I love the whole drk story but i have a special fondness for the 30-50 quests. The WoL during ARR was a glorified errand boy/girl. They quickly become this accomplished warrior and people acknowledge that but still send you on mundane tasks constantly, that frustrated me. So the fact that the WOL was canonically frustrated with all that bs made me very happy.
During late ARR and early HW my WoL felt the same way at times, what with all the rising fame and growing resentments. From Stormblood onward, though? I admit my WoL was kind of glad when people didn't recognize him, didn't think of him as the flawless perfect hero who can do no wrong but rather just another adventurer. The weight of that role on his shoulders was already starting to be too much
Yeah during ARR the WoL was being used as a Primal slaying weapon or at least I felt that way quite a few times. One of the things that really annoyed me was the fact that the only other person with the Echo and Hydelyn blessing known at that time, Minfilia was never combat trained. She’s the only other Scion that can’t be tempered. But it gets better throughout Heavensward. Even if the first few quests were pretty menial, my WoL sees it as repaying the Fortemps for helping shelter her and for getting her into Ishgard safely. But overall Heavensward was great. I’m not fully sure about why the WoL works so hard to free Ala’Mhigo and Doma. I mean, I know that the Eorzeam Alliance has basically been brought to the brink of war thanks to Griffin and so the Scions were sent to negotiate with the Mhigan rebels so they could join forces and liberate Ala’Mhigo. This frees them from the occupation of Garleans and serves to push the borders back which prevents the Imperials from trying to recapture Baelsar’s wall. After the first encounter with Zenos we’re going to Doma to try and get the rebels there to join forces. But that’s not a quick and easy thing to do, given the sailing it took to get to Kugane and even securing the aid of one faction is taking a very long time. I should think that’s enough time for the Garleans to attack Baelsar’s wall while we faf around in Kugane, the ruby sea and the confederacy. I don’t even know how long it’ll be before the fight to free Doma and Ala’Mhigo can begin but still that’s more than ample time for the Imperials to try to take back the Wall. But we’ll see when I get further into Stormblood.
I feel like I shot myself in the foot there, by canonizing that while yeah it gets frustrating at times, my WOL is just sorta happy helping people, cause their happiness is his happiness, which clashed HEAVILY with the themes of the portion of the story you mentioned
I at first thought this meant he was one of the originals who killed the leviathan. Wasn't until i talked to the guy and he said "YOU didn't have to do that" after fray's outburst that I Realized.
"“To walk the path is to suffer. To sacrifice. Justice demands no less. But we must never lose sight of why we chose to walk it. …Gods help me, those moogles were onto something, weren’t they?” -Sidurgu Orl
I've been very slowly leveling my drk and I think this is actually the last job quest I left off on, and I have to say I absolutely love sidurgu's sudden realization that the moogles had a point and weren't just fucking with him.
"We are the stories we tell ourselves. The brave hero, the tortured soul, the altruist, the pragmatist. They will tell you who they see, but you and you alone know who you are. For I speak only for myself. If you find comfort in my words, they are yours for the taking, but that is your choice. Now and ever after, as it has always been." "I love you more than you'll ever know. Be well." -Fray, a loving brother.
the 30-50 dark knight hits especially hard if you play it immediately after the sultanas "asassination" in realm reborn when you start havensword. we played the role of the perfect hero throughout realm reborn, and our reward at the end, for all of the monotony, all of our work and sacrifice. many of our comrades' in the crystal braves betrayed us, the people we saved, framed us for a crime we didn't commit, and those who didn't were either lost, absent, or were responsible for using us as little more than a glorified weapon. at the start of havensword it could be argued that the wol has very little true friends left. in fact hauchefant may well be the only true friend we have at the start of havensword. at this point in the story esteems demeanor and beliefs echo how the player feels and by extent how the wol likely feels deep down, at that point in the story.
Either right after ARR or right after The Vault are peak times to pick up DRK. There is a lot of betrayal and pain to process, and smacking holy knights with a giant sword really helps get that process going.
I came to the conclusion that one of my favorite things about the dark knight of FFXIV is that for a job whose aesthetic is about bloody sacrifice, vigilante justice, and armor made and named from forces of dark forces, is a lesson that learning to love and forgive yourself can give you the greatest power protect the people and things important to you.
to me the problem is that giving a character to a custom character is a massive immersion breaker for people who disagree with what is being said, i for once wouldn't feel even the slightest amount of regret for killing anyone nor would i try to justify it to anyone
The fact that The Blackest Knight comes from DRK's channeling their EMPATHY means a lot. They care so much about everything that they can channel it to protect themselves and others.
My favourite element was Sid being effortlessly cool and ruthless in cutscenes and then harangued to the end of his tether by Rielle. The duality of man.
"...comforted by the knowledge that the WoL isn't as alone as he thought..." Or more correctly, as alone as the WoL probably thought, even if subconciously. I feel that the Dark Knight story also helps set up the WoL mentally for what they encounter in Shadowbringers and Endwalker.
You didn't talk about it directly here, but Our Closure (the level 80 quest) does such an amazing job of, well, giving closure, both to Fray's arc and to the WoL's own. Our Answer (the level 50 quest) ends with the WoL fighting to re-shackle our "Fray" and "Fray" grudgingly stepping back until we need them. But by the end of Our Closure, the relationship is completely different. Consider what the WoL has (canonically, based on the unlock criteria) just seen: In the tank role quest, we saw Branden helplessly watch as his enemy took the person dearest to him in the world. We saw Branden despair and let his vengeful rage consume his entire being but, at the very last moment, pull back just a little rather than lose himself forever. But he didn't leash his rage the way we had done. Instead, he did what the Moogles of all people already told us we needed to do: reunite our dark side with the *reason* for its rage. Rather than embrace empty, selfish, numbing rage, he (and we) needed to combine that rage with the love whose loss created in the first place. And so we saw Branden's hesitate as his love for Sauldia rushed back and made doing the right thing agonizing when, with his rage let loose to do it for him, it must have seemed so easy just moments ago. And then we saw him do it anyway, because accepting that part of himself rather than submerging himself in it gave him the strength he needed to act *without* the risk that some day he would lose himself. And then in Our Closure, the WoL and "Fray" travel back through our shared past together. The WoL sees the people they could not have saved without "Fray"'s darkness and anger, and "Fray" sees the people who would never have changed for the better if not for the WoL's compassion. And with Branden still fresh in our mind, this is *finally* enough to let what the Moogles told us click into place for us both. The WoL finally understands that, rather than protect ourself from pain by keeping our love and compassion entirely in ourself and making a dark avatar separate from us, always at risk of breaking its leash, onto whom we can foist all the anger, we need to keep them all together in our heart. To feel that anger and pain right alongside the love and joy so that the two could act in harmony rather than conflict or domination and subservience. And "Fray" finally understands that not only is the WoL not alone, our compassion and selflessness that "Fray" derided as self-destructive altruism are exactly *why* we have those connections "Fray" thought were impossible. They realize that, rather than put a shield of rage between us and the world, we need to live in and feel the pain of that world and use that same shield to protect the better world we are struggling to build. So both come to the same conclusion: if we bring both versions of ourself together inside us as equals, with the lines between them ever-fuzzier, then when the one falters the other would always be there with an arm to help it up and a sword to protect it held by a hand it trusted rather than feared. We don't need to become one again, exactly, but rather than two versions of us, we need two reflections of each other: our compassion wielding our shield of rage and then its mirror image, *not its opposite*: our shield of rage wielded by our compassion. So when we call out to "Fray" at the end of Our Closure, our other self is silent because they aren't "Fray" anymore, they're *us*. We place a flower at the edge of the snowy abyss to remember what "Fray", our dark avatar, did for us when we had forgotten how to do it for ourself. And then, having let go of "Fray" and said our goodbye, the other us who once was "Fray" but is no longer is there in the snow with us. They reflect on who we have chosen to become, this selfless, tireless warrior for the weak and voiceless, and ask whether it was ever really their choice. And then they smile ever so slightly, and then there is only one dark knight standing there in the snow, because both know the answer: of course it was, how could it not be? "They" aren't somebody else, somebody separate, "they" are just one half of *us*. Neither reflection can ever choose without the other making the same choice in the very same instant, because each has already chosen without reservation to be the other's perfect reflection. We rejected the dichotomy the first entry in the quest's journal says others give us ("They will tell you you are one and you are two. You can choose.") and together we made our own choice instead: two-as-one, always both bearing the burden together in such harmony that nobody but us could ever even tell there *are* two of us, except in those brief moments where they could almost swear they saw *two* swords swinging in the dark, side by side.
oh man I'm only just realizing how long that comment was, sorry for dumping an absolute essay in here, I just have so many feelings about the DRK quests
I think you said the same thing twice. > our compassion wielding our shield of rage > our shield of rage wielded by our compassion I think I know what you meant to say, though. It's a rather cute sentiment. One I'll have to use somewhere.
Did you mean Granson and not Branden? I agree with the rest of your comment wholeheartedly but that was the one thing that confused me a bit while reading it; Granson was the Dark Knight. Though both Granson and Branden did both lose someone very dear to them, so you aren't wrong in either case. Granson lost his wife to the Sin Eaters which started him on his path; Branden lost his queen to a scheming vizier which started him on his. So the two characters are very much a reflection of each other.
I played paladin all through ARR, trying to be a perfect, selfless hero. I went into the game almost blind, and took my time with ARR and really enjoyed it. so at the end of the ARR patches, the betrayal of the crystal braves, the destruction of the scions, and the accusations of regicide hit me HARD. I felt so hurt and betrayed. I was furious at the people who would cast me aside so callously after all I had done for them, after I tried so hard to be kind and selfless. It especially hurt that I was a paladin. I started my journey in Ul’dah, saved Nanamo from a voidsent underneath the Sultantree, and pledged my paladin oaths with the Sultansworn. And still I was accused of regicide! So when I got to Ishgard, after meeting Edmont and touring the city, I discarded my paladin shield and oaths to become a dark knight. I leveled dark knight from 30 to 50 before doing any of the HW MSQ outside of the city of Ishgard, so the anger and frustration was very fresh in my mind for the 30 to 50 dark knight quests. Fray really spoke to everything I felt but was too afraid to say. As someone who struggles with self-esteem issues IRL, and has often felt like I need be selfless and suppress my feelings to be worth the air I breathe, the 30-50 storyline hit really close to home. It was so refreshing to see in an rpg and absolutely sold me on dark knight. I played dark knight for all MSQ through all 4 expansions (excluding EW patches, I haven’t started those yet) and never regretted it for a second. There’s so many moments across the dark knight questline I absolutely love. Fray telling the ungrateful merchant to f*** off. Sidurgu getting bullied by moogles until he finally stopped being so edgy and mean. Myste resembling a child Haurchefaunt (light blue haired elezen). The confrontation with Myste, him barraging you with guilt for everyone who you’ve killed and couldn’t save, and getting to let Fray out and say “I tire of this charade”. And god at the end of the level 80 quest “Our closure” I was in tears. Everything about the dark knight story and lore-wise is just perfect to me. Learning to accept and forgive yourself, to embrace your negative emotions, to stand up for yourself, to be a healthy amount of selfish, to not be held back by unjust leaders and laws. But also to always let love guide and fuel you, and to never let the abyss consume you. The dark knight storyline isn’t so much about a job, but about the burdens on your soul and emotional growth and healing. The class started out as an edgy outlet for my frustration, but it grew into so much more. I started playing dark knight thinking it was just an edgelord class but was so impressed and moved by its honesty and love. Anyways, tldr I really love dark knight, easily my favorite class/job in any rpg I’ve ever played.
The Dark Knight quest for me arrived the moment I entered Ishgard, when the WoL was at his lowest. It simply "clicked". Now, I'm starting END and my WoL is STILL a Dark Knight
It doesn’t help that he also says “in your darkest hour, in your blackest night, think of me and I’ll be with you. Always” followed by “who else could I love but you?” ❤
What I like as well with the DRK story, is how Frey and Mist, in turn, do what the Final Days did, but more personal in a way, it manifested Dynamis, the power of emotions into literal beings, driven by these specific emotions.
