For god's sake, the dude's methods nearly shot the entire movement in the foot. His willingness to sac people to a hateful dragon made ala mhigans incredibly fearful of joining an obviously zealous movement, potentially stifling the resistance's ability to recruit. Furthermore, after the first assault,m Zenos, who am smart, came in and nearly did in the entire resistance. Literally if it was not for the WoL and the genius idea to liberate Doma first, Ilberd's stupidity would've not only resulted in a still subjugated Ala Mhigo, but also a still subjugated Othard AND a potentially completely destroyed Eorzean Alliance. This dude is LUCKY is what he is. Lucky that someone with actual skills and reasoning ability headed the resistance after he nearly fucked it all to kingdom come. Fuck this guy, when Papalymo nuked him in the Aetherial Sea I laughed.
I find it fitting that Ala Mhigo got liberated in spite of Ilberd's actions rather than because of him... and then the person he likely hated the most got put in charge of it
@@McDonaldWilliamT It's not like his plan even worked to begin with. He just summoned an extremely powerful primal and hoped it would wipe out everyone in the process since he was so far gone that any Ala Mighan who didn't support him were guilty of treason in his eyes and thus deserved to die too.
Ilberd was proved correct. The Alliance and WOL could liberate Ala Mhigo and were not. Whether their reasons for not doing so were good or bad, Ilberd didn't care. He wanted to force the issue, which would of course require an initial sacrifice no one else was willing to make and may even cost him his own life. He succeeded. What his qualities were as a person is tangential to the topic.
I think his peak was when he cut off Ranbahns arm and there was the "haha got you bisch" after that it was meh, he was another victim to Ascian corrections prior to that he worked for someone else thus he was never the head of plans just a followers
Ilberd was a desperate fool who wanted to cling onto the past because he was unable to move forward. In the end, he was no longer even motivated by freeing Ala Mhigo, but instead taking revenge upon the empire, and even his fellow Ala Mhigans. I really like his arc because it showcases the more mundane evil caused by Garlemald. Ilberd is nothing special, just one of countless victims of the empire which perpetuate the pain Garlemald causes. This is a reason why in the end, the Eorzean Alliance chose not to take revenge upon Garlemald after they had won their war. They could of chose to make all of Garlemald suffer, oppress the ones who have caused them so much pain so they could never hurt them again. However they understand that they are people just like them. Flawed people who made bad choices, but not deserving of complete and utter annihilation. Magitech can make the world a better place with a different direction. Those responsible will be punished and removed from power, and soldiers/manufacturers/scientists held accountable. But after the dust settles someone has to rebuild, and its better to pick up their broken pieces and move forward to make a better tomorrow.
Definitely, I think that it is this pain and the hatred it brought within Ilberd that drove him forward. The way the Alliance behaves in Ilsabard in EW is a repudiation of his ideology, and of the Garleans who molded him into what he was.
@@HabeQuiddam88 don't forget that he's also another victim to the Ascian's manipulation. I think it was Elidibus that basically gave Ilberd the means to summon Shinryu.
Reading these comments from where I am, halfway through Stormblood certainly is interesting. I don’t quite yet know how we’ll win but knowing the Eorzean Alliance eventually wins and shows mercy gives me something to look forward to. But I admit that I don’t know why the Garleans are so hell bent on conquering and warfare with a generous slab of oppression. They didn’t need to subjugate and cruelly oppress the magic casting races when it’s likely offering a decent place in their society would have created magic capable troops. And yet I have my theories and suspicions. I find it a little odd that what should be the weakest race with no magical ability was able to create the kind of magitek that makes up for it and more. Technology not seem since the Allagan Empire. It’s not like they’re inherently evil on a biological level because we have Cid. But the sheer amount of chaos, death and destruction they’ve wrought in a few decades perhaps makes me suspicious of Ascian interference.
@@mikoto7693 The non spoiler answer is some old lore found in some art books and the Great Gubal Libary (not 100% sure on the library). Basically, the normal citizens of Garlemald are descendants of people who lived in Corvos. They started living there more than a thousand years ago after fleeing from the island they called home. Corvos was an extremely verdant place in southern Islebard, with great weather to boot. However, due to the inability to use magic, their neighbors slowly drove out the Garlean tribes. People also feared that having children with them would make those children be unable to use magic, but I don't think that happened. Regardless, they were treated very poorly and were driven further north until they hit the barely habitable wasteland they were forced to settle in. There Garleans made their tiny nation of Garlemald, were evey day life was a struggle. For 800 years they stayed there, hatred festering for those who drove them from their ancestral home. It was only when the first emperor, Solus zos Galvus, came to power around 55 years ago that Garlemald was able to gain the power to enact revenge.
