FFXIV's Writing- Why I Hated Alphinaud Leveilleur 

Alphinaud in Heavensward: *Doesn't know how to gather firewood* Alphinaud in Endwalker: *Gathers firewood and saves countless lives* 10/10 Character development right there.

There is a moment that I never see ANYBODY talk about that I feel like was a big step in Alphinaud's character development. It's understandable because it was a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, and during a cutscene that you can't even re-watch at an inn to make it worse. (minor HW/ShB spoilers) . . . . During HW, when one of the primals gets summoned and Alphinaud casually ponders sending us off to fight it the way we usually do, he is stopped in his tracks when Estinien suddenly calls him out for how mindlessly he's throwing us into danger. The interesting thing is that upon being made aware of his callousness for the first time, Alphinaud's response isn't flippancy or defensiveness - he actually seems completely taken aback, almost horrified. The moment is short and the characters move on quickly, but from that moment on Alphinaud never falls back into that particular habit again. In fact, he only ever expresses extreme worry and relief when WoL returns from their escapades unharmed. There is even a moment in ShB where Alphinaud explicitly tells WoL that their life has more meaning than their duty, which I can't elaborate on without seriously spoiling, but the deliberateness of that line makes me think that Alphinaud never forgot how he used to treat people and is always trying to show us that he's changed. It really cements down that although arrogant and careless, Alphinaud has never been outright malicious or willingly gambling lives away; he simply lacked the maturity to do what he thought he was doing correctly. I also like that it showed Alphinaud's character development as less of a sudden heel-turn and more of a process, as even after being humbled by the Crystal Braves incident, he was still falling back on bad habits without realizing it. Estinien was an excellent catalyst for his growth and it was a joy to see how Alphinaud took those lessons with him through the remaining expansions.

The boy really does have an incredible story arc. He was such a smarmy little know-it-all early on but he really came along and grew up. I think in Endwalker we're going to see a lot of those negative character traits he had initially are the result of his father's attitudes. It's also important to remember how young he is, no matter how much he's grown up over the course of the game.

There is one guy in my FC who came to really like Alphinaud over the course of Heavensward, thanks in no small part to the humbling he received that took a lot of the air out of him, and let him actually breath and present himself properly. That being said, one of the funniest moments I ever had with that friend was when they met a character in a later expansion, and when I asked them their opinion on this new character, they only responded "I don't trust anyone who sounds like ARR Alphinaud." Priceless.

I think the greatest example of how much Alphinaud has grown over the expansions is when you meet Fourchenault, who is 100% the snobby jerk his son used to be. In fact the difference is so stark that Fourchenault thinks the twins are crazy and the warrior of light has been a corrupting influence!

Given the lineage, I wonder if the twins were ever allowed to be kids. Given what little we see of the father... I'm going to assume not.

Alisaie is the OG FF fighter class and Alphie is the rules lawyer. Playing D&D with the Scions would be chaotic hell 😂

Meeting his father was extremely telling.

I sort of see him as the WoL's sidekick, really. I never hated him in ARR, but I always wanted something to humble him... then he got humbled big time. My fave character now.

Something good in the later on expansions isn't the fact that alphinaud stopped to be a cocky smart-ass know-it-all person... But the fact that he accepted his arrogant side and evolved from it. If you pay close attention to him during endwalker, you'll see that alphinaud still maintain his pretentious quirks. For example (endwalker SPOILERS) : when you arrive at Ultima Thule, and get off Ragnarok, you'll see how alphinaud is standing with a prideful and kinda arrogant way. It's not something bad actually, it's just a part of him that we all accepted. During that moment I was actually happy and touched by the devs still being true to their characters. They didn't erase that bad side of him, they just made him accept it. That is how a character development should be. (and I can go on and on about how the devs did the same with other characters...)

