For Those We Have Lost
-Most of the folks in town are happy for peace, though some – especially the border-guarding dragoons – are suspicious.
-I head to the pub. Everyone’s celebrating before the peace talks.
-A waitress, an “Earnest Maid,” serves me a drink. She says how odd it is to be on the eve of peace when her husband was killed fighting the dragons. I imagine many in town have that same conflict.
And things start to get wavy. Shit. She spiked my drink.
“Sleep, now… sleeeeeeep. Sleep and leave us to our affairs. This was never your fight.”
I wonder how many Ishgardians see this peace as foisted upon them by an outsider (me).
-Flashback. I see into the Maid’s memory. She’s at a graveyard. Others are there too, mourning their loved ones killed by the dragons.
-Flash slightly forward. A small group of Ishgardians rage at the coming peace.
“All this nonsense about kings of eld. As if I care what they did or didn’t do! Makes no difference to me and mine! Have the dragons sued for peace in a thousand years?”
“It’s a bloody ruse, is what it is! And Ser Aymeric and the rest of ‘em’ve bloody fallen for it!”
-The Earnest Maid has a plan. To show all of Ishgard the true face of their enemy.
”I will show it to them. And we will rise up against them once more!”
-Back to the present. Thancred wakes me up. Shit’s going down.
-The Earnest Maid is atop a building, speaking to the gathered crowd. I spot members of that enraged memory there too, planted throughout.
“Remember your husbands and wives, never returned from war! Your children, torn apart by fang and claw! All your loved ones, shown no mercy! Does not your heart cry out for vengeance?”
Her voice actor is great btw.
-Emmanellain is freaking out at this. He’s losing control, and orders a panicked knight to “stop her.” The knight fires at the Earnest Maid. DUDE. SHE WAS JUST TALKING.
-This only bolsters the Earnest Maid’s point that the highborn and powerful of Ishgard are against them, disregarding the feelings of the lower class.
-The knight fires another arrow at her into her gut, killing her. Congratulations! You’ve just given birth to a bouncing baby martyr.
-Emmanellain is panicking, trying to blame his knight. Dude. You told your knight to “stop her.” You fucked up.
-This is soooo uncomfortable. I still disagree with her and think peace is better so that more people aren’t lost, but I respect her feeling of injustice.
-So do many others. As I walk around town after this killing, some openly speak against Ser Aymeric’s change.
-Btw, I LOOOOVE that her plan was not to frame the dragons or to violently overthrow Aymeric. She instead staged an effective protest. The nobility (one in particular) violently overreacted.
-Nothing overt came of this. There’s no specific rebellion for example against Aymeric. But the image of a noble ordering the execution of a lowborn who disagreed with him about this peace sticks around. This makes things much harder for Aymeric.
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Consequences
-The Earnest Maid is still alive! Surgeons are trying to save her from the two arrows. I hope she lives. I like her, despite the whole drugging-me thing.
Even that, I don’t really blame her for. She’s fighting for what she believes is right in Ishgard and has very little power. I have massive amounts of power. Different ethics apply.
-Emmanellain is feeling guilty. Good. Sounds like he’ll be made to answer for his poor leadership at least.
-Unfortunately, his servant – a kid named Honoroit – was beaten by some of the angered crowd.
-Honoroit gives a pretty solid speech before passing out. He feels both empathy for the Earnest Maid’s pain and the optimism that a brighter tomorrow may come.
I feel a redemption arc coming as Emmanellain listens to this.
-But not yet apparently. He’s still got a lot of dickbaggery inside him. He’s still attempting to hide, to dodge responsibility.
-Ququshu hears his whining and is about ready to kick his ass hard, but Thancred stops her. He says some quiet, stern words. Urges him to take responsibility. Is it redemption arc time now?
-NOOOPE. Emmanellain PUNCHES Thancred in anger.
Too bad Emmanellain isn’t a fighter. Thancred is. Thancred cracks him back, flooring the noble.
Thancred has fought hard for his people, and fucked up too. He has no patience for Emmanellain’s like.
(Though I hope he doesn’t count being possessed by an Ascian as a fuck-up. That wasn’t his fault.)
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Choices
-Thancred and I go meet with Count Fortemps (Emmanellain’s father) and Aymeric to strategize.
-Aymeric responds with real wisdom. He realizes now that this is a nation of warriors. Sudden peace will not be enough.
“We must needs find a way to honor the sacrifice of our forefathers without glorying in their excesses.”
-He plans to hold a grand melee with the Grand Alliance nations. A chance for Ishgard to show its military patriotism in a non-lethal way.
-What will I play? Stand with friends and comrades? Fight alongside Ishgard?
Y’know what? Fuck it. I’ve come this far. I’ll help out Ishgard.
-The Count wants Emmanellain to join (ughhh) so I find him in town.
He’s been reconsidering things. He knows the privilege he relied on his whole life, and how he used it to squirm out of all kinds of duties. He took all the easy tasks given and became this shitty person. I feel so called out irl.
