Quote Originally Posted by WarzonePrez View Post
When did the writers say the effect didnt mean anything? I wasn't aware they were ever asked about it.
Quote Originally Posted by JeanneOrnitier View Post
I think I remember them saying in an interview when asked about the Thordan scene that they specifically didn't have any idea what it meant back then. Does anyone else remember that?

It works really really well with where the story is at now, but it wasn't foreshadowing anything at the time.
Gamer Escape Lorecast 9 interview with Koji Fox, PAX 2017.

Gamer Escape: At the end of Heavensward, the Warrior of Light saw themselves through Thordan’s eyes as he asked, "What are you?" The moment looked downright sinister. Should we be worried?

Koji Fox: This was a combination of things. First, the cutscene team wanted to do something really dramatic. You see that a lot in anime—that dramatic perspective. The other half is that you’re literally seeing it through his eyes. He’s convinced himself that the way he was doing things was the correct way and that he was in the supreme right. Then you come in and you break all of that down. In his mind’s eye, you’re the evil one—and the last thing he sees is you in that evil image.
As a caveat, the writers of FFXIV have a tendency of taking things that didn't really mean anything that special at the time, and retconning them (in Moose's terms, "additive retcon") to be something different and more meaningful in future expansions.