#shadowbringers spoilers

miqojak:

miqojak:

While in Amaurot, I was looking at the names of places, and realized they sounded distinctly Latin, and figured I’d look them up - so come with me now as I THROW WIDE THE GATES and speculate about what SE is saying about Amaurot.

Amaurot is the name of the capital city of a place called Utopia, in this book by the same (and many much longer) name(s): Utopia. 

“A little, true book, both beneficial and enjoyable, about how things should be in the new island Utopia”) is a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More (1478–1535), written in Latin and published in 1516. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social, and political customs. Many aspects of More’s description of Utopia are reminiscent of life in monasteries.

“More wrote this story to make a point about collectivism, whether in defense or as a criticism of.”

“He also says “When Raphael had finished his story, I was left thinking that quite a few of the laws and customs he had described as existing among the Utopians were really absurd.” This demonstrates that he realizes his world is bizarre, and wants others to realize how out of place it was in their society.”

Considering that this book’s ‘point’ is still being debated to this day, It’s not entirely easy to put a finger on why SE chose to reference this book - but I imagine it’s for the satirical approach to Utopia (which is technically part of Earth in the book). And when you think about it, the laws/ways in which the Amaurotines operate are quite…odd. It’s painted as this utopia - as this perfect place…and yet a convocation decides what creations are safe for public use. Everyone has to dress the same - or they might be jealous ( which also gives me HarrisonBergeronvibes - I read this in high school, and I’ve never forgotten it).

With that said, the main character is one Raphael Hythlodaeus.That name is familiar, because -

He’s the Amaurotine you meet who is self-aware. With that said -

“Hythlodaeus means “dispenser of nonsense” surely implying that the whole of the Utopian text is ‘nonsense'”

I can’t say what the implication of that is, in the context of our Amaurot - does that mean all the knowledge this ‘ghost’ imparted to us was nonsense? Because in the book, the character’s first name is Raphael, which has an alternate implication.

“While Hythlodaeus may suggest his words are not to be trusted, Raphael meaning (in Hebrew) “God has healed” suggests that Raphael may be opening the eyes of the reader to what is true.”

And our Hythlodaeus seems like he’s trying to open our eyes. He talks about Ardbert’s soul. He talks about Emet - and we know he’s not full of crap because the camera cuts to Emet Sulk Selch moping around in Amaurot. He reallyis depressed, as Hythlodaeus claims.

“Parallel to this, every citizen must learn at least one of the other essential trades: weaving (mainly done by the women), carpentry, metalsmithingandmasonry. There is deliberate simplicity about these trades; for instance, all people wear the same types of simple clothes and there are no dressmakers making fine apparel.”

This is also a parallel to Amaurot in FF - everyone must dress the same. You’re praised for your creativity, but told you need to change clothes to look like everyone else.

But back to names, and their meanings - all of the names used seem satirical.

“Another complication comes from the Greek meanings of the names of people and places in the work. Apart from Utopia, meaning “Noplace,” several other lands are mentioned: Achora meaning “Nolandia”, Polyleritae meaning “Muchnonsense”, Macarenses meaning “Happiland,” and the river Anydrusmeaning “Nowater”. Raphael’s last name, Hythlodaeus means “dispenser of nonsense” surely implying that the whole of the Utopian text is ‘nonsense’. Additionally the Latin rendering of More’s name, Morus, is similar to the word for a fool in Greek (μωρός). It is unclear whether More is simply being ironic, an in-joke for those who know Greek, seeing as the place he is talking about does not actually exist or whether there is actually a sense of distancing of Hythlodaeus’ and the More’s (“Morus”) views in the text from his own.”

There is a Polyleritae District, and a Macarenses Angle in Amaurot- the references to this book are staring us down, and I have to admit that I’m hella curious about what this says/implies about the Ascians - or what it says about what ended them.

You know, occasionally this post gets bursts of activity, so I’ll just share it once more now that we’re nearing the end of Shadowbringers - I never did come to a conclusion here, outside of thinking that SE was making this comparison to show us how flawed Ascian society was/what a fallacy their ‘utopia’ was; maybe even to suggest that it was nonsensical and doomed all along.

Ido still applaud SE for the reference, it remains incredibly interesting to me! I love literary explorations and breakdowns!

hydaelynsgallery:

Someone on my other blog @finalfantasyxivwritings asked about Hades’ height and how he compared to an average Amaurotian as well as the wol, so I got some pictures for comparison’s sake!

The heights are as follows:

Samilen (min height male viera): 172 cm / 67.7 in

Amaurotian: 430 cm / 169.3 in

Hades (1st form): 619.2 cm / 243.7 in

Hades (2nd form): 774 cm / 304.7 in

And in case any of you are absolute thirsty heathens like me have some extra measurements under the cut:

Keep reading

important addendum for all the monsterfuckers and people who aren’t cowards

hydaelynsgallery:

Someone on my other blog @finalfantasyxivwritings asked about Hades’ height and how he compared to an average Amaurotian as well as the wol, so I got some pictures for comparison’s sake!

The heights are as follows:

Samilen (min height male viera): 172 cm / 67.7 in

Amaurotian: 430 cm / 169.3 in

Hades (1st form): 619.2 cm / 243.7 in

Hades (2nd form): 774 cm / 304.7 in

And in case any of you are absolute thirsty heathens like me have some extra measurements under the cut:

Keep reading