I always thought the whole point of Ilberd's character was that he was a crazy jackass. Dude chose fuckin' Lolorito over his former friend Raubahn. Heck, really, the only reason Ala Mhigo ended up getting liberated was because good guys like Raubahn seized the disaster Ilberd created as an excuse to take the fight to and eventually liberate their homeleand from the Empire. Also, just as an aside, this is a very good video essay on the history of Ala Mhigo disguised as a video clowning on Ilberd.
He didn't even choose Lolorito... he might have had a better chance then... he chose that chump Teledji Adeledji. Good riddance to bad rubbish all the way around.
he also didnt even want to save his homeland anymore. He just wanted to see it all burn cuz he thought that his people are cowards who lost their will to fight. If ure only goal is to destroy everything then yes all will go according to plan cuz thats the easiest thing to do lol.
@@khaeldranis2564 Lolorito may be an ambitious piece of shit, but that piece of shit is at least way smarter than Teledji and obviously Ilberd. He has way better grasp of the bigger picture and knows how to take that to his advantage to line up his and Ul'dah's pockets long term. He ain't feared by many and didn't attain a seat in the Syndicate for nothing
You know, Ilbert actually makes a great parallel and foil to the monk storyline. Our monk "trainer" and a scholar we are working with as part of the pugilists guild are each from Ala Migho. Our trainer (whose name I can't recall at present) is using the scholar for his own purposes as one of the last living monks from the temple to find places of great power to unlock his chakra so he would have the power to go liberate ala migho and do so immediately. He cared nothing about anything else and would actively try to kill us and the scholar, a fellow ala mighan, if we got in the way of that goal. The scholar had to chastize him that life moves on despite the loss, that his own son was killed there, and focusing on revenge won't bring back the dead. It is better to accept what happened and move on, and when an opportunity comes that can liberate ala migho then that would be great but it's not healthy to focus on it to the exclusion of all else. And that chastising only stuck because the Warrior of Light beat the crap out of him and proved that the 7th chakra wasn't as all-powerful as he thought it was. That monk eventually comes around and in Heavensward is focused on trying to rebuild the Monk order and actually starts living for the precepts that the monk order teaches rather than focus on revenge, and the monk storyline in Heavensward focuses on him now looking for peaceful solutions to conflicts but not afraid to beat down those who won't listen either.
Honestly, I've not hit the end of ARR but it really does feel like... 50-75% of the time the Ala Mighan resistance comes up in main or sidequests, it's usually an argument of patience over recklessness. An ascian almost tricks several Little Ala Mhigo refugees into summoning a primal for their desire to 'act now' but all it does is wind up getting several of them maimed by the Amal'ja, and I wanna say there's another job class which involves you fighting someone else over trying to get power to save Ala Mhigo, I wanna say Summoner?
Coming back to this video and this comment basically post Shadowbringers and I am honestly surprised how much I really got the vibe of pre-Stormblood Ala Mhigo. Also 100% agree with the OP, Monk's story works REALLY well alongside Stormblood with it's central themes of giving up the past for a brighter tomorrow- something that even the Wolf of Ala Mhigo eventually learns in the main story.
I find it strange that many people at all apparently have this opinion of Illberd as a "tactical genius" or some such, since even the game itself calls him out on it. I recall in Heavensward, that Lolorito specifically talks poor of Ilberd's planning regarding Ala Mhigo, and this was during the point in the story where wee (the players) were supposed to start seeing Lolorito in a more respectable light - not a good one, mind, but that he has better intentions than we give him credit for. Ilberd was the same as the crazed refugees in the camp, so high on unrelenting patriotism and victimization that they only wish to see their homestead returned to them as a short-term goal. They cared little for the consequences, and frankly couldn't even begin to conceive of them. So did Ilberd get "what he wanted?" Yes, more than likely. An Ala Mhigo that is free, and with a potential better future than it ever had. Could he have pioneered any of this? Most definitely not. He is simply a soldier with a grudge. Not a statesman like Alphinaud, nor a man with perspective like Rauhban. The man's best plan would have been to sit back and lend aid to those who knew what they were doing, because, from the party onward, it was clear that he sure as sin didn't.
Your right but he still forced the Alliance into taking action where they probably never would. That is the thing. He states that he has for years tried to get action but all he has gotten is words till even his fellow Ala Mhigans seem to be giving up on Ala Mhigo ever being free. I mean consider how little support the Alliance was willing to give Ishgard in the lead up to HW when the survival of the city was at stake. Even the Scions only vaguely had freeing Ala Mhigo down on there list as something they might get to eventually. If Ilberd hadn't done what he did, Ala Mhigo would probably still be Garlean is very likely Doma would be too.
