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autumnslance · 4 months ago

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Heya

I always like your analysis/view of characters and the Story so I would like to ask you something.

Yesterday I talked with a friend about how I kinda miss Lyse, and than I got the idea that she and Wuk Lamat would probably get along quite well.

Lyse wasn't prepared to step up on the role she has now while. Wuk Lamat is young and "lively" as Lyse, but she had a chance to grow and learn about her upcoming role as a leader of the nation during our journey with her. So I think these two would have some interesting conversations and might learn from another.

I hope, that in future patches, we get a meeting of all the Leaders interacting with another now that we have Thavnaier, Tuliyolal and Garlemald new to the table.

Do you have an opinion on this? Especially since your understanding of SB and it's characters is deeper than mine.

Oh heck you got me rambling about Lyse and Wuk Lamat, so this is going under a cut. Spoilers for Dawntrail 7.0 MSQ and everything leading to it.

I've seen a lot of comparisons between Lyse and Wuk Lamat, being young, energetic women whose stories involved a lot of growth into leaders. How they get there is different, and I do think the writers learned from how they framed Lyse's story, and how Wuk Lamat's needed to be different even if there are ways they are similar.

Lyse spent years hiding from herself and her grief, happy to let Papalymo be "in charge" for the most part (though I noted he deferred to her when it came to actually interacting with and understanding the Sylphs and Moogles, and probably other people in the Twelveswood, as "patient" and "personable" weren't exactly his best traits). Lyse was also the person who noticed things weren't quite right with Thancred in ARR, that he was working himself to the bone, but she didn't seem to know how to approach him about it, regretting it later when they realized he'd been possessed.

And in Stormblood, Lyse spends a lot of time trying to understand her countrymen's reticence, their fears, their lack of hope. She worked with Conrad's Resistance cell all through Heavensward, but it seems like the first time she really interacts closely with civilians is Ala Ghanna. In the Far East, Lyse spends time talking to the Domans, and the Mol--her scene with the children is a major one, determining what is "home" and what that means, why Hien (and Lyse) fight for a place.

She feels she isn't a leader, she's just one of the team, and as she gets pushed toward leadership, she feels it's based more on who her father and sister were, the weight of her family legacy. And part of that is that lingering grief, that literal imposter syndrome, that knowledge she isn't the woman Yda was.

Because of course she isn't. She's Lyse. Not an Archon, but a Scion of the Seventh Dawn. Probably still better educated than many, having grown up in Sharlayan, despite book smarts not being her forte. She's very good at punching things. And she has a heart and more optimism and stubbornness than most.

She grows into it, with the help of her friends (which she does, repeatedly, acknowledge the WoL as the hero who defeated Zenos and made it all possible, don't fall into the trap of memeified rewrites of the actual canon). She is only the leader of Conrad's cell (a failing of Stormblood and it's split storyline was talking about multiple cells, but only having us interact with 1 ever before it all became 1 military). And she happily lets Raubahn take command of the army when it forms, calling herself simply the commander of Rhalgr's Reach--but given her role in the war, as a former Scion, and her connections, still acts pretty much as Raubahn's Marshall in all but name.

Lyse was not raised for leadership, not raised to take command, and had to rise to the occasion. And without losing her determination, her caring, her optimism.

Wuk Lamat was born to rule; the Xbr'aal initially, but when circumstances put her life in danger, Gulool Ja Ja adopted her as his Third Promise. Wuk Lamat is a cheerful, optimistic, loving girl who wants to understand and learn about people. She's a "people's princess" we see almost from the instant we arrive in Tuluyollal, friends with nearly everyone. But it's also not hard to see, even in 6.55 and the adventures in Sharlayan, that she's young and green. She has few supporters, and no great deeds or expectations from most of the people. She struggles in the shadow of her older accomplished brothers, wondering a few times what her strength is, what she has gained from their father.

She has not been raised to rule, necessarily; while the Dawnservant has expectations for all his children, and recognizes all of their strengths, he also sees their weaknesses and where they lack. Some of that, perhaps, is on him as a parent, but he knows their potential and possibilities, if they seek the chance to grow and learn. He can only guide them, not do it all for them, if they are to reach those potentials.

And Wuk Lamat does seek, with a zest not seen since Lyse was central, and beyond her, even. Wuk Lamat is not bound by the grief of familial loss and the disconnect of diaspora; she was too young to remember the tragedy that led her to leave Yak T'el as a toddler, and her life since has been a kind and happy one. She's been educated and trained well.

But there are limits to what a girl can learn in a single city, with only one or two visits to other villages now and then. And Wuk Lamat, like Lyse, takes the time to try to learn and understand. She picks up faster than Koana the point of the contest--while Zoraal Ja ignores it entirely, and Bakool Ja Ja has other pressures he's dealing with.

