Thank you! I originally didn’t care for him but I’m optimistic. I believe they’ve expanded on what his original role was supposed to be, which is super fascinating. Appreciate you taking the time to watch!
It’s honestly something I don’t really get. I was so disheartened after I finished Stormblood and hopped online to see what else everyone thought of Zenos. I couldn’t believe and still don’t understand the distaste for him. He’s so cool and I found his story interesting.
@@DarthStalkers I guess to me he's just very generic. I find like no redeeming qualities about it. I honestly wished he would've just died at the end of Stormblood and I'm happy he's dead now. But not for the cathartic reasons. I'm just happy he's gone.
@@DarthStalkers its the complete lack of explaining to why he just whipped the floor with you you the Slayer of Bahamut, Primals and Ultima Weapon, defeated ine of the best Soldiers that the empire had to offer, ended a thousand year war with dragons and defeated a bring wich was using the power of One of Midgarsosmr first brood plus the limitless Energy of an ascian Soul. It felt dirty to just loose for him to no reason, and in Endwalker he felt very much out of place for a good while
Left some substantial details out of the swordsman story; the swordsman was *not* trying to teach Zenos. Zenos picked it up by repeated 'beatings'. Not only that, but the Unyielding Blade technique REQUIRES the use of aether put into the blade. Zenos stabbed crystals into his hands to do that. It worked.
Imma just put a spoiler warning here before the actual post. Honestly, I've always been a fan of Zenos ever since his introduction. Others might see him as bland, but seeing a nigh invincible force of nature playing for a team other than your own (kinda) got me invested, and a bit nervous, every time he showed up. In a weird way, while the game introduces so many nuanced and complex characters, Zenos's simple motives were a breath of fresh air to me. He was intimidating as all Hells, more so in my opinion than the Ascians, Gaius and the XIVth legion, Thordan VII and even Nidhogg. His fighting style with the three blades was cool especially in the Ala Mhigo fight, and he was the first (if I remember correctly) to ever take down your character directly. Whereas with Gaius and his underlings you had Cid tagging along, not to mention 7 other people in Castrum/Praetorium. With Thordan and Nidhogg you had the other Scions and Estinien somewhere on the sidelines (or in Estinien's case, opposite of you during the latter.) The Scions were also around during most of your dealings with the Ascians. With Zenos, the first time you get into it with him at Rhalgr's Reach, all your allies had either been taken down, wounded or straight up killed. You stood alone before this beast of a man who stared you down with zero emotion. He wasn't like Gaius who talked your ear off about his grand plans. He wasn't like Nidhogg who lost himself to rage. He didn't scheme and make you grit your teeth in frustration before disappearing like the Ascians did. He didn't, at that particular encounter, try to make use of some relic or item to empower himself like Thordan did with the right eye. He just faced you with weapon in hand, showing no interest, no contempt, no emotion. Then when he thoroughly and soundly trounces you, and DECIDES to spare you so he can fight you again later? If you ask me, there's no clearer cut way to say that you've got a big problem on your hands. This was just my two cents, but basically saying that with all the things that make other characters great, the complexities, the deep motives, the scheming, a comparatively simpler character like Zenos who was still a major threat to you and all you stood for, was a welcome addition to the list of antagonists.
In a way, I found him to be a dark counterpart to the WoL. He is just as, if not more powerful than you are, but while the WoL fights for the betterment of Eorzia, Zenos fights for no reason other than his love of the fight. So while the WoL can deal with enemies being much weaker than themself, because they are fighting for a greater cause, Zenos is fighting for the sake of the fight and is constantly disappointed or simply teased by the results. Even the world's greatest fighters are barely a workout for him. So when he sees you, the legendary hero, and notices you getting noticeably stronger and closer to actually hurting him... It is everything he's been waiting for. Which is why he calls you his first friend, because the two of you are basically the same, but you are the one who has a greater motivation that he lacks. He sees himself in you, and in another life, he probably could have been genuine friends with you and worked alongside you. But circumstances and life made the two of you enemies. Which is also why he calls you out on it in endwalker. He knows that you are like him, and while you fight for a greater cause, you know exactly what he means when he talks about the thrill of battle. He knows that while you were given the title of Eorzia's champion and the world's savior, that you got your start as a lowly "adventurer" who fought for the sake of fighting, and wanted nothing but the excitement of a life of danger. He knows that the main difference between the two of you is just what you fight for, but that ultimately the two of you are the same. And when called out on it, the warrior of light has to admit, "That, I can not deny."
