What lore do you ignore?

[Cleretic]

If you're dealing with other people then yes, but at the same time you can have a private concept of it happening differently.

Maybe it feels different with RP since that's closer-knit into your character concept in the first place, but for discussing lore here I will stick to the canon version, while personally noting that there are some things that wouldn't have gone that way if I was creating this story for my character(s).

Yeah, but there's a difference between 'I would personally have written this differently' and 'I disagree that this happened at all'. When we're talking about roleplaying they have to be entirely separated, while other sorts of fan creator might come from a different direction and be able to merge them more.

Best example I can think of: I don't think Ysayle should have died. If I were given power to rewrite the game she wouldn't have, and if I were writing fanfiction I may well either set it in a period where she was still alive, or find a way to fudge things where she actually survived (granted, her cause of death being 'exploded into aether' probably makes that difficult). Maybe in a very private RP environment we can play in that 'Ysayle didn't die' AU, but if we're meeting up in a general roleplaying context and the subject comes up, we just have to agree, basically wordlessly, that the information we were given by the game is exactly what happened, leaning into the lore from our common language whenever that differs. There are theoretically interesting edge cases (I'm particularly imagining a DRK player familiar with the English script meeting a DRK player familiar with the Japanese script), but for the most part that's just how it works.

I find that the interesting angle of creativity in roleplaying is making something that exists on top of the information we're given, rather than in other kinds of fanworks where it can be more of an intervention, altering what we were given. To that end, the most speculatory thing my own writing has ever really done is in relation to my main being a Summoner with an unusual selection; I basically had to invent how different primals factor into the Summoner kit, and which ones she could've found. And I actually made a point to play as lore-accurate as possible there, specifically picking primals that she could've crossed paths with and survived as a non-Echo-haver; the only thing I ever fudged there were the unseen surroundings of the Ala Mhigan summit in 4.2 (because honestly, pickings were slim enough that I needed to get to Lakshmi somehow).

EDIT: I know a lot of RPers have sort of a 'split character interpretation' for lack of a better term; where they have one continuity of their character as the WoL going through the main story, and one for roleplaying with others where they're just not. I respect that, but I personally don't do it, in large part because my character just wouldn't walk the same road to the point where the story would turn out appreciably differently, and probably a lot less enjoyably. Shadowbringers in particular; she'd have had a whole bunch less patience and fondness for Emet, which you can imagine would've kinda... broken that story. Endwalker would've probably hit all the same beats, but Elpis would've had a much less pleasant air about it.

[aveyond-dreams]

In order for me to be able to tolerate the actions of my character I have to pretend that the whole of Endwalker simply did not happen.

[Hurlstone]

Nothing really. Sure there are parts of the lore I very much disagree with/wish where different, we all have, but if I decided to ignore or mentally twist any piece of lore I had issues with then I would never be able to enjoy a fictional world whole haha! For better or worse I like to experience these worlds the way writers and creatives crafted them as, though people are free to enjoy media however they want. Thats just a personal preference of mine and lore/story quality is always subjective.

I think the only thing that I may come close to ‘ignoring’ is how much time has passed since ARR and Endwalker. I seem to remember someone on the creative team saying its only been like a year or so, which just seems far to little a time scape (Especially if one considers the notion that we do every quest and story during the expansion/time its released) so until it officially said in-game (Which I do not think has happened yet?) then I like to believe its been a long time between adventures.

[SannaR]

Nothing really. Sure there are parts of the lore I very much disagree with/wish where different, we all have, but if I decided to ignore or mentally twist any piece of lore I had issues with then I would never be able to enjoy a fictional world whole haha! For better or worse I like to experience these worlds the way writers and creatives crafted them as, though people are free to enjoy media however they want. Thats just a personal preference of mine and lore/story quality is always subjective.

I think the only thing that I may come close to ‘ignoring’ is how much time has passed since ARR and Endwalker. I seem to remember someone on the creative team saying its only been like a year or so, which just seems far to little a time scape (Especially if one considers the notion that we do every quest and story during the expansion/time its released) so until it officially said in-game (Which I do not think has happened yet?) then I like to believe its been a long time between adventures.

Yeah I don't buy the one year thing as we know in Stormblood there's at least two boat rides to Kugane. Which we get told is at least a few months. Unless we've all been confusing it with that being how long the trip would take without a secret ceruleum engine on one's ship with how long it actually took us. Either way I feel as though a year would be a tad short. I know they want people to have fun and give themselves some flexibility as to how long it all has taken, but it would be nice if there was more of an idea. Especially when you poke and NPC and they're all oh its been quite awhile since I saw you last yet you could in theory do two different patches back to back and thus not been months for you the player.

