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[eorzeanscholar14]

A Thematic Analysis of Dawntrail (and Endwalker BUT MOSTLY DAWNTRAIL)

SURPRISE I REMEMBERED THIS BLOG

Anyway, I was thinking about Dawntrail and how it's thematically similar to Endwalker while still carrying its own message, and I want to ramble about it.

This is going to be a LONG post, so the analysis itself is under the cut.

So. Dawntrail has been out for two, maybe three months now, and because of uni I've not been able to play FFXIV for a while, but that's given me time to digest the new storyline a bit and the themes that are present in the story.

I think I'll divide this post into sections, for easier readability, going from the background of both expansions (yes I will tag spoilers) to my thinking on it.

Part 1: Dawntrail's Story

THERE WILL BE HEAVY SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Dawntrail picks up pretty much where the post-Endwalker MSQ left off, with the party of the WoL and their friends (now featuring Erenville and Wuk Lamat!) setting off on a boat to Tural. A storm rattles them a little bit along the way, but most people end up being fine thanks to our intrepid heroes, and we make it to Tural no problem.

Once we're there, we go through the rite of succession, and Wuk Lamat learns a lot of things along the way, but mostly that in order to be a good ruler, she has to be willing and able to learn about the people she rules over, and be willing to listen and take action to help them with their struggles.

Surprising no one, she ends up becoming the new Dawnservant (and asking her brother Koana to help her, which I love) and her father, Gulool Ja Ja, steps down so she and Koana can begin ruling.

(Oh, and they kill Valigarmanda, a Tural Vidraal that not even her father could kill, and thoroughly smoke both Bakool Ja Ja and Zoraal Ja in the trials after that. Zoraal Ja then disappears and eventually opens the gate to and enters the golden city.)

Things are peaceful for about a day. During that time, the WoL accompanies Erenville to Xak Tural so he can visit his home, and they help settle matters in Shaaloani first.

After that, though, a weird sphere pops up over Yyasulani, and airships are seen heading towards Tuliyollal. Erenville and the WoL rush back, only to find a bloodbath, and Zoraal Ja battling his own father, covered in strange technology.

Zoraal Ja wins, and Wuk Lamat grieves for her father, promising to avenge his death.

She follows Zoraal Ja's airships into Yyasulani, where she and the party discover a changed world - and meet Queen Sphene, the ruler of the land and Zoraal Ja's Queen of Reason. The new world is called Alexandria, and she leads them on a tour of it - but something is... off about the whole place.

Eventually, Sphene reveals herself to be the big bad, and we defeat her, but Wuk Lamat promises to help Gulool Ja, Zoraal Ja's child, take care of the citizens of Alexandria as if they were her own.

Part 2: Dawntrail's Important Themes

Ok, so why the overview? Well, because it helps me keep the story somewhat straight, and lets me dig into some of the most important moments in it.

The first happens in the first part of the story, and it's about accepting differences in each other's culture, and learning to live in harmony with those around you. That's literally what Tuliyollal was built on, remember. And we see Wuk Lamat learn this lesson in a number of different ways throughout the rite of succession - she grows as a person because she allows herself to learn.

If you ask me, we should all strive to be more like Wuk Lamat in that regard.

The second happens right in the middle of the story, and Wuk Lamat is not the focus of it at first, but her brother, Koana, is. He is the first to recognize his faults, and work to overcome them, turning them into strengths. In turn, Wuk Lamat follows her older brother's example, even going so far as to ask him to serve as Dawnservant alongside her.

No one is perfect for one role alone - but if we collaborate, we can achieve great things. And while this has always been a theme of FFXIV, it really shines in the newest expansion.

And finally, some new old themes to consider:

Grief, but also remembrance.

This is the one I'm going to talk most about, so buckle up.

We first see the theme of remembrance in the Yok Huy, who do not have gravestones, but rather epitaphs that depict a person's life story, that they may always be remembered. They preserve important historical events in the same way - through murals and epitaphs, such as the discovery of the golden city.

And the near extinction of their people.

People, mind you, who they are still very much grieving. After all, a LOT of people died when the Yok Huy traveled to Xak Tural. In fact, we can see this plain as day in the Chirwagur population - they still believe the Yok Huy should be the overlords of the land, although they lack the strength to do anything about it and mostly just keep to themselves. And some people do that in grief - they cling to what once was because it brings them comfort in a time where there is very little to find in their life.

You know where else we see this?

Alexandria.

In fact, that's the whole concept of the Endless right there. They are AI that wear the faces of departed loved ones so that they may be eternally remembered, never forgotten, never dying, living in a veritable paradise.

A paradise that is at least partially based on Alexandria before the Electrope Wars.

In fact, Sphene did not become Queen of Alexandria until the Electrope Wars, so really her whole existence is an example of clinging to the past.

Part Three: What Does This Have To Do With Endwalker?

Boy oh boy, am I glad you asked!

In Endwalker, the Ascians have brought about the end of the world. Everyone is scared, and they don't know what to do, and then Radz-at-Han and Garlemald nearly fall to ruin. Many people die, and many more are actively grieving.

Ourselves included.

