the thing is. ryne was not suicide ideating solely because thancred was a bad guardian to her. that was a mindset she had literally as long as she can remember, one that was beaten into her by ran'jit and vauthry telling her that she would be better off dead. thancred (due to his trauma + emotional constipation + daughter-based trolley problem) does not manage to heal this mindset in her by the time we meet them in 5.0 (to be frank this would be an uphill battle for most caretakers, even ones who don't have the significant enotional shortcomings thancred has), but what does allow her to stand up to ran'jit is the freedom thancred provided her. she isn't sure if she deserves to live, but she wants to live in the world that she has traveled in. she doesn't want to be put back in that cell. she doesn't know if she's perfect, if she's the "best" minfilia, but she wants to see the world and live as part of it, even if it's scary, even if she hates herself and thinks she's worthless. she wants to see the sky and the trees and to help the people she loves. certain parts of ryne's arc hit me really hard (as someone who was a suicide-ideating teenage girl, and is now... no longer a teenage girl) and this sort of... "incomplete" personal resolution works for me. she managed to scrape out the smallest handhold of wanting to live, but it's enough. it's enough to keep her from giving up on her life. the smallest handhold is enough to hold onto, always. that's the miracle. "to live is to suffer", to quote hydaelyn, but "wanting to see what tomorrow will bring," to quote gaia, is enough. the vast majority of people who attempt regret it, and are glad they failed/didn't go through. you don't need to be convinced your life has worth in order to keep living. this got off-track and a bit personal hahaha, but she's my daughtermelon and her story hits hard. im glad she's happy and thriving, and so is thancred (another person who hates themself and wants to die but refuses to do anything but survive), and so is ryne.

sometimes I like to reframe the finale of Shadowbringers not as "descend into the villain's lair to confront him" but "attend a theater production at a stage in the depths of the ocean". and the battle with Emet-selch not "stalwart hero triumphantly defeats evil sorcerer" but "dying wanderer reminds grieving old man he can never go home". ShB plays with ideas of hero and villain so much that it feels natural to break things out of the framework of heroic battles and victories

I do like to think of rescuing the Exarch as a fairy-tale-like "save the fair maiden from the grasp of the evil sorcerer and carry her back to the tower (not the way it usually goes, typically maidens are rescued from magic towers), where you then live happily-ever-after together" though

Part 2 of Azem April art I’ve been posting on twt! Prompts and notes under the cut:

11. Family - Then and now 12. Creation - Star Sheep (?): bestowers of a good sleep and even better dreams! 13. Hobbies - She really likes making minatures! 14. Venat - First meeting 15. Free day - She can use her hair as a conduit for creation magic in a pinch! 16. Boss Fight - Her add phase is really annoying 17. Childhood - Pen pals 18. Crossover - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon AU 19. Love - Long distance (via crows as phones) 20. Loss - Goodbye, my dear apprentice Notes on Day 19 - Love (my pairing of Azem/Watcher and inspirations from Chinese mythology):

(SITS BOLT UPRIGHT)

THE WoL WENT THROUGH A REJOINING ON A PERSONAL SCALE

The Exarch explains the mechanics behind the Rejoinings. That the balance of Aether in the Source versus the Shards is tipped until the Source is strained to the breaking point, and at last fractures in the fabric of reality allow the properly aspected Shard to join with the Source to rebalance the scales. That the overwhelming aetheric shift from the Shard being absorbed - Rejoined - is what causes the Calamities, and why each has a given aetheric aspect.

The WoL has been absorbing all the Primordial Light of the Lightwardens, and after Innocence, Ryne says that not only the WoL's body is breaking down. Their soul is fracturing. She uses the Blessing of Light to quell it and hold them together as much as she can, but the damage hasn't been undone.

That takes Ardbert. The WoL's shard, at the last, sees the WoL breaking, and rushes to fill in the cracks. To restore balance. And yes, the Primordial Light is spent - needs to spent - in defeating Hades, but it's Ardbert rushing in to fill in the gaps left in the WoL that mends them.