Frey also in your questlogs directly comments on Living Shadow, the 80 feels like Frey is now happy with how you handle things now as since I'd say early ShB we've had A LOT more sassy, annoyed reactions we can pick in cutscenes and in a way it's helping the WoL keep their cool throughout everything that happened
"It weighs as it should." is such a nice, simple, short quip for simply accepting your sins, rather than overblowing them to make yourself feel more guilty or more persecuted, or underselling them to assuage yourself of your sins. Your sins happened. They weigh as they should.
i feel like the timing of these quest lines was important as well. when do we meet Fray? not long after we are framed for regicide. when do we meet Myst? not long after the events of the Dragon Song War and Baelsars Wall. IE the two points in the story where the WoL would probably the most frustrated with their own inability to as many people as they probably thought they could, or the most enraged with 'supposed allies' and feeling the most isolated, and would likely need some one to talk to, to sort how their feeling about things out. This is why, as far as my head cannon for my character goes, Dark Knight is one of the two job crystals she has, (the other being Red Mage.) She never wanted to be some great hero, she just wanted to wander around, see things, and poke around the odd ruin or cave. Which is why she ended up joining the Scions, they sounded like they where offering what she wanted, just on a bit grander scale, and things kinda just spiraled from there ... and she wasn't really mentally prepared for it. Becoming a Dark Knight ultimately gave her the tools she needed to cope with her new life. As she is now. she's much less reserved then she was at the beginning, she will 100% drop all expression from her face in a 'really ....' look, if you hit her with a request to do something inane and she not buttering up the locals to get information out of them, and she has at no point ever forgiven the Monitarists of Uldah for what amounts to betrayal in her mind. She tolerates them at best, and probably isn't gonna let go of that grudge anytime soon.
@@TheForgottenProgidy because it's versatility makes it a really good choice for adventuring,(as she fully intended to hit the road again once things calmed down) Red Mage also has some crossover with Dark Knight in that both are magic using swordsman classes,(which my character would like for several reason's)the framing of how we meet the trainer, much like with Sage, is such that it's feasible to just just be a random happenstance, and I really like playing it.
Gods, revisiting the dark knight quest chain after endwalker makes it hit soo much harder too! Fray flat out telling the wol they can't handle all of this mounting pressure long term, and then having shadowbringer and endwalker happen.. It truly hit it home for me I'm astonished there aren't more quests that explore the wol's character, like I would've loved if stormblood bard had Jehantel help the wol deal with their doubts and fears, just like how they helped him in ARR! Or hell, why can't warrior actually have cutscenes with the inner beast threatening to take over the WoL or something? ;;
It’s a nice idea and a neat concept but I think I know why there isn’t more quests that delve into the WoL’s personality and psyche. The more the developers decide about how the WoL feels and thinks, then the less the player gets to decide things about their character in a game that gives so very little agency to players. Fully defining the WoL’s personality and opinions would take away one of the few things we can control. Think about it. In comparison to just about any modern RPG, FF14 is incredibly restrictive. No joinable factions, no choice in how quests are resolved, no ending to choose. Not even a list of companions to put in your party. There is nothing we can affect or change in Eorzea and beyond. Race, sex, appearance and job are the only things we can choose. Except for the odd inconsequential dialogue choice here and there. And we can choose, to an extent what our WoL thinks and feels about what’s going on around them though we do have to accept the WoL is kind, strong, and helpful with a bit of undercurrent of resentment for people abusing their kind nature and unique strengths/powers. And obviously grieving more than once. I’m going to be honest, there have been a few occasions when I have absolutely hated the lack of player agency and stupid things the WoL has done or allowed in cutscenes. I think one of our first encounters with Ysayle was one. The WoL just stood there and let her escape. But what triggered me hard was up in the Sea of Clouds and we have to kill a primal to get the key. After the success I had a startlingly accurate prediction, thinking that an enemy would swoop in and snatch it once we’d rid of the primal. I was surprised when my WoL picked it up herself (in my case a Hyur female Smn, Sch or Whm depending on the situation) and thought I’d been wrong. But then of course the enemies show up, restrain her and snatched it from her hand. Which was worse and more angry inducing than my prediction. I was so put off by this blatant lack of agency that after I finished my gaming that session I ended up quitting FF14 for almost two months before the lure of wanting to see the outcome of the story drew me back. But this time I fully accepted what kind of game FF14 was and made peace with the lack of player agency. That didn’t make watching those two objects being tossed into a frozen ravine after finishing Nidhogg for good, rather than entrusting them to Midgardsormr or Hvaesrelgyr for safekeeping, any less frustrating. Nor when that carelessness resulted in what happened atop Baelsar’s Wall. Perhaps what really annoyed me is that if the WoL had just shanked Griffin right after beating the snot out of him and he’s on his knees or even just punted him off the edge before he did his little ritual, certain things would have happened differently. But again I made peace with it. But losing more of what little choice I have about my own character might annoy me.
14 is a very narratively tight story. It has an amazing story, but requires control for the MSQ to work. You just have to accept things like being stunned enough by Iceheart having the echo that you don’t stop her as part of what needs to happen. You want a more free flowing story, you need to choose a game where the narrative and story is not the main thing. That is the price of the controlled and measured story they are telling.
There was a one moment where all this pressure is happening and everyone doing their part to help out, Krile did something that made me like her a lot. "Don't forget about your happiness". Part of me believes at that point, perhaps Fray is seen smiling that someone cares about the WoL and not because he is the shining hope, but rather an actual living being. Can you imagine, with what we know what fuels the DRK, and having people tell you that they care about you and doesn't want you to get hurt, how much power the WoL can unleash with that? Love is the fuel and with the amount of people caring about them, that darkness could fuel to eleven with that kind of determination
i agree i think they should give more solid characterization to them, but i think drk questline would be the worst possible direction they could take it. like yeah i agree some bits of the story (of drk) are okay but the entire frey bit is just not at all what i want to see. like yeah sure everyone has negative emotions but the frey thing is imo portrayed by people as like "oh yeah frey proves that the wol actually wants to just kill every fetch quest npc" and for me at least its literally not true and if they made it that way i couldn't take any of this story seriously, and i wouldn't want to play as that character at all. i think a better way they could've taken with soft character would be to show more travels azem did, and people who feel more strongly about the character connection can take those things as characterization for teh WoL, and the ones who want it to be total self insert can simply say they're two different people
I remember how many in the FFXIV subreddit wanted Ishikawa to be promoted to lead writer when they read an interview that credited her as the writer for the DRK, ROG and ALC questlines along with the Azim Steppes part of 4.0's MSQ. She even had influence in how Zenos was written during the climax of 4.0 which helped endear the character to players who previously found him boring Suffice to say, the devs listened
I can just imagine Fray screaming in annoyance and rage the entire time during the Hildibrand quests. *Especially* since even at times the WoL is outwardly annoyed by the people that surround them in the quests.
I can imagine. I like the Hildibrand quests though and the characters, except Juliyan, but when you watch anime for over 20 years her character archetype gets so old.
Equating Fray to the Warrior of Light's Ego makes the entire Level 50 fight a literal Ego Death. It is the moment when the Warrior of Light undergoes a transformation, and acceptance, of their self. They reconcile the disparate parts of themselves, and are reborn, so they can move forward.
I love the dark knight questline so so so much. It completely put into words most of the things I hate about ARR, tho it unfortunately persists into the rest of the game but it's less bad. Just the anger of going back and fourth over and over again. Being told stories that I dont care about. Characters that I care even less about. Then fray just comes in and goes "arent you tired of being nice? Dont you wanna go apeshit?" Love that for them. Though the anger is so satisfying, the parts that hit the hardest are the quiet parts. "I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive you" "for who else could I love but you". THIS QUESTLINE DOESNT NEED TO GO THIS HARD DAMNIT!!!!!! Its LITERALLY the best job questline, the story is so good.
"Do not seek forgiveness, for it will not ease the burden. It weighs as it should." The simple reasons that the DRK questline is a fan favorite is because of what I believe to be the following: 1. Actual character development for your WOL without affecting head canon (generally) or the MSQ in any major way. By allowing the WoL to push through feelings of regret and the pressures/frustrations of being a selfless hero. 2. Connected to the guilt we would feel having two major lore characters sacrifice themselves to save us so that we can soldier on and complete our objective. An objective they both would have supported us on if they were still with us. 3. The path is to enforce justice by the sword regardless of societal constraints. Some would consider it cathartic to engage in a fantasy vigilantism where life and decency were upheld by force when necessary. Obviously this is a problem when translated to real life but instead in a simple fantasy setting where good and evil are a little more clearly defined.
I avoided the Dark Knight questline for a long time thinking it was going to be some cheesy edgy fanfic - and what wound up happening was me adopting it into my WoL's own story, to the point even though I don't normally tank, I still consider Dark Knight one of my core classes. My cute little Au Ra never asked to be a hero to start with, never asked to be famous, never asked to be Eorzea's errand girl; they just wanted to travel and maybe set up a shop to hear of everyone else's travels. The Dark Knight questline gives such a great way to show the weight and toil those expectations take, and I'm truly happy I played it.
Maybe I should give it a shot then. I would have been a tank had they also not been strongly pushed into navigating the party during duties. How can I lead and navigate if I don’t know the layout? Fortunately I discovered by pure chance that at least in terms of Eorzea, I was born to heal. But your comments resonated with me because that’s very close to what I had with my own WoL. She came to Eorzea, to Lima’s Lominsa to become an adventurer, though mercenary is probably a closer word. To travel, to do freelance jobs/quests for people and earn Gil or other rewards for it. At the same time this profession would enable her to grow and develop as an Arcanist. Indeed when the Scions recruited her, I/she considered it being hired as a contractor to the Scions over actually joining them. She saw them as an employer that would vastly increase her magic skills (exp) and earn Gil, travel and help people all rolled into one major employer while she still did freelance work on the side. (Side quests, job quests and gatherer and crafter jobs.) And things just started snowballing from there. She had absolutely no idea why Hydelyn chose to give her the blessing and Echo of all people and occasionally wished she hadn’t. Her first reaction to what Midgardsormr did to her initially brought her relief. No longer was she bound to being the Warrior of Light and the servant of Hydelyn. She initially thought that Midgardsormr had freed her to be just a normal adventurer again. But of course that impression was quickly shot down. She never once had any intention of being the big hero. Now I should mention that while I haven’t done the Drk storyline I know the general outline to lvl 60 I think. When Myst was resolved. I also am only up to some point in Stormblood and while I haven’t been totally successful, I really have tried to avoid spoilers. As a result I have no idea how far through Stormblood I am. If it’s any help I’m at the point where I’m apparently trying to disrupt the Red Kojin to make them stop selling their services to the Garleans so the Confederacy will work with us. Or something like that. Honestly the storyline has gotten a bit strange and obscure. I think I’m at the point in the Stormblood story that could be considered filler, designed to make the DLC long enough to be considered worth the price. At least that’s what I’m hoping, along with hoping that once I get far enough the story will start to build towards an awesome and well designed conclusion. I’m aware Stormblood is considered the second weakest part of FF14 after ARR but I’m still betting that the story will still be good in the end. I mean I enjoyed ARR for the most part so Stormblood can’t be that bad.
No joke, same. I came from WoW and went the Death knight and... ooh boy, they are very very edgy. When I finally picked up DRK thanks mostly to the CC, I then realized how wholesome it became. The inner psyches, the reasoning behind their weight, what makes WoL more humane, I had another regret: Not being the DRK in ShB. i would happily venture again as the DRK. I did find a bit of solace whenever I need to tank for my friend, I go as DRK as they venture through ShB and now EW. It's one of my favorite classes in FF14
If the wol ever gave into Fray, they’d likely end up like Zenos; a character who only lives for themselves and looks down on everyone else for their banality and weakness
Mega spoilers incoming! When it comes to Myste, many people speculate that he's a simulacra of both Ysayle and Haurchefant, the two people who's passing supposedly impacted the WoL the most throughout the events of the Dragonsong War. The shock of losing such a warm and kind-hearted companion, who put his own status and even life on the line multiple times for the WoL's sake without asking anything in return, until it ultimately claimed his life. The tragedy of iceheart, with a pure and fervent desire for true and long-lasting peace between Ishgardians and dragons, yet chose to sacrifice herself to help mend the suffering that her misguided beliefs and actions had wrought. That depth of personal loss for the greater good was the first and greatest we had seen up until that point, so it's no wonder that after everything was over and said that the WoL's Dark Knight soulstone had split in two.
What I'm gonna say is something I learned through second hand at best, but it is rumoured that paladins gained the ability to block magic damage in Stormblood because the WoL didn't want more people to sacrifice themselves and die like Hauchefant since apparently in Heavensward and ARR, Paladins lacked the ability to do so, though I wouldn't know tbh since I didn't start playing until late Stormblood so take this with a grain of salt
This is late but, the fact that the soul stone is shaped like a heart, seeing and being reminded of their deaths it is a literal our hearts are broken by it.
