[ENDWALKER MAJOR SPOILERS] But enough about that, what about you, Warrior of Light?

[TopazQueshi]

[Just a short warning at the top for those who wander in without reading the sign; STILL MAJOR ENDWALKER SPOILERS, GO FINISH THE EXPANSION AND THEN COME BACK!]

At the end, as those who have finished know, we fight Zenos, in a final battle to extinguish his light and lay to bed his lust for a battle to end all battles. But something that, and I'm sure a lot of other people have noticed, the options you have before the climatic finish don't exactly reflect anyone outside of those who do actually yearn for battle. I'll explain-

As Zeno stares us down in the emptiness of the universe's edge, he says something to us, the Warrior of Light, that boils down to; "admit it, you're still fighting because you yearn for a tougher battle, and live to see the challenges it brings." Which is a writer's way of saying "you, the player, only really look forward to tougher content, don't you?"
We're given 3, not at all unique from each other, answers to give.

"That, I can't deny."
"Think what you will. But I'm not letting you leave this place."
"I've had enough of you. It ends here."
(From here on out; Options 1, 2, and 3)

These options boil down to;
"Yeah you're right."
"I'm not going to say you're right, I just wanna fight."
"I will not honor you with a response. We end this now."

It leaves little to the RP part of RPG- and before I continue I'd like to note that I do understand that we can't have all the options in the world, I'm merely stating how all three are pretty much indistinguishable from each other.
As most of us know, Options 2 and 3 will have your character look towards Zenos with the determination to beat him in battle and leave this place, while Option 1 will have you smirk before Zenos mentions it to be the acceptance from you he's longed for.

But what I want to know is; what about you, Warrior of Light?

Not everyone enjoys running the toughest content, some of us enjoy taking our time to learn the things around us, which is why Trusts were implemented. And some still do harder content, but may not play just for that content. Or perhaps you're of the group that separates Extreme and Savage trials from canon?

Whatever the reason, I want to hear it from you. I want to know what every Warrior of Light continues to fight for as the war goes from saga to never ending journey.

For myself? I like to think that my Warrior of Light doesn't fight to pursue the next challenge, but because they want to protect everyone, come hell or high water.

[sidurgu-12]

For myself? I like to think that my Warrior of Light doesn't fight to pursue the next challenge, but because they want to protect everyone, come hell or high water.

thats basically why my wol keeps going. well that and things just kept escalating making it impossible to back out lol.

[Cleretic]

I'm in a bit of a torn position on this one, because while I personally disagree with all of these options, I know that the first option is generally what S-E 'writes for'.

I ended up going with the third option, because the general outlook I have for my character is 'I know I'm good at fighting, and I don't hate it, but my passion is elsewhere and I'm just here to help, so I want to go home'. Or essentially, 'I'm here for the story and the crafting'. Now, I certainly don't feel like that was the angle that scene was written for, judging by the overall response. I was hoping that the third option would be the one he teases where he just lets you leave.

That said, I am big into roleplaying, and don't play my character as the Warrior of Light. So I do enjoy painting the WoL as essentially the first option and having my character go 'I've never met them but I think they're a pushy busybody and a jerk'. The real WoL might not be the kind of person who does things only for fight glory and The Challenge, but she certainly thinks they are.

[Garnetiferous]

As someone who does like to raid, I STILL can't say that I'm only playing the game for a challenge. I enjoy this game because of its story. The narrative is what attracted me here and the friends I meet when I raid are why I stay. If I only wanted a challenge, there's many other things I could do. So I guess for my WoL, I adventure because there's always a great new story to be told and because it's fun.

[Loggos]

I feel the same way, OP.

Even though we had different dialogue options the whole encounter had a "subtone" (I don't quite want to say subtext) of confirming Zenos' assertion, namely that even the most "honorable" and "noble" WoL had a part in herself or himself that mirrors Zenos' particular lust for/attitude on battle. Even though you can choose words that seemingly disagree with him the whole visual and narrative framing of the subsequent fight scenes is the same for all 3 options:

• the epic show-down of two equals
• the scenery and music that have this extremely cool and aesthetically satisfying vibe, because you are literally fighting who the game tries to cast as your personal nemesis at the edge of space (how extra in the best way possible is that)
• the raw fist fight full of unleashed anger which goes beyond the "I don't care about you, you have to be stopped" sentiment - these final scenes feel personal
• the "fist bump" (which again makes it feel like he is not just any dangerous enemy that you try to dispose of - it feels like a strong narrative emphasis of his personal importance to you)
• the parallel (almost-)death.