At this point in the story, the WoL has seen MULTIPLE friends die in front of them (although really only Moenbryda is brought up time and again, but she wasn't the only one - remember Minfilia, Ysayle, Haurchefant, Papalymo? Heck, even ARDBERT, who at one point tried to kill us and later helped us kill Hades.)

How everyone handles grief in Endwalker is different - some give in to despair, and become monsters themselves. Others try their best to hold out hope for a brighter tomorrow, like those in Radz-at-Han, and Garlemald, and Sharlayan.

Yet others actively do something with their grief, channel it into something useful - like the WoL. Of course, they literally travel to the aetherial sea, confront their grief head on in the form of the souls of their dead friends, and then beat the crap out of the last remaining Ancient who may as well be a god at this point so they can use her last bits of aether to power their ship to travel to the end of the universe and battle the literal embodiment of despair. And we can't all do that. But the message is the same no matter what: No matter how grief affects you, things can and will get better, even if you have to try and try and fail again and again to make it so.

Also can I just talk about that last fight with Zenos really quick? Because to me, that symbolizes the WoL finally letting go of what haunts them. Zenos, to me, is the shadow that haunts the Warrior of Light - literally. Not only is he our mirror, in Endwalker, he is a metaphor for grief, and how it never truly leaves, even when we've made peace with it.

And considering the real-world events going on at the time of Endwalker's release, this makes sense. It was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, death tolls were climbing by the day, and many people were losing hope.

Part 4: How Does THAT Tie Into Dawntrail?

In talking about how Dawntrail and Endwalker are similar, we need to also consider the real-world events around the time of its release.

COVID-19 is still a very real threat, and ruins if not ends many people's lives daily, no matter how much we pretend it's gone away.

In multiple countries, there are elections being held that could determine whether certain groups of people even get BASIC RIGHTS, and in multiple other countries, people are being massacred for (from what I can tell) no other reason except genocide.

While Dawntrail begins as simply a new beginning to a new story, it ends as a reminder of the previous expansion's message - and a new addition to it.

Those who have left us are not truly gone, so long as we remember their stories. They can't come back to us, but they can stay in our memories until we ourselves pass on, and in that regard they never truly leave us.

[eorzeanscholar14]

Alice does have some problems, including PTSD. I mean, she's fought and ended at least three wars, and saved an entire star from certain doom. She's definitely seen some things.

She has frequent nightmares of being back in the Vault, of being unable to save not only Haurchefant this time, but all the other people she feels attached to. Sometimes she'll blink and find herself back in the Vault, or Doma, or Ala Mhigo, or even the Praetorium. G'raha is the only person she's told so far, although she's definitely considered telling Estinien more than once, knowing he'd relate to her somewhat.

Because of all the loss she's suffered, she's not terribly trusting of people. Like I said, she's only told G'raha because he was the first to notice that something was wrong with his hero. She feels like she doesn't have to have a strong persona around him - she can be as vulnerable as she needs to be. Estinien is a close second, though, and a good replacement for when G'raha isn't there - after all, she rationalizes, he served in the Dragonsong War for far longer than her. Even if he doesn't have the experience of ending wars as she does, he knows what war is like better than most.

‪#WOLpromptAday‬

‪March 1, 2024‬

Does your WOL have inner demons? How do they present themselves? How do they handle them? What made them manifest? Was it something they were born with or something that came from trauma? How does this affect their relationship with others? ‬

[eorzeanscholar14]

DT Thoughts Part 5

Spoilers for the end of Dawntrail under the cut:

OK. OK. So. Where to start?

I actually like Solution 9. The music in the Backrooms gives me a small headache, but other than that I like the atmosphere, and the lore.

Sphene immediately rubbed off on me as suspicious, and not without reason. I don't normally go from loving to hating a character. It's usually the other way around - but not for her.

OTIS, on the other hand, I LOVE. He's amazing.

Zoraal Ja's fight was really fucking cool, and I enjoyed the music as well.

Living Memory is such a nice area, and I started to actually get sad as the terminals got shut down. When Krile met her parents and then had to say goodbye, I teared up.

When Erenville had to say goodbye to Cahciua, that killed me. I was sobbing by that point. I thought this expansion was supposed to be MORE lighthearted than Endwalker!

The music in the last dungeon and trial is really good (although I like the first phase of Interphos more than the second one, musicwise).

The second theme of Dawntrail, however, I don't really like all that much. Some parts of it are good, like when there's a choir singing WITH Amanda Achen, but Amanda herself doesn't sound good to me. I'm sure she's a great singer, really, but I don't like her voice.

Above all, this was a GREAT expansion, and I'm excited to see where we go next!

(Also the melee role questline was super fun, and I love how the key is a concept crystal - dammit Azem why do you have to cause chaos).

[eorzeanscholar14]

Alice prefers to sleep with none. Being born and raised in Ul'dah, she tends to run a little hot sometimes, something she's only really aware of in colder temperatures. So she prefers to sleep with no blanket. When she eventually falls in love with someone (read: Haurchefant, Estinien, Zenos, G'raha) and moves in with them, they are delighted that they now have an adorable hot water bottle.

Until it's summer and Alice refuses to stop cuddling them, keeping them up all night because BY THE GODS IT IS HOT.

How many blankets does your WoL need to sleep?