@@brynphillips9957 While I do agree that the Alliance would have taken more time with the matter, I disagree with the notion that they would have left Ala Mhigo to rot indefinitely, as there were many other factors at play. Firstly, regarding the Alliance's disinterest with Ala Mhigo. Operation Archon was a massive undertaking by the Alliance, and marked the ending of a 5-year long occupation, one which was arduous and involved clashes both with the external invaders, as well as internal rivals, dissenters, primals, etc. The city-states were worn and still had many personal problems to deal with. - Limsa was still struggling with the Sahagin and Kobolds, to the point where there was another Titan summoning during Heavensward. - Ul'dah was still dealing with the aftermath of the Sultana's attempted assassination, as well as the actual murder of Teledji Adeledji, who was a Syndicate member and therefore pulled a lot of economic and political strings. Safe to say, the city which already lamented how chaotic things were on a daily basis was not getting better from this. With regards to the statement about how they reacted to Ishgard's plea for assistance, much of what just mentioned still applies. Alphinaud was basically told "we have out hands tied with other things right now, and you have your little mercenary band, so you go deal with it." Additionally, none of them really liked or cared about Ishgard very much, considering how distant the state has been for the past 1,000 years, as well as how Ishgard itself refused to help during the battle 5 years ago, when the Alliance requested aid. Between all of these matters, you can't fault them for asking "why should I care about this so urgently?" Ala Mhigo is slightly different because its an enemy at the border type situation, and they simply didn't feel confident in their outcome had the moved. Lastly, regarding the Doma bit, I actually believe that this is the one part that, albeit speculatively, would actually work better in favor of the Alliance mobilizing sooner, rather than later. The Alliance did effectively nothing when it came to liberating Doma. Additionally, we went there because Gosetsu came asking for Yugiri, and because we figured we could ask for the man-power to help, after realizing how badly the Gyr Abanian front needed it. With that in mind the new series of events could have run as follows: - Gosetsu arrives and asks for help. As nothing else is going on, the Scions offer to assist their companions. - Following the liberation of Doma, Zenos - the man in charge of both Doma and Ala Mhigo - would take attention of your efforts, and decide that you are worth his time. Plus, because Garlean occupied territory was taken, he did kind of have to do something about that, so he takes the excuse and begins to mobilize some troops, enough at least to force the Alliance's hand at counter attacking, since the Garleans could take the reclamation of Doma and their joining the Allaince an open act of aggression. Basically, we were going to go to Doma one way or the other, and it is more than likely that the aftermath would have forced the Alliance into conflict with Garlemald once more, especially the Gyr Abanian faction. Given that Ilberd starting a riot on Baelsar's wall put us into war anyways, I imagine that liberating an occupied nation would have had much of the same, if not a more drastic response. In any case, my point is that while the Alliance definitely acted slowly and with reservations about further warfare with Garlemald, external factors would likely have pushed them anyways. Ilberd would likely have gone much further if he did something like legitimizing the Crystal Braves, and switched to using the Scions to lionize more states to bolster the Alliance, so that they would be more willing to commit to a move. While he may have been right about the States dragging their heels about this, his logic was incredibly narrow-minded, as he ran under the assumption that Eorzea managing to throw off its shackles meant that it was ready to go and do the same elsewhere. He completely ignored the internal issues with the different powers, seeing them only as potentials to save his homeland, and was willing to do whatever he felt to them to get them to move where he wanted. They simply were not as ready as he presumed or hoped, and he was going to throw them all into the fire and literally let God sort it out. Once more, while he was right in a broad, general sense, he lacked understanding or care of the very complicated matters also at play, and was nothing more than an impatient, delusional, sociopath. *As an aside, I do thank you for giving me this opportunity to think about the whole politic of things. It was an entertaining experience to step back and consider the whole process of how the Alliance got to where it was with each individual member while I was thinking on this :D
@@GambeTama Five years ago, nothing. They refused to help during *Operation Archon itself*. It was a pretty bald turning of their back on the Alliance at a critical moment.
