TW: sexual assault
Our End
-The unlock quest starts in Ishgard. A citizen saw a heretic with a huge blade convicted at trial who fought relentlessly.
“He couldn’t have carried a shield if he’d wanted to, the blade was so big. Had to keep two hands on it at all times!”
-He speaks of this knight with wonder, but quiet wonder. The Tribunal (the Ishgardian religious police) clearly doesn’t look kindly on dark knights.
-The dark knight died at trial. [Later edit: or not? I’m not sure anymore.] I find his body in town and see the job soul gem on the ground.
-Graverobber that I am, I reach out for it… and the soul gem starts to glow red and black. It initiates some kind of exchange begins some sort of exchange between us.
“…Is this it? Is this all that awaits? No. No more. Enough… Open your eyes. Look. Do you see now? Do you see?”
-Next thing I know, I’m unconscious. What the hell was that? Who was speaking? The first part (“Is this all that awaits?”) makes me think it’s the soul of the dead dark knight, shocked that there’s no afterlife.
I wake. They’re alive (alive again?), standing above me. Introduces themself as Fray.
I really thought they were dead. And I didn’t see them get up. Here’s my immediate theory: the exchange was Fray’s soul entering me. They’ll be my ghost mentor that only I can see.
-Fray seems friendly enough.
Nearby, a woman screams for help. I start to run when Fray stops me.
“Not so fast. We need to talk about what’s happening to you – what’s growing within you, before you get carried away.”
-There’s darkness within all of us. The soul crystal gives me the chance to channel it.
THEN THEY TURN SCARY AF. GLOWING RED EYES AND ALL.
They urge me to take formal training. This is LEGIT SPOOKY. It’s odd. I’m not used to FF delivering chills.
-Dark knights don’t fit neatly into Ishgard’s hierarchy. They don’t respect authorities and “have no need of shields figurative or literal.” The philosophy of a tank with a two-handed weapon.
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Ishgardian Justice
-Fray tells me the origin of dark knights. There once was a venerable and powerful man who harmed children. The law-abiding knights couldn’t go after him, until one such knight crossed a boundary to bring justice. The first dark knight.
Basically, dark knights = BATMAN. Fitting.
-With that lesson, Fray lets me attend to the screaming woman.
Ququshu and Fray.
-She’s an old woman. Her granddaughter yelled at a Temple Knight, so he arrested the girl.
“Ain’t the first time they’ve taken a girl her age. If she doesn’t fight back, they might let her go after…”
-Is the game seriously implying that the Temple Knights plan to sexually abuse her? This is unusual for FF to say the least. Wtf is this, Game of Thrones?
-This is where Fray and I come in. Vigilante justice.
-Fray lets me know this soul gem will grant me power fueled by fear, pain, rage. Sith mode activate.
-Fray is the one who addresses the corrupt temple knight. There goes my “Fray is an illusion” theory.
-We cut a path through the temple knights to reach the maid. As I go, I see my inner rage manifest in purple fire that erupts after I kill each enemy.
I can touch the fire and gain power, but touch too much and it kills me.
It takes me a few tries to complete this quest. I’m not as cautious with using the dark power as I should be lol.
-We save the maid, and she says something interesting: Nobody screamed my name.
Her grandmother called out once, but that was it. The repeated screams for help were not from her grandmother.
AGAIN, I HAVE FUCKING CHILLS. Who was screaming? Was Fray making me hear things? Was the dark knight soul gem? Shit that projects illusions into your brain CREEPS ME RIGHT TF OUT. For example (for Dresden Files fans), the bits with Lasciel or really all of the Fallen.
Whatever this path is, we’re on it now.
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The Voice in the Abyss
-Fray tells me a bit about the voice I’ve heard. It’s up to each person to decide what they hear. Each hears a different voice. It gets easier to hear the more I go down this path.
-They want me to undergo a sort of “communion” with that voice, primed by killing a tough monster.
Strength is pain. Strength is suffering. Strength is sacrifice.”
The more I hear from Fray, the more their philosophy sounds like the Sith code.
-After the deed, I meditate.
“Listen to my voice. Listen to your heartbeat. Listen for the other…”
Another voice enters my head. “One foot in front of the other. To the ends of the world… and back again… And if time has no end… still forward and onward… over and over again…”
I know dark knights are all about justice, but that voice sounds more sinister than noble.
-There’s something very “The Force” about this. Fray tells me that I can’t yet know what the voice is. It may be an ancient spirit, or even someone I have yet to meet. A prophecy. Someone waiting for me down the line.
-Fray remembers something… a woman who wanted to be a hero and do great things, and did them. Perhaps her spirit is who I hear. Or maybe who Fray hears.
FRAY: "The songs always end there. But life doesn’t, does it? There are temptations more deadly than the darkside, Ququshu. You should’ve learned this by now, but you haven’t. You will.”
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Next time: The conclusion to the first dark knight storyline.
