faelune-home

[faelune-home]

"...then i will become history's most brutal queen."

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[faelune-home]

the damsel and the hero: some thoughts on minfilia and elidibus

I get why many people have (understandable, justified, legitimate) gripes to this day about how Minfilia was handled, but I think you don't have to change anything about how she's presented in game to arrive at a reading that lets her feel like more than a sacrificial victim. Within the game as it exists, Minfilia is already a rich and layered heroic character. She is not a damsel or a tragic hero but a victorious figure whose very exit from the narrative affirmed her own ideals, and she controlled her own destiny to the end. All you have to do to see this more clearly is read her against one of her underexamined foils: Elidibus.

Spoilers through the end of Pandemonium (6.4) below.

After 5.3 dropped, the devs mentioned that because they basically had to develop and pay off Elidibus in the space of a patch or two, they drew conscious parallels between him and other characters. The game highlights the G'raha parallels in the scene just before Seat of Sacrifice. There's also the parallels to Alphinaud that people have noticed in both the broad strokes of their characterization (idealistic short kings who believe in the power of rhetoric and diplomacy to achieve true and lasting understanding between people, whose mission to save the world is forever held in balance with their duty to save those they love) and in specific lines of dialogue.

But a far more direct narrative parallel than either character is Minfilia. Like Elidibus and Zodiark, Minfilia offered herself to Hydaelyn, serving as the Word of the Mother, only to be called forth once more when an intractable conflict between her allies threatened the stability of the world. Both were messianic young figures who nonetheless lead their older allies by both example and command. Both, seeing an opportunity to save not just their close friends but everyone, offered themselves up to a higher power in an act not of desperation but of deliberate will. You can even poetically gloss both Antecedent and Emissary as "The One That Goes Before."

The difference between the two of them is that at every turn, where Elidibus failed, Minfilia succeeded.

Elidibus returned to broker peace between the Hydaelyn faction and the Convocation. He failed, and the result was the Sundering. Minfilia, entreated by Urianger, came back to resolve the conflict between the Warriors of Darkness (Hydaelyn's champions and Warriors of Light themselves) and the Scions, and succeeded in saving two worlds by her actions.

But more than that, Elidibus provided us a picture of what it actually looks like to lose your identity to a primal like Zodiark. He'd lived a thousand thousand lifetimes as himself and he was so broken he could scarcely remember anything more than his name and his duty. He is one of the most explicitly tragic figures in all of FFXIV, and his final sendoff in 5.3 was an image of him plagued by unanswerable grief, which for him was a consequence of his failure: "The rains have ceased, and we have been graced with another beautiful day. But you are not here to see it."

Meanwhile, in the preceding expansion, you actually had the chance to spend multiple scenes with Minfilia and they're all extremely clear: unlike Ardbert or Elidibus, after 100 years this was still Minfilia, she remained resolute in her mission to see the First saved, but she had not forgotten the woman she was or the people she loved. In both 3.4 and 5.0, she went out as herself, head held high.

Speaking to the Warrior of Light before she departs for the First: "So many times have I watched you depart, my heart filled with worry, and ever did you return to me in triumph. Someday, when I have found a way to free this star from Her sorrow, I promise you I shall repay the favor."

Her final words to Ryne: "No one, however powerful, is immune to the whisperings of doubt and despair. Do not give in to them, but do not deny them either. Look instead to the light within, that you may continue to serve as a beacon to others."

In both instances, we were given a Minfilia who had not merely accepted her fate, but who had chosen it of her own volition and rose confidently to meet it, even imparting to her successor some final hard-won words of wisdom. And unlike Elidibus, she met her friends again at duty's end; they live, and they are happy, and she is content. She's already heroic, but the contrast to Elidibus (and Ardbert, and Emet) underlines the extent to which we should see her as extraordinarily driven, self-possessed and ultimately victorious on her own terms.

And in making the connection between Elidibus and Minfilia, we can begin to let Elidibus's characterization inform hers in retrospect.

Elidibus as we see him in 5.3 and earlier more specifically paralleled Minfilia as the Word of the Mother. Prior to that point in her arc, Minfilia's parallel was Themis, the pre-Zodiark Elidibus we glimpse briefly in the 5.3 Echo flashbacks and would only meet properly an expansion later in Pandemonium. The important thing about Themis for our purposes is that he was not some naive or too-young figurehead tricked into serving as Zodiark's Emissary. This was not a Crystal Braves situation for him. In Pandemonium, you can see how the kind of man Themis was very clearly lead to him choosing to be offered up to Zodiark. He took seriously the principles and duties of the Convocation. He valued dearly the lives of all people generally and his friends and comrades in particular, but held those truths in balance rather than prizing one. He was rational, clear-sighted, and decisive.

All of these, obviously, were true of Minfilia. And unlike Elidibus, whose ascension into Zodiark was forever somewhat obscured by the narrative, we were quite close to Minfilia before she became the Word of the Mother. We were quite familiar with her grief and guilt over surviving where Louisoix did not, her fear that she could neither fill his shoes as a leader nor serve in action as others did. She confided in us about the difficulty of her task in serving as the pillar of strength and guiding light for the rest of the Scions. She despaired alongside the player character at both the death of Moenbryda and the disastrous events of the Banquet. We know what she believed, what she valued, what she feared, what frustrated her. When she chose to depart for the First, it paid off very directly everything else the game has said about her through 3.4. Her arc was one of trepidation and doubt, and it ended in her ultimate victory and an astonishingly clean win that compromises none of her values.

