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afflatusesa constantly WIP background/info on ihxi'wo
more for my own use but feel free 2 read this rambly mess if u want
someday... i will create a much much much shorter info bulletlist, i am So Sorry,
Pre-ARR Stuff
- In the matriarchal keepers of the moon society more than two or three sons born to a family was considered uncommon or rare; seven was practically unheard of. Ihxi Luhya, the leader of a small community of families, did not love her six sons any less than she would daughters, but… she would have liked a daughter to pass on the traditions and culture of their people to. She eventually got her wish- sort of. Her final pregnancy resulted in twins: the first, the daughter she had so wanted… and second, Ihxi’wo Luhya, her seventh son.
- Despite this large number of children, Ihxi’wo grew up just as loved as his sister and brothers, albeit with a bit of a background view of himself. This suited him just fine- he had no real desire to stand out in a crowd and was completely content with reading books and hearing stories about the world around them from travelers and traders.
- He was particularly close with his sister, and the two made plenty of childhood plans to travel the world together, but as they got older she needed to spend increasingly more time with their mother and the elders, learning. Ihxi’wo didn’t let that deter him; he would simply do enough research for both of them.
- When he was about ten, there was a battle between Garlean and Gridanian forces in the part of the Shroud where they lived. It was a surprise, at least for them, as they took no part in these kinds of battles- but that was not enough to save them from the damage of one. Ihxi’wo still doesn’t know which side was actually responsible, but as the battle drew closer fire, magic, and magitek weapons combined into one force of destruction.
- They lost many members of their tribe that day, including three of his brothers.
- Ihxi’wo himself came across two of his brothers while separated from the rest of the evacuating children and elderly. One of them was already dead, but the other, his eldest brother, was continuing to put up a fight against a group of soldiers who likely thought him to be part of the battle. It didn’t take long for one soldier and his brother to remain- but his brother seemed severely injured himself, and like he might not dodge the next attack well enough-
- A combination of fear, sadness, and anger overtook Ihxi’wo at the sight, and shot out in an explosion of magic. When the light cleared the soldier was on the ground, dead, and his brother was sliding to the ground against a nearby tree. He looked as though he was about to say something… before he himself passed away.
- Other members of the tribe didn’t find Ihxi’wo and the bodies until the fires had died down and both sides of the battle moved on, and when they did find him he was unquestionably changed. He barely spoke or responded, appearing in a state of shock for several days.
- He never gave the full story of what happened, even to his sister, but the attack, deaths of his brothers, and own role in causing the death of another person (even unintentionally) changed him. He was quieter, more pensive, and sadder, even as time created distance between him and the event. He struggled with any defense or combat training, seeingly fearful of the possibility of hurting someone, and was likely to sneak away to tend to his garden or read a book every time he was encouraged to try again.
- As the twins continued to age, other things changed around them too; their remaining brothers set out on their own, one to join the Twin Adders, one to Limsa Lominsa to become a sailor, and another without a concrete explanation of where he was headed. His sister herself became more dedicated to leading their tribe through the troubles of their world.
- For his part, Ihxi’wo remained directionless- the only thing he’d ever wanted to do as a kid was travel with his sister, which he grew to accept would not be a possibility, and he felt no real calling towards a certain career or anything. He seemed content to, just as he had as a child, remain in the background, helping and supporting their community in what ways he could.
- ...But his sister was not content with that.
- Shortly after their mother stepped down and his sister took up leadership in earnest, she banished Ihxi’wo from their tribe. Her reasons were simply to give HIM a reason to leave, to encourage him to travel like he’d always wanted and maybe grow and change and find something he wanted to do with his life, but she didn’t get much of a chance to explain. Feeling betrayed, hurt, and perhaps irrationally worried that she had somehow found out about the person he had killed all those years ago and found him unworthy to remain, he ran off and hopped a boat for Limsa as soon as he could, unwilling to hear explanations.
- His first thought was to find his brother who lived there and stay with him, but as he stepped off the boat he had an impulsive desire to do something on his own, and found himself in front of the Arcanist’s Guild. This would be fine- he liked books, didn’t he?
ARR
- Arr stuff la la la
- Despite excelling at parts of the arcanist studies, he was a difficult student; prone to only wanting to study what interested him specifically and still unwilling to take part in any kind of fighting unless absolutely pressed in a dangerous situation.As he started travelling with more people the desire to not see any of them hurt overrode his fear of hurting to an extent, and he was able to fight in dungeons and the sort even though it clearly troubled him.