All in all, there is an implication of "want" in these scenes for me. To me it really appears like this is personal business after all, and even if it's for the "right" motives you seemingly do want to fight him to the very end and on some level enjoy it, to go to your limit and come out victorious.

I don't know what the English text says but in German, if you use option 3, Zenos says something along the lines of "Yes, unleash your lust for murder".
So, even if we want to put him in his place or hinder him from leaving, there is an implication that we might also burn to engage in an intense battle "till the last drop of blood"* with him, to enact violence against him and derive pleasure from it. (But maybe that part is different in English.)

Of course, we can claim it's just projection, but if Zenos is supposed to be the creators' way of winking at us re: how we/some of us want to fight and are always up for the next challenge, who is to say it's not also a story-telling device by the writers to project this mirror role onto your WoL.
And as described above, the visual, auditive and narrative staging of the fight seem more or less in line with that satisfaction of fighting him (because again, the whole set-up feels very aesthetically satisfying).
(Also, even if we don't believe it, Zenos believes it, hence he still gets what he wants: his battle that we want as much as he himself, in his eyes.)

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For my WoL, I do love fighting. I absolutely have a blast with it. But I don't like Zenos.
My personal mirror, that I would burn to fight, even if they are my nemesis, would be someone whose battle philosophy I ultimately share. Someone that makes me say "we are so different but there is something that connects us".

But to me Zenos is such a horrible/cruel and irritating person that even as someone who enjoys battle I have absolutely no interest in engaging with him. As in, nothing in him ignites a passion in me to fight him because in terms of battle and spirit he'd give me what I seek. His battle philosophy is diametrical to mine and "insults" (on an RPG level) my WoL's view on and appreciation of it.
He is not my WoL's mirror or my personal nemesis, he's not my "personal business". He is the type of person I would lock away for genocidal crimes but who I, automatically, don't even bother with on an emotional level because there is nothing there that I naturally connect with.

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(Sorry, I know I'm voicing my dislike from him very strongly here. xD I don't judge or think negatively of people who do see him as their mirror or who like him. I just don't want to fight him, at least not on these terms, haha.)

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* This is a phrase he repeats several times in German. I don't know if the same applies to the English localisation, though.

[Rulakir]

This was a much easier question to answer in Heavensward. I was fighting for home, and country, and friends (who became family), etc. ARR, I felt like a useful idiot. SB, I felt like a war mascot. ShB is complicated. EW, I went back to being a useful idiot. I guess you could say I came full circle, but that's not a good thing in that regard.

My gaming personality is pure mercenary, would that I could actually play my WoL in that manner. I would not have joined the Scions in ARR if I'd been given a choice, so that question in EW was awkward. I generally do not care about the wars people are in, or their primal problems, or fighting increasingly challenging foes. (Honestly, the #1 downside of FFXIV for me are the trials. I absolutely hate them and I grumble every single time one is required.)

I am all about character interactions. It's why HW is still my #1 favorite expansion. I don't want to be their protector though, just their comrade. It's probably why I favored my time with Emet and Hythlodaeus more than the Scions. The Scions are always wanting me to do something. Fight this thing, save these people, etc. I often wonder if we'd be friends if I wasn't always doing something for them. I figure not. The irony is, Zenos would make a better WoL than I do. He may have no interest in the diplomacy side, but I'd think he'd enjoy the combat part.

Anyway, I just want to travel with friends and have adventures. Listening to Hythlodaeus talk about Azem made me think they have a lot more fun than my WoL ever has.

[Loggos]

The Scions are always wanting me to do something. Fight this thing, save these people, etc. I often wonder if we'd be friends if I wasn't always doing something for them. I figure not.

I would say some Scions really do see you as friends. To me the interactions with Urianger (ShB&EW), Estinien and Alisaie (and even Alphinaud, even though I'm not a huge Alphinaud stan) seem very genuine.
The trust Urianger shows you on the moon when he is so open with his emotions didn't feel like something he'd share with you if he just saw you as a) his glorified errand runner or b) an unattainable hero/ine.
And Alisaie, while repeatedly stressing she feels inspired by you, also often expresses her vulnerability in your presence - or she teases/jokingly threatens you which feels a lot like friends' banter (you can see this a) when you wake her and G'raha up from their book reading session in EW and b) when you pick her dialogue during the "somebody knocks on your inn room's door" scene).
Estinien seems like the person who reveres you the least and sticks with you because he actually likes and respects you. He never butters you up, he's often very blunt, open and pragmatic. (His dialogue during said inn room scene is quite nice, actually.)
Because of his very straigt-forward nature he feels like the person whose friendship I'd doubt the least.