I DISPISED Alphinaud in ARR. He was exactly as you described. Self righteous, holier than thou, and condescending. . . Without really TRYING to be that. It was just who he was. . . How he was raised. Having gotten a look at Sharlayan now with Endwalker, and his father. . . The "mask" you speak of was absolutely not him pretending to try to live up to his pedigree's expectations. . . He truly BELIEVED in himself more than others, because as he was growing up, those people would have worshipped the ground the lad walked upon. Everything he said and did would have been gilded and lauded as wonderful. . . Queue him coming to Eorzea where the people are VASTLY different. No longer did they see his grand intelligence as the be-all-end-all of personality viability, but they would see him as a very intelligent. . . Very gullible, sheltered, and painfully naive young man. He can't see the way others look at him, the way the PLAYER looks at him. . . And I spent MUCH of my playthrough of ARR saying "Shut up, Alphinaud." and skipping his cutscenes. (I had done them all once before years prior, so I needed only the smallest refresher.) His personality grated on me so badly. (And that of Minfilia, but that's a whole 'nother bag of worms.) I couldn't stand interacting with him. . . And then the betrayal of the braves gutted him. . . Not just putting a crack in a mask, but completely shattering his belief in himself for a time. He doubts everything about himself and his abilities, and through HW, we see him (with copious help from Estinien, Ysayle, Horchefant, and the WoL) slowly putting himself back together. He looses none of his desire to help the world, but learns that the world is so much more varied and grand than his homeland ever could be. . . And that he isn't the perfect Sharlayan golden boy anymore. . . But is Alphinaud, an incredibly smart and caring young man who will do anything within his power to save Eorzea and the star as a whole. . . And beyond. To say that he was pretending to be something he wasn't actually shallows just HOW MUCH development the boy went through. He didn't simply discard a broken mask, but completely reformed himself in light of irrefutable proof that. . . As smart as he is, he's still just one of many, varied, wonderful fish in the sea of life.

When I did ARR and first met the twins, he was such a snob that I was sure that they were going to be villians.

Am I the only one who didn’t hate him? Of course he was going to have a reckoning. This is the classic story arc of a child by their very nature, and there’s absolutely no doubt the writers knew this. He wasn’t some moustache-twirling villain. What reason to dislike a young, naive kid, too smart for his own damn good, feet as yet much too small for the shoes he was trying to fill, especially when his intentions ultimately came from a good heart?

Alphie is one of my favorites, I could have smacked him a couple of dozen times in ARR though.

Alphinaud is an absolute masterpiece of character development. Starting out as some arrogant, condescending, but also naïve little prick, and yet managing to learn all of the right lessons from his catastrophic failures in AAR and becoming a much more wholesome and loveable character... as a writer myself I feel like I need to be taking notes!

I loved who you explained his story arc, tbh I love how he talked now as he is more happier and more accepting

I love the twins. The first line they ever spoke I thought "These guys are villains for sure. Total pricks." Fast forward to endwalker, and they are my favorite characters by far. I can't imagine what my adventure would have been like without them.

Alphinaud really is an excellent example of just how skilled the FFXIV writing team is. I don't know of a single person who liked ARR Alphinaud - and I do believe that was intentional. But the growth that he as a character goes through during Heavensward - an expansion already heavy in emotional weight and meaning - is often underlooked, but should not be ignored. His is the sort of transformation that most writers DREAM of having in their own characters. And he is but another fine addition to a host of well-made and beloved characters. Please, continue with these character study videos! I'd love to hear your thoughts on each of the Scions - and potentially beyond them, too. Keep up the great work!

As Someone who got into FF14 about 6 months ago this is how i felt to. At the start when I met him I was captain of the "Damn it Alphy" hate brigade. Now I love the little guy. Feels like some people forget his start after being used to him currently.

This video was such an amazing watch!! Incredible character study, very in depth and so refreshing to see someone give him the thought and care this character deserves

Fantastic character breakdown. I just finished EW a few weeks ago and was looking for channels that covered the lore side of the game. So happy I found yours!