Both Urianger and some fans raised the question of whether it was wrong for Urianger to ever offer her the choice of sacrificing herself for the First at all. Minfilia, for her part, got a chance to speak to this directly: "Have we not walked together in the light of the Crystal, and at Her bidding borne witness to the joys and sorrows of this land? Each and every one of you knows my heart. If this be the price I must pay, I pay it gladly." It did not matter whether she was given this particular decision or not. You could have offered her this dilemma in a thousand different permutations in a thousand thousand different scenarios. This was the choice she made. This was her choice, forever and always: to save everyone she can, in honor of those she loves.

Candidly, I understand critiques of Minfilia's writing far better than any praise it could ever receive. Nothing I've written above answers the clear and obvious truths that she is underwritten, that she does not get much to do or much screentime for a putatively important character, that it is very easy and common to read her death as a fridging, that she is unfairly dismissed by many due to her role in the narrative and the way she leaves it. Her sacrifice plays into specific gendered tropes that are disappointingly common to see. Those things all remain true.

But I think as we remember those things we should also keep in mind that she does still get a complete arc that is interesting and thematically rich in itself, and which puts her in some senses on the same level in the narrative as characters like Elidibus, Emet-Selch, and Ardbert.

Her sacrifice continues to inform the game. Her literal ghost returns to affirm the truth and value of her beliefs and the choices she made. Her guiding words ("For those we have lost, for those we can yet save") remain a mantra not just for the Scions but specifically for the player character. They are not an empty slogan. The phrase succinctly conveys an ideal of all-encompassing humanism and compassion arising from grief. The ideal those words represent is one of many organizing principles and responses to grief that the game examines (because a lot of FFXIV is about grief and how we respond to tragedy and change), it is Minfilia who develops and articulates it, and it is the one the heroes continue to align themselves with. It is the same principle that leads her to the First, and G'raha, and us too. It is Minfilia's ideals--Minfilia's heroism--which continue to serve as the model to which the Warrior of Light aspires, in the game's text.

Truthfully, my gripe is this. I think it is very easy to imagine a male Minfilia--same lines, same screentime, same blocking, same ass cut-out--appearing in place of the Minfilia we have. And I feel quite sincerely, and quite frustratedly, that if we had Malefilia, both the fans and detractors of that character would ascribe to him more thoughtfulness and more thematic depth than the Minfilia we already have, even though their lines would be exactly the same. We are so ready to see the damsel we expect in Minfilia that we are unwilling to see her as the hero she is in the text, and my hope is that by holding her up to her mirror, Elidibus, we may see her as a rich character in her own right all the more clearly.

[faelune-home]

... nah

[faelune-home]

I Hope Y'all Like My New Triple Triad Deck

[faelune-home]

explaining old praetorium to people who never experienced it makes me feel like a crazy person. like yeah there were 8 players there. the tanks pulled every single add so that the rest of the party could hit a button, then they pulled two full hallways of enemies so the party could skip ahead, and sure they usually died but it was prae so that didn't matter.

then after the first boss you had to get on the elevator. all 8 of you. at the same time. yeah if we forgot someone we have to go back. then every single person has to pick up a key to turn on the magitek armor and get on another elevator. hope you didn't miss that one.

nero was whatever but gaius barely did any mechanics, he really just fell over. then you'd have the whole ultima weapon fight, which was two phases and one of them you barely did any damage. oh and at the end you fought lahabrea. if you were lucky he was Lahabread and if he lived more than ten seconds it was a miracle. congrats for spending 45 minutes of your life in prae, have some exp.

[faelune-home]

🌸 affirmations 🌸

there is nothing wrong with me

it is the world that has to change

it is the world that will change

revenge makes poor anodyne, but it will have to do

that feeling in the pit of my stomach is the dragon

heaven exists to be summited

an eye for an eye gives me two eyes

my polearm technique is unparalleled

[faelune-home]

“My dear Dashing Drest, Do you dream of rain?                                                                                                                       The Ones You Killed“ 

Ghosts…ghosts…ghosts. Three years, not a single night of peace and now…they rise. 

[faelune-home]

if you're a black mage main and sad that the enochian timer is gone just come play bard we got THREE DIFFERENT timers and you can fat finger two of them at the same time on accident and just fucking cry for the rest of the fight

[faelune-home]

We regret to inform; The Grand Eorzean Alliance, the Eastern United Front, the Sharlayan Council, Satrap of Thavnair, Garlean Remnants, as well as the Students of Baldesion, the Heads of Resolve and Reason. That the Warrior of Light cannot presently attend the current overarching calamity that is threatening the face of Etheirys, for the seventeenth time, this morning. Because their bed is warm and they are easily seduced by the eepy.

[faelune-home]

your humorous post has delighted me. i will now absorb it into my dark crystal

[faelune-home]

QUEST ACCEPTED

get the fuck out

[faelune-home]

i was trying to explain something that happened in a ffxiv dungeon to my sister (who does not play ffxiv) so i made this masterful artist's rendition

[faelune-home]

[I am falling

I am fading

I am drowning

Help me to breathe

I am hurting

I have lost it all

I am losing

Help me to breathe]

[faelune-home]

To me the difference between the Leveilleur twins’ brands of Smartness is that Alphinaud is like a dog that learns Tricks extremely well and with great enthusiasm meanwhile Alisaie is like a border collie who NEEDS a Job or else it’ll start learning how to open doors

[faelune-home]

He worries

[faelune-home]

By the way I remain firm in my belief that the only reason Alisaie comes across as less of a Rich Kid is that she lets Alphinaud say the Stupid Rich Kid Shit first (this is not hard because he talks VERY much) and then just. Acts like she knew that was Rich Kid Shit all along. I think it took Alisaie a Long While to not be mourning the loss of her huge gorgeous perfect bed but someone made fun of Alphinaud for mentioning the "insufficent conditions for rest" early on so now she can never say a thing about it.

[faelune-home]

After Red Dead, I think my next card deck is going to be an exclusively FFXIV oracle deck. Time to get drawing.