stood there and did nothing. This was not something that would follow us so simply running on or just jumping out of the way would have saved us..and this is why I cant accept his death. Ysayle hurt too because next to Haurchefant she was one of the few characters that I liked. But at least in the situation we were, we could not have done much. (Yes we could have teleported but that would have left our friends in danger) So her coming in to save us was fine. She did some horrible things in the game and this was kinda her redemption too. So she truly saved us from a situation that we could not change much and on top of that she also changed the story. The biggest flying threat was stalled on Azys Lla (and still is) so that is one less big dangerous thing that Eorzea has to face. Haurchefants death did nothing to the whole story. His brothers might have been changed a bit but the overall story did not change much.

(But enough of my ramblings)

[FJerome]

Spoilers in titles, bad.

That said, forking finally a version with readable text! It says "Haurchefant Greystone. Until then, my friend".

[Iscah]

I agree on the spoilers in the title being a bad move. Unfortuntately (as we covered in the topic the other week) there isn't any way we can change it now.

I really hate getting spoiled for things, but prior to playing Heavensward I had three different people in my FC spoil that he was going to die at some point - though thankfully not the details, and ultimately I didn't see it coming there.

It's frustrating that I (and others) got spoiled for it, but at the same time I can see why people want to talk about it afterwards. Which is not to say that spoilers are okay, but that the more people want to discuss it, the higher chance that someone will forget they need to be careful about not putting spoilers where newer players might come across them.

But enough about spoiler etiquette, I want to talk about the story...


(SPOILER WARNING for some post-Heavensward pre-Stormblood events later in this post)


I do think that they might not have built up our character's relationship with him as well as they could have beforehand. Perhaps if it wasn't for the fragmented nature of MSQ and sidequests they could have included him in some more side stories. (He definitely should have shown up in the Lv50 machinist quest - a tournament between the high houses, at Camp Dragonhead! And generally sidequests seem 'intended' to take place at an equal point to the MSQ of the same level, so it theoretically was supposed to be happening when he was still alive - but I didn't do that story until after he died, so it was a sad thought that he 'could' have been there.)

As it is, I think it's only really made clear after his death that we were quite close to him.

From a game-versus-story viewpoint, I also have to figure that 'in reality' our character would have probably been living at Fortemps Manor for a few months at this point (while studying machinistry or astromancy or whatever), minus the trip to Dravania, and may have had a fair bit of mundane interaction with him that doesn't figure into our gameplay. But that's just theoretical-bordering-on-fanfic, I guess. I like to think it happened.

But I agree that he threw away his life for nothing. We should have easily seen the attack and Haurchefant had enough time to warn us about it and run towards us..while we stood there and did nothing. This was not something that would follow us so simply running on or just jumping out of the way would have saved us..and this is why I cant accept his death.
...
Haurchefants death did nothing to the whole story. His brothers might have been changed a bit but the overall story did not change much.

I don't think it was for nothing. He saw someone was in danger, and he acted instinctively to save them. That's his nature. (There are multiple times in the story up to that point where he comes to your aid unexpectedly in the middle of a fight.)

Whether my character "could" have done something, maybe she wouldn't have. Maybe she would have failed to act in that moment of indecision, and she would have died if he hadn't stepped in to shield her.


And as for the wider effect on the plot- maybe it doesn't change events all that much, but it casts a shadow over everything that follows. Although a lot of characters die over the course of the story, this is one of the few we really, properly see mourned by the others, without having to rush off to the next plot point, and it leads to some beautiful story-moments of remembrance.

Speaking with people around Camp Dragonhead afterwards. The solemn responsibility of being gifted the broken shield as we leave for Azys Lla. Laying it at the grave, and the thought of him watching over the city. Returning there in-game and meeting with Francel. That last fleeting vision of him and Ysayle after defeating Nidhogg, and their part in saving Estinien - perhaps if anything, that could be seen as giving a 'purpose' to his death, if you don't believe he needed to be saving us when he died.

It's sad that he died, but at the same time I can see from a storytelling point of view, it works. His whole purpose in the narrative was to be a character that we cared about and couldn't save, and to be remembered afterwards. I know it's something that's driving my character still.