Zenos had to be the best yandere/frienemy I ever had in this game. Was he off his rocker? Yes. Was he a raging murdering sociopath? Yes. Was he a threat to everything and anything the WoL ever loved? Yes. Because he didn't figure out until a loooong time after everything that he couldn't just kill everything and everyone the protag loved and antagonize him into a good fight. (Or perhaps he realized he didn't have to. We'd come kick his ass every day if he just fucking asked nicely.) Frankly the entire "You can't kill them, only I CAN KILL THEM." Attitude had my rolling with laughter every time it came up. I think what made Zenos likeable for many of us (or maybe just me) was that his motivations were... human. He was perhaps the only person in the plot I can recall ever having a personal goal (excluding Lolorito?). Everyone else was out to save the world/nation/people/local-water-source, get revenge/justice for their dead mother/father/sibling/dog and Laha-booboo was just an urelateable dickhole who hated us as much as we considered him supremely annoying. If I ever get the chance to slap him in a dialog option as his time-traveling real self I'mma do it. I'mma slap him once for every MSQ he appeared in so he better be ready to get rolled like a damn pastry with the theme to Lone Ranger playing in sequence with every connection. What I found most curious about the WoL's interactions with Zenos is that he's probably the only character we offer redemption to only once and I think the only character where we can straight up tell him we are going to kill him. No holds barred, "I won't let you leave alive". I interpreted that as being the only time where the WoL has actually wanted to murder someone they could have otherwise spared. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think *everyone* else the WoL has gone up against has forced their hand in one way or another. Being turned, being insane, not wanting to live, suicide or charging us with a death wish....
Varis always knew that Elidibus possessed Zenos’ body. Elidibus showed up after Zenos’ death to talk with Varis, and showed Varis he possessed his son’s body. Remember? “You dare…?” Varis always knew, and it was found out before the final confrontation with Elidibus possessed by Zenos. Varis always knew what’s up. There’s also what Elidibus brings up on the moon: that there was experiments done on Zenos as a child. Between pretty much being ignored other than experimented on and combat training, with his only other outlet being books, it’s not surprising that Zenos grew up to be a horrifically intelligent murder tank. He came up with many strange strategies that always worked. He could defeat a unit of soldiers without weapons. The dude was literally raised to be a monster who couldn’t connect with anyone. Honestly, with what we now know about the Warrior of Light being Azem, and Azem having the ability to basically befriend anyone, also known as the shepherd of the stars, it’s fitting that the WoL is the only one that Zenos could find any connection with. I feel in the battles with the WoL, he saw himself when he fought the swords master as a child. The swords master constantly knocked him down until he used his cunning and reading to imbed that crystal into himself to ultimately strike down the man. He properly saw that in the WoL. The more the WoL was knocked down, the stronger they got with what they learned.
I love him, he is our mirror, we lvl up to get stronger to clear more stronger content, we was the stronger content for him, also he is really intelligent and very deep, honestly after i finished endwalker i started miss him, i feel empty, for me, the way they did his story and the way he interacted with us, made him a companion for us, especially at endsinger...i hope to see him again :D
He was the warrior of light who was max level from the start of the game and got bored. When we continued to level up and get close to him, then he noticed that for the first time ever, someone was able to bring his health down to 50% and got interested.
I absolutely love this video. There aren't enough people that actually understand Zenos. And I found interesting that Zenos in the Endwalker trailer says that WoL is a "guardian of the star, appearing where the problems appear" - almost one for one description of what Zodiark was doing.
I'm gonna be vague here so as not to spoil anything that happened in Endwalker, but he's been on my mind a lot since the very end. I didn't like him very much going into Endwalker, but he grew on me. Though small, he does have some character growth. His motives never really change per se, but he does in a small but important way. I hope there's more of him. I'd like to see our friend again.
I’ll save most of my thoughts for the second part video but I really enjoyed what they did with Zenos. Certainly a redemption for a pretty one dimensional character.
@@StoutHelm Definitely looking forward to this second video. I only recently found your content because of this video but I'm eager to see more. Thanks for putting in the hard work!
