Divine intervention

[Zaji_MuaDib]

It's a bad decision, to invoke trial by combat in a matter as sensitive as the scenario presented is.

Choosing to invoke trial by combat would inevitably embarrass a distinguished knight and potentially a high house. The political blow-back of such a thing would not be A small matter for House Forteps. A guile politician as the count is; would never have allowed such a thing; and there was a wasted opportunity for some narrative drama as well. A quest could have been had that simply had the player waiting and maybe reading a book or two, while the count fought the political battle; which you the player are not equipped for :O

"trades will be made" was a line from a previous quest and it could have,had one of its pay offs here. But as it is, we smash and grab.

[Zaji_MuaDib]

Also, I can't be the only kitty would bang Haurchefant; I keep getting the vibes that he and female P.C.s are banging anyways and the game just can't show it

[Recon1o6]

something to bare in mind was a good chunk of the planned heavensward quests did not get added on account of 2 things, deadlines and the death of yugiri's voice actor (which led the ddevs to retire her while the court case did its thing). Quests that revolved around the heavensward nights and yugiri was supposed to be almost omnipresent throughout HW, and this was one such scenario that was a possible loser of one or both given how early it is in the msq

as for haurchefaunt...well the japanese is apparently more forthcoming than he is already which should tell you something XD
A lot of people shipped hauchefaunt and the Wol indeed.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Bear in mind that Ishgard is heavily bound in traditions of the church. They believe that whoever wins a trial by combat was sanctioned by their goddess, and to go against that means going against the church itself. No one is willing to risk that. And defeating two members of the Heavens' Ward, the personal bodyguards of the Archbishop himself, in fair combat, is a hell of a sign to stay out of the way.

Also remember that the Scions, and the Warrior of Light in particular, had recently (in-story) gained considerable favor with Ishgard for defending the city from Vishap and the Dravanian Horde on the Steps of Faith. You're not just some random mercenary wandering in; you've already proven that you stand against the Horde and shown to be a capable warrior. And more recently than that, you've helped root out heretics in the Western Highlands and saved the son of a noble house from the Vanu Vanu. You've got a fair amount of cred beforehand. So there's no shame for the knights who lost the fight. (I mean, sure, Grinnaux wasn't happy, but he's an asshole anyway.)

[DPZ2]

It was either trial by combat (because Halone grants success to those in the right), or death as a heretic. No amount of 'favors' would alter those two outcomes. It is a logical extension of 'prove your innocence of this charge of heresy by jumping into this deep pit to your death'.

The Ishgardian church leaves Halone to sort out the guilty and the innocent after death.

[Zaji_MuaDib]

If we take them as if this were a society that should function as a real society would, and people who act as real people would; The religious issue would be secondary. All societies, especially theocracies, are pragmatic about their faith in government. When the fake inquisitor was kicking around some country bumpkins were easily awed and terrified into doing what ever; but now we're talking about the central governing body of the capital. That said; an alternative would have been to have your Patron throw your compatriots on the mercy of the court. After all; the charge was no actually heracy, and the court, aware of the scions actions and the politics of executing them, would have been disinclined to do so. It could have driven the player to learn more about the Ishgard conflict; by having the court enforce a kind of conversion.

[TheMightyMollusk]

If we take them as if this were a society that should function as a real society would, and people who act as real people would; The religious issue would be secondary. All societies, especially theocracies, are pragmatic about their faith in government. When the fake inquisitor was kicking around some country bumpkins were easily awed and terrified into doing what ever; but now we're talking about the central governing body of the capital.

The problem here is that the church is the government. Look into how much power the Catholic church held over governments in medieval times and you'll see how that works out.

That said; an alternative would have been to have your Patron throw your compatriots on the mercy of the court. After all; the charge was no actually heracy, and the court, aware of the scions actions and the politics of executing them, would have been disinclined to do so. It could have driven the player to learn more about the Ishgard conflict; by having the court enforce a kind of conversion.

It was a kangaroo court to begin with. The word of the knights of the Heavens' Ward is beyond reproach; a trial by combat was literally the only option, because it lays the outcome at the feet of Halone, who is beyond the knights. Lord Edmont pretty much spells it out.

[Katie_Kitty]

Literally No one:

Zaji_MuaDib: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...e-intervention

jokes aside though I found the thread entertaining

[Zaji_MuaDib]

The problem here is that the church is the government. Look into how much power the Catholic church held over governments in medieval times and you'll see how that works out.

Being something of a nerd; I am at least more verse in medieval politics than a normal healthy person should be. The Catholic church was indeed a political entity like all the others. It played at politics, its ranks were politically relevant, its hierarchy was a means of politics by other powers. Controlling the church or having it on side, was some variation of very important throughout the medieval,and clear into the early industrial era. The point is; the real world inquisitions had more than their fair share of political conveniences; all of them. The Salem witch trials are known for their brutality and rightly so; it was also very common for accusations of witchcraft to be a simple means of humiliating some member of the community by forcing them to confess.

I think my head canon stands up well enough

jokes aside though I found the thread entertaining

Cool

[Enkidoh]

There was no political blowback because the whole trial was nothing but a conspiracy to begin with.

It was foreshadowing for later revelations in the story. Thordan was setting up his big "turn into a god-king" Primal plan and the last thing he needed was Eorzea's Eikon Slayer and their meddling Scooby Gang Scion friends snooping around potentially spoiling the whole thing (especially with Lahabrea and Igeyorhm in his ear pulling his strings as well).

But he knew he couldn't just accuse the WoL of heresy as they had barely spent any time in the city (and lets face it, so soon after the Ul'dah debacle, they're not about to go quietly if a bunch of knights tried to arrest them on trumped-up charges.), so no one in the city was going to be that gullible enough to believe such a lie. So he went after the next best thing as he needed it to be credible - Alphinaud and Tataru.

Of course, that then blew up in his face when we thrashed the Heaven's Ward and humilated them in that trial by combat. As far as the court was concerned, it really was divine intervention that we prevailed, but the lack of retaliation from the Heaven's Ward was purely pragmatic. They couldn't retaliate because it would risk exposing the conspiracy, so the Heaven's Ward had to basically sit and stew and lick their wounds for a while as the Archbishop paid lip service to us while

scheming behind the scenes with his erstwhile Ascian flunkies to make his Knights of the Round summoning plan a reality.