Anyone else done...

[Adonan]

Spoilers



with the Garleans and their bull? I swear these people make me want to pull my own hair out. I get it, it's hard to trust your enemy, but they act as if their hands are clean in this conflict. I've lost count of how many times I've said to myself, "pot meet kettle" while talking to these people. Am I missing something? Is there a crucial plot point I'm forgetting that clearly paints us as the bad guys? These people are more prideful and arrogant than the Elezen. Mind you, I've only gone so far as meeting the commander of the 1st legion.

[leoxastaroth]

Oh yes, it was one of those rare instances when I met said commander, I -reeeally- wished the devs had given our characters a bit darker agency because honestly the entire time I was just thinking "This man is psychotically evil and literally condeming his own people to death for the sake of national pride, if the Scions were truly good they would dispatch him themselves there and then." I really wanted my WoL to just attack him outright.

[Powercow]

Oh yes, it was one of those rare instances when I met said commander, I -reeeally- wished the devs had given our characters a bit darker agency because honestly the entire time I was just thinking "This man is psychotically evil and literally condeming his own people to death for the sake of national pride, if the Scions were truly good they would dispatch him themselves there and then." I really wanted my WoL to just attack him outright.

Ah yes, murdering their leader after coming to him with the pretenses of diplomacy -- that would surely sway the Garlean people to your side. After all, the average Garlean trusts you implicitly! Just think back... oh, two quests ago when three starving men shanked Alphinaud behind the house so a defenseless girl could take her crippling ill little sister and flee to the monster-infested ice fields because they'd MUCH rather take their chances there than with you, and that's after you've all already helped them.

To put it another way: three men went on an agreed suicide mission to act as a short-term distraction so two people could almost certainly die to wolves and monsters in the freezing cold -- because they are 100% absolutely positively sure you'll do far worse to them.

The Garlean history is one of oppression, misery, and overall getting their butts kicked to the frozen wastes by the other, magic-using races. This breeds resentment. Resentment turns into nationalism. Then, when given the means to not just fight back against their oppressors, but to conquer them in turn... all in the name of peace, mind you. The savages can not be trusted, and the only way to ensure peace with these monsters is to subjugate them, or exterminate them.

Is it right? No, of course not. But this is what generations of Garlean people believe, and it's all they know. To them, these magic-wielding foreigners are just trying to subjugate them, to destroy their national identity and who they are at their core. This is, of course, because that's how they operate. If the Garleans encountered a severely weakened enemy city, they might buy their way in with promises of aid, only to take everything from them when the opportunity was right. Look at Ala Mhigo. The nation just finished a devastating civil war, and in swoops Gaius and the fleet to seize control right after. (Convenient timing, isn't that?)

Oh, and everyone's favorite totally-not-a-bad-guy Emet-Selch is the one who put all of this into motion. Don't forget that.

Edit - Oh, and how could I forget the girl there who recognizes you by face. She saw you AOEing down dozens of her friends like they were nothing in Castrum and Praetorium. 8 Eorzeans butchered their way through over a hundred people and warmachines and barely even stopped moving. Then, for good measure, you blew the place to hell before most people had a chance to evacuate. (The only people who could possibly have seen it was the Ascian and Ultima Weapon that blew the place up would have been caught the blast.)

[Adonan]

But I don't get it. How can such hate last for generations? Look at us, and how much we've changed of the last century alone. It's always been the younger generation that calls into question what their parents have taught them. How could Garlemald remain so culturally stagnant for so long?

[leoxastaroth]

Ah yes, murdering their leader after coming to him with the pretenses of diplomacy

I mean, you'd have to admit that'd make a savage impression ;D

[Thaciscokidd]

Well look at their history, the magic users chased them into Ilsabard region in the first place until the invention of Magitek. The situation + obvious smear campaign of the savage people, they see it like its happening all over again.

[Nekaru_Infitima]

When it comes to the Garleans rejecting our help I always think about the IRL issue with Okinawa (which would be very real to Japan.)

When Japan was taking Okinawa, history class told us (and my Japanese teacher from Japan in Uni confirmed this when I asked) that Japan soldiers would tell the Okinawans that if they didn't join them or commit suicide, the Americans would kidnap and rape them. Many ended their lives from that fear.

So yes, I can completely see why the Garleans would believe we're evil and not there to help them.

(Note I don't mean the one-off soldier that DID do that, because there was probably some truth to the statement like any. But they were saying ALL the Americans would, that none could be trusted.)

[Rombus]

Me in my boujie glam being called a “savage” was irking me lol.

[Adonan]

Then perhaps I've become too jaded. In the world we live in toady, I try my best to not take what others say at face value. It's not particularly difficult; it's just a matter of questioning everything you see or hear, which I find to be rather enjoyable. I learned years ago that there are few things in this world that are black and white. As such, to see these people be so pigheaded is infuriating. Although, that explanation holds water for the civilians, but not for the soldiers.

[Thaciscokidd]

Although, that explanation holds water for the civilians, but not for the soldiers.

We've killed them nonstop for years. The heroes they revere we have taken down. We are the boogie man to them. The soldiers have a pretty valid reason to be scared and not trust us.