Lots of similarities there but I think Zenos ending will be a polar opposite of Sephiroth. I can’t see him choosing to go out on anyone’s terms but his own. Even if Fandaniel is aligned with him for now.
A sea of souls has serious "life stream" implications, and Hydaelyn not Zodiark is positioned at the center of the life stream in ffxiv universe. Given that the heart of Hydaelyn is Venat, which means To Hunt, and it's Hydaelyn as a primal, not Zodiark, whose prime directive is to hunt her enemy zodiark above all else as that is what she was summoned to do , one wonders what the deeper implications of all this may be. Could there be a bait and switch here , especially when one considers it's Zodiark , not Hydaelyn , who was summoned under the auspice of being the worlds savior , much as the game claims the Warrior of Light to be?
Your theory has merit. And we’ve seen these kinds of surprises before. I do think they’ve worked in the past. I wondered about Zenos line about souls but wasn’t sure how much theorizing I wanted to do in this video. I may add more in future videos. Thanks for taking the time to check it out!
My (flawed) theory? He was raised to provoke Azem into revealing themselves. He's someone's great grandbaby - it would be nice if they took that association and never let up on it for the whole expansion. It would also be really cool if he's the first person to call our WoL by their real name.
I could see this being a big part of his motivation. And since so much of the last pieces of the story will be closed, it would make sense to showcase as much of what happened with Azem before those threads are dropped for something new. Great points.
He's a parallel to the player themselves. All he wants in life is to get better weapons, fight stronger enemies, and have a vaguely erotic duel with a hot rival. Isn't that what we all want?
Zenos IS my most favorite villain in FFXIV, I like my villain who just wants nothing more than watch the world burn, much like the Joker in The Dark Knight. In my book, that's the epitome of a True Villain. And I also love how he developed this "friendship" with us The Warrior of Light, especially that epic moment in Endwalker.
Very nice video. With Endwalker, we've learned quite a bit more about the character. However, I think they've terribly neglected Zenos compared to other characters. Nevertheless, I believe we can now say with some certainty that Zenos suffered from depression, among other things, for most of his life. It can be assumed that he didn't receive much affection, if any, during his childhood. His father didn't intervene even though Zenos was tormented by his mentor for a long time, and Emet probably didn't care much about Zenos either. We also know that Zenos spent a lot of time reading, which probably explains why he speaks so eloquently. With the knowledge that your kingdom, including your own family, is nothing but tools for a sinister plan of a higher power... it's no wonder he doesn't feel any connection to his status as a prince or to his people in general. And then he has to watch his father make plans with an Ascian inside his own body. I suppose it may have just been too much for him in that moment, and he ended it. As you mentioned, he felt truly alive for the first time when he fought against the Warrior of Light. And because he thought he could never feel anything again, he took his own life. When you think about it, it's really sad that he hates his own life so much. I also think it's important to note that he was constantly surrounded by toxic people. Once Fandaniel was gone, he suddenly didn't know what to do with himself and began to ask us to fight him. He no longer wants to force it and is already showing signs of understanding. Particularly when Alisae draws his attention to the fact that he should start thinking about others as well. I believe this actually made him reflect on his actions. And he gives us the time we need until we're ready to fight. Ironically, he even saves our lives in the end and gives us the freedom to choose whether or not we want to fight. It's incredibly unfortunate that he was written out of the story. If he had stayed a bit longer, he might have even continued to accompany us on our journeys.
Every Final Fantasy has one. We see this in Dissidia, although for FFX it was Jecht which was suppose to be Seymour. Zenos is among there in my top 5 for the mid boss category.
I don't like his disregard for life, but i can't lie i can relate to zenos. In the game, i dont like running things Unsync because one-shot enemies are boring. Even tho its tedious for some, i enjoy going into duties and dungeons sync because they all test me, especially when im with new players or im the last tank standing. Everyone will spam for me to die to reset, but a part of me always wants to try to survive alone for as long as i can to see if i can solo a boss. So i get Zenos and his thirst for battle. He is like me. A thrill seeker.
I have a sinking suspicion that Zenos is also a part of Azem. I have a whole crazy unfounded idea that Azem split themselves before the world was sundered. Absolutely zero evidence.
That last line from Zenos just gave me toxic ex-boyfriend vibes 😅 seriously curious as to how they'll up the battle with him though especially since we've been him once before.
