#manderville man

[kikyokaneuchi]

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

I don't know that I can fully convey how much I LOVE the joke in the Hildibrand quest line where they fully explain the backstory of the Manderville family line, define how it accounts for his unreasonable resilience and his father's beastly strength, and then... ... at the end of the episode just completely undercut their own entire explanation, first by poking holes in it (like, it doesn't explain his mom at all and she is, if anything, even more of a raw physical powerhouse than Godbert) and then by saying that they're almost certain the whole thing just isn't true.

The timing of it is an important element of the comedy, too.

Just today I saw OSP's Trope Talk on the topic of Noodle Incidents: That is, situations where something's alluded to and never outright explained, leaving viewers to fill in some of that story with their own humorous ideas of what Calvin did to be so worried that The Noodle Incident had put him on Santa's naughty list. One of the things Red mentions in the Talk is that viewers often feel like they want that story filled in...but almost never do. Just as getting to see the monster head-on in a horror film often makes it less frightening, not more, the vague version of the story we came up with for what might have happened in an Incident is funnier or more narratively satisfying for us than what gets cooked up by the writer.

So there's this weird sense of letdown when you get those blank spots filled in. A Natasha/Clint prequel adventure in Budapest would almost certainly not be worth making, because it wouldn't live up to "Budapest" as a Noodle Incident.

The cool thing they did with the Manderville quest is let you feel that letdown. They gave an explanation, and even though the explanation is kind of funny, it also felt kind of...hollow, somehow? And then that hollow feeling is what's getting subverted when they reveal the whole explanation probably explains nothing.

[ruckeysquad]

Definitely day 4 and not 5 of my  artwork leadup to Fan Expo Vancouver this Saturday!

Heres 3 different stickers ive made for the con, 1 of aaravi from Monster Prom 1of gigi from ffxiv and one of some fluffy Dango

 ill be at table A126!

[small-witch-big-hat]

Final Fantasy XIV is a fantasy setting, and we can tell that because the richest man in the world actually earned it doing something useful, runs a casino where it's impossible to lose, and is literally Santa Claus.

Even if he does put giant naked statues of himself all over the place. That he probably handmade.

[havocpioneer]

Camera Obscura

[whimsicalitywheee]

I promised myself I wasn't gonna design any more FFXIV mugs but HE IS HOLDING A FREAKING TEACUP HOW COULD I NOT.

Buy here if you want one, this one will be a limited time design (unless it gets super popular) so if you want it def come get one soon.

[jaybot]

We love a Manderville Man.

[xkuja]

A Study of 3 Gentlemanly Poses

[hazoret]

[loireejinn]

Hancock Fitzgerald takes off his glasses and he's some purple-eyed beauty but Godbert does it and he's just

kind of unsettling

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Sometimes an argument is so stupid that the person can't possibly be making it in earnest, right?

RIGHT?

Like, I saw someone who was like, "Oh, the Manderville questline? I didn't find it funny. I skipped those boring cutscenes."

The...The cutscenes are where the jokes are. Jokes are funnier when you actually hear them, on average.

[dawnslight-aegis]

6. ring

(follows the epilogue for more than fear)

A full sennight after her return from Ultima Thule, most of which she had spent sound asleep, Aymeric walked into his – their – chambers to find Kaede awake and mostly alert, leaned back against the headboard as she sat staring contemplatively down at the ring that adorned the third finger of her left hand. A smile tugged the corner of his mouth at the reminder that yes, she had in fact agreed to marry him, but he set the still-fresh joy aside as he settled onto the bed beside her. “I hadn’t the chance to ask you yet – do you like it?”

Blinking in surprise, Kaede transferred her attention from the jewelry to him, her blue eyes nearly lost in the darkened flesh that surrounded them. “The ring? It’s lovely. Though, I must admit, considerably more ostentatious than I expected from you,” she murmured, her voice still a touch raspy and words coming more slowly than usual, but stronger than any she’d uttered thus far. The improvement was wonderful to see, even if the reminder of how badly she’d overextended herself still sent a sharp spike of worry through his heart.

But Kaede, more than anything, hated to be fussed over, so Aymeric swallowed back his impulse to tell her to rest. Instead, he took her left hand in his and ran his thumb over the large central sapphire, surrounded as it was by tiny shards of diamond. “To be quite honest, ‘tis indeed more extravagant than I planned, but the artisan required creative control as a condition of taking the commission.”

Her eyes narrowed in thought, Kaede regarded him steadily. “That’s…unusual, for a commissioned piece. Who did you hire to design it, anyway? I’ve been trying to figure it out for days now – I would have assumed that you would have gone to Serendipity, at the guild in Ul’dah, but it seems too finely made even for her.”

