I’m just thinking about minfilia in the verse she survives and how hard it’d be for her to just. live again. as herself. but still carrying the weight of the several lives she had to live in the first, fighting against the sin eaters and dying horribly multiple times. the fact for a hundred years, she existed for that, and although I think she would always have chosen (and would still choose) to act with kindness and for good, the fact for a hundred years how lonely it would be, on top of all the tragedy and the pain -- because she would not get close to anyone. there were no friends and comrades. why would there be, when she was just going to die horribly again? 

I’m just thinking about how, even though she has faith in hyd.aelyn, it’s difficult to have the same love as she had before. not even just because of herself, but for seeing the first, fighting for it, and knowing it was almost lost and hyd.aelyn almost just let it happen. that even in intervening, the greatest asset she sent was just. minfilia. with the power of the oracle of light, yes, but would an entire world, a world with heroes who fought for it as much as the scions did in the source, deserve more than that? she was closer to hyd.aelyn the anyone else, literally becoming her avatar at one point. I think she understands better than most that hyda.elyn isn’t evil, or cruel, or that it’s not she doesn’t care. I think she understands better than most that hydae.lyn has good intentions, but she’s also, in a way, ruthless -- that it isn’t all love because it can’t be. that her intentions are benevolent, but that doesn’t always mean what a mortal would see as good. but that understanding both brings them closer and changes the relationship minfilia once had to hydae.lyn imo. it’s hard to be as infinitely faithful and loving in a pure and even naive way towards a higher being after knowing them so intimately, I feel.

also I decided that she would want to be called ascilia again. not only because coming back would be virtually a new life, or even just because of the roots she had left behind before, but because minfilia is also the name of all those girls. all the girls she had been, and fought as, and died as, again and again. minfilia was the leader of the scions, when they still had need of a leader, and the oracle of light, throughout its several incarnations in the first. coming back, she’s not that person anymore, not the one she was in the beginning, nor the legend created to bring hope to the first. so I think she’d like to be ascilia -- and find out who exactly that is, when she barely had the chance to be ascilia before. who she is now, after everything she’s been through.

As Hydaelyn's Chosen, she had accepted her role and duty to the people without much of a protest. Had it been another Scion and Minfilia instead took on their role, what would Minfilia's like be like?

ALWAYS ACCEPTING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MUSES!!

I think, if minfilia didn’t have the echo and had no direct connection to hydaelyn, she’d still have found a way to act for similar causes to the ones she holds canonically. the echo definitely has a very important role in her story, given it is the reason she ends up in a leadership role at all (because she starts going after other people with the same skill to learn more and put it to use, before the scions are formed). more than the echo, though, her father’s influence on her is very important on why she chooses to act in the first place.

if she wasn’t one of hydaelyn’s chosen, she would still have been greatly influenced by warburton to do what is right and stand for what she believes is a worthy cause, even at great personal risk. her dad was a spy who stood up against the empire, and he made enough enemies that he had to flee with minfilia (then ascilia) to ul’dah. it’s the reason why, even after he died, she adopted a new name, and f’lhammin started to pass minfilia as her adopted daughter. but harder as it might make things, not once does she seem to resent him and those choices (she shows much more resentment towards lhammin, for her part in the accident that took her father’s life, and even to thancred, for being there and not there as he is, than she ever shows towards her father, even if his role as a spy put her in danger).

but I think going towards a path more influenced by warburton would have led her to place different importance on what causes she chose to take on? like, as hydaelyn’s chosen, she shows concern towards the world at large, how primals affect the planet, how the empire threatens eorzea, the beast tribes that she’s always defended should be seen as people. in this other scenario, her goals may have been originally more limited, and leaned more towards ala mhigan liberation (which isn’t something her canonical story touches on at all, despite her roots) and going against the empire when it threatens eorzea than the primals and beast tribes part. 

I also think things may have been very different in regards to her being in the front lines as a result? because we know she isn’t in game, as her role has always been more of a leader/administrator than a fighter in any way, but without having the echo and founding the path of twelve, she wouldn’t have ended exactly the same way. personally, I think even in game it’s an oversight that she wouldn’t at least have picked something up to defend herself, considering she’s always been in danger pretty much. but regardless, not starting as the leader of a hidden organization would definitely lead her towards a different path, imo, and I can see minfilia being more capable of doing what she expresses the desire to do in canon: act directly rather than to send people to do things in her stead. 

ultimately, I think her goals and who she’d end up being would still be very much aligned with the scions, so I can totally see her having a place with them, even if the road to get there and her role in the organization would be very very different (without the echo, she wouldn’t have been in touch with louisoix for years, but her being close to thancred doesn’t depend on that, and it’s fairly easy to imagine he’d still have a part on why she ends up with the scions, much like he has a part canonically, considering he’s the one who introduces her and louisoix). echo or not, minfilia is deeply caring and compassionate, as well as ready to stand up for what she believes in and defend what she thinks is important, no matter what. she would want to act for eorzea and the world at large, even if her heritage would also factor more consistently when it comes to causes she cares about. and I think she might have done that more directly, had she not assumed the position she does canonically as hydaelyn’s chosen.

minfilia’s dad was a spy who betrayed the empire, and she grew up in ul’dah. she had to lie to be kept safe (her relationship with f’lhammin was initially a lie for her protection, and her name, too, was changed for that reason). the path of the twelve was hidden through deception (although she sought others with the echo, officially the story was that it was more of a religious group). regarding her as actually naive, or incapable of perceiving lies or telling them would be a huge mistake, just saying

We've known Minfilia to be a pillar of the greater good, that amidst the suffering our lands know and continue to experience, there exists a path of kindness and hope. To Minfilia, is there such a thing as absolute morality?