- Upon arriving to Gridania he picked up conjury- here was something he could do! Heal and support his fellow adventurers without having to do much damage himself!
- (lol the whole conjurer questline is one reason why that’s a bad idea bro)
-But as ARR goes one he realizes more and more that in order to protect people he cares about, he will have to fight and cause harm to others; he eventually resumes his arcanist studies and becomes a summoner and white mage.
- The thought of being some kind of warrior of light is absolutely terrifying to him- all these people counting on him?? He freezes up a lot, especially at first, is emotional and impulsive, and many people are surprised to see that the person they’ve heard about is… well, him.
- But it is clear that he is stubborn and determined, and cares extremely deeply- all qualities which lead to him, eventually, doing what he needs to to help people.
Minfilia inspires him quite a bit- he really, really takes the “For those we have lost. For those we can yet save.” to heart.
- ...Even if he IS Extremely Upset about the whole “gotta kill tempered people” thing.
HEAVENSWARD
- The end of the ARR patches MESSES HIM UP, BRO. He’s extremely upset about the scions, and seems likely to revert to his childhood reaction of freezing up in face of this trauma…
...But this time Alphinaud is with him and also suffering, so Ihxi’wo tries extremely hard to do differently for his sake, even if he is not always amazing at it.
- (Tataru is much better, and after this Ihxi’wo will forever see her as a Beacon Of Strength)
- At first he butts heads with Ysayle, finding her ways too extreme, but he soon starts to empathize with her. She’s full of so much sadness and compassion and desire for peace that he cannot help but relate to her, and as such ends up butting heads with Estinien a little more instead.
- He is devastated when she dies, and thinks about her often. When Ishgard goes through it’s Restoration, he is often found telling stories of her to the young dragonets and hyurs and elezen, and (to Tataru’s pain) uses some of their money to commission a statue of her.
- Similarly, he is also extremely upset when Haurchefant dies; this death he is up close and personal for, and feels very much like it was for him specifically. Much like with Minfilia before him he tries to remember that “a smile better suits a hero” and becomes more like to try and put on as reassuring a facade for people as he can, as he starts to understand the value of giving people hope on top of the actions they take to improve things.
- He still struggles a lot with this though, and does not fully come to understand the strength of his hope until shb
- At first he’s very frustrated with Ishgard and the war. He hates the snobby rich elezen and the class differences, hates the violence of the war, hates it all
- Getting to know people who live there and meet people who hope not so much for victory over the dragons, but peace, helps him change his mind and become more invested
- The idea of winning a war does not appeal to him; the idea of being able to help contribute to its end and a future peace very much does, and he becomes much more committed to their goals thanks to this shift in mindset
- HE IS SO HAPPY TO SEE THE SCIONS AGAIN….. SO HAPPY…..
STORMBLOOD
- Not a lot to note here as he sort of willingly takes a background role to the people fighting for their home
- But he does admire them a lot; they have so much bravery and determination, and even if he still hates violence it really seems like they take it seriously
- On that note Zenos absolutely drives him W I L D
- With anger, not like. Other stuff.
- His careless, bored way that he just kills people absolutely hits Ihxi’wo right in the ANGER spot just
Zenos:
Ihxi’wo: KILL BILL SIRENS
-Which unfortuantely, is kind of what zenos wants isn’t it. goddamn. he fucked up.
- Really likes the beauty of the Steppe and many of its tribes (although does not get along with the more. Violent ones like the Dotharl much…..)
- Also enjoys getting to meet people of Doma, even if it’s all so. Very sad,,
- Yeah i don’t have much for STB at the moment other than he feels very worn down with seeing all the wartorn nations and people struggling with it. He’s determined to help them but probably feeling pretty hopeless about the state of things in general…,
- Somewhere in here takes the desire to protect people to its next level by trying to learn 2 tank- dark knight time baybeeeey
- Although the aesthetic does not on the surface seem to be Very Him, i love the idea of him going through the dark knight storyline for a few reasons
1. He’s always had such a background view of his life that having an anger translator in fray is pretty funny
2. KH owned my childhood and i love the concept of darkness as a metaphor for your “bad” traits, past mistakes, depression, etc
You can make them your strength instead of always your weakness…
3. Myste super hits Ihxi’wo’s guilt complex WHOO BOY and he has a lot of struggles with himself vs himself vs what he thinks he needs to do/be
4. The moogles were right…. It is love that powers your desire to protect people, more than revenge…. Wow….
- He is not often a tank, but likes the idea of having the option what with. The warzones they keep having to go into
- He’s also starting to become increasingly more reckless with himself and the idea of drawing enemies’ attention to himself over others would be. Very good to him.