I loved the Dark Knight story questline. From start to finish. However a favorite part will always be when Sidurgu tells the moogles to Piss off. Dark Knights aside, however many don't find it interesting, the Scholar Questine will always hold a special place in my heart. Be it that Scholar for the longest time was my main job I can't say but the whole story about the Scholars of Nym, Tonberries and also gives a reason to why The Wanderers Palace changes from Normal to Hard difficulty and you still don't fight the Tonberries.
The 80 Scholar questline makes me wonder how, right now in Dawntrail, how the Palace is doing. Because, lest you forget, they are people who are from a lost era of the world, while they need to learn the current world, they can tell a lot about what happened back then.
For me, it's that it matches my character's fiction almost to a T. So much so that I decided to merge it with my head canon for my character. Fray & Myst are summonings / creations of a broken mind (Myst consumes the aether of a soul crystal, breaking it, when summoned), born from the struggles that years of combat, loss, responsibilities, hopes & fears have created. Through these quasi-primals the WoL comes to terms with certain aspects of themself & their life. I legitimately had an "oh my god" moment when I realized how on-point the entire quest line was, right down to writing messages to yourself in the quest log. The WoL is an entity with PTSD & a broken mind, and they know it. With hallucinations, and they know it. Yet they also know that they live in a world where belief and aether are the only things necessary to summon things, and what does the WoL have? A surfeit of aether. They live in a world where their fears haunt them, the shadowy forms of their hallucinations take form and hunt them and play with them - and they play with them right back. The WoL knows what they are, but they're not whole things, just broken things. Like them.
Apart from my love of the Edgelord style & characters, the Dark Knight storyline is engraved deep into my WoL... Mine became one after the Ul'dah incident... What would have been shady business I'd have to resolve a bit later, it got mega-personal mega-fast, with the perceived death of first-friend Nanamo (I started in Ul'dah), being blamed for it the moment she collapsed, and then immediately my Scion friends being scattered to the winds, and all so soon after dealing with the XIVth Legion, risking my life for this foreign world (my WoL's an Isekai Protagonist), gave me the feeling of being used and discarded... Until the power of Darkness woke the beast within... Thoughts like "Maybe Gaius was right, and I should become a ruler, that way this won't ever happen again!" and "we will find those responsible and rend them into as many pieces as there are seconds since Nanamo has been dead!" were what roiled in my mind, and now, with the power of Darkness and a **Berserk CLANG** sword, I could have my revengance! And even though Nanamo was revealed alive, and our names cleared, the scars remain, and the Darkness will ensure it doesn't happen again...
I see I am not the only Isekaid person here. If I may ask where is your character from? 2 of my 3 are from the Destiny Universe as even though I now don't play anymore, I still love my character and want to take Dusk and Micalle on so many more adventures
@@DuskShadowclaw My character is an OC of mine (a fantasy I've been brewing for years, and should probably start writing down, could definitely make money off it), and among his various abilities, one he makes full use of is an "advanced" form of Lucid Dreaming; Normally, it's used for training, perfecting the execution of their Kingdom Hearts/Devil May Cry style combat, but recreationally, he can use it to journey to other worlds/realities through the power of dreaming, much like Kingdom Hearts 3D's... Any game that IRL me has played is a world OC me has visited; But for worlds where I can create a custom character (e.g. FFXIV, Dragonball Xenoverse 2, Monster Hunter, Xenoblade X), or I am the "soul" of a blank-slate character (e.g. Link from LoZ or Traveler from Genshin Impact), are worlds he's been Isekai'd into...
I absolutely love how Natsuko Ishikawa writes your character, or more accurately, doesn't write you. When you look at just what your character specifically does in game, it's basically nothing aside from fight, but there's a lot of room to interpret your own emotions and motivations there. The Darkness within that is Fray could be slight doubts that you overwhelm with your desire to help, or a desperate plea from your subconscious to start fighting for yourself rather that others. How you interpret your player's actions is entirely up to you as the Warrior of Light, and as such, you can get more drawn in to the story by bridging the gaps yourself, and making your character truly your own.
I love the 30-50 DRK story. After everything that happened with Ilberd and the Sultana, it felt as though the DRK story was addressing the WoL's thoughts, and it helped them work thorough the emotions and move on. It's my headcanon as to why my WoL will pick the funny, jokey options more often now.
The lv 50 quest immediately made me think about Persona 4. Part of the reason I vibed with it so much. Not to mention I found out later about the notes within your journal being written by Fray. Really nice touch
agreed. I even made a Persona 4 joke when playing the last part of the ARR line. And yes, I did love how the quest descriptions for Dark Knight are different from other quest descriptions, as they were written like narrations from Fray's perspective with some level of 4th wall poking to feel they are direct towards us
When asked what her inspirations were, Natsuko Ishikawa admitted that if she answered, she would give away the sources of her ideas. If Ishikawa was inspired by Persona 4, I am 100% and a half happy that she did. The Shadows are the story's strenght of Persona 4 and she knows that. The WoL faces his Shadow, fights it and accepts it, making him stronger in the process.
Knowing what we know now, an arguement could be made that without fray and especially upon becoming aware and excepting him, that was the point we were first ready to deal with meteion, fray as our ego actually disassociates the WoLs negative emotions by giving a form that is separate from themselves to help brunt those emotions. And assuming fray is canonically existing given dark knight is one of the canon WoLs jobs, I wonder had thancred not been the one standing, if fray wouldn't have been the one to act, especially if you consider as clearly a being of dynamis, he wouldn't have been subject to being drowned out.
Well that's operating under the assumption that Fray is their own entity, which they're not. As a part of the WoL's subconscious they wouldn't be able to make an impact on reality without the WoL's direct involvement. In your example, if Fray made any sacrifices, then the WoL would be sacrificed as well since they're the same.
I finished up the ShB tank rolequests as a DRK (and subsequently the DRK quest you unlock after doing the rolequest) while procrastinating on EW MSQ. HW music transitioning to ShB music felt a lot like EW scene direction. It was glorious! I can tell Ishikawa writing and title scheme from a mile away... That aside, I can't tell which bits are my favorite about the quests because I do admit it's so godsdamned profound and symbolic that my brain can't comprehend... though the jist I got is that 1. Give time for thineself-it's ok to be selfish sometimes, for your own sanity, 2. Forgive thineself-for whatever mistakes, shortcomings and flaws you might have had. And 3. Negative feelings directed at self and some, born out of love for others, can be used to achieve great things, do good things. 4. Ultimately self acceptance. Kinda reminded me of Advent Children Cloud tbh.
Considering how very milquetoast good guy the WoL is portrayed in majority of FFXIV, having anything that questions that is a huge deal. The more my companions and the world gush over me, the more I want to return to just being respected for who I am, not what I represent. No wonder Fray wants to break free of these expectations and upholding the image ideal, to just be a person flawed and emotional.
Thank you so much for this video! I just finished the DRK quest line and was so confused on what was going on exactly. I feel like im too dumb for this game's writing sometimes haha
As someone who has struggled my whole life with being a people pleaser on the verge of a savior complex. The Dark Knight quests hit so very close to home
Bonus comment: For my WoL canonically she didnt encounter the DRK quests until after the events of base EW. And for a while she was considered a missing person through the whole of the level 30-50 quests. And ultimately her confrontation with Fray it wasnt random Ishgard soldiers it was Aymeric and house Fortemps with her family on the outside (her home is Ishgard). Zenos specter haunts her for one last time at the end of the Myst quests. And she originally was a male au ra, before this moment it wasnt a female au ra until a mysterious bottle of Fantasia appeared in the script of The Ancients saying "You can do selfish things for your own happiness" with a doodle of a golden dog. After the whole Fray incident.
I am so glad that they tapped the writer for the Dark Knight storyline to be the main writer for Shadowbringers and Endwalker. I absolutely love the complexity and depth of the Dark Knight ethos, how there are layers to the job and how it dovetails so well with the Echo and the effect such a power would have on a person. How it speaks to the strain that being the Champion of Eorzea would be and also to the strength needed to rise above it, to transcend anger and resentment to use even death as a tool of compassion, and in the end to accept even yourself in all your flaws and complexities.
I think the most succinct way of putting it is simply: All other job quests are how the world relates to you. DRK is about how YOU relate to the WORLD. In other words, Because it's PERSONAL.
These were exactly my thoughts when first playing dark knight. I started the game as arcanist. At 30 I switched to scholar for queue times. The whole way through ARR I was honestly miserable, forced to play the errand girl for everyone when I was meant to be THE warrior of light! I can kill primals why am I doing a 12 part fetch quest for some asshole lalafell in Costa del Sol? I was also disillusioned with playing Scholar. All solo content was miserable I have one button to press on repeat for dps and a dot to upkeep. As soon as I reached heavensward I immediately jumped at the chance to play dark knight. Im a bit of an edgelord and id heard tank queues were almost as good as healer queues so I decided to give it a try. I fell in love immediately. The very first job quest I immediately felt like I was doing something important, I was starting something that had meaning (a wonderful change from the lalafell drama of Scholar). A story where my mindset towards the NPCs who make me a postman was reflected on my character! Since i completed the lv30-50 DRK job quest I have always called DRK my favourite class in the game even though I admittedly dont main the job. One of my favourite moments in this game was going back and speaking to Sidurgu after finishing Endwalker. He gives you some wonderful advice that I actually quoted down because it spoke to me on a personal level.
I already had a lot of the is in mind for my character but this really helped me revise and solidify her. In her background she has already fallen into depression and despair and had mostly come through them by ARR.
As a Tank class, DRK is a class I've done little with. That said, from Post-2.3 to pre-StB, I ran with a dedicated partner who crossed to DRK when we got to HW and was thrilled with it. They told me a lot of it. While I do try to move on through it, tank classes just can't keep my interest.
Oh-kay! I'm back, Scribe. Apologies for the wait, it may have been a rush-job but I still wanted it to look presentable... I have just finished uploading a video of the 30-50 DRK questline, edited in the style of a project I've been working on for some time. The flashbacks are a feature I haven't used before in the series, thought I'd try something new for this special video. Anyway, each clip is from a completed episode of the series and most were selected to contradict certain statements from Fray/"The Voice". Feel free to take a look, hopefully you'll see the questline from a different perspective.
In my mind the DRK quest that connected most was Our Closure. And it's in the name. One last conversation. Now comes your part. To cloak yourself in fiction, to breathe life into the dead, to give voice to the voiceless.
Lets see from the tone, to the pyschology, to the tears/feels and bruh dont get me started the lvl 80 quest line will bring some damn feels to you. It clearly one of the better quest lines also explains why 1 of the choices you make tend to be mean. Your literally speaking your mind. I once rejected alphaniud plee to help someone. He told me "Thats not like you to ever reject someone in need." Me thinking "Maybe I had a change of heart was finally able to come to answer to myself and to another."
Another questline that shows the damage to the WOL would be the Eden questline which shows the strain on them from fighting these god-like entities with the more horrifying appearances. The WOL has seen some shit and no one no matter how strong has to be affected by it.
I'm still curious as to what it is that creates Fray and Myst. Because going from interactions with Sid, this ain't normal. (Maybe a bit of that ol ancient magic waking up?)
it could be that, now that I think about it. With Fray we created him out of a strong, desperate desire for a mentor who could teach us in the ways of the Dark Knight, so being Azem's shard, we manifested that desire as an entity the moment we touched the soul stone, using said stone to take the form and vague identity of its previous holder. Same story with Myst. Recalling those painful memories of losing love ones and regretting taking people's lives made us manifest those sentiments as another entity, this time taking the form and vague identity of its previous holder's younger self. Perhaps the intensity of those sentiments was what caused the soul stone to split in half as it was too much to handle
^ This! When I first saw a DRK back when HW was relevant, I immediately fell in love with the aesthetic of the job. The storyline was icing on the cake. Nowadays, I not only find the job mechanically boring, but aesthetically boring too. Half your aoes look the god damn same! Obviously exaggeration, but can anyone tell me if flood of shadow and shadowbringer look any fucking different? Stalwart soul is in the same aesthetic look of unstable darkness as those 2 aoes. Dark Arts went from this cool powerup animation of floating up in the air with lightning around you to a fucking invisible buff from a broken TBN and gets consumed in place of mp when using Edge or Flood. Only unleash and abyssal drain has kept their original looks and keeping with the theme of edgelord. But those are old abilities that are used very often, and make them look stale. I fucking miss power slash, where you do a downward slash and gather darkness in your hand to blast into your enemy's face. The only ability I look forward to when it gets used is LB3. Fucking slicing a wound into reality and having darkness bleed out.
During that instance where you fight with Myste I only truly wanted to kill one of the embodiments. And that’s Zephryn. My WOL regrets not taking the spear that day and because of that the man she loves died right in front of her.
