I swear if only she were just born on a different day...
Something I respect about Yoshi-P, and the entire FFXIV team, is their confidence and ability to keep the eye on the ball amidst the barrage of both high pressures to meet expectations, and seeing through the dissenting voices - and filtering out actual feedback. I hope I can fit into that filtered category...
I watched the Live Letter on youtube just now, and I was incredibly disappointed with the English speaking commenters. Maybe it's because I rarely tune in to them live, but they were extremely disheartening. Dissenting and contrasting voices is never a surprise, but very spiteful people have that name to latch onto, and it's become disruptive; I'm seeing all of these amazing cosplays from the Fanfest in Japan, and on the side where I want to voice some thoughts and make comments about how good they are, the name just didn't stop being used; and then people retaliated. And it was an arm's race. While the Japanese-speaking comments were just having a good time. It was humiliating...
...So I was curious about Wuk Lamat's etymology. It's actually fascinating. I'll link the page where I found this information, but here's the interesting bit. The image above depicts what's listed as CPN 217: A Stone Vessel from Copan. Below is what's written, and the translation of this historical Mayan artifact:
TRANSCRIPTION:
[7]-LAMAT-16-SUUTZ’
U-3-LAJUUN-na
U-HAAB
TRANSLITERATION:
Wuk Lamat Waklajuun(-te’) Suutz’
u (y)uxlajuun
u haab
TRANSLATION:
(On) Seven Lamat, the Sixteenth of Sotz’
the thirteenth
(is) his year
As it happens, the names of the Xbr'aal are based on Tzolk'in, a naming scheme based on the date of one's birth. The character herself is an explicit reference, clearly, to this archeological discovery of a mark pertaining to Waxaklajuun Ubaah K’awiil, apparently a famous ancient king of Copan. This is akin to Alexander being named after Alexander the Great, or Odin being named after the Norse God, or Tsukuyomi being the Moon Goddess of Japanese mythology; real world history and myth being implemented into the world of Hydaelyn to add flavor.
Who knew that the term synonymous with 'staying awake' would sound so similar. It's just really, really bad luck. I'm not avoiding actually spelling out the name used because firstly, chances are there's a censor for it, and second, it doesn't need spelling out. But it's a bad-faith name used for the Vow of Resolve, based on a phrase appropriated elsewhere in more recent history to describe one to remain awake, or alert.
...Watching the live letter today, I was embarrassed by the English speaking commenters; these types will always exist and cause problems, but during a turbulent time for the game's life cycle after Endwalker, and when there are valid criticisms about the character? The bad-faith term inspires an opposing 'resolve' of spite, which becomes a back and forth.
I wish these extra details were brought into the discussion; the origin of the name, the misfortune of the new slang, and the fact that, while dissenting voices always will exist, they're in larger numbers due to expectations being mired.
I've said this many times in previous blogs, but it begs repeating; I see Wuk Lamat the way I saw Alphinaud, especially during the Crystal Braves arc. He's annoying and snobbish and his downfall brought out the best in him. Now we have our firewood-collecting friend ready to take on any challenge without daring to call our fellow adventurers and free company members 'a bunch of sellswords.' Wuk Lamat needs that fall from grace, and the fact that she's insufferable is just a part of the storyline; she doesn't need to be a paragon of every substantial qualities, especially when she's framed as our apprentice character.
I know also her actress is getting flack, and I don't know everything about her interactions with people, but I want to only speak on her part in her performance; delivered the part fantastically, which I say with a very sharp clarification; her performance was bursting with bright naivete and like a shortsightedness that represented a spoiled child. Moreover this is a character who lives in a land and people forged by the dreams of her late father, who - through his legacy - continue to help her even after he's gone. Gulool Ja Ja mirroring our own competence and echoing our sentiment that, yeah, she's probably not ready? That's spot on. And the fact that the world continues to coddle her isn't out of line.
