Clearing up some lore misconceptions

[Veloran]

According to Omega, data processing and simulation, for people, is "dreaming". That's what I mean when I say WoL is tapping into their own psyche to dream the encounters into being.

[Jandor]

Firstly, that's an impressive amount of work sourcing quotes and the like. A very good effort and I can definitely see myself referencing back to it at some point.

Secondly, the game establishes to my own satisfaction the precedent that you receive help, I don't need them to keep mentioning it every time nor explain how they're there. I can fill in the blanks on my own.

Thirdly, and this is something I've changed my mind on slightly over the years, but I think the overwhelmingly vast majority of fights don't really have a canon way of doing them. The descriptions of your encounters are often vague and inconsistent, and I personally have come to believe it has been done that way on purpose, essentially leaving how you actually cleared something up to player interpretation.

-----
NPC: This will be a tough one, gather your echo blessed adventurer friends.
Solo WoL: Nah, don't worry about it I'll be fine.
-----
NPC: Quick WoL! No time to lose, the enemy is straight ahead!
Party WoL: With me my 7 echo blessed friends that I always bring with me!

[kiagenwa]

NPC: Quick WoL! No time to lose, the enemy is straight ahead!
Party WoL: With me my 7 echo blessed friends that I always bring with me!

NPC: Quick Sidika! No time to lose, the enemy is straight ahead!
Sidika: (got bored with MSQ) BRB farming Anima

The descriptions of your encounters are often vague and inconsistent, and I personally have come to believe it has been done that way on purpose, essentially leaving how you actually cleared something up to player interpretation.

Some trials leave no room for doubt i.e. Ifrit normal.
Regardless of what the story says, you can solo anything unsync if you're strong enough (unless have wipe mechanics) except when the situation should be that you were caught unaware.
Even for Ravana, I can also say Sidika called her friends in preparations and lie in wait until her turn to battle.

[Cleretic]

Honestly, I do prefer when the game is written in such a way that suggests that... well, the Warrior of Light isn't some kind of golden unbeatable god-killer, and does need some help sometimes. Because frankly, I find it boring to play a golden unbeatable god-killer, I prefer someone who knows their limits and has to get clever. It's why Joseph is a better JoJo's Bizarre Adventure protagonist than Jotaro.

So, yeah, I'll take the interpretation that the Warrior of Light had seven conveniently nearby fishing buddies for Susano. I feel like the assertion of 'the WoL can just throw down and solo basically every single threat' encourages a lot of the more boring readings and complaints about the game. You know, the 'why did the Warrior of Light not simply murder Fandaniel/Misija/The Entirety Of Ul'Dah's Security And Law Enforcement/any other opponent the game offers up and asks respect of' questions. I think that's generally the thing the English translation especially is trying to solve; laying down that the Warrior of Light is not Superman.

[MercuryD]

I don't have a source for the number of people in encounters but I think it was at a Fanfest/TGS or something with Koji and YoshiP. That's the explanation that makes sense to me in any case.


As for there being only 1 WoL, we know there CAN BE as Ardbert, Lamitt, Nyalbert et al. were all expressly warriors of light, same us we. On the source we DO have someone (implied in English, stated point blank in JP) who we adventure with and is a warrior of light: Ysayle.

Yshtola sees her sacrifice in Azys Lla and says (approximate because I don't have the scripts handy):
EN: This aether... It was a crystal of light! She was one of Her chosen!
JP: Could it be.... She too was a warrior of light

[MercuryD]

Yshtola sees her sacrifice in Azys Lla and says:
EN: This aether... It was a crystal of light! She too was one of Hydaelyn's chosen!
JP: 彼女もまた、間違いなく、ハイデリンに導かれた光の戦士だったのね // So she too was undoubtedly a warrior of light guided be Her

(It's early so my translation isn't the best but it works)

[Zero-ELEC]

A fun read, real good document.

(It's early so my translation isn't the best but it works)

Yeah, it's established that all who received Her blessing and prove themselves find a crystal of light and are one of Hydaelyn's chosen, called Warriors of Light in the past.

The Warrior of Light is interesting in that they... receive multiple crystals of light? Which they needed to reignite to receive Her blessing again after their confrontation with Midgarsormr. That always struck me as odd, personally, and not really explained properly.

[Vyrerus]

I hope you'll enjoy!

Yeah, it was going good until section 3. I disagree with you on a ton of the fights you emphatically claim the WoL soloed, but you still did come to the correct conclusion (mainly thanks to the inarguables where the WoL isn't soloing). I particularly disagreed with your assertions about the Binding Coil fights. I actually wrote up a detailed disagreement, but then thought better of posting it(it was kind of harsh). Better to just say I disagree with most of your solo postures, and leave it at that.

As for the Estinien talk line about wanting to clean his armor... well... I couldn't find anything in my LP about it. I scoured my recordings for over an hour. All I found related to his stained armor was the corruption quote you already listed, though I would definitely bold that he wanted to, "Forge his armor anew." That's some levels of disgust with it(like he doesn't just want to clean it, he wants new armor completely). Also one neat bit of trivia: When he's in the cutscene where he stabs Nidhogg's eye, the camera shifts, and his armor is actually turned red before the blood spray. It's some sleight of hand focus work, but it was more than just the lighting there that made it look red hehe.

The only places I have doubts on not knowing if the possible talk dialogue is there, is if Estinien has a location where he can be talked to after the events of the Vault. There is also the possibility that his talk dialogue changed right after turning in, "Unrest in Ishgard," but before taking up the next quest, "He Who Would Not Be Denied." If it's not in those two places though, then it's not anywhere. I looked through from the time his armor looks red until the very end of Nidhogg where he's recovering in bed.

[Anonymoose]

I'm in the camp that there's a difference between a Warrior of Light and the Warrior of Light.

It's a running theme of this game - Hydaelyn's Chosen were once called the Zodiac Braves, but then any hero became known as a Zodiac Brave. There have been more sets of Braves than there have been Calamities. We saw the same on the First - the first Warrior of Light there was Hydaelyn's chosen, but the word became distorted over time and applied to any hero.

Eorzeans don't know the difference between Echo users that stood with Louisoix at Carteneau and true crystal bearers. Eorzeans don't know the difference between Hydaelyn's chosen (one crystal) and Hydaelyn's champion (six crystals, the ability to interfere with the aetherial realm). Heroes are heroes. Heroes are Warriors of Light. But that doesn't mean we need to take on their ignorance. We know the difference. (...Kinda.)

[LemonJuice]

I actually wrote up a detailed disagreement, but then thought better of posting it(it was kind of harsh). Better to just say I disagree with most of your solo postures, and leave it at that.

I appreciate your forbearance on the matter.

I also appreciate that you took the time to look through the relevant quests for Estinien's elusive talk dialogue. Seems it was just a case of confabulation on my part!

I'm in the camp that there's a difference between a Warrior of Light and the Warrior of Light.

As am I, which is why I drew attention to Urianger's odd, altered line. Hopefully EW sheds a little more light on the distinction between those blessed with a single crystal, and those blessed with six. It'd be nice to know if, for example, Tenzen, or Ramza, had six.