I truly saw the DRK storyline as a reflection of the WoL's massive psychological damage trying to self heal. To date I have not seen one, but would love a psychologist specializing in treating PTSD having a full look at the FF14 storyline. From years of games, I know no other character who has had as much trauma as the WoL. A few have had more extreme moments (Kratos from God of War series), but none as much so often.
@@SynodicScribe Overall yeah this sums up why I liked it. It just helped me understand the WoL's thoughts on things. It just made me feel for them that they don't always want to say yes. They say it to do the right thing. Then Myste our guilt... they really made me think about how many bodies we have piled now. Plus was it just me but does Myste look like a mini Haurchefant and Ysale.
there's a continuous theme found amongst the tank jobs stories, a lot of life is going to make it not easy but we cannot stop to consider what could be. PLD taught me that if we do not fight for the weak and innocent, then who will? GNB taught me that even if we struggle with right and wrong, it takes those around you to remind you of what it is we do. DRK taught me that the night is most dark before the dawn, and even if we are consumed by our negative emotions, we look ahead for those we shepherd unto dawn. (i havent done warrior im sorry!) something i really enjoy about all the job quests is how they can shape different aspects of both you the player and you the character, the lessons we learn or don't learn and their effects on those around us. thats why having just very recently beat endwalker and hearing the (spoiler lady) asking why we don't give into despair... well, i know a few people who would be upset if i were to given in so easily.
Warrior is kind of "as you fight beasts and monsters, be wary not to become one yourself" and to learn not to let a life of violence make you lose your humanity. I won't spoil *how* they cap that story of 'cause it's a nice one, even if it may seem silly at first glance
I did the 30 - 50 DRK quest line after beating Stormblood. To me, it felt like Fray represented the part of my WoL that could have been like Zenos. Strong to the point you may as well be a god to common folk. But, while the WoL wants to help and feels a connection to the common folk. Zenos never found that outlet. Fray almost seemed to be the version of the WoL that no longer cared. The weakness in everyone else bored and angered them. The version of the WoL that truly only cares for themselves and to hell with anyone else who couldn't keep up.
My Viera's Inner Darkness: I was chosen by fate to slay gods, I have abandoned everything I knew and loved to answer the call of destiny. I will never walk through my grandmother's garden under the great trees, or taste my mother's cooking hunted by her own hands, or partake in any of the ancient traditions from my village ever again. I have given it all away to save those who exploit, mistrust, and abuse my kindness. I am so tired, and yet I press on for those I have lost, and those I can yet save, in hopes the sacrifices will someday be worth it. My husband's Miquo'te's Inner Darkness: _Mii Channel theme music plays._ Gods I love DRK.
(warning spoilers and a bit of a rant) I took this job right when I was able to start it as a lvl 50 palidain who gave everything to protect the place he called home and even make it a bit brighter then the "bloody banquet" happens and I lose a small portion of my group and the respect and admiration of Ul'dal which rp wise was my 2nd home due to deeper rp lore reasons tired cold and broken questioning why I carry this sword shield and crystal I see a man slumped over
DRK is my main Job. Sch Heals and SMN DPS ... HeavensWard Was my first major expansion. I played it hard at launch. and loved every second of it. the DRK's main quest felt personal. a tribute to awesome writing ... I've held on to my Dark Knight's Claymore ever since ... I'd replace it ... ONLY if SE answers my Prayers for a Book Knight ... that uses a Tome and Sword (or other) ... ehhehehehe ..... thanks for these awesome videos King >.
@@SynodicScribe I think even back then it didnt click with me, I knew he was a part of us but I always questioned why Esteem. 😅 Your video basically helped me understand the entire concept so thank you. 👍
I actually more drawn to the WAR quests, it's themes of masculinity and letting rage control you. Not to mention how few roegadyn main characters there are in the game WAR quests have so many broes in it.
Yeah no, war quest is about erectile problem (depicted as the beast inside) nothing more, it's ridiculous, give no self reflection or lore and plain bad You can't compare that to drk quest
The writing and the intent were all very good, and I quite liked moments of it, but for me, personally, I disliked Frey's outlook so much that I actually resented the implication that they were in any way, shape, or form a representation of any part of my WoL, however buried or internalized it may be. It's just the downside of the story taking the reins of characterization: no matter how broadly applicable or sensible you make it, it'll be hit or miss for some. Still loved the parts with Sid and Rielle though. As an aside, there's a small bonus detail which I can only assume was intentional: if you do the Alchemist quests, you find out that the WoL's aether is blue in color. Frey and Myste fade into blue sparks at the end.
I wish I could. But Square hasn't released anything on Gunbreaker, Dancer, Reaper or Sage. All I have is the job quest, and that's not much. Though I did condense what I could into a video called Job Research. That's the best I can do for now.
"We are the stories we tell ourselves. The brave hero, the tortured soul, the altruist, the pragmatist. They will tell you who they see, but you and you alone know who you are."
I love the DRK quest. It's one on the only times the game's writing didn't completely bore me and I actually enjoyed reading every single one of the quests. The other instance where I actually read almost everything was Shadowbringers. Makes sense, given that the same woman who wrote the DRK quest lines was largely responsable for Shadowbringers. She's an absolute genius.
I just finished the questline today, and for my contribution to the discussion I will put forth my favorite part, a single dialogue choice. After the first round of the fight against Myst before Fray appears there are two possible lines. "...Justice demands no less." or "I tire of this charade." Going back a bit. The Stormblood line begins with a mysterious young boy Myst taking half your soul crystal and insisting on using it to "help" people. As it continues on, he only marginally helps people with illusionary memories and more often than not makes things harder for his companions through naivety. Sidurgu is immediately annoyed with him and as the quests seem to get more and more pointless, so too does the player. Until Myst implodes, takes a bunch of aether and immediately starts talking about ending the world and casting judgement on you, declaring "murder is murder" without any sense of nuance or context. By then I was throughly fed up with his tantrum, for lack of a better word. Who is this little twerp to judge me for not being perfect while saving the world? His memory constructs fall in three gcds, he is no threat. I wasn't going to choose "Justice demands no less." he didn't deserve it, this wasn't me righting an injustice, this was me squashing a particularly annoying bug. So I chose the more fitting line. "I tire of this charade." I can't think of a line more fitting of Fray. It sunk in over the next hour. This part of the questline was thematically the ARR questline _from Fray's perspective_ . In going through it I now empathized with him, I had _become_ Fray. And after that Fray _does_ show up, but he feels like early Fray, ruthless and deadly, but not quite angry or manic as in the later parts. It felt as if we met in the middle by the end. My WoL more assertive in themselves and a bit more ruthless. And Fray a bit more noble. I think this was deliberate. Fray doesn’t appear again between 50 and 70 despite explicitly being able to at any time. If he did the reaction I had wouldn’t have been as genuine, they wait for _you_ to take that step instead of reminding you. And finally, the story doesn’t parade what it did or try to reassure you more directly. It trusts you to unravel what just happened on your own. And it plays into the WoL “freeing” themselves from these elements of their psyche and integrating them in a healthier way free of judgement, because who can hope to judge you but yourself? In this case, defining aspects of a player character was 100% the right decision and this questline was unequivocally the best in the game for me. (Also while I know Shadowbringers wasn't out yet. With the way it ended, they could've really made it stick with that quest unlocking "Living Shadow" unfortunate missed opportunity)
You discussed two aspects here. I do think you leave something out when you don't discuss the 50-60 quests. They take a different path than the other two, but they also demonstrate why Fray failed in the 30-50 quests. Ultimately, the Dark Knight, despite all of the frightening aspects to it, is a protector. Sidurgu himself learns lessons, as does Rielle. It's honestly Aldo probably one of the most tragic tales in the game, a mother losing herself to her own cognitive dissonance and falling back into blank, empty fanaticism.
Lived all of the DRK quests but I did the lvl 80 quest after I finished 5.3. I just need something nice to wind down to. I ended up staring at myself sobbing and yelling ‘ITS NOT DONE WITH ME’ 😭😭😭🤣
Legit I loved the Myst story not just for who Myst is based off. However Myst's choices to summon against me made no sense. Maybe cause I ended up hating many of those choices and had no guilt cutting them down. They should have summoned people we got killed by mistake. Not Illbert who back stabbed us then did well all that murder to summon Shinryu. I felt Elidubus did it better having us fight false Scions during the lead up to his big fight.
The way I saw it was they summoned Ilbert because we felt guilty over not stopping him, Livia because she massacred our the scions and we weren't there to stop it, and Rytatyn because he was an honorable warrior who we were forced to slay. The WoL is tormented by different kinds of guilt.
I've come to notice that you did not mention the "Our Closure" Quest in the video, which is kind of sad as it still is the best quest out of them all, and give additional information regarding the original questline (Lvl30 to 50) In case you simply never found it, you merely need to finish the Tank Role questline you get in the Crystarium, and if you finished Shadowbringers as well then the quest should be available to you by talking to Sidurgu again in Ishgard
I love the whole drk story but i have a special fondness for the 30-50 quests. The WoL during ARR was a glorified errand boy/girl. They quickly become this accomplished warrior and people acknowledge that but still send you on mundane tasks constantly, that frustrated me. So the fact that the WOL was canonically frustrated with all that bs made me very happy.
During late ARR and early HW my WoL felt the same way at times, what with all the rising fame and growing resentments.
From Stormblood onward, though? I admit my WoL was kind of glad when people didn't recognize him, didn't think of him as the flawless perfect hero who can do no wrong but rather just another adventurer. The weight of that role on his shoulders was already starting to be too much
Yeah during ARR the WoL was being used as a Primal slaying weapon or at least I felt that way quite a few times. One of the things that really annoyed me was the fact that the only other person with the Echo and Hydelyn blessing known at that time, Minfilia was never combat trained. She’s the only other Scion that can’t be tempered.
But it gets better throughout Heavensward. Even if the first few quests were pretty menial, my WoL sees it as repaying the Fortemps for helping shelter her and for getting her into Ishgard safely. But overall Heavensward was great. I’m not fully sure about why the WoL works so hard to free Ala’Mhigo and Doma.
I mean, I know that the Eorzeam Alliance has basically been brought to the brink of war thanks to Griffin and so the Scions were sent to negotiate with the Mhigan rebels so they could join forces and liberate Ala’Mhigo. This frees them from the occupation of Garleans and serves to push the borders back which prevents the Imperials from trying to recapture Baelsar’s wall. After the first encounter with Zenos we’re going to Doma to try and get the rebels there to join forces.
But that’s not a quick and easy thing to do, given the sailing it took to get to Kugane and even securing the aid of one faction is taking a very long time. I should think that’s enough time for the Garleans to attack Baelsar’s wall while we faf around in Kugane, the ruby sea and the confederacy. I don’t even know how long it’ll be before the fight to free Doma and Ala’Mhigo can begin but still that’s more than ample time for the Imperials to try to take back the Wall.
But we’ll see when I get further into Stormblood.
stormblood msq was a chore. dropped it for a few months to do hw relics lol.
I feel like I shot myself in the foot there, by canonizing that while yeah it gets frustrating at times, my WOL is just sorta happy helping people, cause their happiness is his happiness, which clashed HEAVILY with the themes of the portion of the story you mentioned
@@blatherstheowl9148 Late response, but consider that these are the darkest parts of the self, so in a way it makes sense,
Fray: "I should have let Leviathan drown you all! At least then I wouldn't have to listen to your incessant whining!"
Me: Wait a minute...
THIS WAS ME TOO
I at first thought this meant he was one of the originals who killed the leviathan. Wasn't until i talked to the guy and he said "YOU didn't have to do that" after fray's outburst that I Realized.
That was me. I was like wait a second....wtf you weren't there......but once frey mentioned Uldah I was like no no way it can't be.
I should have just grinded it up to 50 before doing any of the quests. my head was spinning while speeding to get five more levels.
@@redgeoblaze3752 It do be like that at times.
"“To walk the path is to suffer. To sacrifice. Justice demands no less. But we must never lose sight of why we chose to walk it. …Gods help me, those moogles were onto something, weren’t they?” -Sidurgu Orl
man, I love our fellow Dark Knight edgelord
I've been very slowly leveling my drk and I think this is actually the last job quest I left off on, and I have to say I absolutely love sidurgu's sudden realization that the moogles had a point and weren't just fucking with him.
@@althelor Yep, but they're FFXIV moogles and they're douchebags, so I never give them credit for anything.
"We are the stories we tell ourselves. The brave hero, the tortured soul, the altruist, the pragmatist. They will tell you who they see, but you and you alone know who you are. For I speak only for myself. If you find comfort in my words, they are yours for the taking, but that is your choice. Now and ever after, as it has always been."