I want to include Y'shtola on that list just because I like her, lol. Because of her friendship with Lyse (who is so different from Y'shtola) I want to believe she is an approachable person and not just a cold and calculating scholar. G'raha I'm torn because I think the game really tries to hammer the point home that he wants to be your actual friend (after all travelling and adventures is exactly the kind of thing he wants to do with you) but I can see how his continuous adoration might be off-putting or seem contrived (although I do like G'raha personally).


It's possible they wouldn't be your friend if you weren't the WoL simply because your paths wouldn't cross regularly enough to build a friendship but I think many of the scions show how they care about and befriend others even if they don't benefit from them (esp. Alphinaud - I have to give him that).


(On an unrelated note, I would have loved to spend more time with pre-madman Emet, Venat and Hythlodaeus, though. Esp. Hythlodaeus seems like the person who I'd love to be friends with.)

[Lyth]

RP or not, there aren't really any optional story bosses that you can simply talk your way out of fighting. Ahem, Titan, can we stop for a moment and debate the merits of punching overdwellers? No? Okay, I'm going to walk away from this fight now while you cool off and think about what you've done. Wait, why is the story not progressing?

If you think that Zenos is dangerous and must be stopped in the name of Lawful Good, then you can pick 2. If you hate him for stealing your stack of 999 Legendary Hovernyan medallions while you were indisposed in Garlemald (he did, check your retainers), you can pick 3. If you have a sense of humor, you can pick 1. There's truly something for everyone.

[Bright-Flower]

It certainly seems like the game is pushing that, to some degree, the WOL does canonically like pushing themselves in fights like that.

The difference however, is that this isn't ALL that defines the WOL. It is Zenos' singular obsession and character trait. It is all that he is at the end of the day. But not the WOL.

My interpretation of the end is that it's the WOL that wishes for the teleporter to return to them, to take them back to their friends and life. Because regardless of whether Zenos is correct about them enjoying pushing themselves to their limit, unlike Zenos the WOL has more to live for, more to their life than JUST fighting. The WOL isn't really Zenos' mirror, they just happen to share one character trait, and because that's all Zenos has, he overly projects onto the WOL. Zenos, bereft of any other purpose in life, dies there, while the WOL chooses to go on living.

[Rulakir]

Estinien seems like the person who reveres you the least and sticks with you because he actually likes and respects you. He never butters you up, he's often very blunt, open and pragmatic. (His dialogue during said inn room scene is quite nice, actually.)
Because of his very straigt-forward nature he feels like the person whose friendship I'd doubt the least.

As a former DRG main, there's history with Estinien before HW too. I have always viewed him as a brother in arms (and his inn visit was the best followed by G'raha). The end of SB was especially meaningful for me since he saved me, brought me back to Ishgard (home), and then between Aymeric and Lord Edmont visiting I thought, this is just the best thing ever.

G'raha I'm torn because I think the game really tries to hammer the point home that he wants to be your actual friend (after all travelling and adventures is exactly the kind of thing he wants to do with you) but I can see how his continuous adoration might be off-putting or seem contrived (although I do like G'raha personally).

I love G'raha to bits, but a large part of his adoration is because of being the WoL and having done the deeds I have. Still, he did seem to like me when I was a relative nobody during the Crystal Tower series, so who knows?

My blanket statement was unfair to a few characters. Now that I think about it, Alisaie is a BFF through shared experiences and I always thought if she'd known what absorbing the Lightwardens in ShB was doing she would've put a stop to it. Can't say the same for Urianger or Y'shtola. >_> Having started in Ul'dah, there's also a history with Thancred and he was a true friend throughout HW.

(On an unrelated note, I would have loved to spend more time with pre-madman Emet, Venat and Hythlodaeus, though. Esp. Hythlodaeus seems like the person who I'd love to be friends with.)

I had no expectations that we'd have a whole zone of Emet and Hythlodaeus. I should be grateful, but instead I want more. :P