SHADOWBRINGERS
- When the scions start disappearing he is just
So
Worried
- But much like with Alphinaud in HW, he sees how much Alisae is struggling and tries soooo haaaaarddd to be strong for her
- Often fails but. U kno. An attempt, made
- By this point he’s started to feel extra hopeless about a lot of things, like he’s not doing a good enough job, like he can’t handle the pressures about being the wol, constantly worried about his friends and the world etc etc etc it’s not a fun time
- Going to the First is FUCKIN WILD
- A place of?? All light?? If only his tribe knew of such a bizarre place
- He’s pretty immediately horrified by the sin eaters and everything else, but finds some bit of comfort in the people of the Crystarium.
- They’re in such hellish circumstances but they fight on, work together, and have hope?? Bro?? He is Amazed at them all
- Being able to contain the light of the sineaters is, oddly, a strange relief to him; here is something he can actually do to help people in a way that shows immediate effects, and it’s something he doesn’t really have to think about, just do- which for someone who overthinks a lot, feels nice for once
- Reuniting with the Scions makes him embarrassingly emotional, he is sorry,
- When he finds out that the light is changing him it’s like The Final Straw in terms of losing hope; here’s this thing he thinks he can do to help this world, their own world, something that actually seems to be going RIGHT… but it might change him and not even be permanent??
- He’s really upset about it, actually!!
- But probably only talks about it with Ardbert, his ghost pal, who is also someone who has lost hope.
- What’s better than this…. Two bros being depressed
- IT’S AN UP AND DOWN THING because then seeing everyone work together with the giant talos really affects him as well…
- ...only to find out that he can’t actually contain all the light
- Oddly this seemingly final nail in the coffin is actually enough to let him start regaining his hope
- His discovery of the Exarch’s past and the people of his universe, Feo Ul’s musings on the human spirit, Ardbert and his friends’ past, the people of the First’s will- all of this finally culminates in his own determination returning.
- He’s gonna do what he can to fix things or die trying…!! And die trying? I mean it could go eitehr way at that point i guess,
- The end of shb still makes me cry…. bro…...
- Ends up actually really empathizing with the Ascians, to his past self’s horror. Where once he saw them as only nebulous threats that brought only pain and death, he now empathizes with their intense feelings of grief and sorrow.
- Ihxi’wo’s own life has been shaped by his grief and sorrow and wish to change the past, but after everything he’s been through and learned he’s finally started to see that this is something that he much use constructively to help people and the future, not just remain a sad memory
- Not just the “for those we have lost,” but also “for those we can yet save”
- More words on this when i can find them but SHB’s views on grief and hope really fucking swallowtailed with my own musings on Ihxi’wo’s development that I had before I got there in the absolute best way so just. Ascians. Grief. Hope. Duty. Parallels……… nods as i i have explained what i mean at all
- But on that note. Yeah. cool motive still murder.
- Gotta stop the murder, even if he’s very sad and pensive about everything he’s learned
But also super mad when he sees elidibus pretending to be ardbert. DUDE, that is his BRO
- Takes his promise to remember the ancients very seriously
- Gets a tattoo on his shoulder of Azem’s symbol combined with a half-moon in the mooncat tattoo style
- Sun, moon, past, present, together, symbolistic bs, blah blah blah
- He already really cared about Rynn and then Gaia, but he also feels a strong feeling of kinship with them after all this in terms of “past self’s” and “current selves” etc etc
- Trying to contain the light in SHB creates, grows, and leaves him with scarring on his arms and chest that resemble lightenberg figures/the scars people are left with when hit by lightning
- They remain even after, though
Unfinalized bits of trivia/lore that don’t fit in above timeline?
- He could summon a carbuncle from a very young age, mainly to play with him and his sister. As he got older he became convinced this was simply an imaginary friend he had made up- until he joined the arcanist’s guild and saw many more of them, and was greeted with his old friend when told to summon his own.