@@GambeTama Indefinately? Maybe not. Anytime in the forseeable future? Extremely unlikely. Invading Ala Mhigo would be a massive effort and as I said, the Alliance didn't even have the start of plans for it. There was literally nothing to suggest it was even on their minds or agendas. They never mention it as a goal until they are forced to take action. Even the Scions have literally no actual solid plans on this and hadn't at that point made any effort to rallying interest in the Alliance to do it. Your also assuming they wouldn't have things they deem as 'more important' to 'deal with first' in the future as well. They had to do a massive rush job to even get started and when they did their innitial efforts basiclly got swatted down by Zenos. Your also ignoring the fact that a great deal of Zeno's forces were busy looking for Omega and the Primal and dealing the the fallout of the damage their battle had done. Doma would have probably fallen for one simple reason. Zenos would have had the inclination to get involved and frankly at that point he would have swatted the WoL down. Zenos did practically nothing in Stormblood to stop us because he was waiting for the WoL to 'ripen' and come to him. The fact we sparked his interest is the main reason he held back as much as he did, combined with orders from his father not to invade Eorzea. It is easy to call Ilberd impatient and delusional but the guy had been campaigning for the liberation of Ala Mhigo for 15 years, well before the 7th Umbral Calamity. He had lost his family to Garlean oppression and given everything he had to try and free him and frankly he had been met with pretty much indifference and in some cases contempt. I would hardly say after all that, when even his own people are giving up on being free and are losing the will to fight for it, that he is impatient or delusional. That is a long time time to deal with people who offer little more than vague and sometimes condesending sympathy or worse, outright disinterest.
@@brynphillips9957 That's the thing though, action WAS being taken. He just wasn't privy to it. In Stormblood we talk to Pipin and find out that he wasn't in ARR because he was in Ala Migho setting up a network of informants at the time and wasn't able to make it back until right after the banquet. Raubahn and Pipin were already laying out the foundation to take back Ala Migho. Ilberd just upped the timetable through pure desperate idiocy.
If properly applied, he had the skills to command an army. But as you say, his plan was flawed and he was rather impatient. To be honest, the Ascians couldn’t have asked for a better pawn to cause the amount of chaos he did. I still think part of it though was that he really was that desperate of a man that he succumbed and went along with this faulty plan of his. It more or less succeeded not by his virtue, but rather someone else pulling the strings. Like Lolorito funding the money, or Elidibus handing the Eyes of Nidhogg to him. It was never him alone that was that good.
Interestingly, Raubahn is a mirror of him, good fighter/commander, patiently plays by uldah’s rule, gains political power over decades of hard work, ends up get f’d by the syndicate. It might turn out ok if Ilberd chose to work with raubahn but it’s also easier to choose to cut that bs
4:04 if any of yall are having trouble picturing this. Imagine Ala Mhigo has a road that is used very often to deliver a resource, and the people of Ala Mhigo put in a few toll booths that they can charge to get all the money they like/need. That's fair, after all it is THEIR road. Ilsabard and thavnair are the factories that all those deliveries come from and they control which road is used to deliver their products and they pay any toll booths on route to where they are delivering to. Ul'dah put in a few roads all for themselfs, ones with a smaller more reasonable toll booths directly to the many Eorzean markets. So Ilsabard and thavnair naturally want to use the cheaper road, so they start using Ul'dah's road and stop using Ala Mhigo's. Ala Mhigo thought no one would ever be able to put in another road so they never bothered to make any factories of their own with which to make money like the rest of the world. They put all their eggs in that one basket of a road. So when Ul'dah did put in a new road Ala Mhigo went bankrupt basically cause no one wanted to use their road. It's a bit more complicated. The actually terms for the tolls and the booths are different. But that's the gist.
I feel like it's important to note that Limsa was still full-sail-ahead with piracy at this point, which would have cut into Ul'dah's profits, but the costs of doing business through Ala Mhigo were *so high* that everyone chose ships anyway
It also extra sucks because it's not like there wasn't resources Ala Mhigo couldn't have built itself around. Post-Stormblood there's an actually lengthy quest revolved putting it's salt production facilities back to work, as Ala Mhigan salt is apparently highly prized. So not only did they lose most of their income, they squandered much of what they actually had in comparison...
"That was the biggest export for the Garlean Empire! War! They *mongered* it!" Thank you for that laugh, I am currently painfully peeling myself up off the floor after that. XD
I never once considered ilberd to be some kind of tactics master, even if others did He was blinded by revenge for ala mhigo and indecision by his brethren to the point of throwing the scions and even raubahn under the bus There's no way anyone sane would've assaulted the wall, most of the characters even call him out on it But the acquirement of the eyes plus probably growing desperation under his disguise as the Griffin with his rallies led to him doing what he did and forcing the hand of the alliance Quite literally in fact, using their uniforms to start a false flag and then bleed everyone out to summon shinryu with his death as the catalyst He was an absolute lunatic that lost himself along the way, but he got what he wanted, and raubahn finally had his reason to come home and fight
If that's what it took to get the Alliance and the WOL to act, Ilberd was happy to do it. Nothing else was going to make it happen. And that much is correct. Was it the right thing to do? Hell if I know.