[Denishia]

Ardbert didn't permanently merge with our soul - he lend us his aid to defeat Hades as symbolized by the Ax of Light, but when we returned to the Source his soul stayed on the First and joined back into its Lifestream to be reunited by his teammates. Maybe he left some aether merged, but my WoL isn't any denser than any other living native person on the Source minus G'raha. Anyways, that soul density has no bearing on actual physical or magical prowess or lifespan, as evidenced by everyone on the First -or historical figures like Shattoto- not being at all shorter-lived or less power than people in the Eighth Astral Era. My personal feelings and idea of what sort of hero I want the WoL to be resonated with Zero's disdain for and avoidance of consuming other voidsent by diluting that sense of self, and why the idea of rejoinign with other Azem shards is the most abhorrent plot speculation. There's a point where the Power Fantasy of a Chosen One tips into distasteful for me, and the more our WoL is equated to Azem and this idea of an immortal overpowered being with reality warping powers and unchecked government position, the worse it gets.

Any cutscene or dialogue choice that pretended that my feelings towards Emet-Selch ever grew beyond disdainful loathing and painful tolerance - I wasn't going to overlook that he was directly responsible for at least three disgusting empires, his hypocrisy needed to have been called out way more often than it was, and his dreadful, unentertaining personality was excruciating to be around, nor was Hythodaeus much better. And as Amaurot held less appeal than Eulmore under Vauthry, especially visually, his goal was always going to be as much an emotional non-starter as it was in feasible practicality. The worst thing that Hydaelyn did was ensuring that his soul will be eventually reborn on the same Shard as my WoL- ideally they could be left behind in Ultima Thule to get reborn on some non-Etheirys star like Zenos. Emet and Hyth were Azem's friends, but my WoL wants them to stay permanently far away

The penultimate cutscene to Euphrosene when my WoL is standing next to Snoegeim watching Deryk, we both leaned over and agreed with each other that Deryk is probably Oschon. Bets involving drinks at the Seventh Heaven are involved.

[HisuianMiqote]

the whole MSQ supposedly only being a year long canonically and the simpsons aging the twins have. it hurts my brain thinking about it so i've been headcanoning each expac takes around a year give or take (ARR being one year, HW being 6 months to a year, and StB being a year, i haven't gotten to ShB or EW yet so my thoughts on those are incomplete)

[AnarkheBringer]

The amount of lore I either slightly alter or ignore entirely is impressive to be honest, even my more fitting characters for the plot don't fit enough for the story to go how it does with them.

The major ones ignored though are the 1 year time bubble (ARR to EW is AT LEAST 5 years in my mind), and nobody ever aging (or bringing up the soul being older than the body for the Scions again for that matter). Also some smaller gripes like Au Ra limbal rings being artificial and their extreme dimorphism being universal for all clans.

[Talonk]

Even tho there is a 2 year gap on dawntrail and even shadowbringers

[Cleretic]

I ignore nothing! Not only do I have no idea whatsoever what could suddenly end up story-relevant, I love the fact that's true; you can legitimately read Hildibrand solely for worldbuilding notes, and find things that actually become relevant. Sometimes that means content you don't like has useful information, so I don't throw it away out of hand. (In fact, that's why I do Hildibrand; I don't find the comedy funny at all, but you learn things that'll become really important down the line.)

That might be because I come from a roleplaying background, though; outside of concessions to allow for the fact we're all playing the same story, I find it's really important that everyone is on the same page about the common setting they're in. You can't just go 'I reject an entire expansion because I don't like it' unless you want to throw up a big unworkable wall between you and everyone else. That doesn't mean every character knows everything, but you as the players should generally be on the same page regarding out-of-character knowledge.

My character's allowed to be fairly rejecting of the Ascians' whole deal--she's a primal researcher, to her they primarily exist as a dangerous cult that's also essentially the in-universe equivalent of nuclear arms dealers, she's not aware of Amaurot and the like. But when I'm RPing with others, we both recognize that yes, they do exist as the story depicts and our characters only have certain sides of that story.

[Necrotica]

I ignore nothing! Not only do I have no idea whatsoever what could suddenly end up story-relevant, I love the fact that's true; you can legitimately read Hildibrand solely for worldbuilding notes, and find things that actually become relevant. Sometimes that means content you don't like has useful information, so I don't throw it away out of hand. (In fact, that's why I do Hildibrand; I don't find the comedy funny at all, but you learn things that'll become really important down the line.)

That might be because I come from a roleplaying background, though; outside of concessions to allow for the fact we're all playing the same story, I find it's really important that everyone is on the same page about the common setting they're in. You can't just go 'I reject an entire expansion because I don't like it' unless you want to throw up a big unworkable wall between you and everyone else. That doesn't mean every character knows everything, but you as the players should generally be on the same page regarding out-of-character knowledge.

My character's allowed to be fairly rejecting of the Ascians' whole deal--she's a primal researcher, to her they primarily exist as a dangerous cult that's also essentially the in-universe equivalent of nuclear arms dealers, she's not aware of Amaurot and the like. But when I'm RPing with others, we both recognize that yes, they do exist as the story depicts and our characters only have certain sides of that story.

None of us need to be on the same page because none of us interact with each other in the lore. We are all THE WoL and shall never interact with each other in a lore sense.