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MUSES // always accepting!!

to be quite honest, no. I know it might seem odd to say this about minfilia, who is portrayed as so entirely good, who fights for good and in many ways represents it. but considering her journey, I do not think there was ever a point at which she would have seen morality as an absolute.

that is not to say there aren’t lines that cannot be crossed, of course. what I mean is that when we speak of absolute morality, we are talking about considering actions intrinsically right or wrong, regardless of context, reason or purpose. and that simply isn’t reality for someone with her background.

to start, something like lying would be likely deemed intrinsically wrong by someone who did hold morals as an absolute. minfilia does not. how can she, when her father was a spy, or when she had to deceive to keep the path of twelve a secret from those who would harm people with the echo? 

and it is the same for other things, such as stealing. minfilia herself did not need to do it to survive -- she was lucky f’lhammin chose to look after her when she became an orphan -- but she knows that’s not the case for everyone. the inequality she witnessed in ul’dah would be enough to show that’s not the case for everyone. if we wish to make it more personal, why, thancred is one of the people closest to her, and we all know he had to recur to stealing to survive in limsa. it’s how he met louisoix. 

even if you consider something as bad as killing, I don’t think she would see it as intrinsically wrong. she would not have seen it as wrong had her father needed to kill to survive or to protect himself and his family. she would not have seen it as wrong if any ala mhigan needed to kill when fighting the empire that would take their lives, land and freedom. she would not have seen it as wrong to kill in self-defense on any occasion. she would not fault anyone for it. did the scions not seek ways to kill the ascians? she wanted them dead. and yes, it’s for a reason, but that in itself already goes against the idea of a moral absolute. 

this does not mean minfilia condones any of these things necessarily, either. she would rather not do it, and she would not be amenable to doing those things without a reason -- so harming innocents, for example, would never be something she sees as acceptable. the thing is there are contexts and situations in which I hardly see her judging some things as wrong because they’re not good, even if those situations are the exception and not the rule.

and I think it’s even harder for her to see things in absolutes after her existence as the word of the mother, or particularly later, as the oracle of light. yes, she despises using girls like she used ryne. she hates existing like that, and she hates doing that to them. but she still does it, because it’s something seen as necessary. so I don’t see her ever seeing things entirely in black and white, regardless of reason, and I think that line becomes even more blurred after she becomes the oracle.

minfilia is kind and she is good, but those are choices, and ones I think she acknowledges as being lucky to be able to make. sometimes survival entails doing bad things. and while she would not choose such a path for herself alone no matter what, she understands that is not always the case. that while a better future is possible, there is still too much strife and injustice that forces people to do differently. I think the way minfilia sees it is that there’s undeniable evil in cruelty, in choosing to harm for the sake of it, in choosing to exploit and hurt because you can or to exert your will over others. but I also think, that does not make every ‘wrong’ action inherently evil in her eyes. to her, true evil requires intention -- it’s different to kill an enemy because you must, and to kill someone because you want. 

I just think characters that gentle and caring and not warriors are important. and I think it’s pretty amazing that minfilia was advocating peace and cooperation with the beast tribes well before that was actually possible, instead of just seeing them as enemies or lesser beings to be controlled. the fact she threatens to take her own life to prevent the garleans from studying the echo should her friends be harmed? we love to see it. time and again she’s out there willing to give everything she can and sacrifice herself for others, as she actually does by going to the first. the fact she’s been through all of that and more and changed into something else but didn’t lose her kindness and selflessness and didn’t want to keep ‘reincarnating’ in girls who should get to live their lives and how she wanted ryne to get to make her choice and live her own life and just everything about how she interacts with ryne before she’s gone hmmm I just really like minfilia a lot

just filling up some tags that were missing

‣ isms { aymeric de borel } —  ❝ THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WORDS, DEEDS AND BELIEFS. ❞

‣ character study { aymeric de borel } —  ❝ NO THRONE OR CROWN IS NEEDED. ❞

‣ isms { alisaie leveilleur } —  ❝ WE MUST PROTECT THAT WHICH WE HOLD MOST DEAR. ❞

‣ character study { alisaie leveilleur } —  ❝ THERE’S NO LIE IN HER FIRE. ❞

‣ character study { minfilia warde } —  ❝ NO THRONE OR CROWN IS NEEDED. ❞

‣ isms { minfilia warde } —  ❝ THE LIGHT WILL ALWAYS SHINE THROUGH THE DARKNESS. ❞