Weird how you try to make it a twist that Elidibus was possessing his body. They revealed that info long before the WoL and Elidzenos clash As for what I think of Zenos he is and was my favorite villain in the game. My enemy my friend
@@StoutHelm oh no they knew from the moment Zenos corpse started walking around they knew. Maybe not Elidibus but that Zenos was an ascian. Indeed going into Gimlet dark before Thancred is knocked out one of their plans was to spread the story that Zenos was possessed by an ascian. That Zenos actually survived was a thing they did not find out for a long time
Do you think that the fact hes so divisive is intentional on the writers part or that they just didnt write him well enough to convey what they wanted.
@@StoutHelm I can’t wait! Tons of folks, my wife included have seen Zenos as a man without a plan. And wanted to do nothing more then kill him next they saw. Your videos explain what I can see of him. I’ll be sure to watch! Appreciate the hard work!
I actually like zenos. No he is not an extremely rich and amazing character/villain like Emet, but i do feel he has his place in Xiv He is meant to be a foil to the WOL both are super strong, but the difference is the WOL has friends and allies that he can trust and give him strength. Zenos trusts only in himself, his absolute strength and ability to stand above all others. If Zenos had people he could trust growing up, people he wanted to protect he could of easily been in the WOL shoes. A chosen guardian of the realm.
I still hear people saying they don't like Zenos because he's one dimensional.. I disagree with still simply because even In the real world we have people like this.. narcissists.. he's actually an example of a very successful one. Like Alfred told bat-man some men just want to watch the world burn.. they have consumed themselves of humanity. Always have to have one of them in a story I believe, minor or major.
True but the WoL didn’t know in that same moment. I suppose I wrote that line too loosely in my script. I was trying too hard to make the story part more interesting.
There’s a really fine line there, and I think both sides of the relationship will be at odds in the next expansion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zenos ultimately decides to side with the WoL, realizing that the person he relates to the most shouldn’t be someone he aspires to destroy.
I was so excited for EW just to see the final battle with Zenos play out. He was a good friend the wol because he kept pushing the WoL to improve and wanted to have a fun time hanging out. Those tag alongs called scions we're just weak and needed help. Although it took way too long to do anything with Zenos so they could concentrate on what really was a boring story over all to find the meaning of life... The fuck? Was that shit inspired from some suicide watch reject on Dr Phil? 😆 All I kept hearing was what's the meaning to life l, you gotta be strong, blah blah blah,... I'm like where the hell is my battle with Zenos already?
![[UNCUT]“ฅนตื่นธรรม”ปะทะ“หมอปลา-ปู่มหามุนี-อั๋นโอกิ”สะเทือนกระทรวงเวทมนตร์ Iคนดังนั่งเคลียร์I10 ตค.67](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/peMD_SAkwNc/mqdefault.jpg)
You're one of the few who actually understand his character and I love you for that 🥺
Thank you! I originally didn’t care for him but I’m optimistic. I believe they’ve expanded on what his original role was supposed to be, which is super fascinating. Appreciate you taking the time to watch!
It’s honestly something I don’t really get. I was so disheartened after I finished Stormblood and hopped online to see what else everyone thought of Zenos. I couldn’t believe and still don’t understand the distaste for him. He’s so cool and I found his story interesting.
@@DarthStalkers I guess to me he's just very generic. I find like no redeeming qualities about it. I honestly wished he would've just died at the end of Stormblood and I'm happy he's dead now. But not for the cathartic reasons. I'm just happy he's gone.
@@DarthStalkers its the complete lack of explaining to why he just whipped the floor with you
you the Slayer of Bahamut, Primals and Ultima Weapon, defeated ine of the best Soldiers that the empire had to offer, ended a thousand year war with dragons and defeated a bring wich was using the power of One of Midgarsosmr first brood plus the limitless Energy of an ascian Soul.
It felt dirty to just loose for him to no reason, and in Endwalker he felt very much out of place for a good while
Left some substantial details out of the swordsman story; the swordsman was *not* trying to teach Zenos. Zenos picked it up by repeated 'beatings'. Not only that, but the Unyielding Blade technique REQUIRES the use of aether put into the blade.
Zenos stabbed crystals into his hands to do that. It worked.