Ilbert's major sin has ever been his impatience and his resolve to do whatever it took to save Ala Mhigo even if it must rebuild from the ashes to do so. His goal is perfectly represented by the title of the expansion a literal Storm of Blood to bring about a strong tide capable of upsetting the current balance of power no matter how many innocents drown in the rampant blood that the storm will no doubt bring with it...
I can't say I blame him, though. They had been under Garlean rule for 25 years with the forces of Eorzea seemingly content to let them remain so. I'd say waiting that long before saying "screw it" and forcing their hand into participating in an offensive against Garlemald isn't exactly impatient. He was still reckless in his method of trying to pursue that goal, no doubt, but impatient doesn't seem to be an accurate way of describing wanting to have your home liberated from an occupying nation. I know I wouldn't want to wait that long if my own home were taken over by someone else, and my friends and family treated the way that Garleans treated the Ala Mhigans.
Was anyone else deeply upset that they couldn't make sweat love to Ilberd's chest with the business end of a broad sword? Sometimes I wonder how many problems could have been resolved had the Warrior Light just put the sharp end of their weapon into the soft bits of their enemies when they had the chance.
Another reason why the city states didn’t move to aid Ala Mhigo after the defeat of the 14th legion was the succession issue that was happening in Garlemald. Remember, Emperor Solus was reported to have died and Varis took the throne. There’s always a transition period so the city states took advantage of that to prepare since once the Gardena Empire was done, Ezorea wouldn’t get another chance to do so.
Also, a good opportunity to see what the new leader is like and maybe open diplomatic channels. The best victory is the one where you don't have to fight for it.
I think you missed the polical ramification of ilberd's plan. he was not poking the empire. he was forcing eorzea to go on the attack. eorza was on the defensive, and shied away from empire territory.
A major counterpoint. The primary advantage of Ala Mhigo as a nation has nothing to do with foreign import. If you, as a nation, do not produce goods, you have nothing to pay for your imports. If you have no goods to bring back, there is no reason to deal with the heavy taxes, unless Ala Mhigo was raiding the oceans. Thavnair was already involved in naval trade as an isolated island nation. No, the major export of Ala Mhigo... was *salt.* And if you know the history of salt, you would know that salt... was quite literally referred to as *WHITE GOLD.* It was, for hundreds of years, *necessary* for conservation of foodstuffs, as a method of seasoning foods and was, notably... *very difficult to obtain in large quantities.* To obtain salt, you either need to mine the Earth, an expensive prospect without a guarantee for success, or to boil water for it, something that is immeasurably slow and expensive before modern times. The Lochs' salt lakes with massive deposits of easily processable salts would be a massive industry before modern times. These are all things that are mentioned in MSQ. It was no simple mercenary state that bullied other nations for taxes. It also had substantial exporting power that, according to Lolorito, could *revive the country's economy* on virtue of the quality of the Loch salts.
Major Counter-Counter Point! And yet their entire economy collapsed all the same. Salt and finery alone didn't and couldn't save an entire national structure. Lolorito's methods are a good way to "jump start" their exports but isn't going to help them long term. Which is why the Goldsmith Quest goes out of its way to try and add Ala Mhigan jewelry to its list of exports.
@@SynodicScribe True! Especially with the advent of magitek with Garlond, the presence of salt as conservation of food could gradually go away as, well, future Cid invents the fridge. However, in past times, this would have been a tremendously important export. Easy access to salt is an immensely lucrative industry that could rake in a ton of revenue. The very serious problem of food in Gyr Abania is a concern, definitely, but hunting doesn't require vast tilled Earth and vegetables could be imported from neighbouring countries or from abroad, in exchange for said salts. To continue on another point you made about Garlemald's willingness to invade other countries. This one is, arguably, a complex one. Gaius stepping into Eorzea initially saw no major Garlean mobilization. Arguably, when it came to Eorzea, Garlemald was definitely in a "wait and see" situation. While their invasion would probably happen eventually, nations that are already at war in other places are typically *less* likely to invade additional locales. The liberation of Doma and Ala Mhigo, among other places spurred to action by the actions of Doman shinobi was more than enough to prevent Garlean mobilization on either state. So if anything, their imperial nature might have made them less likely to perform such a strike. Without an act of force from Eorzea, the Garlean empire was proably content to simply watch what happens on that front. That invasion would instead most likely occur when the Garlean empire had already pacified several other states, when the Garlean empire is ready for such warfare. In essence, by liberating Ala Mhigo when they did, they didn't have to fight a prepared and battle-ready empire, but a distracted, surprised foe. Garlemald is, to our full knowledge, significantly larger than Eorzea. Were the alliance to wait and fortify, that may result in success. But it also might end in dramatic failure as a prepared and more unified empire came down on them several years down the line, with an Ala Mhigo turned into a massive fortified obstacle to a counter-attack by Eorzean forces. Black Rose is a concern, yet without the liberation of Doma and investigation into the Burn, knowledge of Black Rose might have never found its way into the Eorzean alliance, or the Scions' hands. Granted, that last one has little to do with Ilberd. He had no way of knowing of Black Rose, nor did the remainder of the alliance.