- Being a twin helped him become almost immediately attached to Those Weird Twins, Alphinaud and Alisae. He absolutely came to love them as their own people quickly after, but at first it was hard not to see a strange mirror image of himself and his sister, out travelling in the world like they’d wanted to.
- He’s never been an older sibling before, always the youngest- he really feels like he got to experience it with the twins, though
- On a similar note he also quickly came to admire and trust Y’shtola upon meeting her in Limsa. She reminded him a little of his sister, and the two would evolve a sibling-esque friendship as time went on.
- MAKES RLY GOOD TEA and even if he is forgetful in other ways, always seems to remember people’s preferred kind
- Had a hard time getting used to sleeping at night and being awake during the day when he first went to Limsa, but by now he’s so used to it it’s almost hard to imagine returning to the nocturnal lifestyle of his youth. This makes him a little sad to think about, really.
- Extremely Empathetic, Not Very Good At Acting Sympathetic: The Curse
- Rolled high intelligence, low wisdom; and high wisdom, low intelligence in different areas
- He never has both high, but DOES often have both low
- His musical talent is in the negative, but he loves listening to it and humming. Similarly he is also very bad at drawing and painting, but enjoys sketching and writing in a journal about the places and people he’s seen.
- Part of it is for himself, part of it is for his sister, whom he starts to forgive. He realizes that she allowed him this journey, but did not get to undertake it herself.
- Thankfully his botanical knowledge is actually good- not just for tea, but also for wilderness survival!
- On that note he is a passable chef; his food is nothing amazing, but it’s clearly made with a lot of care and desire to help people in what way he can… and good enough flavor for most.
- On another note, when someone is clearly going through a hard time Ihxi’wo very much partakes in the cat-like act of simply sitting nearby them to let them know they aren’t alone- often with a cup of tea or food he made for them
- A good listener, just not good with words.
- Love language is actions and quality time, I guess?!
- Absolutely fought Lahabrea as a summoner with Ifrit, tragically will never understand the hilarious irony of this due to being unable to meta-ly read that Tales from the Shadows story
- elemental associations... water, fire, moon, and sun
- opposites!!
- as a summoner bahamut - moon (he was in a moon ok) phoenix - sun
- and other symbolism w/e
- the nature AND light associations with white mage work as well (nature pre-shb and light during and after)
- dark knight darkness associations explained above
more for my own use but feel free 2 read this rambly mess if u want
someday... i will create a much much much shorter info bulletlist, i am So Sorry,
Pre-ARR Stuff
- In the matriarchal keepers of the moon society more than two or three sons born to a family was considered uncommon or rare; seven was practically unheard of. Ihxi Luhya, the leader of a small community of families, did not love her six sons any less than she would daughters, but… she would have liked a daughter to pass on the traditions and culture of their people to. She eventually got her wish- sort of. Her final pregnancy resulted in twins: the first, the daughter she had so wanted… and second, Ihxi’wo Luhya, her seventh son.
- Despite this large number of children, Ihxi’wo grew up just as loved as his sister and brothers, albeit with a bit of a background view of himself. This suited him just fine- he had no real desire to stand out in a crowd and was completely content with reading books and hearing stories about the world around them from travelers and traders.
- He was particularly close with his sister, and the two made plenty of childhood plans to travel the world together, but as they got older she needed to spend increasingly more time with their mother and the elders, learning. Ihxi’wo didn’t let that deter him; he would simply do enough research for both of them.
- When he was about ten, there was a battle between Garlean and Gridanian forces in the part of the Shroud where they lived. It was a surprise, at least for them, as they took no part in these kinds of battles- but that was not enough to save them from the damage of one. Ihxi’wo still doesn’t know which side was actually responsible, but as the battle drew closer fire, magic, and magitek weapons combined into one force of destruction.
- They lost many members of their tribe that day, including three of his brothers.
- Ihxi’wo himself came across two of his brothers while separated from the rest of the evacuating children and elderly. One of them was already dead, but the other, his eldest brother, was continuing to put up a fight against a group of soldiers who likely thought him to be part of the battle. It didn’t take long for one soldier and his brother to remain- but his brother seemed severely injured himself, and like he might not dodge the next attack well enough-
- A combination of fear, sadness, and anger overtook Ihxi’wo at the sight, and shot out in an explosion of magic. When the light cleared the soldier was on the ground, dead, and his brother was sliding to the ground against a nearby tree. He looked as though he was about to say something… before he himself passed away.