I did leave some details out of that short story, apologies for getting some of the minor details mixed up.
Where can I find these stories? I've never heard of them before now and that sounds super interesting.
@@althelor The Lodestone, I believe.
Zenos is pretty much the true warrior of darkness to me at this point
I’m just glad we’re getting more of him to hopefully tell his story in a more interesting way.
Imma just put a spoiler warning here before the actual post.
Honestly, I've always been a fan of Zenos ever since his introduction. Others might see him as bland, but seeing a nigh invincible force of nature playing for a team other than your own (kinda) got me invested, and a bit nervous, every time he showed up. In a weird way, while the game introduces so many nuanced and complex characters, Zenos's simple motives were a breath of fresh air to me.
He was intimidating as all Hells, more so in my opinion than the Ascians, Gaius and the XIVth legion, Thordan VII and even Nidhogg. His fighting style with the three blades was cool especially in the Ala Mhigo fight, and he was the first (if I remember correctly) to ever take down your character directly. Whereas with Gaius and his underlings you had Cid tagging along, not to mention 7 other people in Castrum/Praetorium. With Thordan and Nidhogg you had the other Scions and Estinien somewhere on the sidelines (or in Estinien's case, opposite of you during the latter.) The Scions were also around during most of your dealings with the Ascians.
With Zenos, the first time you get into it with him at Rhalgr's Reach, all your allies had either been taken down, wounded or straight up killed. You stood alone before this beast of a man who stared you down with zero emotion. He wasn't like Gaius who talked your ear off about his grand plans. He wasn't like Nidhogg who lost himself to rage. He didn't scheme and make you grit your teeth in frustration before disappearing like the Ascians did. He didn't, at that particular encounter, try to make use of some relic or item to empower himself like Thordan did with the right eye. He just faced you with weapon in hand, showing no interest, no contempt, no emotion. Then when he thoroughly and soundly trounces you, and DECIDES to spare you so he can fight you again later? If you ask me, there's no clearer cut way to say that you've got a big problem on your hands.
This was just my two cents, but basically saying that with all the things that make other characters great, the complexities, the deep motives, the scheming, a comparatively simpler character like Zenos who was still a major threat to you and all you stood for, was a welcome addition to the list of antagonists.
Well written comment, great summary.
In a way, I found him to be a dark counterpart to the WoL. He is just as, if not more powerful than you are, but while the WoL fights for the betterment of Eorzia, Zenos fights for no reason other than his love of the fight. So while the WoL can deal with enemies being much weaker than themself, because they are fighting for a greater cause, Zenos is fighting for the sake of the fight and is constantly disappointed or simply teased by the results. Even the world's greatest fighters are barely a workout for him. So when he sees you, the legendary hero, and notices you getting noticeably stronger and closer to actually hurting him... It is everything he's been waiting for.
Which is why he calls you his first friend, because the two of you are basically the same, but you are the one who has a greater motivation that he lacks. He sees himself in you, and in another life, he probably could have been genuine friends with you and worked alongside you. But circumstances and life made the two of you enemies.
Which is also why he calls you out on it in endwalker. He knows that you are like him, and while you fight for a greater cause, you know exactly what he means when he talks about the thrill of battle. He knows that while you were given the title of Eorzia's champion and the world's savior, that you got your start as a lowly "adventurer" who fought for the sake of fighting, and wanted nothing but the excitement of a life of danger. He knows that the main difference between the two of you is just what you fight for, but that ultimately the two of you are the same.
And when called out on it, the warrior of light has to admit, "That, I can not deny."
Zenos had to be the best yandere/frienemy I ever had in this game. Was he off his rocker? Yes. Was he a raging murdering sociopath? Yes. Was he a threat to everything and anything the WoL ever loved? Yes. Because he didn't figure out until a loooong time after everything that he couldn't just kill everything and everyone the protag loved and antagonize him into a good fight. (Or perhaps he realized he didn't have to. We'd come kick his ass every day if he just fucking asked nicely.) Frankly the entire "You can't kill them, only I CAN KILL THEM." Attitude had my rolling with laughter every time it came up.