Having an economy based on salt is only the beginning, just like many countries which start off with oil as their primary export. Either they can diversify and actually earn their place on the global stage with other goods or eventually wither away as these resources appear elsewhere or worse these resources are just taken through war.
@@elongatedcarrot3704 This, and Ala Mhigo has access to a fair few natural resources, going by what you can gather in the general area. Sure, not quite Hannish quality stuff or the absolute *nonsense* that the WoL drags back from the distant past or the edge of the stars, but still! Quality resources that if they make a deal with Ul'dah/Gridania, they could make a fortune on. Ala Mhigo has options, and the money from the salt trade could jumpstart them.
Ilberd for me, was always a maniac, a person that didn't think of others than himself, willing to risk all people around him. Just to prove he was right and get what he wants, even if his ways was not smartest. That his actions helped, was just stupid luck, and his actions was one simple word, sloppy
Ilberd grew to hate any who defiled what Ala Mhigo was to him in his mind. He became mad enough to attack even his fellow Ala Mhigans, and wanted them to suffer for not doing what he thought they should of done. He did not care if all of Ala Mhigo, and everyone living there, was slaughtered by Shinryu, so long as all who tainted Ala Mhigo were destroyed. His wish to return home became a delusion which caused this suffering.
“Screw the Garleans for subjugating Ala Mhigans. Screw the Eorzean Alliance for doing absolutely nothing to help even if I did shoot myself in the foot. Heck, screw the Ala Mhigans, displaced and not, for not fighting back as fervently as they could! No one deserves my homeland! Let it all burn if it means the Garleans will be ruined!” That was his mindset.
Thanks for the refresher, and I couldn't agree more! ENDWALKER SPOILERS . . . . . . . . . . I found it interesting when during the Aitiaschope dungeon in 6.0, he shows up as an encounter. My take was that after his essence entered the lifestream, he saw that the primal he summoned was subdued relatively shortly after awakening and became mad that we had found an infinitely better solution to his problem that didn't involve sacrificing a throng of our own allies through an act of deception / taking advantage of their patriotism. It highlights Ilberd's shortsighted, arrogant and selfish demeanor how he attacks you in Aitiascope. Despite your intentions for being there (to save Etheirys, thus also saving Ala Mhigo, along with Garlemald too however), he would rather EVERYONE die than his enemies, despite being defeated, live. That's what I took from it anyway
I'm still impressed by the Gridanians. I probably wouldn't have been able to resist sending a "thank you" basket to the Garleans for steamrolling Ala Mhigo.
@@kandiesky i mean no living ala mhigans had anything to do with the Autumn War and most were just refugees trying to flee. I don't blame the Gridanians for not champing at the bit to liberate Ala Mhigo, but their treatment of refugees was callous at best.
@@Cheesecakeman105 You do have to remember, the Gridanians aren't the masters of The Black Shroud. They live there as they do only at the sufferance of the Elementals, who are more than capable of wiping them out (pre-7th Umbral calamity) if the Gridanians don't do what the Elementals think is best for the Black Shroud. The Gridanians see the terrors the elementals visited on those who defy them (1.0 Gridania was quietly Lovecraftian in its subtle horror), and do not want to deal with a very dangerous, sentient eldritch nexus that they are lucky to sweet-talk via Padjali intervention on the best of days. These are the same elder elementals, remember, that were so furious with Mhach and Amdapoor that they ushered in the Flood of the 6th Umbral Calamity. If the elementals felt the Ala Mhigan refugees were going to strip the Black Shroud of enough resources to bring about an imbalance (clear-cutting forest for space for residences/camps, plowing up swathes of forest to set up fields to grow food, etc), then they told the Gridanians to repel the refugees or suffer expulsion themselves (remember how the Ixal got themselves expelled from the Shroud prior to the Gridanians moving in? They started clear-cutting and upset the balance in the Shroud). Callous treatment, yes, but it was forbid them access to the Shroud and it's resources or have nature itself turn against them.