Y'shtola and Ryne note, after the fight, that WoL is mended. They doesn't understand how it happened, though they're relieved.

The WoL is the microcosmos in the macrocosmos. Mended just as the Source is with every Rejoining. And the devastation wrought on Hades their personal calamity.

The WoL went through a rejoining so the Source didn't have to.

I personally think Y'shtola deserves some more credit for how she advocates for the Warrior of Light during Shadowbringers. Without knowing the whole story I've always felt she had every right to be uneasy with the Exarch, and to be honest I was expecting a pricklier welcome from her in Rak'tika... but as soon as she realizes who it is, her greeting for the WoL is incredibly warm. I love that her first question is "How are you?" She cares about them! And when her aethersight gives her reason to believe the WoL is in danger, she's concerned! She thinks they need to be told! And when Urianger won't agree to tell them, she does it herself, because she thinks it's the right thing to do. She treats the Warrior of Light like a person who deserves to know what they're getting into and make an informed decision, and it's such a far cry from the "You'll do it because you're the Warrior of Light!" attitudes of everyone in ARR.

And I think it's also worth noting that in the end, after she knows the whole truth, she doesn't seem to hold any of it against G'raha. When you're back in the Source, she's talking about whether he should be given the title of Nunh after his long tenure as the Crystal Exarch, and after he joins the Scions, she seems cool with him, so I genuinely have no reason to think she holds a grudge about any of it.

She was, ultimately, concerned and wanted to do the right thing, and she cares about the Warrior of Light and their wellbeing, and I think that's an important thing about her.

WE FIGHT AS ONE!

I got an Ultrawide monitor, but FFXIV Ultrawide backgrounds are in short supply. So until I get some inspiration and do some new Kalicred gposes for my monitor, I decided I needed to do some location shots.

Enjoy. :)

POV your new painter and his assistant have finally arrived

of love

The bookworms and their young charges

Hades

—

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Point #1: The first thing we learn about Emet-Selch, even before we learn that Solus zos Galvus is Emet-Selch, is that Solus loved theatre.

Point #2: Emet-Selch plays the villain with mannerisms so over-the-top you'd think he's about to burst into a disney villain-style song and dance number at almost any moment.

Point #3: He's self-aware enough to recognize that he is a villain in your story but a hero to his own people, and that whoever wins the battle will write history to declare the loser the villain.

Point #4: The Tempest, the zone where Amaurot is located, is named for the Shakespeare play of the same name, with other landmarks named after characters from the play. The BGM "Full Fathom Five" is also named for an iconic line.

Point #5: Amaurot feels so empty because it is, in essence, a set for a stage play. After the play is preformed it has no purpose.

Back to Point #1: Emet-Selch really loved theatre.

"I'll see you on the other side"

Honestly the whole dragon thing in ffxiv becomes so much more ridiculous when you learn that dragons technically aren’t native to Etheirys, they’re straight up aliens from the literal dragon planet.

yknow when its revealed midgardsormr brought 7 eggs to the star/hydaelyn i thought "oh! they're from another dimension! the dragon dimension <3" since its alrdy established that the void is a different plane etc. and the dragonstar is probably just some magical/important constellation thing for dragons :3

but. no. he flew through space from The Dragonstar. he's an alien. dragon blood turns you into a dragonmutant. (which miiiight be corporeal aether corruption BUT ALSO MAYBE JUST A DRAGON THING?????)

and then their growth/adaptivity is so funny. ehll tou is in ishgard for idk a month half a year however long the ishgard restoration is and grows like 10 times the size and develops DRAGONTHUMBS bc she was hanging around with doh/dol types. she did more growing than a regular dragonet does in a century all because she was friends with nondragons and crafting stuff? leucrotta the azys lla s rank is a "coeurl dragon"? coeurl dragons ditched their wings and just copied coeurls to hunt better in meracydia????

god i love ffxiv dwagons

Scion postcards! I’ll have these at Fanfest as part of my Delivery Moogle cosplay. Tell me who your favorite scion is and I’ll give you a postcard from them!

If I’m out of your favorite scion, well, Soroban will always have your back!