I think what made Zenos likeable for many of us (or maybe just me) was that his motivations were... human. He was perhaps the only person in the plot I can recall ever having a personal goal (excluding Lolorito?). Everyone else was out to save the world/nation/people/local-water-source, get revenge/justice for their dead mother/father/sibling/dog and Laha-booboo was just an urelateable dickhole who hated us as much as we considered him supremely annoying. If I ever get the chance to slap him in a dialog option as his time-traveling real self I'mma do it. I'mma slap him once for every MSQ he appeared in so he better be ready to get rolled like a damn pastry with the theme to Lone Ranger playing in sequence with every connection.
What I found most curious about the WoL's interactions with Zenos is that he's probably the only character we offer redemption to only once and I think the only character where we can straight up tell him we are going to kill him. No holds barred, "I won't let you leave alive". I interpreted that as being the only time where the WoL has actually wanted to murder someone they could have otherwise spared.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think *everyone* else the WoL has gone up against has forced their hand in one way or another. Being turned, being insane, not wanting to live, suicide or charging us with a death wish....
Varis always knew that Elidibus possessed Zenos’ body. Elidibus showed up after Zenos’ death to talk with Varis, and showed Varis he possessed his son’s body. Remember? “You dare…?” Varis always knew, and it was found out before the final confrontation with Elidibus possessed by Zenos. Varis always knew what’s up.
There’s also what Elidibus brings up on the moon: that there was experiments done on Zenos as a child. Between pretty much being ignored other than experimented on and combat training, with his only other outlet being books, it’s not surprising that Zenos grew up to be a horrifically intelligent murder tank. He came up with many strange strategies that always worked. He could defeat a unit of soldiers without weapons. The dude was literally raised to be a monster who couldn’t connect with anyone.
Honestly, with what we now know about the Warrior of Light being Azem, and Azem having the ability to basically befriend anyone, also known as the shepherd of the stars, it’s fitting that the WoL is the only one that Zenos could find any connection with. I feel in the battles with the WoL, he saw himself when he fought the swords master as a child. The swords master constantly knocked him down until he used his cunning and reading to imbed that crystal into himself to ultimately strike down the man. He properly saw that in the WoL. The more the WoL was knocked down, the stronger they got with what they learned.
You’re correct about Varis, I was unclear about some of the details in this recap.
I love him, he is our mirror, we lvl up to get stronger to clear more stronger content, we was the stronger content for him, also he is really intelligent and very deep, honestly after i finished endwalker i started miss him, i feel empty, for me, the way they did his story and the way he interacted with us, made him a companion for us, especially at endsinger...i hope to see him again :D
I have a feeling we will, my friend.
He was the warrior of light who was max level from the start of the game and got bored. When we continued to level up and get close to him, then he noticed that for the first time ever, someone was able to bring his health down to 50% and got interested.
I absolutely love this video. There aren't enough people that actually understand Zenos.
And I found interesting that Zenos in the Endwalker trailer says that WoL is a "guardian of the star, appearing where the problems appear" - almost one for one description of what Zodiark was doing.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And good catch with that line.
I'm gonna be vague here so as not to spoil anything that happened in Endwalker, but he's been on my mind a lot since the very end. I didn't like him very much going into Endwalker, but he grew on me. Though small, he does have some character growth. His motives never really change per se, but he does in a small but important way. I hope there's more of him. I'd like to see our friend again.
I’ll save most of my thoughts for the second part video but I really enjoyed what they did with Zenos. Certainly a redemption for a pretty one dimensional character.
@@StoutHelm Definitely looking forward to this second video. I only recently found your content because of this video but I'm eager to see more. Thanks for putting in the hard work!
Oh I have come to LOVE ZENOS, as the " BAD ' Boy HE is. I also have to admit that Zeno's VA makes my blood SING !
He’s great, even if he’s a bad guy.
I see Zenos as the sephiroth of ff14.
Lots of similarities there but I think Zenos ending will be a polar opposite of Sephiroth. I can’t see him choosing to go out on anyone’s terms but his own. Even if Fandaniel is aligned with him for now.
A sea of souls has serious "life stream" implications, and Hydaelyn not Zodiark is positioned at the center of the life stream in ffxiv universe. Given that the heart of Hydaelyn is Venat, which means To Hunt, and it's Hydaelyn as a primal, not Zodiark, whose prime directive is to hunt her enemy zodiark above all else as that is what she was summoned to do , one wonders what the deeper implications of all this may be.
