No New Races... But New Clans?

[KizuyaKatogami]

Being the one male Viera who ran away from the forest and made it to Eorzea isn't that impossible, and once you're there, there isn't much to remark on besides that Viera might generally be regarded as exotic (but that goes for both genders).

Garleans, on the other hand, are the common enemy and every time you meet new people they would rightly be wary of you. The few "friendly" Garleans in the earlier stages of the game (Cid, Lucia) cover up their third eye to pass as Hyuran.

I think it would seem far more strange for a character to be Garlean without drawing comment.

Right. Meanwhile you can be a duskwight in Gridania lmao. Give me a break.

[Theodric]

I'm not convinced that Pureblood Garleans would be particularly controversial in that regard. If we adhere to the logic of the player character being the exception to every rule then surely that would extent to a Pureblood Garlean as well? We already know they're not treated with outright hostility or executed simply for being a Pureblood Garlean.

A clear distinction is made between Imperial Garleans and those who are just regular Garleans or former Imperials who have since took their leave of Garlemald's forces. Given that the vast majority of Eorzea's inhabitants are also unable to read or write effectively, there's also a good chance they wouldn't even know what a Pureblood Garlean even looked like.

The Final Fantasy games also have a long track record of 'defectors' joining the protagonists, at any rate. Celes, Balthier, Cloud and others spring to mind.

Plus as Yoshi-P himself has often stated in interviews, the conflicts in-game are not presented as 'good and evil' but merely a matter of perspective. Zadnor in particular has been pretty clear about pushing that particular message, albeit as much more recent content.

[Iscah]

Right. Meanwhile you can be a duskwight in Gridania lmao. Give me a break.

Fair point there, and it bugs me too. There are little moments all over the place where one race or another doesn't really make sense in a situation because they didn't think to write special dialogue.

But I also feel like Garleans are a big enough thing that they'd stop to think about it. They're everyone's enemy equally.

And as I said in earlier posts, there's also a difference of "would they introduce this race because it's interesting enough to make the lore glitches worth it?"

It's not impossible for them to introduce Garleans if they wanted to. I just feel like there's a fairly low chance that they would want to.