The only thing I disliked about Alphinaud on ARR was the absolutely cruel and skewed discourse around him since I started playing a couple months ago. He is brash and too strongly opinionated and high on his grand ideas - aka he is 16. And nobody around him checks him - bc they’re what, too stupid to see it? So why should I the player feel so strongly about Alphinaud’s undeniable character flaws and despise them so strongly while ignoring how those flaws highlight those of the others? Nobody gets flak for just letting a teenager run international organisations because he asked insistently? Raubahn argued for the formation of the Braves to his sultana when she was having doubts, to say nothing about the WoL who nodded and smiled at Alphinauds conduct the entire time. If he’s an intolerable entitled brat with no redeeming quality in ARR then everyone around him are blind enabling fools, some of which are supposed to have experience and “wisdom” (don’t get me started on ARR Minfilia’s “leadership skills”). When we escaped Uldah I wasn’t rubbing my hands on delight like “yeahhh learn your lesson kid, you’re the only one who needs to learn”, I wanted to hug him and tell him that only some of the blame he places on himself is warranted, literal leaders of state with 30 years of experience were about as incompetent in the whole thing as he was. But I couldn’t because well. Cutscene doesn’t allow me to hug ppl god damn it ffxiv

Our boy has grown so much I hated him to in A Realm reborn once HeavensWard hit he became one of my favorite characters

He has grown so much through the whole story into someone who is not only intelligent but compassionate and has empathy for others. He has learnt a lot. He is one of my favourite characters. He is the only wind up minion i use haha.

Brilliant breakdown my man! Love how deep you really managed to dissect Alphinaud to levels I never really thought of! Well done XDD

Honestly I had the same problem with Alphinaud bc he was a little stuck up at the start. But seeing him grow in real time has made me wanna keep him safe. I also feel like Alisae had some changes back in coils but I’ve never finished all of them so I can’t say😅

This is going to be a super interesting watch.

I actually have to say that I hated Alisaie a lot more through out the game than I did her brother. I don't know, I kinda always liked Alphinaud because he was so smart and composed, opposite of Alisaie that, while smart, was very impulsive and violent. Despite his shortcomings he was already a pretty decent person that in the end only cared about doing what he thought was right, but unlike Alisaie, who also did what she thought was right but wasn't afraid to kick some butt and ask some questions later.

I love your character reflections! Alphie is my favourite now (well … ALL of the Scions are, tbh) but like everyone else I couldn’t stand him in ARR. Thanks for making these videos!

Honestly such an underrated channel - can see you becoming the next Pyromancer type content creator (a big lore guy from WoW)

So... The reason I don’t like Alphinaud is not because he was arrogant in ARR. I don’t like Alphinaud because everyone says he’s a genius prodigy, but I never see this. And then my character is forced to follow him and do his bidding and I don’t understand why my character does this. Because Alphinaud is not doing anything that’s inspiring or worthy of the title genius here. He’s using his entitlement and privilege to make his own military and is clearly arrogant and it’s very obvious he’s gonna get betrayed by this army he makes because he’s not properly vetting anyone. It’s painfully obvious, and then I have to help him anyways. So when it all happens and he fails, what happens? He feels bad for five seconds, everyone pats him on the head and says “don’t worry, it’s not your fault, just try again.” and he continues along with us saying obvious things and never being shown as a genius tactician or prodigy or whatever. He’s shown to make very normal plans, he’s not by any means a savant or genius prodigy. He never makes a plan that makes me say “oh I see why he’s considered to be a prodigy.”

I think thats how he was intended to be written. in ARR, he was a well meaning but self important and under experienced/over educated kid. He meant well but like many over educated people in real life, thought he knew best when he didn't. He learned the hard way that experience is the best teacher, by his own TERRIBLE mistakes. He and his sister both learned the error of such thinking, although alisae seemed to learn faster, which makes sense. Girls do tend to mature mentally faster than boys.

I'm still in my first run at lv32. I like learning more to see if I'll enjoy story in games. At first I thought Alphinaud was just a know it all brat, but thankfully his character does improve. As you've shown.