Aymeric ducked his head to hide a smile. “I did go to her at first, yes. But when I told her my goal – that while I did not wish to propose to you with a ring of your own making, neither would I consider presenting you with something of lesser quality than your own work – she was uncertain that she could reliably fulfill my request, and directed me elsewhere. Though acquiring an audience with Master Manderville was –”

Kaede abruptly leaned forward, her voice caught somewhere between amazement and outright horror. “Manderville? Godbert Manderville? When? How? The man doesn’t take commissions, he just…wanders Eorzea these days, looking for inspiration.” She waved a hand in vague disbelief, looking more animated than he’d seen in some time.

“Well, as I was saying, actually tracking him down was the difficult part. I had to enlist the sultana’s assistance for that, in exchange for a few less favorable-than-usual trade deals.” Nanamo hadn’t driven a terribly hard bargain, all things considered – he had gone in expecting to have to offer much more than he had. The negotiation had felt more like an uldahn formality than anything, but Aymeric had no doubt that had his request been for the benefit of any other woman, the outcome would have been far different.

“Aymeric, are you telling me that you exchanged political favors to get me an engagement ring?”

“No, I believe I said I exchanged political favors to obtain a meeting with the man I hoped to convince to make you an engagement ring,” he responded, his smile breaking into a full-on grin at her incredulous expression. “It is my opinion that Ishgard and Ul’dah are both sufficiently in debt to you that it shouldn’t be considered an abuse of power, and Nanamo agreed.”

With a deep sigh, Kaede shook her head and leaned against his upper arm, looking more tired by the moment, but still focused entirely on his story. “Alright, so Nanamo helped you track down the famously elusive Godbert bloody Manderville, the greatest goldsmith of our era, and then what?”

“Then I found myself in the surprising position of not needing to convince him of anything at all. When he realized that the ring was meant for you, he agreed immediately, on the condition that I permit him aesthetic freedom with the design. From the way he spoke, he thinks very highly of you, and some manner of assistance you provided his son? Honestly, I didn’t quite follow some of what he said, but he seemed a congenial sort of fellow. Odd, but most geniuses are, I suppose.”

“Important question: was he wearing a shirt, when you met him?”

Aymeric blinked, but there was no hint of playfulness in Kaede’s expression, only earnestness. “I… yes? Is that… unusual?”

With a grin at his obvious confusion, Kaede shrugged and tugged him down with her into bed. “Neither of us are remotely drunk enough for me to attempt to explain the absolute abyss of logic and reason that surrounds Hildibrand Manderville and his family, but suffice it to say, most of the times I’ve met Godbert, he was wearing little more than his smallclothes and his pince-nez. The man is insane. A genius, yes, but completely off his rocker. I’ll be damned if he isn’t a master goldsmith, though.” Her smile softened into something warmer as she settled in on her small pile of pillows, regarding him with a soft expression. “It sounds as if you went to a great deal of trouble on my behalf. You didn’t need to, you know. I would have been happy with anything, as long as it was from you.”

“I know that. But I wanted to. You deserve all the trouble I can spare, and more.” He reached over and smoothed a lock of blonde hair, tucking a curl back in among its fellows.

Smothering a huge yawn behind her hand, Kaede’s eyes drifted closed for a moment, then opened and fixed on him again, as if daring him to argue. “Fine. I’m making our wedding bands, though.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

[lsav00]

Yeah it was Hildibrand that convinced me

I swear to god I've been trying to convince my IRL best friend to play FFXIV for over a year and if the thing that convinces him is FUCKING HILDIBRAND I am going to scream

[digital-affections]

actually following from those tags i love that they say hildy rarely ever resorts to violence. its so Him. I feel like almost any damage he inflicts will come by his slapstick nature indirectly rather than any direct attempts to injure others

like he'd trip on a damn banana peel and him crashing to the ground would make a shockwave knocking everyone out. this would happen a million times before he opted to try to punch someone

made funnier by the fact he is almost superhumanly strong in some ways hes just this like. guy who could absolutely flip a building if the situation required. and he would do that to help someone. but put him in a 1v1 fistfight and hes getting clocked instantly

[ladyswillmart]

Arlen's ears perked slightly at the question—as they did at the sound of any verbal excursion lobbed in his general direction—while a characteristically gormless grin stretched across his face.

"Oh Zero!" he said, laughing kindly. "We just ran a Trust! Eh?"

Nobody said anything to this, of course. By now, they knew better than to acknowledge Arlen Askew's frequent forays through the fourth wall.

[leonleonhart]

leveling up summoner now