- Other members of the tribe didn’t find Ihxi’wo and the bodies until the fires had died down and both sides of the battle moved on, and when they did find him he was unquestionably changed. He barely spoke or responded, appearing in a state of shock for several days.
- He never gave the full story of what happened, even to his sister, but the attack, deaths of his brothers, and own role in causing the death of another person (even unintentionally) changed him. He was quieter, more pensive, and sadder, even as time created distance between him and the event. He struggled with any defense or combat training, seeingly fearful of the possibility of hurting someone, and was likely to sneak away to tend to his garden or read a book every time he was encouraged to try again.
- As the twins continued to age, other things changed around them too; their remaining brothers set out on their own, one to join the Twin Adders, one to Limsa Lominsa to become a sailor, and another without a concrete explanation of where he was headed. His sister herself became more dedicated to leading their tribe through the troubles of their world.
- For his part, Ihxi’wo remained directionless- the only thing he’d ever wanted to do as a kid was travel with his sister, which he grew to accept would not be a possibility, and he felt no real calling towards a certain career or anything. He seemed content to, just as he had as a child, remain in the background, helping and supporting their community in what ways he could.
- ...But his sister was not content with that.
- Shortly after their mother stepped down and his sister took up leadership in earnest, she banished Ihxi’wo from their tribe. Her reasons were simply to give HIM a reason to leave, to encourage him to travel like he’d always wanted and maybe grow and change and find something he wanted to do with his life, but she didn’t get much of a chance to explain. Feeling betrayed, hurt, and perhaps irrationally worried that she had somehow found out about the person he had killed all those years ago and found him unworthy to remain, he ran off and hopped a boat for Limsa as soon as he could, unwilling to hear explanations.
- His first thought was to find his brother who lived there and stay with him, but as he stepped off the boat he had an impulsive desire to do something on his own, and found himself in front of the Arcanist’s Guild. This would be fine- he liked books, didn’t he?
ARR
- Arr stuff la la la
- Despite excelling at parts of the arcanist studies, he was a difficult student; prone to only wanting to study what interested him specifically and still unwilling to take part in any kind of fighting unless absolutely pressed in a dangerous situation.As he started travelling with more people the desire to not see any of them hurt overrode his fear of hurting to an extent, and he was able to fight in dungeons and the sort even though it clearly troubled him.
- Upon arriving to Gridania he picked up conjury- here was something he could do! Heal and support his fellow adventurers without having to do much damage himself!
- (lol the whole conjurer questline is one reason why that’s a bad idea bro)
-But as ARR goes one he realizes more and more that in order to protect people he cares about, he will have to fight and cause harm to others; he eventually resumes his arcanist studies and becomes a summoner and white mage.
- The thought of being some kind of warrior of light is absolutely terrifying to him- all these people counting on him?? He freezes up a lot, especially at first, is emotional and impulsive, and many people are surprised to see that the person they’ve heard about is… well, him.
- But it is clear that he is stubborn and determined, and cares extremely deeply- all qualities which lead to him, eventually, doing what he needs to to help people.
Minfilia inspires him quite a bit- he really, really takes the “For those we have lost. For those we can yet save.” to heart.
- ...Even if he IS Extremely Upset about the whole “gotta kill tempered people” thing.
HEAVENSWARD
- The end of the ARR patches MESSES HIM UP, BRO. He’s extremely upset about the scions, and seems likely to revert to his childhood reaction of freezing up in face of this trauma…
...But this time Alphinaud is with him and also suffering, so Ihxi’wo tries extremely hard to do differently for his sake, even if he is not always amazing at it.
- (Tataru is much better, and after this Ihxi’wo will forever see her as a Beacon Of Strength)
- At first he butts heads with Ysayle, finding her ways too extreme, but he soon starts to empathize with her. She’s full of so much sadness and compassion and desire for peace that he cannot help but relate to her, and as such ends up butting heads with Estinien a little more instead.
- He is devastated when she dies, and thinks about her often. When Ishgard goes through it’s Restoration, he is often found telling stories of her to the young dragonets and hyurs and elezen, and (to Tataru’s pain) uses some of their money to commission a statue of her.
- Similarly, he is also extremely upset when Haurchefant dies; this death he is up close and personal for, and feels very much like it was for him specifically. Much like with Minfilia before him he tries to remember that “a smile better suits a hero” and becomes more like to try and put on as reassuring a facade for people as he can, as he starts to understand the value of giving people hope on top of the actions they take to improve things.