Did you ever make that Alisaie video? I really want to see it! She’s one of my favorite characters :)

I hated him at first, then I found him annoying but tolerated him, then I started to appreciate him being here, then I started to like him, then he became one of my faveourite characters and now I miss him and go to find him in the world so I can talk to him while we wait for the next patch / expansion.

Alphinaud reminds me heavily of Ramza Beolve, a favorite character of mine whom, I think, has the best character development in the entire FF franches (tho not in the main title)

Okay but I will say you probably picked the absolute best picture of him to use for the thumbnail

i didn't like his personality at first but he grew into a little virtual bro that i would protect.

Very VERY well said.

Hmm how to put this… I didn’t like Alphinaud in ARR but I never really hated him. I really do think that the leaders of Limsa Lominsa, Ul’dah and Gridania should have shot down the idea of the Crystal Braves especially when learning the Syndicate and provided so much Gil. The boy is what, 16 at best? Nobody that young should be given that kind of authority. Still he became more agreeable during Heavensward even if I was surprised how much he bonded with Estinien at the end of Heavensward. Admittedly I’m mildly fond of Alphinaud now. But I’ve got to admit that I absolutely despised most of the Scions during ARR. If it wasn’t Minfila wasting her Blessing of Light and Echo. She’s literally the only other one immune to Tempering but never even tries to learn how to fight and dumps all the responsibility on the WoL. Y’shtola abandons the WoL to the near endless amount of stupid inane tasks the so-called “company of heroes” foists on them despite the fact that apparently the threat of Titan is urgent. She could have at least halved the workload by taking on some of the tasks herself instead of swanning off to laze in the sun! I despised Yda for similarly shirking responsibility with the Sylphs. It was her and Papalymo that earned the Sylphs distrust yet she suggests dancing then feigns injury/cramps to avoid having to dance herself, once again dumping all the work on the WoL. Don’t get me even started with how they ducked any kind of Scion related work for the whole of Heavensward. On top of that, I’m now at the start of Stormblood and very recently learned her little secret. The fact that both she and all the other Scions knew but chose not to share it with the WoL whose done so much for them by this point is rather insulting. I don’t have any particularly strong feelings either way about Thancred and Alisae. I find Tataru mildly annoying. Definitely not fond of Urianger the lying little b**tard. After the stunt he pulled with the Warriors of Darkness it’ll take something special to get me not to hate him. Let’s see, have I forgotten anyone? I suppose we could include Cid. I actually like him, he’s both helpful and well mannered. Oh, Krile. Yeah she’s fine, no grudges with her yet. I suppose I’ll see what happens during Stormblood and see if that changes my mind.

In D&D terms ARR Alphinaud is a character with high Intelligence, but wisdom is his dump stat, and he also may have low charisma. He raised his Charisma as he leveled.

I do agree with your opinion here. Nowadays, I love the character. Initially though, he grated my nerves. I am glad he has had so much growth since meeting them.

Loved him from day one. There are many who think/thought like you do though. I just never understood why.

Twas about to riot, then you pointed out it was past tense.

Alphinaud in ARRB- I hate this self entitle little tirpr. Alphinaud in Heabsnsward: My little brother who I will protect. Alphinaud in Stormblood: Allisie joins the fold and I now have two siblings I will protect and love. Alphinaud and Allisie in Shadowbringers: I must retrieve my siblings help one who who is dealing wither literal depression and ths other who is scared to step up as leader. I fend them and protect my baby brother and sister. Alphinaud and Alliese in Endwalker: I promised mom I keep them safe and when they "die' i know their mum is going to smack me and they come back and I never letting them out of my sight again.