The people Tural believed in Gulool Ja Ja. And whether he believed Wuk Lamat was worthy of the throne, he believed in and treasured his daughter; and so, this nation, this entire continent, is going to protect her, because she represents what this great leader valued above all else. It's their way of still fighting for him. Add Koana's protectiveness of his sister, and ours, and the antagonism built on Zoraal Ja's resentment of his father that manifested into a resentment of her; why does this great warrior, who could humble entire lands, who lived by the rule of might, and the gift of the Blessed Siblings, value... this spoiled kitten? And I mean, on one hand, yeah he's right. But that's something I adored about Crossroads; we've seen the juxtaposition between Wuk Lamat's resolve and Zoraal Ja's; now we see the juxtaposition of Koana's and Zoraal Ja's, through the manifestation of their primal desires, and the consequences of theirs - and those of desires around them. Koana's own family sacrificing themselves for him as a child sharply contrasting Gulool Ja's mother and father only out for their own desires, and all of their fate but Gulool Ja's being cast away or slain. Abominations were created in Yaweyewata Station; cruel experiments and abuses of might. The natural ebb and flow of the Hhetsaro tribes guiding them.
Which road will be taken. The vidraal waits at the crossroads; one is light, the other is might. And so we return to my ongoing point about Louisoix's legacy. I swear, people's views on the stakes aside, the poetry was on point in 7.1's MSQ. There's more with Wuk Lamat's and Sphene's contrasts, and the way denial and grief shows that this is the beginning of the cycles of grief we'd already been through during the Hydaelyn/Zodiark story; you'd might as well have played Answers during the funeral. It's another Crossroad of past and future. Overall Crossroads was a fantastically set up 'downtime' patch; no earth-shattering events, but enough stakes growing in subtle ways.
But loud people hate subtle.
But it's created a division. Juuust like Runar (refer to older blogs). Two opposing sides, one based, the other cringe. Little suns all over. Not comparable, this runs much deeper socially, but it is the same symptoms. (I'm superstitious, I'm believing it's a Hrothgar curse until I'm proven otherwise). But Wuk Lamat fans are becoming loud as well to drown out the noise. Wuk Lamat isn't meant to be a groundbreaking great character, but there's weight to her to drown out the 'Little Suns'... At the price of a female character. For people like me, I want to enjoy these little historical discoveries, appreciate the character writing, the worldbuilding, and most of all my involvement in this ever-growing world.
Runar and Wuk Lamat both functioned well in the structure of their respective expansions. But, well, we know how I feel about how the Eros Lightwarden affecting the Rak'tika storyline affecting Y'shtola's storyline, and now Wuk Lamat's is doing the same thing, but this time the 'seven' in her name creating the discourse. I don't know if it's just bad luck or what, but Runar was a footnote that's eating away slowly at the foundation of a character who thankfully stands well on her own through other peoples' stories. The goal of making people like Wuk Lamat as a main character is a very different ask.
Is it not okay to enjoy a story involving a character you don't vibe with personality-wise? In character, I mean? Hildibrand would fit in that category really well, but we roll with it; it's different with Wuk Lamat due to her positioning, but I know that her positioning is meant to contrast how we support rulers in expansion throughout FF XI apparently. So there's credence to it, and I don't want to step on those narrative toes if Yok Tural is meant to represent FF XI and Xak Tural is meant to represent FF IX. If that's what they're going for, then I want to ride that wave, you know?
Ignoring the problem isn't helpful, because the two dissenting voices drown each other out, and genuine criticism about the character is missed with contradicting 'arms-race' between views on the character. It's not bad writing in and of itself, structurally it's perfect; I think both Runar and Wuk Lamat are both character arcs that the writers at least need to compare and gauge actual reception for (rather than binary ones).
I know Yoshi-P said that he knew Wuk Lamat didnt vibe with everyone, and he'd want to show off why she was so great in 7.1; but that's not the solution to me. I dont need her to be great; I need her to be, like Runar, preferably intrusive. Because just like with Runar, intrusiveness is the root of the problem. Case and point; the binary comments arguing with each other was just racket during that Live Letter...
Glad I could talk about Crossroads in this blog a little bit, and reiterate some Runar point, as well as my stance on Wuk Lamat. The excitement for the expansions DOES need to come from elsewhere than her, but she's perfectly functional on a narrative level.
See you on the Trail!
Here are my sources for this one guys:
https://mayadecipherment.com/2009/12/04/cpn-217-a-stone-vessel-from-copan/https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/1927sl0/cultural_significance_of_wuk_lamats_name_and/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzolk%CA%BCin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_script https://www.mesoweb.com/resources/vocabulary/English-Maya.html