- He still struggles a lot with this though, and does not fully come to understand the strength of his hope until shb
- At first he’s very frustrated with Ishgard and the war. He hates the snobby rich elezen and the class differences, hates the violence of the war, hates it all
- Getting to know people who live there and meet people who hope not so much for victory over the dragons, but peace, helps him change his mind and become more invested
- The idea of winning a war does not appeal to him; the idea of being able to help contribute to its end and a future peace very much does, and he becomes much more committed to their goals thanks to this shift in mindset
- HE IS SO HAPPY TO SEE THE SCIONS AGAIN….. SO HAPPY…..
STORMBLOOD
- Not a lot to note here as he sort of willingly takes a background role to the people fighting for their home
- But he does admire them a lot; they have so much bravery and determination, and even if he still hates violence it really seems like they take it seriously
- On that note Zenos absolutely drives him W I L D
- With anger, not like. Other stuff.
- His careless, bored way that he just kills people absolutely hits Ihxi’wo right in the ANGER spot just
Zenos:
Ihxi’wo: KILL BILL SIRENS
-Which unfortuantely, is kind of what zenos wants isn’t it. goddamn. he fucked up.
- Really likes the beauty of the Steppe and many of its tribes (although does not get along with the more. Violent ones like the Dotharl much…..)
- Also enjoys getting to meet people of Doma, even if it’s all so. Very sad,,
- Yeah i don’t have much for STB at the moment other than he feels very worn down with seeing all the wartorn nations and people struggling with it. He’s determined to help them but probably feeling pretty hopeless about the state of things in general…,
- Somewhere in here takes the desire to protect people to its next level by trying to learn 2 tank- dark knight time baybeeeey
- Although the aesthetic does not on the surface seem to be Very Him, i love the idea of him going through the dark knight storyline for a few reasons
1. He’s always had such a background view of his life that having an anger translator in fray is pretty funny
2. KH owned my childhood and i love the concept of darkness as a metaphor for your “bad” traits, past mistakes, depression, etc
You can make them your strength instead of always your weakness…
3. Myste super hits Ihxi’wo’s guilt complex WHOO BOY and he has a lot of struggles with himself vs himself vs what he thinks he needs to do/be
4. The moogles were right…. It is love that powers your desire to protect people, more than revenge…. Wow….
- He is not often a tank, but likes the idea of having the option what with. The warzones they keep having to go into
- He’s also starting to become increasingly more reckless with himself and the idea of drawing enemies’ attention to himself over others would be. Very good to him.
SHADOWBRINGERS
- When the scions start disappearing he is just
So
Worried
- But much like with Alphinaud in HW, he sees how much Alisae is struggling and tries soooo haaaaarddd to be strong for her
- Often fails but. U kno. An attempt, made
- By this point he’s started to feel extra hopeless about a lot of things, like he’s not doing a good enough job, like he can’t handle the pressures about being the wol, constantly worried about his friends and the world etc etc etc it’s not a fun time
- Going to the First is FUCKIN WILD
- A place of?? All light?? If only his tribe knew of such a bizarre place
- He’s pretty immediately horrified by the sin eaters and everything else, but finds some bit of comfort in the people of the Crystarium.
- They’re in such hellish circumstances but they fight on, work together, and have hope?? Bro?? He is Amazed at them all
- Being able to contain the light of the sineaters is, oddly, a strange relief to him; here is something he can actually do to help people in a way that shows immediate effects, and it’s something he doesn’t really have to think about, just do- which for someone who overthinks a lot, feels nice for once
- Reuniting with the Scions makes him embarrassingly emotional, he is sorry,
- When he finds out that the light is changing him it’s like The Final Straw in terms of losing hope; here’s this thing he thinks he can do to help this world, their own world, something that actually seems to be going RIGHT… but it might change him and not even be permanent??
- He’s really upset about it, actually!!
- But probably only talks about it with Ardbert, his ghost pal, who is also someone who has lost hope.
- What’s better than this…. Two bros being depressed
- IT’S AN UP AND DOWN THING because then seeing everyone work together with the giant talos really affects him as well…
- ...only to find out that he can’t actually contain all the light
- Oddly this seemingly final nail in the coffin is actually enough to let him start regaining his hope
- His discovery of the Exarch’s past and the people of his universe, Feo Ul’s musings on the human spirit, Ardbert and his friends’ past, the people of the First’s will- all of this finally culminates in his own determination returning.