Could there be a bait and switch here , especially when one considers it's Zodiark , not Hydaelyn , who was summoned under the auspice of being the worlds savior , much as the game claims the Warrior of Light to be?
Your theory has merit. And we’ve seen these kinds of surprises before. I do think they’ve worked in the past. I wondered about Zenos line about souls but wasn’t sure how much theorizing I wanted to do in this video. I may add more in future videos.
Thanks for taking the time to check it out!
My (flawed) theory? He was raised to provoke Azem into revealing themselves. He's someone's great grandbaby - it would be nice if they took that association and never let up on it for the whole expansion. It would also be really cool if he's the first person to call our WoL by their real name.
I could see this being a big part of his motivation. And since so much of the last pieces of the story will be closed, it would make sense to showcase as much of what happened with Azem before those threads are dropped for something new. Great points.
He's a parallel to the player themselves. All he wants in life is to get better weapons, fight stronger enemies, and have a vaguely erotic duel with a hot rival. Isn't that what we all want?
I really hope to see a part 2 to this.
Day one I was a fan of Zenos.
It’s absolutely happening. Just need to finish the story then the work begins.
Zenos IS my most favorite villain in FFXIV, I like my villain who just wants nothing more than watch the world burn, much like the Joker in The Dark Knight. In my book, that's the epitome of a True Villain. And I also love how he developed this "friendship" with us The Warrior of Light, especially that epic moment in Endwalker.
He’s one of my favorites too. Possibly my favorite but it’s hard between him and Emet.
Very nice video.
With Endwalker, we've learned quite a bit more about the character. However, I think they've terribly neglected Zenos compared to other characters. Nevertheless, I believe we can now say with some certainty that Zenos suffered from depression, among other things, for most of his life. It can be assumed that he didn't receive much affection, if any, during his childhood. His father didn't intervene even though Zenos was tormented by his mentor for a long time, and Emet probably didn't care much about Zenos either. We also know that Zenos spent a lot of time reading, which probably explains why he speaks so eloquently.
With the knowledge that your kingdom, including your own family, is nothing but tools for a sinister plan of a higher power... it's no wonder he doesn't feel any connection to his status as a prince or to his people in general. And then he has to watch his father make plans with an Ascian inside his own body. I suppose it may have just been too much for him in that moment, and he ended it.
As you mentioned, he felt truly alive for the first time when he fought against the Warrior of Light. And because he thought he could never feel anything again, he took his own life. When you think about it, it's really sad that he hates his own life so much.
I also think it's important to note that he was constantly surrounded by toxic people. Once Fandaniel was gone, he suddenly didn't know what to do with himself and began to ask us to fight him. He no longer wants to force it and is already showing signs of understanding. Particularly when Alisae draws his attention to the fact that he should start thinking about others as well. I believe this actually made him reflect on his actions.
And he gives us the time we need until we're ready to fight. Ironically, he even saves our lives in the end and gives us the freedom to choose whether or not we want to fight.
It's incredibly unfortunate that he was written out of the story. If he had stayed a bit longer, he might have even continued to accompany us on our journeys.
Thankful to have you spreading the Zenos facts. You truly understand his character.
Thank you so much for this!!!
I'm glad someone else sees this
Thank you for taking the time to watch it!
Man you have excellent story telling skills, I really enjoyed the vid! 😄
Thank you so much, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
at least I'm not the only one understanding this brilliant character
Every Final Fantasy has one. We see this in Dissidia, although for FFX it was Jecht which was suppose to be Seymour. Zenos is among there in my top 5 for the mid boss category.
I don't like his disregard for life, but i can't lie i can relate to zenos. In the game, i dont like running things Unsync because one-shot enemies are boring. Even tho its tedious for some, i enjoy going into duties and dungeons sync because they all test me, especially when im with new players or im the last tank standing. Everyone will spam for me to die to reset, but a part of me always wants to try to survive alone for as long as i can to see if i can solo a boss. So i get Zenos and his thirst for battle. He is like me. A thrill seeker.
He is no Emet Selch, but a good villain that unfortunately didn't got his Story showed very well
I think they did well with him in Endwalker but definitely not in Stormblood.
I have a sinking suspicion that Zenos is also a part of Azem. I have a whole crazy unfounded idea that Azem split themselves before the world was sundered. Absolutely zero evidence.
