I’m very happy to see that the writers considered the well being of captive animals in the Dawntrail story! As a person who shares a home with a parrot, I was distressed by the final patch of Endwalker and nearly quit the game. I’m glad that my fears of a hunting-centric expansion were unfounded!

At the same time, I feel that it is worth contemplating the treatment of animals. The freedom that the Pelupelu won from the Yok Hoy, or the sentiment that artisans should not be used as forced labor, is not extended to the many animals featured in the story. Is it truly kindness to convince an inquisitive alpaca to approach you by using a scented saddle, and then lock it in a pen for the rest of its life? No animal has a spinal structure intended to support the weight of a rider or cargo, but many gentle creatures oblige humans in the same way a tired family member might allow a young child unlimited piggyback rides. Like that child, humans often enjoy themselves without thinking deeply about how they are using animals.

In Mamook we use smoke bombs to avoid killing wivres, but only because the wivres are useful as tools for humanity. Why do we choose to take the lives of animals which aren’t useful to us, instead of learning to live with them just as the different peoples of Tural learned to live with each other?

I think these themes are important in our world today, where only 4% of mammals by mass live in the wild, and we are rapidly losing biodiversity and wild habitat. Beastmaster will be an incredible opportunity to potentially open player’s eyes to the well being and proper treatment of animals. Since it is very clear that the writers are already considering this, I wanted to make a post encouraging a continuation of this sentiment. I would love to see FFXIV increase players’ consideration of animals, in the same way that the game’s story has championed appreciation of diverse language-speaking societies.