"I love you more than you'll ever know. Be well."
-Fray, a loving brother.
the 30-50 dark knight hits especially hard if you play it immediately after the sultanas "asassination" in realm reborn when you start havensword.
we played the role of the perfect hero throughout realm reborn, and our reward at the end, for all of the monotony, all of our work and sacrifice. many of our comrades' in the crystal braves betrayed us, the people we saved, framed us for a crime we didn't commit, and those who didn't were either lost, absent, or were responsible for using us as little more than a glorified weapon.
at the start of havensword it could be argued that the wol has very little true friends left. in fact hauchefant may well be the only true friend we have at the start of havensword.
at this point in the story esteems demeanor and beliefs echo how the player feels and by extent how the wol likely feels deep down, at that point in the story.
'i did everything they asked, everything right, and still I lost.'
Drk quest is absolutely best played right after ARR
Yeah, that what I'm doing right now and it is getting to me
Either right after ARR or right after The Vault are peak times to pick up DRK. There is a lot of betrayal and pain to process, and smacking holy knights with a giant sword really helps get that process going.
I came to the conclusion that one of my favorite things about the dark knight of FFXIV is that for a job whose aesthetic is about bloody sacrifice, vigilante justice, and armor made and named from forces of dark forces, is a lesson that learning to love and forgive yourself can give you the greatest power protect the people and things important to you.
Indeed. Not using forbidden dark arts, but shouldering the darkness so others may not have to.
to me the problem is that giving a character to a custom character is a massive immersion breaker for people who disagree with what is being said, i for once wouldn't feel even the slightest amount of regret for killing anyone nor would i try to justify it to anyone
@colorpg152 beautifully said, person who has never had to kill anyone
The fact that The Blackest Knight comes from DRK's channeling their EMPATHY means a lot. They care so much about everything that they can channel it to protect themselves and others.
My favourite element was Sid being effortlessly cool and ruthless in cutscenes and then harangued to the end of his tether by Rielle. The duality of man.
When Rielle is an adult I want them to be taller then sidurgu so he gets teased about it constantly XD
To me it is that no matter how cool and badass he is, you can, canonically trigger the living shit outta of him by calling in a chocobo arse.
Loved the like 5 times he threatened moogle genocide over 2 quests
"...comforted by the knowledge that the WoL isn't as alone as he thought..." Or more correctly, as alone as the WoL probably thought, even if subconciously.
I feel that the Dark Knight story also helps set up the WoL mentally for what they encounter in Shadowbringers and Endwalker.
“Serve, Save, Slave, Slay.”
“I’ve sins aplenty, aye. But regrets? Not so much.”
"and if you love me- can you love your everything too, for me?"
You didn't talk about it directly here, but Our Closure (the level 80 quest) does such an amazing job of, well, giving closure, both to Fray's arc and to the WoL's own. Our Answer (the level 50 quest) ends with the WoL fighting to re-shackle our "Fray" and "Fray" grudgingly stepping back until we need them. But by the end of Our Closure, the relationship is completely different.
Consider what the WoL has (canonically, based on the unlock criteria) just seen:
In the tank role quest, we saw Branden helplessly watch as his enemy took the person dearest to him in the world. We saw Branden despair and let his vengeful rage consume his entire being but, at the very last moment, pull back just a little rather than lose himself forever. But he didn't leash his rage the way we had done. Instead, he did what the Moogles of all people already told us we needed to do: reunite our dark side with the *reason* for its rage. Rather than embrace empty, selfish, numbing rage, he (and we) needed to combine that rage with the love whose loss created in the first place.
And so we saw Branden's hesitate as his love for Sauldia rushed back and made doing the right thing agonizing when, with his rage let loose to do it for him, it must have seemed so easy just moments ago. And then we saw him do it anyway, because accepting that part of himself rather than submerging himself in it gave him the strength he needed to act *without* the risk that some day he would lose himself.
And then in Our Closure, the WoL and "Fray" travel back through our shared past together. The WoL sees the people they could not have saved without "Fray"'s darkness and anger, and "Fray" sees the people who would never have changed for the better if not for the WoL's compassion. And with Branden still fresh in our mind, this is *finally* enough to let what the Moogles told us click into place for us both.
The WoL finally understands that, rather than protect ourself from pain by keeping our love and compassion entirely in ourself and making a dark avatar separate from us, always at risk of breaking its leash, onto whom we can foist all the anger, we need to keep them all together in our heart. To feel that anger and pain right alongside the love and joy so that the two could act in harmony rather than conflict or domination and subservience.
And "Fray" finally understands that not only is the WoL not alone, our compassion and selflessness that "Fray" derided as self-destructive altruism are exactly *why* we have those connections "Fray" thought were impossible. They realize that, rather than put a shield of rage between us and the world, we need to live in and feel the pain of that world and use that same shield to protect the better world we are struggling to build.
So both come to the same conclusion: if we bring both versions of ourself together inside us as equals, with the lines between them ever-fuzzier, then when the one falters the other would always be there with an arm to help it up and a sword to protect it held by a hand it trusted rather than feared. We don't need to become one again, exactly, but rather than two versions of us, we need two reflections of each other: our compassion wielding our shield of rage and then its mirror image, *not its opposite*: our shield of rage wielded by our compassion.
So when we call out to "Fray" at the end of Our Closure, our other self is silent because they aren't "Fray" anymore, they're *us*. We place a flower at the edge of the snowy abyss to remember what "Fray", our dark avatar, did for us when we had forgotten how to do it for ourself. And then, having let go of "Fray" and said our goodbye, the other us who once was "Fray" but is no longer is there in the snow with us. They reflect on who we have chosen to become, this selfless, tireless warrior for the weak and voiceless, and ask whether it was ever really their choice.
And then they smile ever so slightly, and then there is only one dark knight standing there in the snow, because both know the answer: of course it was, how could it not be? "They" aren't somebody else, somebody separate, "they" are just one half of *us*. Neither reflection can ever choose without the other making the same choice in the very same instant, because each has already chosen without reservation to be the other's perfect reflection.
We rejected the dichotomy the first entry in the quest's journal says others give us ("They will tell you you are one and you are two. You can choose.") and together we made our own choice instead: two-as-one, always both bearing the burden together in such harmony that nobody but us could ever even tell there *are* two of us, except in those brief moments where they could almost swear they saw *two* swords swinging in the dark, side by side.
oh man I'm only just realizing how long that comment was, sorry for dumping an absolute essay in here, I just have so many feelings about the DRK quests
Not the first essay on my channel, not by a long shot, and certainly isn't going to be the last.
@@bsc649 it was a beautiful essay dont worry ^^
I think you said the same thing twice.
> our compassion wielding our shield of rage
> our shield of rage wielded by our compassion
I think I know what you meant to say, though. It's a rather cute sentiment. One I'll have to use somewhere.
Did you mean Granson and not Branden? I agree with the rest of your comment wholeheartedly but that was the one thing that confused me a bit while reading it; Granson was the Dark Knight. Though both Granson and Branden did both lose someone very dear to them, so you aren't wrong in either case. Granson lost his wife to the Sin Eaters which started him on his path; Branden lost his queen to a scheming vizier which started him on his. So the two characters are very much a reflection of each other.
I played paladin all through ARR, trying to be a perfect, selfless hero. I went into the game almost blind, and took my time with ARR and really enjoyed it. so at the end of the ARR patches, the betrayal of the crystal braves, the destruction of the scions, and the accusations of regicide hit me HARD. I felt so hurt and betrayed. I was furious at the people who would cast me aside so callously after all I had done for them, after I tried so hard to be kind and selfless.
It especially hurt that I was a paladin. I started my journey in Ul’dah, saved Nanamo from a voidsent underneath the Sultantree, and pledged my paladin oaths with the Sultansworn. And still I was accused of regicide!
So when I got to Ishgard, after meeting Edmont and touring the city, I discarded my paladin shield and oaths to become a dark knight. I leveled dark knight from 30 to 50 before doing any of the HW MSQ outside of the city of Ishgard, so the anger and frustration was very fresh in my mind for the 30 to 50 dark knight quests. Fray really spoke to everything I felt but was too afraid to say. As someone who struggles with self-esteem issues IRL, and has often felt like I need be selfless and suppress my feelings to be worth the air I breathe, the 30-50 storyline hit really close to home. It was so refreshing to see in an rpg and absolutely sold me on dark knight. I played dark knight for all MSQ through all 4 expansions (excluding EW patches, I haven’t started those yet) and never regretted it for a second.
There’s so many moments across the dark knight questline I absolutely love. Fray telling the ungrateful merchant to f*** off. Sidurgu getting bullied by moogles until he finally stopped being so edgy and mean. Myste resembling a child Haurchefaunt (light blue haired elezen). The confrontation with Myste, him barraging you with guilt for everyone who you’ve killed and couldn’t save, and getting to let Fray out and say “I tire of this charade”. And god at the end of the level 80 quest “Our closure” I was in tears.
Everything about the dark knight story and lore-wise is just perfect to me. Learning to accept and forgive yourself, to embrace your negative emotions, to stand up for yourself, to be a healthy amount of selfish, to not be held back by unjust leaders and laws. But also to always let love guide and fuel you, and to never let the abyss consume you. The dark knight storyline isn’t so much about a job, but about the burdens on your soul and emotional growth and healing. The class started out as an edgy outlet for my frustration, but it grew into so much more. I started playing dark knight thinking it was just an edgelord class but was so impressed and moved by its honesty and love.
Anyways, tldr I really love dark knight, easily my favorite class/job in any rpg I’ve ever played.
You and me come from similar cuts, though I wasn't a Paladin I was a Scholar, a healer. Then I went and discarded my fae and tome for the blade
The Dark Knight quest for me arrived the moment I entered Ishgard, when the WoL was at his lowest.
It simply "clicked".
Now, I'm starting END and my WoL is STILL a Dark Knight
Another part that hits home about Myste being the WoL's regrets? He looks like the love child of Ysayle and Haurchefant
Omg I know 😭😭
It doesn’t help that he also says “in your darkest hour, in your blackest night, think of me and I’ll be with you. Always” followed by “who else could I love but you?” ❤
Oh shi I never noticed that aaarregggh
You know, I could have gone my entire life without knowing this and I would have been just fine.
I'm no longer just fine.
This upsets me.
Because your WoL felt the most grief at Ysayle and Haurchefant's death.
Myste is the WoL's grief, despair and regret given form
What I like as well with the DRK story, is how Frey and Mist, in turn, do what the Final Days did, but more personal in a way, it manifested Dynamis, the power of emotions into literal beings, driven by these specific emotions.
The level 80 quest after Shadowbringers hurt me in a good way. A walk back down the path, one final farewell to your other self.
Frey also in your questlogs directly comments on Living Shadow, the 80 feels like Frey is now happy with how you handle things now as since I'd say early ShB we've had A LOT more sassy, annoyed reactions we can pick in cutscenes and in a way it's helping the WoL keep their cool throughout everything that happened
I don't recall there being a post-ShB quest for DRK, just Ninja, Bard, and a couple of others. O_o
@@FrazzleCat Every job quests has it, just need to find the NPCs for it
"It weighs as it should." is such a nice, simple, short quip for simply accepting your sins, rather than overblowing them to make yourself feel more guilty or more persecuted, or underselling them to assuage yourself of your sins. Your sins happened. They weigh as they should.
i feel like the timing of these quest lines was important as well.
when do we meet Fray? not long after we are framed for regicide.
when do we meet Myst? not long after the events of the Dragon Song War and Baelsars Wall.
IE the two points in the story where the WoL would probably the most frustrated with their own inability to as many people as they probably thought they could, or the most enraged with 'supposed allies' and feeling the most isolated, and would likely need some one to talk to, to sort how their feeling about things out.
This is why, as far as my head cannon for my character goes, Dark Knight is one of the two job crystals she has, (the other being Red Mage.) She never wanted to be some great hero, she just wanted to wander around, see things, and poke around the odd ruin or cave. Which is why she ended up joining the Scions, they sounded like they where offering what she wanted, just on a bit grander scale, and things kinda just spiraled from there ... and she wasn't really mentally prepared for it. Becoming a Dark Knight ultimately gave her the tools she needed to cope with her new life. As she is now. she's much less reserved then she was at the beginning, she will 100% drop all expression from her face in a 'really ....' look, if you hit her with a request to do something inane and she not buttering up the locals to get information out of them, and she has at no point ever forgiven the Monitarists of Uldah for what amounts to betrayal in her mind. She tolerates them at best, and probably isn't gonna let go of that grudge anytime soon.
