resolve-and-reason

[resolve-and-reason]

"You are going to get through this."

A low, rumbling laugh -- cut off abruptly by sharp pain, reminding the massive Mamool Ja of his very obvious wound(and making him flinch up). Even with the curing, the potions and salves, the bandages and other wrappings, the devastation that had been unleashed upon his body showed in every movement, every gesture, every expression the Head of Resolve made.

Even now, Gulool Ja Ja's meandering through the palace had come to an abrupt end when his body had, just as abruptly, decided that it had reached its limits. He'd been forced to settle onto the floor, sprawling out on his back, until a pair of patrolling Sunperch had come across him and immediately set to find the selfsame healer that had tended the former Dawnservant's wounds to begin with.

The healer that just so happened to also be the Warrior of Light, the very savior of their realm from across the great salt.

As Alta worked her magic(quite literally), the Blessed Sibling stared up at the ceiling high above them. An arm raised, hand waving dismissively; if not for the promise of pain, he would have laughed again. "Of course. Lamaty'i would never let me hear the end of it otherwise," he teased, in order to chase away some of the dire heaviness of the situation. Though his usual, albeit strained, grin did falter after a moment. "A deserved death. Bested by my own blood, the very same one responsible for taking so many innocent lives... Had I been able to stop him sooner, perhaps some might have been spared."

[resolve-and-reason]

It took me until my recent second playthrough of the expansion to realize that when Estinien and the Warrior of Light spar with Gulool Ja Ja, Gulool Ja Ja isn't using his full power against them, because he can't.

He pauses while preparing his most powerful magic attack during the instance where we fight him in the throne room, and while that's something I'd noticed the first time, I hadn't thought anything of it. Then when I did the instance for the second time where you fight the shade of him for the Feat of the Brotherhood, it finally hit me that it was because in order to fully use that magic, it calls for both heads to call upon their individual power into one attack.

[resolve-and-reason]

I am alive, and after getting the second Dawntrail trial in roulette a few days ago, there's something else that I really appreciate about that boss after seeing the dialogue again.

At first, I thought it was all about living up to the high expectations society had set for him due to his birth. Which isn't fully untrue, in that he does seem to want to not only live up to them, but to surpass the expectations placed upon him. But there's something I think is even more significant to his character: a burning desire to break free of the shadow of his birth, of his father's shadow, of the mold of who and how everyone expects him to be -- and walk his own path, by his own choice, using his own strength. He wants to be more than just Gulool Ja Ja's son, or the "Miracle" child.

He wants to surpass everything, especially his father, to prove that he is more than just what he's expected to be. He's his own person, and he wants to show that his strength and accomplishments are his own, rather than being due to his birth and lineage.

When he loses the fight and is dying, I believe he concludes that not only did he fail in this, but he failed to even live up to the bar of being a "Miracle" too. I think that to him, because he failed, everything he had strived for means nothing.

[resolve-and-reason]

[resolve-and-reason]

Finally finished Dawntrail...

Lays on side.

[resolve-and-reason]

There's something FFXIV Dawntrail did well in my opinion that I wish FFXVI had also highlighted.

These are, as always, just my personal opinions -- so I won't be mad if you disagree! Regardless, Dawntrail spoilers below the cut!

Dawntrail is very open about showing the impact and pressure that cultural and societal expectations can have on younger generations. Zoraal Ja and Bakool Ja Ja are probably the best examples of it.

Zoraal Ja, the first of three children of what is Tural's equivalent of a king, the only blood child of Gulool Ja Ja, and a child that no one thought could exist -- given that two-headed Mamool Ja normally can't reproduce. He is referred to as "The Resilient Son", and is constantly struggling to live up to this notion of him being a "miracle". He believes he must not only surpass his siblings in terms of strength and capability, but must surpass his father as well in order to prove that he is this miracle child that everyone believes him to be. After the Trial where you fight him, and he's talking to his son, he mentions things like having nothing to leave behind for the boy. Gulool Ja Ja may have loved his children, may have told and shown them that he loved them -- but in the case of Zoraal Ja, it was completely overshadowed by the legacy he needed to surpass(in his eyes) in order to be worthy of life, and by the immense pressure he was under to live up to the expectations of everyone who claims him to be a miracle child, possibly even on par with blessed siblings in terms of regard.

What he does is unconsciable and misguided, yes. I will never defend that, although it still is interesting to me that all three children took inspiration from different parts of Gulool Ja Ja's history and reign, with Zoraal Ja focusing on the fact that yes, his father had to fight against the Yok Huy in order to drive them back and get them to release their slaves. In most cases, no, peace is not obtained without some conflict. Zoraal Ja sees that people are taking for granted the peace that his father fought to give them, and he wants to remind them through war just how good they have it. Gulool Ja Ja was able to unite nearly an entire continent; if Zoraal Ja can unite the entire world, even if it's by using fear and force to bring them to heel, then surely he'll be good enough to make true him being a miracle child, right?

