#Zenosposting

[sebille]

gender is NOT the same as sex. gender is what you identify as, while sex is what I'll be having with Zenos Yae Galvus tonight. stay tuned

[somewhereovertherainbowtables]

Sometimes I'm the funniest fucking person in the room.

(FC and Server are censored for privacy, find me in the wild like a normal freak thank you, or like, DM me I guess...?)

Bonus image: Lore Accurate Booty Size (Magic has been used to provide the Cake Shop)

I leveled White Mage to 50 to unlock SAM because its a class I enjoy, and precisely to take this specific screenshot of me wearing the WHM 45 relic gear

Someone stop my sinful hands

[jadeempire]

Funniest and most ideal way to do zenoswol in my opinion is to have the WoL literally refuse to acknowledge any potential feelings for That Man, even to themselves, but still have them tell Asahi that they would've done tricks on it. Just to see his stupid little coconut head explode

[starstrider]

I want to say that for all intents and purposes Zenos is a nonbinary bitch to me

Him saying "I don't have any attachment to that name" when confronting E-s that stole his body, being insanely androgynous (though I wonder how much of that is Intent and how much of that is Zenos just not caring to cut his hair or go beyond smoky eyes) is a vaguely trans experience for me

He clearly takes just enough care of himself but otherwise gets dressed in something layered and convenient, the attachment to his body is merely functional (it can fight well because I've trained it over many years? ok then i'll take it)

But he's one of those vaguely nonbinary people that go "thinking about labels is boring I don't care about wasting time defining my own experience I'm just me"

So yeah diversity win prince of a fascist empire is a he/him agender

[nina-the-ninth]

goro doodle

[shivapvoid]

.............maybe i need sleep

[transmiqote]

the real reason they cut away from meteor fighting the two-headed mamool ja in the dawntrail teaser isnt because he was about to take off his cloak & reveal the new job clothes, it’s because zenos was about to come in & join him in the fight & theyre saving the zenos reveal for 6.5 😌

[omegaverse-anesthesiologist]

one of these days i will figure out how to reblog things to the right blog

[burriburi]

Feel the need to zenospost again. I’m taking a trip down memory lane

[picaroroboto]

When someone does a terrible thing, in both real life and in fiction, we as onlookers find ourselves immediately asking "Why?". In real life even an understandable or relatable motive rarely justifies most crimes, while in fiction, we may actually judge evil actions less harshly if they were done with good intentions (or if the perpetrator is hot, but that's another issue)

(forgive me for interrupting my scheduled Fateposting for Zenosposting. again.)

From the moment he first appears on-screen, Zenos is just so dang weird that I think most players' reactions to him, whether they like him or not, is to wonder "Why?" - "Who is this guy, why is he like this, why does he do what he does, why is he obsessed with my player character?" and so on. What's interesting about this urge to know what's up with him is that understanding/not understanding others is a key theme of Zenos's character. He doesn't understand other people or care about their motives, doesn't even really care to try because he treats others as if they're a different species of animal than him, and doesn't even care to explain or justify his own motives until confronted. To him any motive is as good as any other, he's just chosen to live for his own hedonism. Even on a meta-level he resists being understood - which is to say that it's very possible to get a shallow reading of him, "Oh, he's just crazy.", and run with that without ever looking at the deeper level because you've already decided that this perceived insanity doesn't justify his crimes.

This is why it feels like such a huge and meaningful change that his character development in Endwalker is marked by him asking the WoL so many questions - genuinely trying to understand them instead of projecting himself onto them, genuinely trying to connect with another person for the first time.

Now that I reach the end of this post I realize that there's not really any major points here that I haven't made in other posts. When I played Endwalker, I approached the idea of the final confrontation with Zenos with my WoL wanting to ask "Why?" - not that he's looking for a justification, because he finds Zenos's actions unforgivable, but because he's the type of hero who wants to understand even his enemies. Ironically, or fittingly, that need to understand is what keeps him human, from being like the mindless beast Zenos thought he was.

I don't really ship ZenosWoL because I can't see the feelings as being mutual for my WoL, but the desire to understand one another counts for something. His pursuit of the WoL might be what constitutes "love" in Zenos's mind, but as far as I'm concerned, "wanting to understand" another person is what I consider "love".

[lightparty-fullparty]

Can't possibly be me Zenosposting again - what is this a day ending in Y?

Anyway, I've been thinking about the murder boy again. This has mostly spawned from my replaying of the Stormblood patches and seeing Amnesiac Yotsuyu, which sparked a bit of a Nature vs Nuture debate between me and my friends.

Basically, my question for this post is "How much of Zenos' whole deal is Nature (aka He was just born like that) and how much of it is Nuture (aka the enviornment he grew up). Some of you might content to say Nature and leave it at that, which is a completely valid outlook to have. But for me there's just one... teeny... tiny... little detail that has sent me on a wild consipriacy theory of a ride that's resulted in this post. Emet-FUCKING-Selch.

