#ffxiv ericthonios

[risualto]

@hermeswol Made an Ancients friendship/relationship template, but I didn't want to derail the post I saw, so I made a new post. Blank template at the bottom, and anyone who sees this and plays FF14 (or daydreams about it enough to have a WoL/Azem) should add to this post or make their own and tag me :D

Anyway, this is how I see Inky's relationships with these characters post-6.55, post-Panda. Explanations under the cut ^_^

So, the easy ones:

Inky and Meteion mutually like each other very much and wish they could have been closer before Meteion became the Endsinger. If they'd had more time together, that might have developed into a sisterly relationship, but as it stands, they're just close friends who wish they had more time.

Inky and Hyth get on like a house on fire. Inky's resemblance to her version of Azem is tremendous, which obviously Hades also picked up on at various points, but where it infuriated and confused Hades, Hythlodaeus was willing to accept it and platonically enamored. The feeling is very mutual. The two of them definitely wish they could have spent more time together, but the caveat here is that Hyth is very tired and very ready to return to the star post-EW, so it's a nostalgic, passive desire on both ends.

All incarnations of Azem don't get along with Lahabrea. Full stop. Even despite Panda, Inky is unwilling to forgive Lahabrea for what he put Thancred through, and Lahabrea is unwilling to accept Inky's philosophies. There's a begrudging respect there, but no love lost whatsoever.

Now slightly more complex:

Inky and Venat are interesting in that they both see their relationship as familial, but not the same kind of familial. Inky sees them as sisters, but Venat sort of sees Inky as a daughter in a very matronly way, given what she ultimately learned about who Inky is and where she comes from. Still, there's no tension as a result of the difference. They both think of each other fondly.

Inky and Eric are definitely close friends and allies, from the moment they met to the moment Inky finished Panda. If they'd had a little more time together, this relationship could have gotten complicated, though, since I think Ericthonios may have been developing some feelings for Inky...which is a real issue because they never properly got into the specifics of what Inky is and what that means relative to the "personhood" as defined by an Ancient's worldview. It's possible they would have balanced out into the familial zone, but I think it's more likely they would have fractured apart a little under the stress. So it's probably a good thing Inky isn't going back to the World Unsundered any time soon.

Inky and Hermes were definitely friends for the brief time they knew each other in the World Unsundered, and I think Inky felt more pity than dislike for him by the end of Endwalker. Inky wishes she could have been closer to Hermes, especially because she recognizes how lonely he was and doesn't think anyone deserves that. In turn, Inky's kindness and empathy was so similar to Hermes's original way of thinking that it was comforting to him, but also a bit frightening given that Inky was "just" a familiar. Also, particularly as Fandaniel, he was definitely unnerved by her in the way that many people are unnerved by clowns.

Inky and Hades are definitely a relationship that's extremely shadowed by Azem, and they're both painfully aware of it. Inky thinks of herself and Hades as having been fairly close, but Hades is more hesitant because of Azem's lingering presence. There's no way in which he will ever be able to see her as just Inky rather than "a shard of his soulmate." Because of that, Hades was always a little more reticent with Inky, even if he would begrudgingly acknowledge her as at least a friend by the end of things. Inky thinks of Hades with more clarity, having come to accept him as someone very platonically important to her. She may only be part of Azem, but the core of what made Azem and Hades soulmates is still very present in Inky, and she's able to enjoy that bond with a much less angsty clouded mind. Probably because she doesn't have millennia of trauma about it or something...

And finally, Inky and Themis. Inky thinks of Themis as a close friend after the events of Panda and what she learned about him in the World Unsundered. She and Themis and Eric are like The Bros, in her mind. She wishes they could have been closer because she genuinely enjoys Themis's personality and drive and subtle wit. He's still young enough when they met in Panda that Inky's lightheartedness wasn't totally lost on him, and she really enjoyed cultivating that friendship. That said, I think Themis is also a much more reserved person who probably really struggled with accepting unconditional friendship from someone older than him (and, at first, someone who wasn't entirely a person in his eyes). Gifted kid syndrome and all that--the advanced young protege with too much on his shoulders wasn't quite ready for the concept of someone wanting to be around him even if she didn't need him. And, I think in the end, Themis was a little resentful of the life Inky got to have. Some of that resentment stayed with him, all the way up to their final confrontation in Shadowbringers when he realized--despite her not knowing him at that point and therefore having no reason to care, again--Inky was just Like That.

[wysteribun]

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[pyururen]

I really love this part in pandaemonium

[tinderet]

⛓️PANDAEMONIUM⛓️

SHINE BRILLIANT FOR ME!

Longsleeve FFXIV Raid tee preorders now live! Limited numbers of each size available so get em while you can!