Hated the kid all the way till Brave Crystal rebellion. You see him break and how the pc and heavensward characters help him rebuilt as he sees his mistake and be better

I totally agree with you... the voice acting in ARR certainly didn't help with the posh little knobhead vibe he gave off, either. What's interesting is that in the real world, this is a common occurrence... Gifted Kids often do really well during childhood, but because they can easily rely on their academic prowess rather than building the compensatory skills most kids pick up along the way, these Gifted Kids commonly become lonely, socially outcast and struggling adults. They may fall apart at the thought of failure because they were always told they'd do great things when they were a kid, but now faced with REAL life situations, they don't know how to cope with them. Maybe they didn't learn how to ask for help because they never needed it, or struggle to study or learn new things because they used to just take on whatever came their waywith ease. Both twins really give me strong neurodivergent vibes; Alisae is blunt, sorta unintentionally tactless, extremely determined when she sets her mind on something and is fiercely emotionally attached to the special people in her life. And Alphinaud is a total bookworm, has intense 'special interests' and, at least in ARR, not great at reading between the lines despite being super smart.

Alphinaud was simply annoying in ARR. In fact, when you first meet him, he gives that creepy bad guy vibe. But he grows up throughout the story. Though I still prefer Alisae.

Alphinaud is one of those rare characters in media who is designed to be hated at the start, only to hopefully grow more fond and understanding of when they befall tragedy. I don't think it's a huge stretch to say that if you reached the Bloody Banquet and early HW, it's around the time you start to feel sorry and more sympathetic for him, especially when the signs of his being betrayed are noticable early and you can see him being entirely oblivious. Part of it is I blame the typical FF biche style effect, which is hard to remember just how young he and his sister are. It's easy to forget that they're teens, perhaps even younger than Yda, and simultaneously just not as world-weary from age or cultural appreciation.

imo Alphi had the best character development in the whole game, dont change my mind! Me and a lot of my friends believe that, if the main character wouldnt be us, it would be the twins. Especially Alphinaud. And I love it

I always found it weird that we were basically being led by a 16 year old that got tricked so much. I was in the same boat of not liking him either up until towards the end of Heavensward even now I think he's just ok at best I think the bad taste of him just stuck with me lol

Spoilers for the end shadowbringers ahead! . . . . . And now in my head cannon him and his sister have been adopted by Estinien and visit uncle Aymeric and aunty Lucia once a month to catch up.

He's a probably one of My favorite of all the Scion. I think he was my favorite part of heavenward

Estinien is the Dad Alphinaud needed. Fourchenault can go pound sand, he's a deadbeat in my eyes.

Still kinda wish we could get Crystal Brave uniforms for glams.

I hated him in ARR, liked him in HW MSQ, started hating him again all the way to the end of Stormblood until he teamed with Gaius which I liked, liked him in Shadowbringers and then liked him significantly more in Endwalker. A lot of it isn't necessarily character development that made him better but simply writing him better, as the major chunk of development was in HW and he still stayed obnoxious for a long time after that. But I like him now so that's what matters. We've come a long way from riding that cart into Ul'dah.

This video is a good explanation for why he's one of my favorite. I like flawed characters that evolve.

i might be the only one but i actually didn't mind Alphinaud early on and simply enjoyed watching him evolve over the course of the expansions.

♥️♥️♥️♥️ Alphy!!!!!

Alphinaud honestly has the (2nd) best character development. The only character I would say had a better development is Estinien. Seriously, by the time we got the Endwalker patch content I was almost in tears seeing how thoughtful and loving he had become. (SPOILER AHEAD) This is in stark contrast to me wishing that he had died over iceheart. I almost didn't keep playing MSQ because I genuinely hated Estinien so much. Even once HW was over I couldn't help but feel like our association to Estinien actually made us the big bad evil guy. Most of what we did in HW, did not feel justified to me and everything just happened to work out in the end.

Tbh the main thing that gets me with the whole crystal brave thing is why did none of the scions not once look at the 16 year old trying to start an independent militia and not go “hey now maybe don’t do that, here’s some apple juice”

Alphinaud: Some wizarding familys are better then others XD

Right, time to out myself, i skiped arr through stormblood so i could play Shadowbringers with a friend, ive tried to start an alt to experience the story but couldnt due to the insane amount of msq there is, all that to say, ive loved alphino since i first saw him, and probably would have been aumong the few to initially love him, but i have a thing for pompus spoiled rich boys

Always pictured him as a redditor.

