Today I want to talk to you about the FFXIV antagonist that left the biggest impression on me. I give a spoiler warning in the beginning so you can see whether you want to save this video for later after you catch up!
🟣 TIMESTAMPS —
0:00 Can You Guess Who I’m Talking About?
13:38 Let’s Watch Some Cutscenes
22:46 The Most Tragic Boss
29:16 THE ULTIMATE BADDIE
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🟣 Check out my other videos!
My Review of Final Fantasy XIV as a Newbie in 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D79NnAuZlzw
Unboxing the Encyclopedia Eorzea Lore Books!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgEKh7aCIeo
#finalfantasyxiv #ffxiv #finalfantasy14
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i was sick this week but i’m feeling better! did you guess which character I was talking about?? 🔴also, SPOILER WARNING for this one! probably going to be spoilers in the comments too!
🟣 TIMESTAMPS —
0:00 Can You Guess Who I'm Talking About?
13:38 Let's Watch Some Cutscenes
22:46 The Most Tragic Boss
29:16 THE ULTIMATE BADDIE
I had a lot of fun editing my new spoiler warning overlay animation haha 🐶 excited to use it in future videos!
Great video. I also guessed Tsuyu (which is my pick for most tragic villain). Also, weren’t the Eulmoran citizens codified and basically under Vauthry’s spell because they ate the meol, which is made from sin eater? I think the game states that it took years of eating meol for the citizens to completely become docile and corrupted by it.
hi i just watched the vid and liked your point of view talk about Emet-Selch next
I mean yeah what you say would happend and there are ppl that will enable that kind of system, even today it's something you can see. These ppl were mind controlled to a point to obedience but they still had some sense of self awareness.
Ps: it not the same but something you said reminded me of the show The 100. It has a good perspective of how something like this would happen. Pretty sure there are show that do better job but that show just came to mind.
nice vid
The revelation of meol is one of the most chilling moments I have felt in a game xDDD
Glad you feelin better, looking forward to more vids. I really enjoyed this one :DDD
Elidibus
You have to remember that Vauthry was just a tool od Emet's not a real villain. A misguided child, rather than an major threat.
He was murdering his own people by turning them into sin eaters, then turning the sin eaters into food and feeding it back to his people. Whenever someone finds a chance to save the world, he kills or imprisons them to preserve power. He was evil and insane. He sent sin eaters against the crystarium and killed a lot of innocent people to stop the warrior of darkness from killing the light wardens.
In an apocalyptic situation, the person who seizes control and subjugates the people who are desperate to survive and then cannibalizes anyone that protests is no less evil because compliance means survival.
What sorcery is this that makes me feel something for Vauthry? Great video. I hope you do more breakdowns like this.
18:49 Your point here is very interesting because I was just thinking about this as I'm playing through ARR on an alt. Like right before the end of ARR we straight up kill Garlean conscripts in cold blood (people who joined against their own will for the most part) just to borrow their uniforms. Like the story goes out of its way to say "hey go get some uniforms, only ones from the recently deceased wink wink will do." Revisting it with the context of everything afterwards has been pretty mindbending.
“Second-hand embarrassment” Yeah, that’s Vauthry alright.
In a cast stacked with great voice actors, I feel like Vauthry’s is severely underrated. He absolutely owns it, eliciting disgust and pity both. There’s a surprising bit of nuance in such a hammy performance.
But damn do I hate that Innocence hogs the best male hairstyle in the game. >:(
SPOILERS
Something that helped the Eulmore storyline so much for me was the presence of Dulia-Chai and Chai-Nuzz. Two nobles who are so used to living under Vauthry's reign, that they didn't think twice to dismiss their servants, not even stopping to think of the implications of their actions. Even though he's very stubborn and a bit hostile, all Chai-Nuzz wanted was to make his wife happy and all Dulia-Chai wanted was to live the rest of her days with Chai-Nuzz, regardless of the circumstances, so when Dulia-Chai takes a liking to Alphinaud and he reveals to them the horrors of what Eulmore has been doing, they both get hit right in the face with the consequences of their actions, how every singe servant they've dismissed is either living in exile or dead. The meol made them docile, yes, but they still had a very strong moral compass, it's just their circumstances had clouded it almost entirely to the point of obliviousness. This serves as a contrast to Vauthry, who also never knew better, he was always told he could lead Eulmore to a new future through a life of luxury and pure hedonism, but that, even though he was shown very clearly what his actions were causing, he never developed a sense of morality. Vauthry was told he was a savior, so in his mind, he was the only important person in the end, so when Eulmore's reign fell, his only instinct was to flee and defend himself in Mt. Gulg. Meanwhile, the Chais instead took charge for restructuring Eulmore and helping all of Kholusia thrive for the first time since the flood.