Then there's Bakool Ja Ja. He acts like an asshole who doesn't care, but in actuality, he cares -- a lot. He has the weight of not just his entire village and their expectations to shoulder, but he also has the grief and guilt of knowing about the countless two-headed infants who had died before his birth, just so that their people could carry out this building legacy of blessed siblings on the throne, thus affording them status and power to rise up from the darkness(literally) where they have been forced to call home. He agonizes, he cries, he despairs, and he hides it all, because he has no choice. The future of his village hinges upon his success, with his birth having been generations in the making. He can't fail. Not just for him or his people, no -- but also for those who died shortly after birth, to make their sacrifices and the parents who had to bury them's sacrifices worth it.

The expectations he has to live up to, too, are so incredibly high, with him having to live for everyone else as well as for ghosts of the past.

I bring this up because it's something I wish XVI had touched on more, too. Like many things in that game, there are hints and nods to it, yes. But like many things, it isn't really delved too deeply into, at least not beyond Clive's perspective. The expectations that Joshua and Dion likely had to struggle to live up to at young ages, how detrimental it likely was to their emotional well-being and sense of self-worth... And this isn't even mentioning the pot of worms that is royal status, or the rest of the Dominants and their respective stories and situations, especially when factoring in that they, like Cid, may well have accepted the inevitability of their deaths because of their Eikon's powers.

[resolve-and-reason]

"Despite his old age, the mighty Gulool Ja Ja remains a fearsome foe indeed."

[resolve-and-reason]

Regarding the veil that covers the Head of Reason's face:

It doesn't just conceal the fact that the Vow of Reason has passed on -- it also serves to preserve the head from decomposition. The aetherial enchantment placed upon the veil for this purpose was imbued within it by the brother himself shortly before his passing, as both a way to spare their people from grief before the preparations for the rite of succession were complete... and also to spare the Vow of Resolve some of his grief as well.

[resolve-and-reason]

Also worth noting for this verse, to make it super easy for interacting with all characters in any location:

Once everything is over, since Gulool Ja Ja is no longer the Dawnservant and knows that their people are in good hands, he sets forth on another adventure of his own -- that he might broaden his horizons all the more and get to know the world that friends like Ketenramm hail from.

[resolve-and-reason]

I've been contemplating how to go about setting up this blog's main verse, and I finally settled on something, I think. The finer details aren't set in stone, but.

(Under a Read More because spoilers.)

Initially, I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how to have Gulool Ja Ja come back to life, since his death is significant to the story. But then I realized earlier that there's a much simpler, albeit predictable, solution: having him just barely survive the fight with Zoraal Ja.

By all rights and logic, he should be dead. Even he believed wholly that he was going to die there in the audience chamber. But somehow, against all odds, he did manage to cling to life, just by a hair's width.

But it was enough.

The physicians that had been working on him, too, sincerely thought he was gone -- and when it became clear that he yet breathed, they would have rejoiced, because it was a miracle. However, his survival posed a problem: Zoraal Ja believed him dead, and the First Promise clearly wanted it that way.

Gulool Ja Ja, along with the physicians and a trusted few Landsguard, decided that it would be best to keep his survival a tightly guarded secret, at least for the time being. After all, who was to say that Zoraal Ja wouldn't attack the city again if he found out that his father was still alive?

Whether or not Wuk Lamat and Koana know, too, I'll leave up to my roleplay partners.

[resolve-and-reason]

Alrighty, once I get some things figured out for this guy's main verse, I'll post a starter call and go from there.

This blog, or rather its default verse, is going to be pretty canon divergent/AU, for obvious reasons -- so consider this an interest check in the meantime!

[resolve-and-reason]

Legends never die, They become a part of you. Every time you bleed for reaching greatness, Relentless you survive. When everything's lost, they pick up their hearts, And avenge defeat. Before it all starts, they suffer through harm, Just to touch a dream.

[resolve-and-reason]

Gulool Ja Ja adores all three of his children in equal measure, but his deep love for them doesn't stop him from being stern -- if not altogether difficult -- with them when it comes their training.

His objective isn't to be authoritarian with them per se, although his expectations of them are, undeniably, high. He is always open and honest with them, and the reason for his manner of teaching them is no exception to this: he believes in them, sees their potential and how much they still have to grow in order to reach it.

Most of all, he knows intimately the burden of guiding an entire nation and everything that it entails, and he wants to ensure that whichever Promise ascends to the throne in his place will be prepared to take up that mantle.

[resolve-and-reason]

I start this blog by adopting you. And you. And you, and you, and y --

[resolve-and-reason]

"And they call me the Head of Resolve for a good reason -- old as I am, I have not lost a battle worthy of the name since the day I took the throne."

Independent, low-activity blog for Gulool Ja Ja from Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Written by Vonny! Sideblog to fire-branded -- Follows from there All interactions welcome! Tracked tag is resolve-and-reason

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