“When I saw Honoroit, I wanted to scream. I wanted someone to blame! But in the end, there was only me. Only me.”
We go to talk to Ser Aymeric together.
-He asks Aymeric – with no small amount of frustration – where he gets the strength to lead as he does, when everyone hates him? Emmanellain’s looking for some kind of hope or guidance.
-It comes down to faith. Aymeric has faith that the Archbishop lacked, faith that the people of Ishgard are strong enough to weather the truth and grow beyond their past shittiness.
Emmanellain.
-Something clicks for Emmanellain. He takes a breath, and apologizes for his conduct that got the protestor shot. He asks for the chance to make amends by fighting in this melee for Ishgard.
(The fact that he even GETS this chance relies heavily on that privilege, but I think he knows that too.)
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A Spectacle for the Ages
-This feels weird, fighting against the Alliance forces. We all meet outside the gates of Ishgard
-I like that Emmanellain didn’t magically transform. His intentions are better, but he’s still scared shitless.
-The best of the original Alliance versus the best of Ishgard – and myself, given Ishgardian armor for the melee. That’s a really cool touch.
Team Ishgard.
-This melee has rules. Incapacitating an opponent gets 1 point. Sometimes a combatant gets marked with Fury’s Gaze, and they give 10 points. First team to 100 points wins.
The chaotic grand melee.
-A wandering cyclops briefly interrupts the melee before Thancred distracts it with a Street Fighter II-style uppercut.
-Btw, Flame General Raubahn’s gear looks FUCKING AWESOME. The Bull of Ala Mhigo wearing a bull’s armor. Even with just one arm he obliterates everyone around him.
-Raubahn slams down his weapon leaving of fire around me and him. Duel time and how COOL is it that I get to duel Raubahn?
Ququshu, Warrior of Light, versus Raubahn, the Bull of Ala Mhigo.
-Victory for Ishgard!
-Emmanellain is exhausted. He didn’t play a hero (good), but honest participation is enough. He feels optimistic about the nation’s future.
-My quest reward is an awesome new emote: “Victory!” I flip and pose on landing.
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For Those We Can’t Save
-We enter Ishgard after the melee, victorious.
-Honoroit’s recovering from his injury, and he and Emmanellain excitedly exchange stories. Honoroit legit likes serving Emmanellain. I’m glad – Honoroit is kind of a goofy kid, and fits Emmanellain well.
-Aymeric hopes this new approach will make Ishgardians receptive to peace talks. He’s reconvening the conference.
-I head over to Falcon’s Nest for the peace talks. Here we go. Lots of people are here.
-The Earnest Maid protestor survived the arrows. She’s in the crowd today. Aymeric sees her and ponders. I think Aymeric rightfully views the Earnest Maid as representative of how many Ishgardians think – he wants to address her concerns directly today.
-Vidofnir soars in. She’s super eloquent:
“Our sire bade us hearken unto the whispers of our hearts. They spoke to us of a paradise lost – of bonds of brotherhood which they yearn to see restored.”
-Aymeric speaks to the gathered crowd about the path that led them here, the sacrifices made… and how those sacrifices were all FOR something. Not the death of the dragons, but the life of the Ishgardians. They have a chance at life now.
-Something here gets to the Maid. Aymeric is speaking as a comrade.
His words validate her experiences.
-The Ishgardians have built a mural to commemorate this peace. They unveil it now.
IT’S AWESOME. At first I thought it was just a generic Ishgardian and dragon, but no. It’s a mural of Shiva and Hraesvelgr.
A model for bonds between Ishgardian and dragon.
VIDOFNIR: “The dream that they shared shall be ours once more.” The crowd applauds.
???: “Never!”
-CRAP IT’S ESTINIEN/NIDHOGG! He’s in Estinien form. He jumps from atop the tower onto Vidofnir’s back with her lance, and kills her.
-OK THIS IS SUPER COOL. ESTINIEN HAS BOTH EYES OF NIDHOGG AND BOTH ARE FUSED ONTO HIS BODY.
One eye on his right wrist, one on his left shoulder.
-Estinien’s face is all fucked up too, full of red veiny lines.
-He speaks to the gathered crowd in Nidhogg’s voice.
“The final chorus is nigh, and all will be held to account! All will bathe in the flames of retribution! Till the coming of that day, look you on your sins and despair! For none shall ‘scape my wrath! None shall ‘scape my revenge!”
-With that, he transforms back to dragon form and flies off.
-The crowd starts chanting “Death to Nidhogg!” That sounds like a good idea… but I doubt that’s the answer here. I’ll be shocked if this ends as simply as that.
-Later that night, I speak with Alphinaud. Wow. Vidofnir survived Nidhogg’s attack. That’s… convenient. FFXIV has a problem with not killing off characters who clearly died.
(Yeah, I’m still grumpy about what Heavensward did with the Ul’dah plot.)
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Next time: Pursuing Nidhogg.
