#Fordola rem Lupis

[eemamminy-art]

some ffxiv ladies that I enjoy :3

[thetinyscald-blog]

fordola rem lupis how i miss you so

[theninthlaw]

FORDOLA LUPIS

[risingoflights]

the wind beneath my wings

[goldfishu]

[coolchulainn]

lysepost

[alicesadventuresinffxiv]

While I'm in a gposing mood, I wanted to do some Fordolyse! Also it's @eemamminy-art's birthday today, and I figured you might like something Stardew Valley-inspired? So here's Lyse taking Fordola to an autumn harvest fair in Gridania!

(Does Gridania have agricultural festivals? Well it does now ^^;)

Fufucha: And one for you as well, of course! Our newest cultivar from the Greatloam Growery.

Beatin: Long time no see, Yda - or rather, Lyse! Aren't you going to introduce your girl?

Fordola: …It was fun. We should go again next year.

[etroveria]

Lyse and Fordola~!

[sephira-illustration]

Smol Fordola for your viewing pleasure!

[autumnslance]

In reference to this post I reblogged earlier, but don't want to muck up UC's activity:

#i think it's more important to see that redemption is in the eye of the beholder #not everybody (characters or real people) will accept the same type or amount of repentance for the same sins #some people might not care at all if the person who wronged them feels sorry; only if they materially repaid their crimes #others can feel the opposite #and either way that's their prerogative #you can disagree with the characters or the fans or the writers about who “deserves” OR has “achieved” redemption and that's okay #because it's ultimately a complex philosophical issue #like i agree with OP!!! but there's media literacy in accepting that not everyone will

I'm going to disagree with many of these tags, especially it being "in the eye of the beholder" and would argue it's more media literate to recognize when a character has a workable redemption arc even if one disagrees they "should" get one. It took me a long time to learn this cuz of how we're usually taught redemption = forgiveness in Western (especially very Christianized, and especially if explicitly raised Christian) culture:

It doesn't rely on anyone but the person seeking redemption.

Yeah, it's the wronged party's prerogative to never forgive, to think the perpetrator's atonement (and/or punishment) is not enough and never will be. Anyone (characters and actual people) who sympathize, and who are on their side, can agree it's not ever enough and that character/person's sins are unforgivable.

And that still doesn't matter to their redemption.

We have an example of a workable redemption arc that not all accept in Final Fantasy XIV with Fordola's situation, through the Endwalker healer role quests. She was raised a collaborator of Ala Mhigo's imperial occupiers, and thought the best way to help her people was to soldier for the empire, becoming their Butcher.

In the Stormblood patches, Raganfrid says he will never forgive her; he thanks her for the aid she gave in the throne room that day, but that's all. And even in the EW healer role quests, their interactions are complicated. He still can't forgive the collaborators, even as he works to reintegrate them into Ala Mhigan society. He recognizes many thought they had no choice. He can't, won't, forget the pain of losing his own loved ones to them. This is stated multiple times.

And others, like M'rahz, Sarisha, and M'naago also struggle, also say they won't forgive...but reluctantly agree they can understand how for the sake of their families, the collaborators felt pushed against a wall, and what lengths have they themselves gone to for their own families? M'naago even scolds Fordola: she doesn't get to give up, she has to keep working--or she dies as exactly what everyone said she was.

Fordola starts out as the one punished for her sins. Through the story, she makes her choices to change and fight and work for her people as a free woman. There are still those who despise the Butcher, and always will. Redemption comes from Fordola's actions, Fordola's choices. Who forgives her and who doesn't can't change that she has changed, and continues to do so.

And in the interest of fairness, for the opposite of Fordola, we have Laurentius. In A Realm Reborn, he collaborated with the empire, selling out his nation. He came out of his punishment wanting a new chance, so joined the Crystal Braves...and immediately fell under Ilberd's sway. While others remained loyal and stuck to their morals (and paid for it with imprisonment or even death), Laurentius went along with all of Ilberd's plans. And in the end, the player gets an opinion in the punishment he and his comrade face, but it's clear from talking to Raubahn there isn't much hope. Laurentius had his chances, but he didn't make any effort to actually change--so faced the consequences.

For Reference for the Healer Role Quests: Garland Tools Healer quest text starting with "Far From Free", and my own saved text in Gdocs (raw, not very organized compared to my later saved/updated docs).

(Nero's the war criminal who...didn't even get a slap on the wrist, he just waltzed into a leadership meeting 15 mins late with Starbucks and has been helping us save the world since. Gaius is the war criminal that went through traumas, saw his privileged preconceptions torn apart, and is starting down that road in the wake of Werlyt to clean up his mistakes and not let his children's sacrifices be in vain. None of these characters "need" punishment to decide to change; some of it simply happens as part of their stories, but they make their own choices and actions toward atonement.)

(Also redemption is usually an ongoing process, which is why "Death Equals Redemption", like how Yotusyu's situation is framed, is so dicey and often unsatisfying; are they actually changed, or they just getting out of putting in that effort to? Nothing indicated Yotsuyu actually cared to change, as sympathetic as she was in the end! But she has her redemptive moment for her fans, and the people who hate/won't forgive her also "win"--the trope is a "have your cake and eat it too" writing cop-out IMO at this point.)

[rene-elric]

a traitor to your people 

[eemamminy-art]

Commission for @oserillia-aenor !! Happy pride to Oserillia and Fordola!! 🥺🥺🧡🤍💗💙🤍💗 Thank you for commissioning me!

[animefeminist]

Redemption and Retribution: Female antagonists in Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood

Spoilers for the Stormblood expansion of Final Fantasy XIV

Have you heard about critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV with a free trial up to level 70 with no restrictions on playtime including the award-winning expansion Heavensward? It also includes bereft of awards and highly polarizing expansion Stormblood, so obviously that’s the one I’m going to talk about.

Stormblood is a story about revolutionary war. The countries of Ala Mhigo (fantasy Middle East) and Doma (fantasy Japan) have suffered for well over a decade under the rule of the Garlean Empire, and the player character’s plan to overcome the superior military might of the Empire is to stage a simultaneous revolt in both east and west and spread the Garlean forces thin enough to make victory possible. As a result the expansion is essentially split into two halves, with each half having their own antagonist to deal with. These antagonists are two women, Fordola in Ala Mhigo and Yotsuyu in Doma. The two of them have similar histories of suffering under occupation and eventually joining the oppressor, and both are also given an attempt at a redemption arc for their numerous war crimes after their defeat. However, their treatment and ultimate fate in the story are starkly different, and in this way they clearly expose underlying gendered biases in how their writers think about Evil Women(TM) and who “deserves” redemption in narratives about trauma and war.

On top of that, FFXIV has some rather notorious translation differences between its localizations (causing confusion as early as 2015), and as a result the way each translation team decided to portray these women shows their opinion on the matter too. The global client of the game contains Japanese, English, German, and French language options. I’ve personally read through Stormblood in both English and German, while for Japanese and French I enlisted help to compare specific scenes.

Read it at Anime Feminist!

[opteekaal]

Fordola || xivdays

[pettyartist]

Oh, hey! It's Fordola, leader of the sku-- wait a second.

[space-diablo]

I DID IT!!! I FINISHED!

Found out that Haurchefant is really hard to draw but I did my best. Flo is a bit embarrassed to be here but well...

Thanks all for participating =333