Alphinaud was such a prick in ARR. I believe his first speaking role is showing up at each of the Grand Company speeches to roast each of the people in charge of Eorzea with Alisaie in the crowd. And I believe during Stone Vigil, when you try to sneak past the final dungeon boss and get onboard Cid's airship, Lahabrea shows up and powers up the dragon with darkness, which you then have to fight and kill. Afterwards, Alphinaud says something in the vein of "Oh, thank goodness. I was worried I'd have to find some other Primal slayer to get things done." If that were HW Alphinaud and onward, I'd take that as a joke. At the time, I took it at face value and wanted to throw him off the ship mid-flight.

I don't particularly hate alphinaud, I hate were he sits for much of the story of 14. As the defacto main character. Most of the story has you as his hired muscle. Even in end walker you still get glimpses of that, which I think is because of how engraved into the core of the story it is. He is the chief symptom threw out most of the story of this problem. And while I love 14s story and world building and characters generally the fact it took so many expansion to elevate this problem is insane to me.

To be fair and honest at the start of ARR I thought he was a lil shit, I literally hated how he looked down on us, Thought he was better, but damn after the Uldah arc I can't help but feel bad, then over time I saw him as a little brother and then family. He went from being hated in my eyes to being the lil brother I can pick on but do it in family way while still respecting and watching him grow.

I’ve always likes alphinaud

He kinda gives me the same sense of developtment like Sansa Stark. Annoying smarta** brat to actual leader potential, mature and a loving and caring friend. Key to both is suffering and selfreflection. There is a difference between wisdom and expierience. And somehow - AlphiNO became AlphiBRO

hes so pretty

0:57 I already but a like

ill be honest, even though i knew arr alphinaud was an absolute snob i could never get why people were so mad at him for it maybe its because i was like that too when i was younger, and maybe, he just needed a push.. Sadly that push was a terrible one but he grew

Really hated the kid in ARR. Then from HW to EW, I couldn't imagine the game without him.

I didnt like him or his sister when we first met them because they were basically going from memorial to memorial mocking everyone mourning there. To me it was like two brats going to 9/11 memorials and making loud jokes in bad taste about plains and towers xD

Was part of the Alphi is a redditor people and then laughed harder when his dad is a Forum Mod. Hahaha

how dare you hate alphi! lol. in all honesty though. I love alphi. in ARR i will admit that i found him to be too bossy.

#AlphinaudDidNothingWrong

I like him. Especially after heavensward. But then again I played 1.0 and I absolutely have a connection with him XD. However Alisae? Nope. Can't.

I'm not fully through the msq for all the expansions, but I still dislike him. To the point ill put off doing the msq altogether so that i dont have to interact with him. Maybe by the end of stormnlood I'll feel different

I don't think I will ever really like the kid but by the end of EW I am very happy to tolerate him. I think my reasoning for this is more personal, I don't think he is a bad character but even though the story was telling me he was better I could still see him making the same old mistakes latter on but now it was working out. This bothered me passed the second half of HW and all through StB. this on top of the fact that in ARR we went from a story told about the warrior of light, from the WL's perspective to one about Alphinaud and others and your just along for the ride and saving your friends when they make more bad decision.

666 likes. I am not going to touch that button.

Honestly, I always failed to understand what it is everyone loves about him. I too hated him in ARR, my reasons were the same, and his character development during Heavensward's storyline was interesting to observe. But as I approached the current patch, I slowly began to realize that he's still immature, his dreams and ambitions are the same, and his means of achieving them, although different, are as ignorantly straightforward as before. Yes, he is no longer arrogant and egoistic, he is somewhat nicer, but it seems to me too much of a stretch to say that he ever grew up and started learning.

Its "al FEE no". Not "ALF ee no".

I hate the twins so much..........................

Hate them both cuz I don't want to be a babysitter. I want to be an adventurer.

The beginning of FFXIV is thinking Alphie is a little shit SPOILERS: The end of ShB is realizing his dad is the actual shit.

Out of curiosity, how old are the twins?

I still hate Alphinaud. Present tense.