Thread: Garlemald's situation. (Spoilers 6.55)

If I were a conquered nation that suffered under Garlean occupation for 15-50 years, my chief concern would be making absolute certain that they weren't just going to resupply and conquer me right back. Besides, as others have mentioned, there's no real strategic value to any of the few territories that the Garleans have left, and nobody in Ilsabard is likely to have the military resources at this juncture to launch a campaign of vengeance outside of maybe Landis which was largely content under Garlean rule.

Originally Posted by Eisi

This is the sort of story that Endwalker (or rather the expansion that should have been the first part of Endwalker) should have already told, one in which the Eorzean Alliance doesn't march into Garlemald on their own but as part of an international effort that would include representatives of Garlemald's former satellites, some of which would absolutely want to see every last Garlean responsible for upholding the system at a stake.

While I'm willing to concede the Warrior of Light being an unfailing paragon of altruism, it is still, to this day, extremely frustrating that any internal division among the Alliance regarding the fate of the empire is glossed over by the narrative and that very few of the people who suffered the most under imperial oppression have any involvement in the resolution of that arc. Yes, somebody needs to stop the cycle of revenge that fueled Garlemald's unceasing engine of perpetual retribution against everyone and no one in particular, but it seems like a huge cop-out for everyone to just agree that they've suffered enough and that nobody is to be held for account for the atrocities that were committed in the name of Garlean imperialism that they still wholeheartedly believe in.

I also loathed the self-effacing "maybe we are the bloodthirsty conquerors" angle for the Alliance, who just showed up with only the absolute best of intentions to literally save all life on Etheirys from certain doom. It would certainly have been a better beat to play at the conclusion of a long campaign winding northward through Ilsabard than one where we simply materialize at Fandaniel's doorstep. Showing Garleans in that arc with a greater diversity of opinion than all being unfaltering nationalist sycophants might help too.