#He is not the WOL's sanity he is her enabler.

[the-weeping-dawn]

I lied because the ffxiv ocs also very notably exist in a pair, or Kas was originally the only one I RPed on, where Milah was a side comment that evolved into a being.

Mch main in that it's his actual job. Can use sage wings because he took them apart to see how they work. Seems deceptively like the sane one of the two, just hides it better until there's magitek involved via being absurd levels of deadpan.

[atlasmisery]

fatalism vs. existentialism in shadowbringers

i have reason to believe one of shadowbringers’ main themes is fatalism vs. existentialism. eulmore & vauthry represents the former, while the crystarium & the crystal exarch represents the latter.

the fight between these two ideals, narratively, reaches it’s peak and conclusion after the WOL faces vauthry in the innocence trial. but i believe that the more interesting parts of this conflict lies in it’s foundation and build-up. our introductions to the respective cities, and the meeting between vauthry and the exarch.

eulmore vs. the crystarium.

when we are (very smoothly) introduced to the crystarium, we’re immediately given a clear impression of what kind of city we landed into. this is a post-apocalyptic safe haven. here, everyone works together to keep that title. in the face of the horrible tragedy of the flood of light, the people of the crystarium banded together to keep this little corner of life alive, even if it takes some hard work. katliss makes a point of this herself, when you first talk to her. you can get what you need, but in return, you’ll have to work for it. 

life isn’t easy in the crystarium but, there’s little choice in the matter. yet, even then, it doesn’t seem like people suffer or beat themselves up to just survive in the crystarium. the honest hard work everyone puts into feels so genuine, within every resident of the crystarium lies a resolve to survive in a world completely ruthless to them.

they represent the existentialist thought. the world of the first is cruel, and one could say it renders all lives meaningless. it has become a blank and dying world, where sin-eaters rule, and men suffer. yet, at the face of a world that seems so pointless, the residents of crystarium continue to create meaning in their lives. 

eulmore is the complete opposite of the crystarium. it consists of people who have grown complacent, lazy and cruel-- relying on those they deem ‘beneath them’ to serve them. this already draws a sharp contrast with the values of the crystarium, wherein you have to put honest hard work to attain what you want. in eulmore, it’s given to people on a silver platter, because they value hedonism above all things.

this hedonism is drawn from the eulmore residents’ clear fatalism.

the eulmore residents have long accepted the world is approaching it’s end, and the only thing left to do is to make merry and drown in pleasure. they have thrown away both the past and future, and choose to live in the present, not working a day to a better tomorrow, nor honoring those who have fallen in the past.

(not to mention, the obvious hostility the crystarium residents have for the eulmore residents, having insulted them numerous times, it’s already a very obvious impression to the player that these two cities are at a conflict even past the metaphorical.)

the eulmore residents have resigned to their fate, and see no meaning in their lives anymore. the crystarium residents fight for the morrow, and strive to create meaning in their lives. 

vauthry vs. the crystal exarch

i believe that vauthry and the crystal exarch are foils of each other. how they rule, their ideals-- everything, sharply contrast one another, just like the very city states they rule. they also represent fatalism and existentialism in their purest form.

vauthry is an ‘all-giving god’ that can be commonly found in extreme fatalist beliefs. in eulmore and gate town, the people have completely lost their own agency, stopped thinking, and leave it all up to vauthry (or those serving vauthry) to do the thinking for them.

this is taken to an almost very literal extent, wherein vauthry feeds eulmore residents and khoulsia residents ‘meol’ to completely hypnotize them and bring them under his control. 

the people of eulmore do not seek meaning in their lives anymore, but banal and simple desires for meaningless pleasure, all thanks to vauthry’s stance as an all-giving god that provides for them and hypnotizes them to his whims.

the exarch is the culmination of the existentialist beliefs of the people who survived the 8th umbral calamity, the crystarium people and himself.

both the post-calamity source and pre-crystarium side of norvrandt suffered from an apocalyptic hellscape with a lack of true, coherent civilization. but, the exarch had become a ‘symbol of hope and meaning’ to both of them.

in the case of post-calamity source, the exarch was a ‘symbol of hope and meaning’ due to the fact he was their only hope of restoring the source to it’s former glory. he, possessing the power of the crystal tower, can help mend the first and therefore save the source. 

in the case of the first, the exarch was a ‘symbol of hope and meaning’ because he was the one that gave the gentle push to the people to create the crystarium. he is the one who, as much as he dislikes putting this way, ‘rules it’ and guides the people to a better tomorrow. without him, their efforts would be much harder than usual, and because of him, he helps create meaning in people’s lives without taking away their agency.

in the case of the exarch himself, or rather, in this paragraph, ‘g’raha tia’, g’raha himself was awoken to a world without meaning. he struggles with this, but eventually wins out because he creates his meaning for himself: he wants to save the warrior of light and the world. in a world so absurd and cruel, he decides for himself what he wants and works towards it, if not for a lack of choice, but for the sake of his own sanity as well.

these two extremely different characters clash hard upon meeting each other, and it’s very fascinating.

at the start of the conversation, the crystal exarch asks a valid question, and vauthry reinforces fatalism. he calls himself a ‘god’, and emphasizes on his determinedness to provide the people the mindless pleasure they want. he considers himself separate from his people, and views them like animals to herd, not as individuals. he is ‘their god’ providing them ‘sanctuary’. sanctuary being a world with no meaning, and only power to him.

while you could say he has a point in regards to spending the last few remaining days happy and blissful, this point of his is conflicted by various inhumanities he commits.

forcibly hypnotizing people and feeding them meol, that makes them more susceptible to it

preying on those who are suffering in gate town, seeing them as expendables who can be invited into eulmore for a short time as servants, and then turned into sin-eaters and meol afterwards.

the complete lack of regard for his people’s agency, and basically just treating them like pets.

while it IS true that it was basically impossible and completely difficult to save norvrandt in any way, the fact he enables the sin-eaters (the very beings that terrorize and kill people) without any regard for those who have suffered at their hands is... disturbing.

he has a very “hm, makes sense.” sort of goal, but the things he does and the things he say to reinforce that goal are absolutely disgusting. he has no faith in his people, and only in himself.

the exarch responds to his speech with a clever quip, and then a counter.

whereas vauthry flaunts his complete lack of faith in people, the exarch expresses his belief in them. vauthry sees the people as mindless animals to be herded before they hurt themselves, but the exarch sees them as individuals and people to be given guidance and true sanctuary-- a better tomorrow.

vauthry protests. he claims that people only live in the present, and do not care about the future. after all, why work hard for a tomorrow you’ll never see? but, again the exarch counters. because he’s fully aware, and has seen himself, the kinds of people who’d work towards a tomorrow they’d never see.

the exarch is the living proof of the existentialist ideals of those of the source and the first. the people who desire a better tomorrow, the people who desire meaning in their lives, and meaning in their children’s lives, and in their children’s children’s lives.

he refuses to take away, or disrespect, the agency of people, and acknowledges vauthry’s ideals for what they are-- gilded chains. 

and with a smile, the exarch re-affirms his stance, for he believes in those who those who dare to dream of meaning in a meaningless world.

shadowbringers is a story that confronts many themes, and i believe one of these is what it means to live in a world that doesn’t care about you. and seeing it confidently defend the decision to continue living, to strive for meaning for yourself, instead of succumbing to fatalism-- is hopeful and heart-warming.