Thats a wild theory but not out of the realm of possibility. So much we still don’t know about the sundering.
Great Video. It would help if you link like where in the questline you find out info 5.4...4.4...
Great suggestion. I’ll keep that in mind for future lore. Thank you!
That last line from Zenos just gave me toxic ex-boyfriend vibes 😅 seriously curious as to how they'll up the battle with him though especially since we've been him once before.
The benchmark trailer has me super excited. Surely there will be more than one confrontation.
Zenos just wanna set the world on fire for us to get stronger and fight him full power.
He wants the big showdown on the ultimate stage. I don’t think he really cares who wins or loses.
Weird how you try to make it a twist that Elidibus was possessing his body. They revealed that info long before the WoL and Elidzenos clash
As for what I think of Zenos he is and was my favorite villain in the game. My enemy my friend
That line was written from the WoL’s perspective, since I believe they weren’t aware of that. As players yes, we did know that.
@@StoutHelm oh no they knew from the moment Zenos corpse started walking around they knew. Maybe not Elidibus but that Zenos was an ascian. Indeed going into Gimlet dark before Thancred is knocked out one of their plans was to spread the story that Zenos was possessed by an ascian.
That Zenos actually survived was a thing they did not find out for a long time
Do you think that the fact hes so divisive is intentional on the writers part or that they just didnt write him well enough to convey what they wanted.
I think it was the writing, but the rebound was so good that I don’t mind it in hindsight.
He was not the big bad for the 8 man in Endwalker. But he was the last person we fought. Not really for something world ending. Just because.
And that makes it a thing of beauty for me.
Mannn please make this again with the Endwalker additional Zenos parts
I started writing the script last night, it’s coming!
@@StoutHelm I can’t wait! Tons of folks, my wife included have seen Zenos as a man without a plan. And wanted to do nothing more then kill him next they saw. Your videos explain what I can see of him. I’ll be sure to watch! Appreciate the hard work!
Honestly, these videos really made it so much clear to me about what Zenos is and about, so very well put together! :D Really enjoyed these!
I’m glad you got something out of it! Thanks for taking the time to watch it.
I actually like zenos. No he is not an extremely rich and amazing character/villain like Emet, but i do feel he has his place in Xiv
He is meant to be a foil to the WOL both are super strong, but the difference is the WOL has friends and allies that he can trust and give him strength.
Zenos trusts only in himself, his absolute strength and ability to stand above all others. If Zenos had people he could trust growing up, people he wanted to protect he could of easily been in the WOL shoes. A chosen guardian of the realm.
WARRIOR-CHAN!
thank you for this
Glad you enjoyed it!
I still hear people saying they don't like Zenos because he's one dimensional..
I disagree with still simply because even In the real world we have people like this.. narcissists.. he's actually an example of a very successful one. Like Alfred told bat-man some men just want to watch the world burn.. they have consumed themselves of humanity. Always have to have one of them in a story I believe, minor or major.
I mean he revealed that he took over zenos body emediatly to varis
True but the WoL didn’t know in that same moment. I suppose I wrote that line too loosely in my script. I was trying too hard to make the story part more interesting.
he has a simple goal, kill the strongest being on the source aka us
nuh he doesnt want to kill us, we are his best and only friend xD like the friend you make at a sport club you want to keep playing forever
There’s a really fine line there, and I think both sides of the relationship will be at odds in the next expansion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zenos ultimately decides to side with the WoL, realizing that the person he relates to the most shouldn’t be someone he aspires to destroy.
I was so excited for EW just to see the final battle with Zenos play out. He was a good friend the wol because he kept pushing the WoL to improve and wanted to have a fun time hanging out. Those tag alongs called scions we're just weak and needed help. Although it took way too long to do anything with Zenos so they could concentrate on what really was a boring story over all to find the meaning of life... The fuck? Was that shit inspired from some suicide watch reject on Dr Phil? 😆 All I kept hearing was what's the meaning to life l, you gotta be strong, blah blah blah,... I'm like where the hell is my battle with Zenos already?
Zenos is just a spoiled child.
In a lot of ways, yes.
He's Itachi Uchiha reborn
You think so?
I get more of a reincarnted spoiled Saitama vibe.
@@lordjaraxxus5418 I can see this too.
What a convoluted plot line 🙄
He loves us ;3
In his own twisted way.