- He’s gonna do what he can to fix things or die trying…!! And die trying? I mean it could go eitehr way at that point i guess,
- The end of shb still makes me cry…. bro…...
- Ends up actually really empathizing with the Ascians, to his past self’s horror. Where once he saw them as only nebulous threats that brought only pain and death, he now empathizes with their intense feelings of grief and sorrow.
- Ihxi’wo’s own life has been shaped by his grief and sorrow and wish to change the past, but after everything he’s been through and learned he’s finally started to see that this is something that he much use constructively to help people and the future, not just remain a sad memory
- Not just the “for those we have lost,” but also “for those we can yet save”
- More words on this when i can find them but SHB’s views on grief and hope really fucking swallowtailed with my own musings on Ihxi’wo’s development that I had before I got there in the absolute best way so just. Ascians. Grief. Hope. Duty. Parallels……… nods as i i have explained what i mean at all
- But on that note. Yeah. cool motive still murder.
- Gotta stop the murder, even if he’s very sad and pensive about everything he’s learned
But also super mad when he sees elidibus pretending to be ardbert. DUDE, that is his BRO
- Takes his promise to remember the ancients very seriously
- Gets a tattoo on his shoulder of Azem’s symbol combined with a half-moon in the mooncat tattoo style
- Sun, moon, past, present, together, symbolistic bs, blah blah blah
- He already really cared about Rynn and then Gaia, but he also feels a strong feeling of kinship with them after all this in terms of “past self’s” and “current selves” etc etc
- Trying to contain the light in SHB creates, grows, and leaves him with scarring on his arms and chest that resemble lightenberg figures/the scars people are left with when hit by lightning
- They remain even after, though
Unfinalized bits of trivia/lore that don’t fit in above timeline?
- He could summon a carbuncle from a very young age, mainly to play with him and his sister. As he got older he became convinced this was simply an imaginary friend he had made up- until he joined the arcanist’s guild and saw many more of them, and was greeted with his old friend when told to summon his own.
- Being a twin helped him become almost immediately attached to Those Weird Twins, Alphinaud and Alisae. He absolutely came to love them as their own people quickly after, but at first it was hard not to see a strange mirror image of himself and his sister, out travelling in the world like they’d wanted to.
- He’s never been an older sibling before, always the youngest- he really feels like he got to experience it with the twins, though
- On a similar note he also quickly came to admire and trust Y’shtola upon meeting her in Limsa. She reminded him a little of his sister, and the two would evolve a sibling-esque friendship as time went on.
- MAKES RLY GOOD TEA and even if he is forgetful in other ways, always seems to remember people’s preferred kind
- Had a hard time getting used to sleeping at night and being awake during the day when he first went to Limsa, but by now he’s so used to it it’s almost hard to imagine returning to the nocturnal lifestyle of his youth. This makes him a little sad to think about, really.
- Extremely Empathetic, Not Very Good At Acting Sympathetic: The Curse
- Rolled high intelligence, low wisdom; and high wisdom, low intelligence in different areas
- He never has both high, but DOES often have both low
- His musical talent is in the negative, but he loves listening to it and humming. Similarly he is also very bad at drawing and painting, but enjoys sketching and writing in a journal about the places and people he’s seen.
- Part of it is for himself, part of it is for his sister, whom he starts to forgive. He realizes that she allowed him this journey, but did not get to undertake it herself.
- Thankfully his botanical knowledge is actually good- not just for tea, but also for wilderness survival!
- On that note he is a passable chef; his food is nothing amazing, but it’s clearly made with a lot of care and desire to help people in what way he can… and good enough flavor for most.
- On another note, when someone is clearly going through a hard time Ihxi’wo very much partakes in the cat-like act of simply sitting nearby them to let them know they aren’t alone- often with a cup of tea or food he made for them
- A good listener, just not good with words.
- Love language is actions and quality time, I guess?!
- Absolutely fought Lahabrea as a summoner with Ifrit, tragically will never understand the hilarious irony of this due to being unable to meta-ly read that Tales from the Shadows story
- elemental associations... water, fire, moon, and sun
- opposites!!
- as a summoner bahamut - moon (he was in a moon ok) phoenix - sun
- and other symbolism w/e
- the nature AND light associations with white mage work as well (nature pre-shb and light during and after)
- dark knight darkness associations explained above