@@etainapgwynnedd827 I'm aware. It should be noted, though, that we have seen examples of Hearers either distorting what the Elementals decree or outright lying to suit their own tastes/beliefs--see the SB Leatherworker questline. Not saying that was the case with the refugees, but it could have been. It should be noted that it was NOT the elementals who called on the 6th Umbral Calamity, that was an unfortunate outcome brought about by the draining of so much ambient aether. In any case, this is just one more indication of how the elementals must be destroyed.
@Cheesecakeman105 You want to kill the elementals, who lived in the shroud long before others did, so a bunch of new people can take their home for themselves? Sounding very "garlean" there my dude.
I agree that llbert is a madman bent on destroying everything in a near blind rage. If Papalymo haven't sacrificed himself to temporary seal shinryu & the scions launching omega to stop shinrya then the primal would have cause another calamity similar to the 7 calamity cause by the elder primal bahamut.
Ilberd's lack of self awareness was unreal. He got so many of his countrymen killed while enacting his plan, including one who was actively serving in the Crystal Braves with him, who had even attempted their own revolution earlier in the story and would have absolutely been down to help him if he'd gone by it honestly. Dude straight up murdered that kid. That and his whole "they're just using you" speech to our WOL when we were springing Raubahn out of jail, completely ignoring how he unrepentantly did that exact same thing throughout ARR. What a tool.
If Ilberd was such a 4d chess genius he should've been on his knees thanking us when we bumped into him in the aitiascope. No, instead he decided to try to nuke us when we went down there.
in fairness, that wasn't *ilberd* ilberd, it was his lingering grudges and resentment, which he did have quite a lot of, hence why it was so strong. The only "complete" soul we encountered in that dungeon was Amon.
So Ilberd is an idiot. I still love him as a villain. He's a perfect counterpoint to Raubahn and helps keep the refugee crisis as a nuanced threat. Something has to be done for them, or they will produce someone like Ilberd, someone who says "Well why can't we just take what is owed to us."
I never thought Ilberd was right or clever. That being said when I played through the ARR story line perhaps it was even some side quests in Ul'dah/Thanalan I learned the plight of the Ala Mhigans and knew there struggle - So I wanted to help them even then, granted this was a limited scope or understanding of the overall world history of Eorzea, just as an adventurer. When we went to Ala Mhigo though that was for my friend Lyse and honor the sacrafice of Papalymo. Whom I had a emotional connection with being I'm a White mage main and Papalymo and Yda were the first two Scions I met.
I'm bad at remembering all the details you've brought up against Ilberd, so thanks for the refresher. That said, Ilberd staged a suicide mission to summon a Primal on par, if not stronger than the one that literally blew up 1.0. That's a zero IQ move no matter how you slice it.
Yeah, for real. Only a fool plays with primal summoning as it is. But to then make another huge one literally on the border of his country AND the one he wanted to force into freeing it? Like, bloody hell, if he wanted to do something as dumb as Primalize himself into a nation-destroying monster, at LEAST do it somewhere that could hit his ACTUAL enemies! x_x
@@AegixDrakan The sad thing is, I think at that point, everyone was his enemy. Sure, he had a goal, but he was angry at everyone for all that lead up to that. There's a reason he had no issue sending his double agents to the slaughter. Ilbred had basically no real friends and a lot of pent-up anger, frustration, and hatred that started lashing indiscriminately.
@@MellowFungus Illberd ultimately wanted to save Ala Mhigo, right? Why on Etheirys would he summon a Primal that would have absolutely destroyed the world including all of Ala Mhigo? I fail to see how that can be seen as anything other than hysterically dumb on his part. Unless he actually wanted to destroy the world, that is. In that case, I'll give him a D+.
@fumanchu168 Just because it happened to work out in the grander scheme doesn't mean it wasn't a bad decision. Besides, even if Shinryu wasn't a thing, they would've just scripted something else to happen.
me before watching the video and just seeing the thumbnail: Of course he is crazy! Have you ever seen the look in his eyes? me after watching the video: even crazier than I thought!
Furthermore, the only reason that turned out to be a good thing is simply because Zenos, the possesser of Shinryu, is so enamored with fighting the Warrior of Light that he could be convinced to help the Warrior of Light. Truly, the fact that summoning Shinryu was a net positive was literally because the Warrior of Light is such an overpowered shard of Azem that all the other people have to do is to set up the conditions where the Warrior of Light can punch the problem to the Aether Sea.
