What is worth going to war for?

[Necrotica]

Answers for the beyond stupid question that the twins' father asked that they were too stupid to answer.

Not being enslaved and forced to fight wars for other nations.

Not having your wife and daughter enslaved and raped daily.

Not having your lands stripped of their natural resources and left a barren wasteland.

Not allowing a beastman god to drain on aether from the world killing it.

That is off the top of my head. How are the Sharlayans so insanely stupid as to think there is nothing worth fighting for?

[KariTheFox]

Not allowing a beastman god to drain on aether from the world killing it.

So the Garlean Empire was right to invade Eorzea and the other regions they invaded?

[Garnetiferous]

Not sure how far you've gotten in the MSQ, but no they're not that stupid, that's largely a nonsense story to cover up the fact that they're

making preparations to leave the planet via the moon in the case of the return of the Final Days. So they know quite well that there's stuff worth fighting for, but they view their duty to Hydaelyn as more important and everything else would take away from that.

[KariTheFox]

I don't think that's entirely true. The Sharlayans are still principled pacifists regardless of their other plans, it is pretty baked into their culture. But to be a little less flippant, the idea of what constitutes a "just war" is a pretty complicated one. And I don't think it can be solved just by listing off a couple of bullet points. (especially bullet points that frankly, sound more like propaganda than anything else)

It's a complicated and thorny issue, which is why Alphinaud had so much trouble answering his father at the time, despite normally being such a strong orator. The narrative does ultimately conclude that there are things worth fighting for, but that doesn't mean that the Sharlayan's principle of pacifism is "stupid".

[Necrotica]

It really is stupid. Garleans show up to take over, force your citizens to be soldiers or to be used for their own enjoyment as they have done everywhere else.

"BUT WE ARE PACIFISTS! We shall not fight! Here, have my daughter to use as you see fit!"

The Sharlayans are pacifists up until their own lands are threatened. Then they would quickly change their tune.

[Garnetiferous]

I don't think that's entirely true. The Sharlayans are still principled pacifists regardless of their other plans, it is pretty baked into their culture. But to be a little less flippant, the idea of what constitutes a "just war" is a pretty complicated one. And I don't think it can be solved just by listing off a couple of bullet points. (especially bullet points that frankly, sound more like propaganda than anything else)

It's a complicated and thorny issue, which is why Alphinaud had so much trouble answering his father at the time, despite normally being such a strong orator. The narrative does ultimately conclude that there are things worth fighting for, but that doesn't mean that the Sharlayan's principle of pacifism is "stupid".

While they were never like oh say Ala Mhigo, I recall a scene in Endwalker where G'raha

suggests that the Sharlayans used to be far more helpful to other societies like the rest of Eorzea and less isolationist UNTIL they met Hydaelyn at the Antitower and then abruptly switched gears to the rigid form of isolationism that we see today. Pure speculation I know, but I think the Sharlayans before they met Hydaelyn would have been far more likely to aid their fellow Eorzeans.

It really is stupid. Garleans show up to take over, force your citizens to be soldiers or to be used for their own enjoyment as they have done everywhere else.

"BUT WE ARE PACIFISTS! We shall not fight! Here, have my daughter to use as you see fit!"

The Sharlayans are pacifists up until their own lands are threatened. Then they would quickly change their tune.

Yeah... I think this did sort of happen? The Garleans invaded Eorzea for the first time and the Sharlayans were like NOPE, abandoned the outpost in Dravania, and went back to the Northern Empty.

[KariTheFox]

Actually, their lands were threatened in Idyllshire/New Sharlaya. And their tune did not change, rather than stay and fight for their colony, they simply left. Now sure, it is easier for them to hold that position because of their geological isolation and technological superiority, but they never did change their tune. (also are the constant references to r-pe really necessary?)

[ddwarbird]

I was all for the Garlean Empire. The people of Ezora were pretty much dumb hicks while the Garlean Empire had all the technology. If this was the real world and magic wasn't a thing, the Garlean Empire would have steamrolled all of the world, there is such a technology gap.

[Garnetiferous]

I was all for the Garlean Empire. The people of Ezora were pretty much dumb hicks while the Garlean Empire had all the technology. If this was the real world and magic wasn't a thing, the Garlean Empire would have steamrolled all of the world, there is such a technology gap.

Couple of things to keep in mind. The only reason they have that technology is because they effectively cheated. Their emperor knew about the Allagans because he was there when that empire was around. And we can't just ignore magic here because a big part of the reason why Emet-Selch was even able to do what he did as Solus was because of the Garleans low status because of their lack of ability to manipulate aether.

Next, the empire is really really bad at governing their provinces. Like it's incredible even. Pretty much every province we visited under empire control had some sort of almost complete lunatic running it and the native people were starving to death and miserable. This is also by design. Emet-Selch literally set up that empire to be a hot mess so it would cause calamities.

[ddwarbird]

No, I don't support Nazi's as some people have claimed. I support a strong centralised government and although Garlean had its problems, everyone seems to forget that it was the treatment of the Garleans as they couldn't use magic to force them to become totalitarian in the first place. Its alright to decry Imperialism as "bad", blanketing over history with a singular judgement but everyone seems to forget that Garlean was FORCED into being like that. It does not excuse their crimes but the city states are equally guilty of crimes both in the past and present but that's excused because we have to fight for them.

The Garlean Empire offered a chance at uniting the world, rather then having 3 separate city states with three different agendas, lets not forget that Limsa Lominsa is essentially a ROGUE NATION because its formed out of pirates but that is excused too as they just said they were sorry and suddenly all was forgiven. Limsa has all the legitimacy of Somali pirates.

Lets not forget their treatment of the beast tribes that forced them to turn to summoning as a way to keep pace... but the story is perfectly fine with that. All three city states deserve to burn for their crimes, equally as much as the Garlean Empire did.