Also, my guesses were Yotsuyu, Elidibus and Vauthry XD
I was so sure you're talking about Zenos 😂
For those who didn't finished SHB yet, pls feel free to skip this comment. You're warned!
I know many ppl love him but I despise this overly clingy, extremely depressed Idiot so much. It felt great to finally pummel him in the face and get rid of him, especially as a small popoto 😏 I mean I'd like to have him reborn (and maybe not that clingy and depressed) getting part of my team in the future, but for the moment I'm glad he's gone.
But yeah Vauthry was kinda bad as well. Completely manipulated from baby age on but still such a monster. I almost freaked out seeing him transform into a damn angel. I mean wtf?! It was just so bizarre.
But yeah Shb had by far the best antagonists in the whole game. I cried tons of ugly tears with no choice but to defeat Emi. He is such a victim of all this shit happening for thousands of years and still he more or less saved his own soul and character. I felt like the biggest ass in the end, like a real warrior of Darkness.
But if I have to chose, I couldn't decide if Emet-Selch or Tsukuyomi was the harder enemy. I felt so much love and pity for both of them and I just wanted to leave them be, to save them. But the game gave us no choice in that matter 😭 RIP Tsuyu-chan and Emi.
Love the way you described Vauthry and Eulmore! I initially found it hard to smypathize with him at all, but that final cutscene really made me pause. Your description of his "innocence" was spot on.
I'm curious though, what are your thoughts on Vauthry's right hand man Ran'jit? I always assumed he was just being mind controlled by Vauthry, but Ran'jit explicitly says he is acting under his own beliefs. He remains a bit of an enigma to me and I can't help but feel like they had to cut out a lot of his backstory for whatever reason…
I think the reason people didnt say anything in the Kai-shirr incident is because they're either docile/tempered from meol, seen this many times, fear Vauthry, fear change to the status quo, buy into his logic like Ran'Jit, or a mixture of all.
I guessed Yotsuyu but Vauthry was the perfect villain in hindsight, I loved how he was written. In fact, ShB was so well thought out in general Idk if you caught the names of all the cardinal virtues.
1:00 Emet-Selch
I honestly thought you were talking about Emet at the beginning. As the game straight-up does make you feel bad for him and genuinely forget the evil he does to meet his own ends. Because in his eyes, every action was justified. He wanted his friends back. The music in that final zone is heartbreaking and truly encapsulates that feeling of loss.
I loved this deep, psychological analysis of Vauthry though. I can't stand the guy, he is just the very embodiment of Gluttony and Greed and chills me to my core – and reminded me too much of a very tyrannical leader who was just de-throned around the time I saw this scene for the first time. His temper tantrum also reminded me of said person haha… But yeah. Interesting video.
Would love to hear your thoughts on Emet-Selch, and even Zenos.
Zenos is one villain I keep defending as well, because he too, was raised having known nothing other than violence. But he thrived on battle and something about that just stood out to me. Like, imagine Zenos hadn't been born into Garlean royalty. He could have become a great warrior fighting on the other side. Still revelling in the thrill of battle, but with Honour. Which he still does have when he fights us. Because nobody had ever been strong enough to match him before. I must be one of the few crazy people who dislikes how it's pushed on the player to act like he isn't actually our Friend as he claims. 🤣 He's my friend. He just needs our Help, man. A little patience, a little love, and he could have turned it all around.
And I love that FFXIV teaches us that there is Light and Dark in everyone. And that everyone deserves a second chance, to become self-aware and do better.
Oh but wait there’s more in endwalker, you’ve been warned lol
He made me sick even when he turned into handsome squidward at the end
Finally, a video summing up how I feel about Vauthry. He is a tragic character, and I still feel a bit of sadness every time I fight Innocence. My friends don't understand why, it's so black and white to them but I'm glad someone else feels the way I do about it and can appreciate how well Vauthry was written.
For me it was definately Valens. Even if it was just side content, that questline haunts me to this day…