Bakool Ja Ja goes through a solid arc in the Dawntrail narrative. Let’s talk about his development and why he’s quickly become a fan favorite character.
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Yeah, sorry but his redemption arc was way too rushed.
Another of the many, many problems with the writing to put it mildly.
Your next challenge: A video defending Wuk Lamat.
Go on. I dare you.
To be honest, the whole succession arc felt pretty ham-fisted all around for me. I did come out of it liking Bakool Ja Ja more than anyone else as far as character development goes. I think I'd like to see him still act a bit stupid past his change. He became so heroic and dependable in the snap of a finger. I'd like to see some more of that childish angst still present but him clearly showing a desire to do good for everyone. Coming out of Shadowbringers and Endwalker, I knew it was going t be hard for Square Enix to capture my love for the story quite like it did with Emet Selch and all that surrounded him. The stakes are quite low in this expansion (except for the ending, of course) and I feel like no characters stand out as far as lasting beyond Dawntrail past obligatory appearances. So I'm genuinely curious to see how the story progresses and we end up in our next multi-year story progression.
I think there is one scene they need to redo with Bakool Ja Ja, that is the scene where he has his follower return after the failed kidnapping of Wuk. With his later behaviour, his blatant dismissal of a fellow Mamook is a bit odd. A rephrase to something like 'we are Mamook, we shoulder our own burdon' would still give the same result as the current bit and give a far more consisten character portrayal. Unless we are to assume those Mamool Ja with him are not from Mamook.
Love the vid as always.
My only problem with bakool jaja is how he doesnt seem to get punished for the release of one of the worse monsters to wreck havoc in the lands. Honestly, i know this has been said by many ither people, but if he had tried to fight Valigarmanda himself and then run away as it became to much for him. That would make it better, atleast in my opinion. Can't change it now though lol
No one mentions his age. You can see he’s an adolescent when he stands near or next to gulool jaja. It explains his brash ignorance and childish mustache twirling. Poor kid’s a child soldier with his entire village’s hopes on his shoulders.
Honestly my biggest criticism is just how much of a 180 his redemption is.
I don’t mind it, he’s really good because of it. But there needed to be more of a build up instead of a single frame of a bunch of jars in water, that doesn’t tell us anything and gets answered in like 20 minutes anyway.
They’re should be more smaller moments, stuff like him vaguely referring to doing what he does for ‘their sake’ or have him be less moustache twirling evil when releasing Valigarmanda. Heck, you could even have him be dragged along to defeat it because he’d get disqualified for doing that, would help reveal a little more of his kinder side.
i also hated him at the start. he was such a jerk (not the taco's! QAQ) and he left a sour taste in my mouth with his racist comments. and unlike thancred and urianger's 'sabotage' in the first dungeon, his attempts were incredibly dangerous. erenville was on that boat too and he could've been hurt after all! But the moment we see him in skydeep cenote and he explains about the blessed siblings and who was in those urns i felt my heart drop in my stomach.
it's horrible what's happened and although it doesn't make his actions right (especially with valigarmanda), we can understand his desperation and honestly, seeing him become the new captain of the landsguard does feel earned. he proved he could change and he earned that position for everything he did after the rite. i look forward to hopefully seeing him and many others in DT going forward!
Always found it strange how we never get a chance to address the creation of honored sibling with Gulool Ja Ja.
Edit:
I also don’t see how this man gets a pass after almost destroying the entire country by releasing that monster.
I feel like we didn’t spend enough time on him (and Zoraal Ja). I was really happy to see him free of his burdens, but it went by way too quickly for me.
My headcannon for why bakool jaja was never removed from the contest is gulool jaja intervened and allowed him to continue out of sympathy. Would make the foil with zoraal ja stronger as he is not awarded the same leniency and disqualified probably due to the burden of being the resilient son.
I think what I love the most about Bakool besides his plottwist and meme factor is that he is such a wildcard and has a deeper resolve to also face the looming villain aka Zoraal Ja. In the expansions prior rarely we have other villanous/ambitious characters besides the supposed villain that go that ballistic. I think characters like these truly make the game even better and more entertaining. Adds more depth.
Something different between Bakool Ja Ja and Zoraal Ja is that one had his people’s interest at heart despite the bravado, the other never had it to begin with. I think that’s key to the change. Both had potential to change, but only one took it for the right reasons despite their missteps.
I do hope we get to see more of him in the patches.
"Jerk"
Bro is literally a war criminal tho…
The simping for him is just as bad as the simping for Fordola was.
I get he had a (sort of) tragic backstory, but at the end of the day, he released the FF14 version of a WMD and made an attempt to kill tens of thousands of people, not to mention hostage taking and multiple attempts at murder. And everyone just forgave him immediately.
Some things about Bakool Ja Ja don't make sense though.
1. Bakool Ja Ja had no hesitations on releasing a legendary living calamity that could have easily destroyed all of Tural if it weren't for the presence of the WoL.
A few quests down the road and suddenly he cries about how he doesn't want anymore blessed twin babies to die? Despite releasing a creature that would have eagerly killed countless?
2. He faced ZERO consequences for doing so, despite the Dawnservant and Tullioyal having all the time in the world to receive word from the giants about what he did.