Why do you think rdm is the other one?
@@TheForgottenProgidy because it's versatility makes it a really good choice for adventuring,(as she fully intended to hit the road again once things calmed down) Red Mage also has some crossover with Dark Knight in that both are magic using swordsman classes,(which my character would like for several reason's)the framing of how we meet the trainer, much like with Sage, is such that it's feasible to just just be a random happenstance, and I really like playing it.
Nice character
@@micahcoles3985 thanks
Still wanting to kill Lolorito since day 1, which for me was ARR's Early Access.
Gods, revisiting the dark knight quest chain after endwalker makes it hit soo much harder too! Fray flat out telling the wol they can't handle all of this mounting pressure long term, and then having shadowbringer and endwalker happen.. It truly hit it home for me
I'm astonished there aren't more quests that explore the wol's character, like I would've loved if stormblood bard had Jehantel help the wol deal with their doubts and fears, just like how they helped him in ARR! Or hell, why can't warrior actually have cutscenes with the inner beast threatening to take over the WoL or something? ;;
Yes, and they are all written by the same person too. She's definitely a 5head writer.
I wish we could have the MNK trainer appearing in SB. Dude whole arc is legit connected to the Ala Mhigan resistence but he doesent do shit in SB.
It’s a nice idea and a neat concept but I think I know why there isn’t more quests that delve into the WoL’s personality and psyche. The more the developers decide about how the WoL feels and thinks, then the less the player gets to decide things about their character in a game that gives so very little agency to players. Fully defining the WoL’s personality and opinions would take away one of the few things we can control.
Think about it. In comparison to just about any modern RPG, FF14 is incredibly restrictive. No joinable factions, no choice in how quests are resolved, no ending to choose. Not even a list of companions to put in your party. There is nothing we can affect or change in Eorzea and beyond. Race, sex, appearance and job are the only things we can choose. Except for the odd inconsequential dialogue choice here and there. And we can choose, to an extent what our WoL thinks and feels about what’s going on around them though we do have to accept the WoL is kind, strong, and helpful with a bit of undercurrent of resentment for people abusing their kind nature and unique strengths/powers. And obviously grieving more than once.
I’m going to be honest, there have been a few occasions when I have absolutely hated the lack of player agency and stupid things the WoL has done or allowed in cutscenes. I think one of our first encounters with Ysayle was one. The WoL just stood there and let her escape. But what triggered me hard was up in the Sea of Clouds and we have to kill a primal to get the key. After the success I had a startlingly accurate prediction, thinking that an enemy would swoop in and snatch it once we’d rid of the primal. I was surprised when my WoL picked it up herself (in my case a Hyur female Smn, Sch or Whm depending on the situation) and thought I’d been wrong. But then of course the enemies show up, restrain her and snatched it from her hand.
Which was worse and more angry inducing than my prediction. I was so put off by this blatant lack of agency that after I finished my gaming that session I ended up quitting FF14 for almost two months before the lure of wanting to see the outcome of the story drew me back. But this time I fully accepted what kind of game FF14 was and made peace with the lack of player agency. That didn’t make watching those two objects being tossed into a frozen ravine after finishing Nidhogg for good, rather than entrusting them to Midgardsormr or Hvaesrelgyr for safekeeping, any less frustrating.
Nor when that carelessness resulted in what happened atop Baelsar’s Wall. Perhaps what really annoyed me is that if the WoL had just shanked Griffin right after beating the snot out of him and he’s on his knees or even just punted him off the edge before he did his little ritual, certain things would have happened differently. But again I made peace with it.
But losing more of what little choice I have about my own character might annoy me.
14 is a very narratively tight story. It has an amazing story, but requires control for the MSQ to work. You just have to accept things like being stunned enough by Iceheart having the echo that you don’t stop her as part of what needs to happen.
You want a more free flowing story, you need to choose a game where the narrative and story is not the main thing.
That is the price of the controlled and measured story they are telling.
There was a one moment where all this pressure is happening and everyone doing their part to help out, Krile did something that made me like her a lot. "Don't forget about your happiness". Part of me believes at that point, perhaps Fray is seen smiling that someone cares about the WoL and not because he is the shining hope, but rather an actual living being. Can you imagine, with what we know what fuels the DRK, and having people tell you that they care about you and doesn't want you to get hurt, how much power the WoL can unleash with that? Love is the fuel and with the amount of people caring about them, that darkness could fuel to eleven with that kind of determination
The Dark Knight quest line to me is proof that the WoL would benefit from being a little less open ended character wise.
i agree i think they should give more solid characterization to them, but i think drk questline would be the worst possible direction they could take it. like yeah i agree some bits of the story (of drk) are okay but the entire frey bit is just not at all what i want to see. like yeah sure everyone has negative emotions but the frey thing is imo portrayed by people as like "oh yeah frey proves that the wol actually wants to just kill every fetch quest npc" and for me at least its literally not true and if they made it that way i couldn't take any of this story seriously, and i wouldn't want to play as that character at all.
i think a better way they could've taken with soft character would be to show more travels azem did, and people who feel more strongly about the character connection can take those things as characterization for teh WoL, and the ones who want it to be total self insert can simply say they're two different people
Worth to mention that myste looks like the combination of haurchefant and ysayle, which is perfect representation for the wol’s regrets and fears
I remember how many in the FFXIV subreddit wanted Ishikawa to be promoted to lead writer when they read an interview that credited her as the writer for the DRK, ROG and ALC questlines along with the Azim Steppes part of 4.0's MSQ. She even had influence in how Zenos was written during the climax of 4.0 which helped endear the character to players who previously found him boring
Suffice to say, the devs listened
I'll admit, Zenos struck me as just a knock off Sephiroth until he actually got developed more.
Yet now we have Snoretrail...
I can just imagine Fray screaming in annoyance and rage the entire time during the Hildibrand quests. *Especially* since even at times the WoL is outwardly annoyed by the people that surround them in the quests.
I can imagine. I like the Hildibrand quests though and the characters, except Juliyan, but when you watch anime for over 20 years her character archetype gets so old.
Equating Fray to the Warrior of Light's Ego makes the entire Level 50 fight a literal Ego Death. It is the moment when the Warrior of Light undergoes a transformation, and acceptance, of their self. They reconcile the disparate parts of themselves, and are reborn, so they can move forward.
I love the dark knight questline so so so much. It completely put into words most of the things I hate about ARR, tho it unfortunately persists into the rest of the game but it's less bad.
Just the anger of going back and fourth over and over again. Being told stories that I dont care about. Characters that I care even less about. Then fray just comes in and goes "arent you tired of being nice? Dont you wanna go apeshit?" Love that for them.
Though the anger is so satisfying, the parts that hit the hardest are the quiet parts. "I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive you" "for who else could I love but you". THIS QUESTLINE DOESNT NEED TO GO THIS HARD DAMNIT!!!!!! Its LITERALLY the best job questline, the story is so good.
"Do not seek forgiveness, for it will not ease the burden. It weighs as it should." The simple reasons that the DRK questline is a fan favorite is because of what I believe to be the following:
1. Actual character development for your WOL without affecting head canon (generally) or the MSQ in any major way. By allowing the WoL to push through feelings of regret and the pressures/frustrations of being a selfless hero.
2. Connected to the guilt we would feel having two major lore characters sacrifice themselves to save us so that we can soldier on and complete our objective. An objective they both would have supported us on if they were still with us.
3. The path is to enforce justice by the sword regardless of societal constraints. Some would consider it cathartic to engage in a fantasy vigilantism where life and decency were upheld by force when necessary. Obviously this is a problem when translated to real life but instead in a simple fantasy setting where good and evil are a little more clearly defined.
I avoided the Dark Knight questline for a long time thinking it was going to be some cheesy edgy fanfic - and what wound up happening was me adopting it into my WoL's own story, to the point even though I don't normally tank, I still consider Dark Knight one of my core classes.
My cute little Au Ra never asked to be a hero to start with, never asked to be famous, never asked to be Eorzea's errand girl; they just wanted to travel and maybe set up a shop to hear of everyone else's travels. The Dark Knight questline gives such a great way to show the weight and toil those expectations take, and I'm truly happy I played it.
It's great that it works from so many angles and character concepts, honestly. :D
It’s got a similar ring to Ardbert in some respects
Maybe I should give it a shot then. I would have been a tank had they also not been strongly pushed into navigating the party during duties. How can I lead and navigate if I don’t know the layout? Fortunately I discovered by pure chance that at least in terms of Eorzea, I was born to heal.
But your comments resonated with me because that’s very close to what I had with my own WoL. She came to Eorzea, to Lima’s Lominsa to become an adventurer, though mercenary is probably a closer word. To travel, to do freelance jobs/quests for people and earn Gil or other rewards for it. At the same time this profession would enable her to grow and develop as an Arcanist. Indeed when the Scions recruited her, I/she considered it being hired as a contractor to the Scions over actually joining them. She saw them as an employer that would vastly increase her magic skills (exp) and earn Gil, travel and help people all rolled into one major employer while she still did freelance work on the side. (Side quests, job quests and gatherer and crafter jobs.)
And things just started snowballing from there. She had absolutely no idea why Hydelyn chose to give her the blessing and Echo of all people and occasionally wished she hadn’t. Her first reaction to what Midgardsormr did to her initially brought her relief. No longer was she bound to being the Warrior of Light and the servant of Hydelyn. She initially thought that Midgardsormr had freed her to be just a normal adventurer again. But of course that impression was quickly shot down. She never once had any intention of being the big hero.
Now I should mention that while I haven’t done the Drk storyline I know the general outline to lvl 60 I think. When Myst was resolved. I also am only up to some point in Stormblood and while I haven’t been totally successful, I really have tried to avoid spoilers. As a result I have no idea how far through Stormblood I am. If it’s any help I’m at the point where I’m apparently trying to disrupt the Red Kojin to make them stop selling their services to the Garleans so the Confederacy will work with us. Or something like that. Honestly the storyline has gotten a bit strange and obscure.
I think I’m at the point in the Stormblood story that could be considered filler, designed to make the DLC long enough to be considered worth the price. At least that’s what I’m hoping, along with hoping that once I get far enough the story will start to build towards an awesome and well designed conclusion. I’m aware Stormblood is considered the second weakest part of FF14 after ARR but I’m still betting that the story will still be good in the end. I mean I enjoyed ARR for the most part so Stormblood can’t be that bad.
No joke, same. I came from WoW and went the Death knight and... ooh boy, they are very very edgy. When I finally picked up DRK thanks mostly to the CC, I then realized how wholesome it became. The inner psyches, the reasoning behind their weight, what makes WoL more humane, I had another regret: Not being the DRK in ShB. i would happily venture again as the DRK. I did find a bit of solace whenever I need to tank for my friend, I go as DRK as they venture through ShB and now EW. It's one of my favorite classes in FF14
If the wol ever gave into Fray, they’d likely end up like Zenos; a character who only lives for themselves and looks down on everyone else for their banality and weakness
Mega spoilers incoming!
When it comes to Myste, many people speculate that he's a simulacra of both Ysayle and Haurchefant, the two people who's passing supposedly impacted the WoL the most throughout the events of the Dragonsong War.
The shock of losing such a warm and kind-hearted companion, who put his own status and even life on the line multiple times for the WoL's sake without asking anything in return, until it ultimately claimed his life. The tragedy of iceheart, with a pure and fervent desire for true and long-lasting peace between Ishgardians and dragons, yet chose to sacrifice herself to help mend the suffering that her misguided beliefs and actions had wrought.
That depth of personal loss for the greater good was the first and greatest we had seen up until that point, so it's no wonder that after everything was over and said that the WoL's Dark Knight soulstone had split in two.
I have to admit I did think along those lines when I saw Myst for the first time. The resemblance to Ysayle is so strong.
What I'm gonna say is something I learned through second hand at best, but it is rumoured that paladins gained the ability to block magic damage in Stormblood because the WoL didn't want more people to sacrifice themselves and die like Hauchefant since apparently in Heavensward and ARR, Paladins lacked the ability to do so, though I wouldn't know tbh since I didn't start playing until late Stormblood so take this with a grain of salt
@@OMartinez91 I'm pretty sure they did that for gameplay reasons after paladins were being excluded from raid groups....
This is late but, the fact that the soul stone is shaped like a heart, seeing and being reminded of their deaths it is a literal our hearts are broken by it.
Fun fact, Myste use a child character model of Haurchefant, and Ysayle hairs.
If you haven't read the drk quest log in the journal. Then do so asap. You'll love the extra commentary from Fray.