There's another comparison; Lyse's determination to understand Fordola, to change her mind, making her a symbol of all the collaborators. Lyse's determination that all Ala Mhighans must be free and begin anew, to rebuild their society together. To acknowledge the pain but not let it bind them into cycles of violence (which continues in the Endwalker healer role quests, as Raganfrid and Arenvald take up the specific task of reintegrating the collaborators).

Wuk Lamat, meanwhile, struggles to understand the bandits of Kozama'uka, the Chirwagur Yok Huy of Urqopacha, and the Mamook of Yak T'el. She changes Bakool Ja Ja and earns his respect, by perhaps being the first person to demand to know what he wants--and then following through on the promise to find a way to make that wish happen. To find a way all Turali can be free and happy, including the Mamool Ja (who may have tried to kill her as a toddler).

Lyse spends all of Stormblood fighting to free her people from a decades-old foe, forcing her to become a leader. Wuk Lamat's fight comes after she has grown into the kind of leader that can defend Tuliyollal from the threat of Alexandria and Zoraal Ja's betrayal. And even though Sphene can't change her mind thanks to her programmed nature, Wuk Lamat never stops trying to reach the caring personality encoded within.

Because the other person Wuk Lamat compares to is the Assumed Default Warrior of Light. She's a determinator in a similar way; she doesn't easily give up or give in, despite her doubts and the difficulties along the way. She makes friends wherever she goes, forming bonds and connections that come back to help, time and again. She goes from novice adventurer to epic hero, as WoL had to do in ARR; the entirety of Dawntrail seems a compressed version of that story for her, with adventure and events happening in the first half, and then the other shoe drops. For WoL, it was the Waking Sands massacre. For her, the first assault on Tuliyollal. WoL didn't have the benefit of a mentor--with Louisoix long gone and most of the Scions captured--but WoL could be there for Lamaty'i.

How often has that been a fear and regret of the Scions and other friends? How happy they were with the warding scales letting them help with those burdens! How at the edge of existence, the only thing that kept the WoL walking to the end was the memories of their friends and the hopes they had, and in the final battle, the Scions were still with the WoL regardless of distance.

(And Zenos was there. Still the most hilarious entrance ever.)

We stand with Wuk Lamat to the end--and she breaks through to find WoL and Sphene, because Lamaty'i won't give up on her friends. And Sphene could have been, if she had still been alive.

Anyroad. I DO think Lyse and Wuk Lamat would have a lot to talk about, in how they grew to be leaders, in similarities and differences, in their relationship with the Scions and the WoL, about the adventures they've had. I loved seeing Vrtra and Azdaja in Tuliyollal, and that Koana formed a treaty with them, which may indeed mean more interaction with Thavnair in the future. For that matter, the Leveilleur twins' quest to help Garlemald rebuild and reintegrate with the global community may bring some familiar faces from there around...though from the Island Sanctuary quests, we also know those people have never taken vacations and don't know what do to outside of "survive" and "duty." But there's a lot to learn, and seeing how diverse people can live together in peace, after most of a century under Ascian propaganda, would be good for them. Sharlayan tends to have diplomatic relations with various foreign powers, and Tural's no exception, and the use of Labyrinthos research to aid Mamook could become more of a thing to bring some of those characters in for cameos (for that matter, helping the Alexandrians integrate, and studying that phenomenon, as if those scholars could resist!).

I'm a little wary of having all the leaders in a single space; generally that's a plot point reserved for some terrible world wide event or circumstance arising! But it would be nice to have the opportunity to visit with old friends on some kind of tour, to see Tuliyollal make other allies and diplomatic connections, and give such characters those chances to interact.

But if the game doesn't take those opportunities on screen (people often forget that a lot happens out of WoL's POV, too), we've always got fanfiction to make it happen in!

#final fantasy xiv #Dawntrail #Stormblood #7.0 #Wuk Lamat #Lyse Hext #Warrior of Light #character analysis #lyn prompts

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tallbluelady · 3 months ago

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Darling, I just remembered. In the Unlost World... there was an Endless who looked a lot like you.

And his story... it reminded me of you and Moenbryda.

Euclase - his name was Euclase - had died young, but his fiance lived on. But she never got over him. She never got the chance to mourn him because of those damn regulators.

They were reunited before we shut down Living memory but...

I just hate to think of what your life would've been like without your memories of Moen.

#i need a screenshot tag #dawntrail spoilers #woliangerweek #woliangerweek2024 #prompt: endless #rowan argentas #urianger #aether and anatomy #urianger x wol #SO #did anyone else connect those two stories or am i just so wolianger poisoned?#while everyone else was rightfully impressed by g'raha's speech on the gondola #i was like “WHERE'S PURPLE URIANGER???”#so this was a nice chance to express that a bit

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starrysnowdrop · 2 months ago

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FFXIVWrite 2024 #4: Reticent

Adjective: disposed to be silent or not to speak freely; reluctant or restrained.

