Why should any of us root for Wuk Lamat?

[AnimalsALot]

It makes no sense for anyone to be rooting for Wuk Lamat in the coming expansion.

Exactly why should we care whether she becomes the Dawnservant?

First, Wuk Lamat reads to me as an extremely naive, childish, careless, and hotheaded character. She bluffs about being strong even though she couldn't even handle a talking coeurl.





Of course, basic common sense would inform us that the developers intend to let Wuk Lamat grow as a character. But that doesn't explain why, in the current moment, we as the WoL have any desire to help her become the Dawnservant. Why would we help someone who is at this moment completely unfit to be a leader in terms of temperament?



Are we as the WoL ready to get into politics we know next to nothing about, and have zero personal connection to just for an adventure? Since when is our moral compass aligned with meddling in politics so that we can aid a clearly unfit leader to become the Dawnservant?

When you select the "I'd rather not get involved in politics" line, G'raha Tia just tells you that your sense of adventure would overcome any sense of prudence. Because, screw Tural politics I guess, we're going to help this childish kid become the Dawnservant because ADVENTURE!

Besides, we have options. Now, the WoL would probably not know who Koana and Zoraal Ja are, but we do, and I'd imagine that once the WoL meets Koana and Zoraal Ja in Dawntrail, it makes even less sense why we're still sticking with Wuk Lamat (at least, before the possible eventual betrayal by one of the two which is what the story seems to be hinting at).





Exactly why would anyone support Wuk Lamat against these two qualified candidates?

What has Wuk Lamat done? Maybe she has done something, but the story hasn't told us any. What is Wuk Lamat's goal even? Why would I support her generic yearning for "peace" for Tural when Zoraal Ja has brought peace to the nation? Why would I support her hoping for a better future for Tural when Koana has concrete, practical ideas for ushering Tural into a new age of prosperity with technology? How is Wuk Lamat going to bring a better future for Tural? By dreaming?

Now of course, once again, a lot of this would probably be answered in Dawntrail. But herein lies the problem: we as the WoL have absolutely zero reason to go to Tural to help an unseasoned, childish, teenager secure the Dawnservant position right now. The story does not give us any impetus to meddle in foreign politics. You can't give characters their motivations of doing something after they already did that something.

If Wuk Lamat came to us in 6.4 and slowly explained that she wants to be the leader of Tural because the other two candidates (and the two-headed racist) wants to shut off Tural, and that she's the only one who wants to open up Tural, this would align with our in-universe ethical positions, since the Scions are largely a group of people that favor nations having dialogues with each other (remember that we opposed Sharlayan closing off).

If a few of the candidates came to us in 6.4, but we suspect that something is off with Koana when he talks about how technology will lead us all to ascend to become like the Ancients, then we have a reason to help Wuk Lamat, naive and immature as she is, because Koana's decisions might lead to disaster.

But we don't have any of that. Wuk Lamat just came to us and we just immediately agreed? Without thinking of any ramifications on Tural's politics? These positions seem to span decades. Are we really ready to help usher in decades of terrible and naive policies in Tural just because we wanted an adventure and readily say yes to the first person that asks us for a favor??

Can you imagine if some random person on the street that we don't know came up to us and said "hey, could you help me become the leader of Ala Mhigo" and we just agreed to it?

[TheMightyMollusk]

The Void storyline really needed to wrap up at least a patch earlier so we'd have more time to get invested in the new story. Right now, the title has no real answer for me, because I simply don't know enough about Wuk Lamat to give a better answer.

[Boblawblah]

I don't support her YET. I'm just going on an adventure to see new things.

[Hasrat]

Story-wise, WoL is not explicitly supporting her right from the start, per se... it's that WoL is presented with an opportunity for new adventure during a time when WoL has fuckall else to do. You're going along because the only other option presented to you is basically to retire.

[Frost1800]

My take is that the "we" root for her precisely because she will be an ineffective ruler as you described. She would need us more to stay in power than other candidates. It means that "we" will get more influence internationally should she succeed. Someone like Lolorito is quite shrewd politically, but we might not desire an ally like him after what happened.
Politics of course is part of the consideration of our actions. For example, Y'shtola back in ARR explained that Lominsans might not be in the right in their conflict against the Kobolds, but we were helping them any way. We helped Ishgardians because they provided us shelter in our time of need, rather than because their cause was necessarily just.

Of course, the above is not to absolve SE from excoriation, as they can do a better job of explaining. It was just trying to provide a possible explanation for Wuk Lamat's lack of quality as a ruler as you mentioned.

[GrizzlyTank]

cat

/10char

[Somnolence]

The setup for this expansion is very weak.

Heavensward had the betrayal arc.
Stormblood had Ala Mhigo resistance leading into confrontation with Garlemald
Shadowbringers had Graha yanking Scion souls into the first
Endwalker had Fandaniel shenanigans
Dawntrail has.. hunt of random monsters with some random naive character that wants us to rope into political stuff on unrelated continent?

[Jeeqbit]

basic common sense would inform us that the developers intend to let Wuk Lamat grow

Answered this topic yourself.

Why would we help someone who is at this moment completely unfit to be a leader in terms of temperament?

I agree, which is why I needed more information to make decision. The information that there is a candidate that intends to wage war with the eastern nations such as Eorzea now that Garlemald is out of the picture, is what convinced me we needed to step in.

When you select the "I'd rather not get involved in politics" line, G'raha Tia just tells you that your sense of adventure would overcome any sense of prudence. Because, screw Tural politics I guess, we're going to help this childish kid become the Dawnservant because ADVENTURE!

I didn't really appreciate that, but fortunately this was saved by having us take time to make a decision, go on a hunt, have dinner and through this, learn that there is an actually good reason to get involved, which is the threat to the eastern nations like Eorzea from one of the candidates.

I'd imagine that once the WoL meets Koana and Zoraal Ja in Dawntrail, it makes even less sense why we're still sticking with Wuk Lamat

I agree, so I will be keeping an open mind about the candidates. But I am sure the MSQ is going to give us some sort of reason why it has to be Wuk, like making the others villains or something.

[GrizzlyTank]

The setup for this expansion is very weak.

Heavensward had the betrayal arc.
Stormblood had Ala Mhigo resistance leading into confrontation with Garlemald
Shadowbringers had Graha yanking Scion souls into the first
Endwalker had Fandaniel shenanigans
Dawntrail has.. hunt of random monsters with some random naive character that wants us to rope into political stuff on unrelated continent?

Because dawntrail and the EW patches are soft reboots. Pretty much trying to settle how the story will progress from now on without the red lines we had with Ascian and Garlemald.

[Wyssahtyn]

coeurls are cats, not birds