Me and my boyfriend love the Dark Knight quests so much that we named our kitten Fray
That's so friggin cute!
I loved the Dark Knight story questline. From start to finish.
However a favorite part will always be when Sidurgu tells the moogles to Piss off.
Dark Knights aside, however many don't find it interesting, the Scholar Questine will always hold a special place in my heart. Be it that Scholar for the longest time was my main job I can't say but the whole story about the Scholars of Nym, Tonberries and also gives a reason to why The Wanderers Palace changes from Normal to Hard difficulty and you still don't fight the Tonberries.
"oh thank god, an adult"
"player, be a dear and punch a moogle for me"
"..... i wasent joking about the moogle punching"
The 80 Scholar questline makes me wonder how, right now in Dawntrail, how the Palace is doing. Because, lest you forget, they are people who are from a lost era of the world, while they need to learn the current world, they can tell a lot about what happened back then.
For me, it's that it matches my character's fiction almost to a T. So much so that I decided to merge it with my head canon for my character. Fray & Myst are summonings / creations of a broken mind (Myst consumes the aether of a soul crystal, breaking it, when summoned), born from the struggles that years of combat, loss, responsibilities, hopes & fears have created. Through these quasi-primals the WoL comes to terms with certain aspects of themself & their life. I legitimately had an "oh my god" moment when I realized how on-point the entire quest line was, right down to writing messages to yourself in the quest log.
The WoL is an entity with PTSD & a broken mind, and they know it. With hallucinations, and they know it. Yet they also know that they live in a world where belief and aether are the only things necessary to summon things, and what does the WoL have? A surfeit of aether. They live in a world where their fears haunt them, the shadowy forms of their hallucinations take form and hunt them and play with them - and they play with them right back. The WoL knows what they are, but they're not whole things, just broken things. Like them.
Holy crap you're right
Apart from my love of the Edgelord style & characters, the Dark Knight storyline is engraved deep into my WoL...
Mine became one after the Ul'dah incident...
What would have been shady business I'd have to resolve a bit later, it got mega-personal mega-fast, with the perceived death of first-friend Nanamo (I started in Ul'dah), being blamed for it the moment she collapsed, and then immediately my Scion friends being scattered to the winds, and all so soon after dealing with the XIVth Legion, risking my life for this foreign world (my WoL's an Isekai Protagonist), gave me the feeling of being used and discarded... Until the power of Darkness woke the beast within...
Thoughts like "Maybe Gaius was right, and I should become a ruler, that way this won't ever happen again!" and "we will find those responsible and rend them into as many pieces as there are seconds since Nanamo has been dead!" were what roiled in my mind, and now, with the power of Darkness and a **Berserk CLANG** sword, I could have my revengance!
And even though Nanamo was revealed alive, and our names cleared, the scars remain, and the Darkness will ensure it doesn't happen again...
I see I am not the only Isekaid person here. If I may ask where is your character from? 2 of my 3 are from the Destiny Universe as even though I now don't play anymore, I still love my character and want to take Dusk and Micalle on so many more adventures
@@DuskShadowclaw My character is an OC of mine (a fantasy I've been brewing for years, and should probably start writing down, could definitely make money off it), and among his various abilities, one he makes full use of is an "advanced" form of Lucid Dreaming; Normally, it's used for training, perfecting the execution of their Kingdom Hearts/Devil May Cry style combat, but recreationally, he can use it to journey to other worlds/realities through the power of dreaming, much like Kingdom Hearts 3D's...
Any game that IRL me has played is a world OC me has visited; But for worlds where I can create a custom character (e.g. FFXIV, Dragonball Xenoverse 2, Monster Hunter, Xenoblade X), or I am the "soul" of a blank-slate character (e.g. Link from LoZ or Traveler from Genshin Impact), are worlds he's been Isekai'd into...
@@Kyzoren I love it mate. You should definitely make fan stories about him I'd read them all
Half the reason why I even leveled Dark Knight was for the quest line.
The level 80 capstone quest was my absolute favorite, i'm surprised you didn't mention it.
I absolutely love how Natsuko Ishikawa writes your character, or more accurately, doesn't write you.
When you look at just what your character specifically does in game, it's basically nothing aside from fight, but there's a lot of room to interpret your own emotions and motivations there. The Darkness within that is Fray could be slight doubts that you overwhelm with your desire to help, or a desperate plea from your subconscious to start fighting for yourself rather that others. How you interpret your player's actions is entirely up to you as the Warrior of Light, and as such, you can get more drawn in to the story by bridging the gaps yourself, and making your character truly your own.
yeah, DRK questline is top quality. I love all the follow up quest you can do once you complete certain MSQ quest.
in war, victory. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice.
Dark knights in a nutshell.
I love the 30-50 DRK story. After everything that happened with Ilberd and the Sultana, it felt as though the DRK story was addressing the WoL's thoughts, and it helped them work thorough the emotions and move on. It's my headcanon as to why my WoL will pick the funny, jokey options more often now.
You forgot the best part where it’s a nihilist edgy quest line to a “My Two Dads” quest line
The lv 50 quest immediately made me think about Persona 4. Part of the reason I vibed with it so much. Not to mention I found out later about the notes within your journal being written by Fray. Really nice touch
agreed. I even made a Persona 4 joke when playing the last part of the ARR line.
And yes, I did love how the quest descriptions for Dark Knight are different from other quest descriptions, as they were written like narrations from Fray's perspective with some level of 4th wall poking to feel they are direct towards us
When asked what her inspirations were, Natsuko Ishikawa admitted that if she answered, she would give away the sources of her ideas.
If Ishikawa was inspired by Persona 4, I am 100% and a half happy that she did. The Shadows are the story's strenght of Persona 4 and she knows that.
The WoL faces his Shadow, fights it and accepts it, making him stronger in the process.
The fangirling I did when I saw I could pick the line " I tire of this charade... "
Knowing what we know now, an arguement could be made that without fray and especially upon becoming aware and excepting him, that was the point we were first ready to deal with meteion, fray as our ego actually disassociates the WoLs negative emotions by giving a form that is separate from themselves to help brunt those emotions. And assuming fray is canonically existing given dark knight is one of the canon WoLs jobs, I wonder had thancred not been the one standing, if fray wouldn't have been the one to act, especially if you consider as clearly a being of dynamis, he wouldn't have been subject to being drowned out.
Well that's operating under the assumption that Fray is their own entity, which they're not. As a part of the WoL's subconscious they wouldn't be able to make an impact on reality without the WoL's direct involvement. In your example, if Fray made any sacrifices, then the WoL would be sacrificed as well since they're the same.
I mean, not to mention the fact that grimm dark tank job gets it's power from love, kupo
Also they get to beat up Moogles.
I finished up the ShB tank rolequests as a DRK (and subsequently the DRK quest you unlock after doing the rolequest) while procrastinating on EW MSQ. HW music transitioning to ShB music felt a lot like EW scene direction. It was glorious! I can tell Ishikawa writing and title scheme from a mile away...
That aside, I can't tell which bits are my favorite about the quests because I do admit it's so godsdamned profound and symbolic that my brain can't comprehend... though the jist I got is that 1. Give time for thineself-it's ok to be selfish sometimes, for your own sanity, 2. Forgive thineself-for whatever mistakes, shortcomings and flaws you might have had. And 3. Negative feelings directed at self and some, born out of love for others, can be used to achieve great things, do good things. 4. Ultimately self acceptance. Kinda reminded me of Advent Children Cloud tbh.
Frey is to the Warrior of Light what Zangetsu (both White and OMZ) is to Ichigo.
Damn right!
Considering how very milquetoast good guy the WoL is portrayed in majority of FFXIV, having anything that questions that is a huge deal. The more my companions and the world gush over me, the more I want to return to just being respected for who I am, not what I represent. No wonder Fray wants to break free of these expectations and upholding the image ideal, to just be a person flawed and emotional.
Thank you so much for this video! I just finished the DRK quest line and was so confused on what was going on exactly. I feel like im too dumb for this game's writing sometimes haha
As someone who has struggled my whole life with being a people pleaser on the verge of a savior complex.
The Dark Knight quests hit so very close to home
Bonus comment:
For my WoL canonically she didnt encounter the DRK quests until after the events of base EW. And for a while she was considered a missing person through the whole of the level 30-50 quests. And ultimately her confrontation with Fray it wasnt random Ishgard soldiers it was Aymeric and house Fortemps with her family on the outside (her home is Ishgard). Zenos specter haunts her for one last time at the end of the Myst quests.
And she originally was a male au ra, before this moment it wasnt a female au ra until a mysterious bottle of Fantasia appeared in the script of The Ancients saying "You can do selfish things for your own happiness" with a doodle of a golden dog. After the whole Fray incident.
I loved the class quest since, to me, it felt like it fit so well into the story itself with what happened to lead up to heavensward
Fray: Aren’t you tired of being nice? Don’t you wanna just go apeshit?
WoL: *Y E S*
Id, Ego, Superego. Fray, You, and Myste.
I am so glad that they tapped the writer for the Dark Knight storyline to be the main writer for Shadowbringers and Endwalker.
I absolutely love the complexity and depth of the Dark Knight ethos, how there are layers to the job and how it dovetails so well with the Echo and the effect such a power would have on a person. How it speaks to the strain that being the Champion of Eorzea would be and also to the strength needed to rise above it, to transcend anger and resentment to use even death as a tool of compassion, and in the end to accept even yourself in all your flaws and complexities.
I think the most succinct way of putting it is simply:
All other job quests are how the world relates to you.
DRK is about how YOU relate to the WORLD.
In other words, Because it's PERSONAL.
I'll come back for this after I do the Darknight questline I swear it.
I'll hold you to that my friend.
These were exactly my thoughts when first playing dark knight. I started the game as arcanist. At 30 I switched to scholar for queue times. The whole way through ARR I was honestly miserable, forced to play the errand girl for everyone when I was meant to be THE warrior of light! I can kill primals why am I doing a 12 part fetch quest for some asshole lalafell in Costa del Sol? I was also disillusioned with playing Scholar. All solo content was miserable I have one button to press on repeat for dps and a dot to upkeep.
As soon as I reached heavensward I immediately jumped at the chance to play dark knight. Im a bit of an edgelord and id heard tank queues were almost as good as healer queues so I decided to give it a try. I fell in love immediately. The very first job quest I immediately felt like I was doing something important, I was starting something that had meaning (a wonderful change from the lalafell drama of Scholar). A story where my mindset towards the NPCs who make me a postman was reflected on my character! Since i completed the lv30-50 DRK job quest I have always called DRK my favourite class in the game even though I admittedly dont main the job.
One of my favourite moments in this game was going back and speaking to Sidurgu after finishing Endwalker. He gives you some wonderful advice that I actually quoted down because it spoke to me on a personal level.
I'm reminded of one of the role quests in ShB where we can tell someone to piss off. It is still my favourite dialogue option in the whole game!
I already had a lot of the is in mind for my character but this really helped me revise and solidify her. In her background she has already fallen into depression and despair and had mostly come through them by ARR.
As a Tank class, DRK is a class I've done little with. That said, from Post-2.3 to pre-StB, I ran with a dedicated partner who crossed to DRK when we got to HW and was thrilled with it. They told me a lot of it. While I do try to move on through it, tank classes just can't keep my interest.
Oh-kay! I'm back, Scribe.
Apologies for the wait, it may have been a rush-job but I still wanted it to look presentable...
I have just finished uploading a video of the 30-50 DRK questline, edited in the style of a project I've been working on for some time.
The flashbacks are a feature I haven't used before in the series, thought I'd try something new for this special video. Anyway, each clip is from a completed episode of the series and most were selected to contradict certain statements from Fray/"The Voice". Feel free to take a look, hopefully you'll see the questline from a different perspective.
Interesting, I'll need to take a look!
In my mind the DRK quest that connected most was Our Closure. And it's in the name. One last conversation. Now comes your part. To cloak yourself in fiction, to breathe life into the dead, to give voice to the voiceless.
Lets see from the tone, to the pyschology, to the tears/feels and bruh dont get me started the lvl 80 quest line will bring some damn feels to you. It clearly one of the better quest lines also explains why 1 of the choices you make tend to be mean. Your literally speaking your mind. I once rejected alphaniud plee to help someone. He told me "Thats not like you to ever reject someone in need." Me thinking "Maybe I had a change of heart was finally able to come to answer to myself and to another."
Another questline that shows the damage to the WOL would be the Eden questline which shows the strain on them from fighting these god-like entities with the more horrifying appearances. The WOL has seen some shit and no one no matter how strong has to be affected by it.