That moment when a side character gets more character development than the main character of the story…. Wuk might have been a bit more interesting, or at least a slightly better character, if she knew a bit more about the continent she'd lived her entire life on, rather than knowing next to nothing about it as if she lived her entire life sheltered in the basement and every single little thing was something brand new to her outside of the capitol. Not knowing about certain little things is fine, but how could none of the 4 promises know nothing about the Hanu, Pelu and Xb'raal? The Yok Huy and Mamool can sort of make sense given their distance and secretive natures, but the Yok Huy never having been seen by any other race on Tural in 80 years struck me as a bit odd seeing as they really werent that far from Tuliyollal.
His turnaround was quicker than, yet much better than, Fordola's. He didn't quite cross Iceheart's or Yoysuya's levels of moral event horizon, so he didn't have to die and got a chance to prove himself. Honestly I wouldn't mind seeing him and Fordola having a chance to chat and her getting a glimpse at his traumas via het bootleg Echo – she may have gotten somewhat better, but I personally think it would do wonders for her 'tude.
I think Im able to hand wave some of the morality turn speed run for a simple reason. Bakool Ja Ja is entertaining. Even when he's a total jerk, things light up when he's around. It's hard not to like a big happy warrior. He loves being evil, then he enjoys not being evil. And Im entertained by both.
Bakool Ja Ja cheats eight hundred times and doesn't get DQ'd.
Zoraal Ja tries to attack one little Autarch for the keystone, and my man gets DQ'd, removed from the Discord, removed from the secret Santa list, and blacklisted.
Ain't no justice, I tell ya.
I absolutely loved Bakool Ja Ja's development it was soo good, I generally disliked him and then I didn't
Personally, I think Bakool Ja Ja and Zoraal Ja should have had their personalities swapped. It would match how their stories ended much better.
Make Bakool Ja Ja more quiet and brooding because he’s burdened by the weight of what’s expected of him. As it is now, him instantly going 180 from cartoonishly evil to sympathetic backstory gave me whiplash and all I could think was “I guess the story says it’s time to stop hating him now.”
And make Zoraal Ja cartoonishly evil. Make him demand that the throne is handed to him because he is the resilient son and Galool Ja Ja’s only blood related heir. Show that he feels entitled to do what he wants because of this. Even releasing Valigarmanda for an advantage. Him being cartoonishly evil at the start better matches him losing and deciding to come back with a robot army to invade Tuliyollal and kill Galool Ja Ja. It’s not even that far off from his motivations considering he says “My father left me nothing. No throne. No legacy. Nothing” as he’s dying.
I think what I like about the story is how Bakool Ja Ja and Zoraal Ja are both considered miracle children. One that shouldn’t even been able to be conceived while the other only happens every 1/100 chances. Both are also portrayed as cold and power hungry characters. You’d think that during the story it would’ve been Zoraal Ja who would’ve come around and opened up while Bakool Ja Ja being the one who seeked higher power to further ascend.
Instead we got the COMPLETE opposite and honestly wasn’t expecting that FFXIV would even do a curveball like that considering how they’ve always made obvious who the antagonist were compared to the hero’s. Usually these characters never really changed their motives, beliefs, and stands either when introduced.
So when the story progressed I GENUINELY loved the change and the deep backstory Bakool Ja Ja had. To see his personality change and him open up to express himself for what he wants to be vs what his people needed to be was so rewarding. He quickly became one of my most favourite characters in the franchise because his redemption arc didn’t feel forced. He was at a genuine low place and the fact that his “comfort” place to go to is where they keep his villages failed attempts speaks volumes of how emotionally driven he is.
To hide so much grief and to hold such a burden like that would be BRUTAL on anyone. I’m glad that his father and village also began to see how terrible it was to push such a responsibility onto him from the moment he was born. To be part of that change to help him in his story made me feel very accomplished and we ended up getting a new ally in the end willing to use his gifts for good.
Bakool Jaja is an awful character, with a stupid modus operandi but has a a tragic reason but his actions 100% do not align with them at all.
He sucks and the singular reason you're here with this "content" is a bunch of scalies got a literal hard-on for him.
Zorral Ja is in there as well but he's quite literally the dumbest and most pointless villain in the entire history of this game and I can't stand he will live on through the Trial they gave him.
A lot of people are saying Bakool Ja Ja is allowed to release Valigarmanda without punishment and i wanna point out thats not true. Part of why his 180 is less than a problem for me is that he brings himself to wuk lamat and agrees to face whatever punishment she deems worthy and she does agree that she will have to punish him for that choice, just that she doesnt think killing him is the answer. It would be a waste to kill a fine warrior and one who so clearly fought desperately for his people, and she figures there is more he can do alive than as a couple of heads on a pike.
The moment is quiet and they move on quickly but its bc he came to Wuk Lamat without fear or hesitation that I can accept hia change
Bakool Ja Ja is the one thing that really sticks me about the expac. Him being forgiven was so quickly done and passed by so soon after releasing valigarmanda (which he got NO punishment for?) and then trying to reveal Wuk Lamat's biological father… His redemption is cool but man the fact that Valigarmanda being released, the Skyscourge, a Tural Vidraal that even Gulool Ja Ja couldnt kill with a full team but merely imprison, was just glazed by with no repercussions nor mention, it just didnt fit well for me and i still dont particularly like him.
Sounds like a version of Vauthy that could still be saved