During the events of patch 7.0, level 97+ quests; Hali cannot seem to trust Queen Sphene of Alexandria, no matter how sweet and kind she seems.

“Hali?”

Aymeric’s voice snapped Hali out of her thoughts as she looked up at her beloved.

“Oh, yes, my love?” Hali asked.

Aymeric crossed his arms and looked down at his lalafellin partner with concern. “What’s wrong?”

Hali sighed as she finally began to speak aloud her thoughts, her words dripping with sarcasm. “Huh? What do you mean? Why would there be anything wrong? Besides people using souls as a commodity, and memories of loved ones being wiped from everyone’s minds… yeah totally nothing wrong here! Haha…”

“Hali, tell me, what else is on your mind. You have been scowling since we arrived in the Outskirts. Wuk Lamat is busy looking around for the moment, so you can be honest with me.”

Aymeric reached out and took Hali’s hand in his, and Hali squeezed his hand in turn as she replied, “Okay, so, am I the only one who thinks Sphene is completely suspicious and doesn’t believe a word she says?”

The elezen chuckled as it was his turn to bring the sarcasm. “Oh, you mean the Queen of Reason who had absolutely nothing to do with the attack on Tuliyollal whatsoever, and who now wants to us to do the dirty work of overthrowing King Zoraal Ja, when they have been seemingly co-ruling for nigh on three decades now? That Queen Sphene?”

The pink-haired lalafell breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright, so I am not going crazy then. She is SUPER suspicious, right?”

Aymeric gave a quick nod. “Absolutely. I haven’t spent so many years of my life playing the political games of the Ishgardian nobility so that I couldn’t recognize someone whose reticent nature is hiding a more malicious agenda.”

Leaning in towards her, Aymeric cued Hali to lean towards him as well, knowing that he would need to speak a bit quieter, as to not have any of the locals overhear them.

“She is not to be trusted. But we need to play nice and get as much information out of her as we can. She still has the upper hand here, because we are nearly clueless as to how their society functions still. We need to be cautious.”

Hali sighed and gave Aymeric a pouty face. “Alright… I’ll smile and be nice to Queen Sphenie… I guess…”

#dawntrail spoilers #7.0 spoilers #ffxivwrite2024 #prompt 4 reticent #aymeric de borel #aymeric x wol #wol x aymeric #hali aloke #oc: drops of jupiter #hali x aymeric #ship: hold me closer

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iron-sparrow · 5 months ago

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Has your journey been good?Has it been worthwhile?

We will find our way.

feat. @ahollowgrave, @hazelkjt, @this-is-ris & @nolanel-corbeaux

Final Fantasy XIV certainly isn't my first MMO, and I've been alive enough decades to be way too jaded about everything. Yet here I am, crafting these images of my friends (virtual representations of them) and feeling all kinds of ways the entire time.

I met Hazel and began raiding with him back in Shadowbringers. That's actually when I met Nolanel, too; I initiated our friendship when I messaged him privately for Paladin advice. He was the only other Paladin player I knew at the time, and I wanted to become a better raider.

We got along almost instantly.

In Endwalker, Hazel and I ran a second static to clear for Nol and some other friends. This is when we met Ris, who was recommended to us as a DPS by someone in our main static. She grew on us immediately, and I eagerly roped everyone into the RP-GPOSE-tumblr pipeline. Sorry, not sorry.

Come Dawntrail, Ris will be running her own static while Hazel and I go back to our main group, with Nol coming along as a fresh DPS. We've already made plans to reconvene after Savage, though, to get our DSR clear together.

I hope, too, that Pigeon will keep listening to our bullshit. She mentioned once that no matter how many times she watches us prog, she still has no idea what the fuck the mechanics are. Still sticks around though, giving us moral support (and watching us play with cursed objects in Phasmophobia). So there, in those images, is Odette greeting our tired asses after raid and asking us how it all went.

Fuck. It's been a real fun time.

I've really loved getting to know all of you. I really look forward to traumatizing developing our OCs more in Dawntrail together.

(Oh, and a very special thank you to @thefreelanceangel for the beautiful divider. Seriously, she's amazing and super talented.)

#(count)down to dawntrail #prompt: endwalker #ffxiv screenshots #ffxiv gpose #gposers #elezen #duskwight #yein my beloved #nolanel #hazel kha #ris dei ijla #odette hollows #returning from raid to see friends waiting #she's probably got snacks #it really is about the friends we made along the way #a tribute to some people I love very much #and to the game that brought us together

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