Warriors of Darkness and DRK

[Elladie]

So I've been reading lots of musing on the lore forums about what it will mean to be a WOD (evil Ascian-loving monster, anyone?) but I haven't seen anyone mention this question in the light of how Fray talks about the darkness and what it means to be a DRK. I haven't levelled my DRK very high but I definitely get the impression that Fray sees embracing the darkness in a much more positive than negative light (could be entirely wrong of course). I just wondered if anyone had viewed becoming the WOD in these terms and can that be seen in more positive light (pun not intended)?

[Anonymoose]

I definitely get the impression that Fray sees embracing the darkness in a much more positive than negative light (could be entirely wrong of course).

I don't think you're mistaken. Fray seems to push the understanding of DRK (lower-case) darkness as a justified and self-serving sadness, angst, and rage transformed into power to be harnessed for righteous causes. Bring evil actions to evildoers. It's the vigilante justice we all admit would be efficient but don't trust anyone to get right.

The "Flame in the Abyss" is (according to Fray, at least) the hope and love that's all but smothered out by the cruel realities of the world, surrounded by the pain and anger of that good in the world being violated.

Is there anything inherently connected to (upper-case) Darkness in there? Or was it just thematically appealing to have the Warrior of Light Darkness on the Dark Knight job because why not, man, get your edgy art on. Please look forward to it...?

I just wondered if anyone had viewed becoming the WOD in these terms and can that be seen in more positive light?

That's a big...maybe? This is tied into why the 5.0 trailer hit me like a suckerpunch.

The 3.4 Warriors of Darkness were lied to and made pawns of by Elidibus. The Emissary told them truths that led them to the "realization" that they had no better choice than to serve a Rejoining because the only options they knew they had were to let everything be destroyed and become void, or to reduce the world to aether and let it flow into the Source dimension to be born as life anew. Either way everyone dies, but one is clearly preferable. Urianger manipulated the manipulator and led the Warriors of Darkness to a way to actually save their world - an option Elidibus never would have hinted was on the table because it didn't serve his interests.

In that light, the Warriors of Darkness could easily be seen in a positive light. They gave up everything, including their lives, and forsook the Mothercrystal for Her helplessness to take up Zodiark's cause, thinking it would save what little they could of their world.

But where does that leave us? Can we take up Darkness to prevent the imbalance of Light? Absolutely. Hydaelyn and Zodiark are both helpless to control anything; they need agents to do it for them. But does the Warrior of Light becoming the Warrior of Darkness mean he trusts the Ascians? That he works for Zodiark? Not necessarily.

But Arbert told us to work for neither Light nor Dark, but ourselves. Would Zodiark jibe with that message? Hydaelyn might - She (allegedly) just wants Her children to thrive. But that means She can't be "victorious" over Zodiark, or allow Zodiark to be "victorious" over Her. What if they're mutually destroyed? Can the world as we know it even exist once the distinction between Light and Dark has been unmade?

Would the Ascians jibe with the reins of history in the hands of man? Obviously not.

Would the game go as far as to turn us to the Ascian cause against Hydaelyn? I'd have said 0% chance last week. I'd say 10% chance this week, lol.

It's all about being new and exciting without undermining or cheapening what came before.

And this is gonna be a hell of a tightrope.

[Sabora_Makingai]

No one tell him the end to the DRK quest line! lol

[Cilia]

In simple terms, there's a difference between wielding your darkness and the Darkness. The former is turning your sorrow into strength, the latter would be using the power of Zodiark.

Will this come into play, with DRK as the "focus" job of Shadowbringers? Whoooo knows...

[Elladie]

I am possibly romanticising this way too much, but it seems very possible to me that we can take a dark path without it being morally evil. For example, if we had fought after the Sultana's 'assassination', if we'd taken our righteous rage and wreaked havoc on Ilberd and Lolorito, we'd would have been working for the forces of darkness and chaos against light and order. But in this case Light and order were reprehensible and needed to be held to account. Fray would not have run had he been there. People conflate dark and chaos with evil, and they need not be. Light and order can be repressive and stifling and destructive

[Anonymoose]

I am possibly romanticising this way too much

As far as I know, I'm with you on a lot of this. I'd love if it was classical Final Fantasy themes, but incidentally. Light isn't necessarily always "good' and "better" and a monolithic force, and neither is Dark. Though I think I'd also prefer if it just so happened that Light truly was our best option (just to not deviate too far from years of estalished themes). As far as we know, She created life (as we know it) out of fear of Him when this was already in motion, and She is the only one who really cares what happens to Her children going forward...even if they had to wield Darkness to put things right in our beautifully broken little cosmos. Though (by virtue of being an archivist and deferring to Occam most of the time) my batting average for predicting plot twists is abysmal.

Still, if She really made us, She could have made us with hearts of pure Light, and we are clearly possessed partly of the Dark. Why? Why would She allow this? Is Her story a lie? Or is She trying to preserve the balance of the cosmos by delegating the war between Light and Dark to the hearts of man - the millions, and millions of hearts of man - trusting in the Law of Large Numbers to ensure that we'd keep the balance ourselves and shut the gods out of it?

[SannaR]

I do wonder if drks who have at least done the lv50 quest will get nods. As that part of ourselves did say it would wait for the day we needed to unleash it. It does seem that we might need to stop being so much the boy scout/goodie too shoes in the upcoming expac.

[SicariusSeven]

I loved the DRK job story so much. I can't wait to see how Shadowbringers will affect it. I am also hoping that they give the WoL/WoD extra lines depending if they have DRK as a leveled job or not. Much like how certain NPCs commented on the WoL if they were a certain job, like Yuguri commenting on us if we were a Ninja.

[Cro93]

So we're talking about 3 different aspects

DRK- i have a giant sword and I hate being abused as a tool, the abyss is my power/ability

Warriors of Darkness (former warriors of light) who gave their souls to save their world from the extra light

Warrior of Darkness (new expac) my perspective- a title, a position and a "proper" equilibrium

[TinyRedLeaf]

I am possibly romanticising this way too much, but it seems very possible to me that we can take a dark path without it being morally evil.

Actually, the best analogy would be the quintessential dark knight, the Batman, himself. A vigilante who works outside the law, and bends the rules with the ultimate goal of bringing evil-doers to justice. The over-riding question at all times is whether the ends justify the means. Unfortunately, there's no clear-cut answer to this classic moral dilemma.

I loved the DRK job story so much. I can't wait to see how Shadowbringers will affect it.

I'm more curious about how the apparent switch from WoL to WoD would affect all the other jobs. Which job explore its "dark side", so to speak? The warrior succumbs finally to his inner beast; the bard gives in to sorrow and sings dirges instead of ballads; the ninja becomes a ruthless assassin as he is meant to be, etc. In my own head-canon, my summoner has already gone through a trial to subdue all the awakened primal essences in his aether. It would be cool if a "dark summoner" story involves the Bahamut-egi running amok.