[itsmeishmi]

Happy Wonderful Year of Endwalker

[clytie-yuri]

[slimyhipster]

my hot topic eric and themis !!

[elenimut]

Looking forward to meeting up with the boys for more pandaemonium in the new year!

[bloochouli]

a littol study, i want to study noses + cheeks next time maybe bc i think theyre my biggest weakness in terms of shading esp

[pinkskunksleepy]

now that it's all out, I feel more confident in saying pandaemonium is really weird because it feels like it's trying to be a bunch of things all at once but is only like one of them in a satisfying way. it's trying to be the story about how lahabrea became like that(tm), background on elidibus, ericthonios's whole family trauma situation, the soul mechanics stuff with lahabrea/athena, a criticism of the ancients' view on lifeforms aside from themselves, and... a reason for the writers to stop being asked about the heart of sabik. that's too many things for a story where the stakes mandate that there's hardly any downtime. to be clear, I think the only point it's particularly satisfying on is how the ancients view life. the rest are mostly just fine in a way that's neither remarkably good or bad, but that's disappointing after eden.

I've seen many people who feel like the ancients weren't given a fair shot against the final days because of the sundering, but pandaemonium reaffirms that they 1) were, and 2) would not have survived. pretty much every ancient we see(including hermes) except ericthonios is perfectly fine meddling like gods because of "the good of the star." hermes and athena, lahabrea and venat, all of them decide they know "the good of the star" best based on... not very much. mostly their own power and knowledge, and a disregard for life. at least venat's actions lead to that no longer being something people could do for the most part. but still... ericthonios is an exception thay proves the rule; he existed as another one of his parents test subjects and that's all he was seen as. even with his parents being decidedly messed up people, their worldview was in line with what we see as common for the ancients.

elidibus could be another exception, however we see so little that's new about him that it's hard to say. he seems like he could have been, whether as themis or zodiark, but we don't get to know beyond what seems to be. it's funny that even after pandaemonoum the writers decided to just have him say "nope, I still forgor," and then have him remember the moment he fades away. to me this either signals that they may have more planned for him, but more likely, that we are simply not meant to know. shadowbringers made the ascians too sympathetic, this is the closest we'll be allowed to come to being able to sympathize with one of the convocation.

and on the convocation, the explanation for lahabrea being like that(tm) is that he just... is. and that's about it. which is fine. there doesn't really need to be more to it than that, but... did it need to be so much of a focus? like it helps demonstrate athena's experiments with cutting up souls, genuinely provides a case where some could see what she did as worthwhile, but also, it isn't. because you don't have to slice and splice someone's soul to make them not like that(tm). and while athena is like that(tm) herself, that only makes it more confusing to focus on lahabrea. it's... fine. there's nothing really wrong with it other than that it's boring after an expansion with much more interesting ascian stories. heck, lahabrea is the easiest one to make a bad guy! and they basically just made his wife him but a scientist! ah well. at least the heart of sabik is probably tied to ultima the high seraph which maybe means more ivalice

... I'm coping...

hmm... just a really weird series, in the sense that on paper these things should all be weighty and have room for a lot of depth but in reality they were kind of rushed through because monsters were breaking out of the monster containment zoo.

at least the raids were fun to play, for the most part.

[haphwei]

Dear friends 

[dyscomancer]

while i definitely enjoyed the last raid tier mechanically, as an overall experience pandaemonium is so aggressively mid compared to how consistently great eden was

i truly loathe how they were like "ooooooo look at this lahabrea development" and then spent most of their time focused on his boring ass son.

one thing the XIV writers are SO good at is adding retroactive characterization to one-note "muahahaha"-type villains. they did it well with the ascians in general, not bad with Gaius, and knocked it out of the park with Elidibus (even pre Themis!).

so i was excited for Lahabrea! and i get that eric-tony was supposed to be an instrument towards that retroactive development but he just completely and utterly failed to capture my interest at all. the fact that there's a minion of him is so funny to me. "look at this cute doll of beloved character ericthonios ffxiv!" like zzzzzz

there WAS some good stuff but it was all aggressively packed into the final tier. we wasted our time on the 'fucked up zoo' thing that didn't even really pan out into anything cool the entire time. i wish we had started talking about the heart of sabik at minute one. i wish we would have been meeting with lahabrea himself in the first tier. it's so weirdly laid out and i cant help but think it's not as good as it could have been

[remma-demma]

some ancients :)

[stgroversfire]

all the ancients just look like cookie run kingdom characters

[allibunn]

>Elpis Ancient Buttons<

[bigeyedweirdo0]

Pandaemonium x Stray Kids anyone? Just an idea I had since we joke that Elidibus/Themis is Felix(cute face, deep AF voice), and now we have Erichthonios as Hyunjin. Though... I don’t think y’all are ready for old man Lahabrea or Elidibus for the next few drawings.