Listen to me, listen okay? I cannot, CANNOT ignore the fact that this absoulete motherfucker (affectionate) is Zenos's cannonical Great Grandfather. Who was very much alive and kicking during his childhood. Emet-Selch or Solus zos Galvus whatever moniker you wanna give the man, is an Ascian. One of THE Ascians. Not only that, he's 'The Architect" the guy who's job it is to design and engineer the calamities meant to rejoin the Shards of the World back together again. What does he do to achieve this? He builds empires, he starts wars, manipulates people and situations to result in untold elemental chaos. Iirc correctly he's responsible for causing all eight calamities that have occured so far in FFXIV. (Eight got undone but I'm still counting it).

Now for this post I'm going to be focusing mainly on the Seventh, Eighth, and Fourth Umbral Calamities. (Which are the ones coincidentally we're told the most about in game). This Calamities all involved Empires. The Allagan and the Garlean, both of which Emet-Selch was responsible for creating. From the Allagans we have the creation of Dalamud, Cyrus Tower, and the Ultima Weapon. As well as an extensive history of biological research. Cloning, Gene Splicing, Mutation and so on. (A sundered mortal's attempts at creation magjicks perhaps?) The Garleans too, have a notible history of biological research, they draw a lot of their modern technology from Allagan design. No coincidence there given Emet-Selch's involvement. But we've seen them use genetic mutation, cyber augmentation, and cloning (Emet-Selch's shadow the hedgehog ass clone bodies because he refuses to look like anyone other than his unsundered self). The also so a lot of research into the Echo. Hydalyn's mark for her champions, and soul maipulation. (Ala Mihgo Dungeon and In From the Cold Duty both points of note for examples of the Soul being manipulated here - physically torn out of the body).

"Now Gengar " - I hear you ask - "What does this have to do with Nature vs Nuture or Zenos?" Well, I tell you, everything really. Hear me out. Emet-Selch designed the Garlean Empire to be the perfect chaos causing conquest force. They have no ability to use either, making them initially vulnerable as a people to the rest of the races. Building up a tasty, tasty resentment and need to feel superior. He sent them marching to 'reclaim their home' and then to 'unify the three contents under their superior peaceful, organised leadership'. The 'Savage Races' summon evil primals and weild evil distructive magjiks. He gave them a perfect cause and reason to hate everyone else. He gave them magitech to level the field and make them supieror at combat. Garlemald as a nation is the perfect war machine. Allagan 2.0 if you would. And Zenos is the perfect 'Champion' to lead that nation into battle. To spark that next Calamity. Look at the guy. Garleans might be on the taller side (depending on the character. Cid is a shorty), but Varis and Zenos are HUGE. Emet-Selch isn't nearly as tall as either of them despite being a blood relation. Which makes me think there was some of that Allagan/Garlean/Ancient playing with genetics and form at work. Make them bigger, more durable, stronger, more intelligent.

It's like Captian America. You want the perfect solider. And a perfect solider for Emet-Selch would also need to be cold, ruthless, manipulative.

There was a post I saw a while again about Mecha Pilots. And OP pondered on the idea of physcially having your brain and body contiditoned to love battle. To love destruction and killing and fighting.

Do you see where I am going with this?

You want someone bloodthirsty enough to cause a Calamity for you, you need them to feel nothing for their fellow man. (Insects all of them. Disappointing. Found Wanting.) You need them to find such overwhelming joy in battle that no other earthely pleasure can compare to it. (Brilliant. Blinding. Trandsenant Moment.)

No attatchments. No emotions, Just violence. I offer to you dear readers, that Emet-Selch carefully modified Zenos' litterally brain chemistry. Making him predisposed to a lack of empathy and his brain releasing those pesky joyous chemicals during battle. Inflicitng and feeling pain. I offer the theory that Zenos has literally been built for combat. If you cut him open, his bones and muscles and organs would be so alienly perfect. Denser, perfectly optimised. Exceedingly perfect. His brain remapped for pattern recognistion and quick skill building, Easy to train in the art of slaughter and tactics. Unable to forge the emotional connections that would only serve to hinder him. (To isolate him from family).

What evidence to I have? Outside of Emet-Selch's known history of building Empires? Easy. I already know he's done this kind of thing before.

Vauthry. The baby Emet-Selch mutated into half a Lightwarden. Able to command the Sin Eaters and ensured would be raised into a tyranically, childish, king. To keep the First from Uniting. To ensure the Eighth Umbral Calamity would continue along it's march to completion.

Why wouldn't Emet-Selch have done as much to Zenos too?

[sebille]

Oh the little change in his expression

[dysansohmin]

both tumblr and bsky are zenosposting this morning and the bsky conversation is flattening both the "he is a video game character" and "he is a fascist" angles pretty intensely. I think zenos neé "yae" galvus still views other people largely as degenerate NPCs, maybe

[jadeempire]

fucking hang yourself cunt

well SOMEONE didn't enjoy the zenosposting I see

[alienstage]

your zenosposting is saving my stupid baka life

he saves my stupid baka life every sday so i understand.......

[radioinactivity]

am shy so doing this on anon but I love seeing u and especially ur zenosposting on my dash! made me much braver about my own wol/zenos pairing and i have soooo much fun w it now instead of feeling ashamed. ur art is super fucking cool also and if u ever do comms again i will be in line!

HELL yes I am always happy to help. Never be ashamed of this dumb shit that makes us happy. god knows life is hard enough already to deny ourselves the simple joy of smashing our dolls together. And thank u for liking my art the next time I open comms I will remember to post here too haha 💕