I'm still curious as to what it is that creates Fray and Myst. Because going from interactions with Sid, this ain't normal. (Maybe a bit of that ol ancient magic waking up?)
it could be that, now that I think about it. With Fray we created him out of a strong, desperate desire for a mentor who could teach us in the ways of the Dark Knight, so being Azem's shard, we manifested that desire as an entity the moment we touched the soul stone, using said stone to take the form and vague identity of its previous holder.
Same story with Myst. Recalling those painful memories of losing love ones and regretting taking people's lives made us manifest those sentiments as another entity, this time taking the form and vague identity of its previous holder's younger self. Perhaps the intensity of those sentiments was what caused the soul stone to split in half as it was too much to handle
I've recently picked back up Dark Knight and have managed to complete the 35-50 quests and am still lvling it in my free time, this job is fun.
Dark Knight is my least favorite tank but it's by far my favorite tank storyline.
^ This! When I first saw a DRK back when HW was relevant, I immediately fell in love with the aesthetic of the job. The storyline was icing on the cake. Nowadays, I not only find the job mechanically boring, but aesthetically boring too. Half your aoes look the god damn same! Obviously exaggeration, but can anyone tell me if flood of shadow and shadowbringer look any fucking different? Stalwart soul is in the same aesthetic look of unstable darkness as those 2 aoes. Dark Arts went from this cool powerup animation of floating up in the air with lightning around you to a fucking invisible buff from a broken TBN and gets consumed in place of mp when using Edge or Flood. Only unleash and abyssal drain has kept their original looks and keeping with the theme of edgelord. But those are old abilities that are used very often, and make them look stale. I fucking miss power slash, where you do a downward slash and gather darkness in your hand to blast into your enemy's face. The only ability I look forward to when it gets used is LB3. Fucking slicing a wound into reality and having darkness bleed out.
I really enjoyed the DRK quests but they're ultimately OOC for my WoL. I appreciated the writing but my WoL doesn't think that way.
During that instance where you fight with Myste I only truly wanted to kill one of the embodiments. And that’s Zephryn. My WOL regrets not taking the spear that day and because of that the man she loves died right in front of her.
2Myste: summons all then people i killed
Me: "AW HELL YEAH ILL GET TO FUCKEN DO IT AGANE lEsgO!"
It weighs as it should.
I truly saw the DRK storyline as a reflection of the WoL's massive psychological damage trying to self heal. To date I have not seen one, but would love a psychologist specializing in treating PTSD having a full look at the FF14 storyline. From years of games, I know no other character who has had as much trauma as the WoL. A few have had more extreme moments (Kratos from God of War series), but none as much so often.
I've finally finished Dark Knights quest line. Time to watch this.
Lemme know what you think afterwards!
@@SynodicScribe Overall yeah this sums up why I liked it. It just helped me understand the WoL's thoughts on things. It just made me feel for them that they don't always want to say yes. They say it to do the right thing.
Then Myste our guilt... they really made me think about how many bodies we have piled now. Plus was it just me but does Myste look like a mini Haurchefant and Ysale.
Wonderful summary. Great job!
Love these analysis. I love the lore videos too buy this is great. Thank you.
there's a continuous theme found amongst the tank jobs stories, a lot of life is going to make it not easy but we cannot stop to consider what could be. PLD taught me that if we do not fight for the weak and innocent, then who will? GNB taught me that even if we struggle with right and wrong, it takes those around you to remind you of what it is we do. DRK taught me that the night is most dark before the dawn, and even if we are consumed by our negative emotions, we look ahead for those we shepherd unto dawn. (i havent done warrior im sorry!)
something i really enjoy about all the job quests is how they can shape different aspects of both you the player and you the character, the lessons we learn or don't learn and their effects on those around us. thats why having just very recently beat endwalker and hearing the (spoiler lady) asking why we don't give into despair... well, i know a few people who would be upset if i were to given in so easily.
Warrior is kind of "as you fight beasts and monsters, be wary not to become one yourself" and to learn not to let a life of violence make you lose your humanity. I won't spoil *how* they cap that story of 'cause it's a nice one, even if it may seem silly at first glance
I did the 30 - 50 DRK quest line after beating Stormblood. To me, it felt like Fray represented the part of my WoL that could have been like Zenos. Strong to the point you may as well be a god to common folk. But, while the WoL wants to help and feels a connection to the common folk. Zenos never found that outlet.
Fray almost seemed to be the version of the WoL that no longer cared. The weakness in everyone else bored and angered them. The version of the WoL that truly only cares for themselves and to hell with anyone else who couldn't keep up.
My Viera's Inner Darkness: I was chosen by fate to slay gods, I have abandoned everything I knew and loved to answer the call of destiny. I will never walk through my grandmother's garden under the great trees, or taste my mother's cooking hunted by her own hands, or partake in any of the ancient traditions from my village ever again. I have given it all away to save those who exploit, mistrust, and abuse my kindness. I am so tired, and yet I press on for those I have lost, and those I can yet save, in hopes the sacrifices will someday be worth it.
My husband's Miquo'te's Inner Darkness: _Mii Channel theme music plays._
Gods I love DRK.
(warning spoilers and a bit of a rant)
I took this job right when I was able to start it as a lvl 50 palidain who gave everything to protect the place he called home and even make it a bit brighter then the "bloody banquet" happens and I lose a small portion of my group and the respect and admiration of Ul'dal which rp wise was my 2nd home due to deeper rp lore reasons tired cold and broken questioning why I carry this sword shield and crystal I see a man slumped over
DRK is my main Job. Sch Heals and SMN DPS ... HeavensWard Was my first major expansion. I played it hard at launch. and loved every second of it. the DRK's main quest felt personal. a tribute to awesome writing ... I've held on to my Dark Knight's Claymore ever since ... I'd replace it ... ONLY if SE answers my Prayers for a Book Knight ... that uses a Tome and Sword (or other) ... ehhehehehe ..... thanks for these awesome videos King >.
Why is it only clicking with me now why the version of Fray that you summon whenever you use Living Shadow is called Esteem...
To be fair, when you fought Fray during the lvl 50 Quest his named changed to Esteem.
@@SynodicScribe I think even back then it didnt click with me, I knew he was a part of us but I always questioned why Esteem. 😅 Your video basically helped me understand the entire concept so thank you. 👍
I actually more drawn to the WAR quests, it's themes of masculinity and letting rage control you. Not to mention how few roegadyn main characters there are in the game WAR quests have so many broes in it.
Yeah no, war quest is about erectile problem (depicted as the beast inside) nothing more, it's ridiculous, give no self reflection or lore and plain bad
You can't compare that to drk quest
@@ptibaf Why tf not? I prefer the DRK questline but was the problem with someone appreciating more the WAR or any other questline?
The writing and the intent were all very good, and I quite liked moments of it, but for me, personally, I disliked Frey's outlook so much that I actually resented the implication that they were in any way, shape, or form a representation of any part of my WoL, however buried or internalized it may be. It's just the downside of the story taking the reins of characterization: no matter how broadly applicable or sensible you make it, it'll be hit or miss for some. Still loved the parts with Sid and Rielle though.
As an aside, there's a small bonus detail which I can only assume was intentional: if you do the Alchemist quests, you find out that the WoL's aether is blue in color. Frey and Myste fade into blue sparks at the end.
Love the lore videos and the details you put into them. If you could, can you do a gunbreaker lore video too?
I wish I could. But Square hasn't released anything on Gunbreaker, Dancer, Reaper or Sage. All I have is the job quest, and that's not much. Though I did condense what I could into a video called Job Research. That's the best I can do for now.
@@SynodicScribe no problem, keep it up, always love when lore masters for games make videos it's like reading a short story
Man..... Yes. I love the dark knight quest line so much.
It's pretty great.
So, how does Fray feel about a certain Mandeville Man?
he would go the same route that Sid went with the Moogles 😂
I find it kind of ironic how Fray is an "NPC" when in fact he/she is the least NPC by Lore standards.
"We are the stories we tell ourselves. The brave hero, the tortured soul, the altruist, the pragmatist. They will tell you who they see, but you and you alone know who you are."
I love the DRK quest. It's one on the only times the game's writing didn't completely bore me and I actually enjoyed reading every single one of the quests. The other instance where I actually read almost everything was Shadowbringers. Makes sense, given that the same woman who wrote the DRK quest lines was largely responsable for Shadowbringers. She's an absolute genius.
I just finished the questline today, and for my contribution to the discussion I will put forth my favorite part, a single dialogue choice.
After the first round of the fight against Myst before Fray appears there are two possible lines. "...Justice demands no less." or "I tire of this charade."
Going back a bit. The Stormblood line begins with a mysterious young boy Myst taking half your soul crystal and insisting on using it to "help" people. As it continues on, he only marginally helps people with illusionary memories and more often than not makes things harder for his companions through naivety. Sidurgu is immediately annoyed with him and as the quests seem to get more and more pointless, so too does the player. Until Myst implodes, takes a bunch of aether and immediately starts talking about ending the world and casting judgement on you, declaring "murder is murder" without any sense of nuance or context.
By then I was throughly fed up with his tantrum, for lack of a better word. Who is this little twerp to judge me for not being perfect while saving the world? His memory constructs fall in three gcds, he is no threat. I wasn't going to choose "Justice demands no less." he didn't deserve it, this wasn't me righting an injustice, this was me squashing a particularly annoying bug. So I chose the more fitting line.
"I tire of this charade."
I can't think of a line more fitting of Fray.
It sunk in over the next hour. This part of the questline was thematically the ARR questline _from Fray's perspective_ . In going through it I now empathized with him, I had _become_ Fray.
And after that Fray _does_ show up, but he feels like early Fray, ruthless and deadly, but not quite angry or manic as in the later parts. It felt as if we met in the middle by the end. My WoL more assertive in themselves and a bit more ruthless. And Fray a bit more noble.
I think this was deliberate. Fray doesn’t appear again between 50 and 70 despite explicitly being able to at any time. If he did the reaction I had wouldn’t have been as genuine, they wait for _you_ to take that step instead of reminding you.
And finally, the story doesn’t parade what it did or try to reassure you more directly. It trusts you to unravel what just happened on your own. And it plays into the WoL “freeing” themselves from these elements of their psyche and integrating them in a healthier way free of judgement, because who can hope to judge you but yourself?
In this case, defining aspects of a player character was 100% the right decision and this questline was unequivocally the best in the game for me.
(Also while I know Shadowbringers wasn't out yet. With the way it ended, they could've really made it stick with that quest unlocking "Living Shadow" unfortunate missed opportunity)
You discussed two aspects here. I do think you leave something out when you don't discuss the 50-60 quests. They take a different path than the other two, but they also demonstrate why Fray failed in the 30-50 quests. Ultimately, the Dark Knight, despite all of the frightening aspects to it, is a protector. Sidurgu himself learns lessons, as does Rielle. It's honestly Aldo probably one of the most tragic tales in the game, a mother losing herself to her own cognitive dissonance and falling back into blank, empty fanaticism.
Lived all of the DRK quests but I did the lvl 80 quest after I finished 5.3. I just need something nice to wind down to. I ended up staring at myself sobbing and yelling ‘ITS NOT DONE WITH ME’ 😭😭😭🤣
I had this theory that Fray and Myste were the sins of the Warrior of Light.
Specifically, his Wrath and Pride.
Legit I loved the Myst story not just for who Myst is based off. However Myst's choices to summon against me made no sense. Maybe cause I ended up hating many of those choices and had no guilt cutting them down. They should have summoned people we got killed by mistake. Not Illbert who back stabbed us then did well all that murder to summon Shinryu. I felt Elidubus did it better having us fight false Scions during the lead up to his big fight.
The way I saw it was they summoned Ilbert because we felt guilty over not stopping him, Livia because she massacred our the scions and we weren't there to stop it, and Rytatyn because he was an honorable warrior who we were forced to slay. The WoL is tormented by different kinds of guilt.
I've come to notice that you did not mention the "Our Closure" Quest in the video, which is kind of sad as it still is the best quest out of them all, and give additional information regarding the original questline (Lvl30 to 50)
In case you simply never found it, you merely need to finish the Tank Role questline you get in the Crystarium, and if you finished Shadowbringers as well then the quest should be available to you by talking to Sidurgu again in Ishgard
Fray would have so much to tell after ShB and EW events
*6.1 rolls around.*
Fray: "FINALLY, we can relax."
*plot rolls its head*
Fray: "Are you shitting me right now??"
@@DZeograd Nah it's fine, that whole thing is for paladin to deal with
Thanks for sharing; take care
my favorite part is when the other DRK merc'd the little girl's mom
ME AND ME GONNA GO SAVE EORZEA LADS LETS GOOOOO