I think you forgot to mention that he willingly murdered his people, just to ge a hit against the empire - and everyone else. I think he started out as a man, who was hopeful to get his home back. He went from one disillusion to the next, one disappointment to the other, and just sunk deeper and deeper, unable to let go of this one obsession. This made him then resent his own people, who had lost all their spirit and fire to even think of opposing the empire, and of course, he hated the Eorzeans. After all, the city states had completely ignore Ala Mhigos plight (though he totally forgot the reason for that... long live the Bard quests, lvl60 onwards :D ), and then he got himself "tricked" by one of these corrupt Ul'dahns. In the end, yes, he was the perfect tool for the asciens: someone who walk over mountains of corpses to get what he wanted, and at this point he only wanted to get a hit against the empire - and take everyone with him. ... Yes, stupid doesnt cut it.
As a joke, I almost always refer to Ilberd as "The least fascist Ala Mhigan" because every prominent Ala Mhigan with the sole exceptions of Lyse and Rauhban are characterized by this immense sense of entitlement to the Eorzean alliance's military to go and fight the empire for Ala Mhigo. There was this lingering air above all of them that Eorzea had zero reason to not go liberate Ala Mhigo at a moments' notice. Nevermind that Garlemald outguns the alliance 8 ways to sunday, and the alliance is still actively recovering from the Ulitma Weapon incident and still fighting themselves a lot. None moreso than Ilberd had this sense of entitlement. He went so far as to attempt regicide as a means to take command and force the alliance to do something, nevermind the chaos he left in his wake. He was a petulent child at best, and an outright fascist at worst, easily just as bad as Varis. He was willing to see all of Eorzea burn for Ala Mhigo, and almost did it. Twice.
Ilberd was a pawn. He was a pawn to potatoes, tossed aside after his use then a pawn to ascians. His ravings are reminiscent to a gambler in massive debt. Just one more loan to win big meanwhile his former comrade actually rose through the ranks of Uldah and obtained a place among the leaders of Eorzea learning and preparing.
I see this more as a sign of hilariously excellent foreshadowing than proof that Ilberd was playing such 4D chess that he planned everything down to the last detail, but it is WILD when he says he would "sooner cut off one of his arms... than betray a close friend"
If anything, that quote shows us that he doesn't consider Raubahn a friend, most likely because he saw Raubahn sit in Ul'dah doing nothing. Instead of looking at the bigger picture (Raubahn can't rule Ul'dah like a king, things just don't work like that there) Ilberd instead took it as him abandoning his country in order to sit comfortably at the top.
I always did find it extremely foolish of him to make an enemy of the WoL. At the time we were a famed hero who slayed primals with ease, killed an Ascian, stopped Xande and the Cloud of Darkness, and destroyed the Ultima Weapon. Not only that, the WoL is the most benevolent person in Eorzea. He could have appealed to us for help and we surely would have found a way to liberate Ala Mhigo. The only problem is that he wanted it done NOW and our way of getting things done would have been too slow to his liking.
Yeah that's one thing that astounds me is even in ARR we had already slain multiple gods along with a machine that was designed to kill those same gods while it was infused with multiple gods' power. Then we go into a separate plane of existence (World of Darkness) and we kill that god as well on its home turf no less. Everyone that thought they could tangle with us by that point was certifiably insane. Even the Scions recognise that we are the reason Eorzea didn't fall apart at the seams when the summoning crisis started and their original purpose was to do our job as a unit.
@@khaeldranis2564 The Cloud of Darkness is not a god, but rather just a powerful voidsent. That being said, to halt a voidsent on its turf is still impressive. The Cloud of Darkness did not really die after the WoL battled it either; it just turned into clouds and attacked the WoL, Nero, and G’raha.
The moment that solidified Ilbert as a complete moron is when he sacrificed his followers to summon Sinryu. A best that was ready to destroy everything and everyone in his path. Killing the Garleans, yes, but also the Alamigans! There would not have been anyone left alive in Gyr Abania, so what stopped the Garleans from just waiting to find an Alagan artefact or an other Ultimate weapon then just take the place back? The Gridanians were the closest and they wanted nothing to do with that place. So Ilbert was so stupid and shortsided that all he was going to do was to eradicate the people living in Gyr Abania just to hand the land over to the Empire on a silver platter. Cause, with the exception of Sinryu that either the WOL or Garlemald will kill eventually, there would be no one to push back. His solution of liberating AlaMihgo was Genocide.
I think Ilberd was a great character, but only in the sense that he captured a man consumed by nihilistic vengeance and gave up seeing the long term consequences out of hopelessness. His actions at Baelsar's Wall proved he didn't care about actually saving Ala Mihgo; when you think about it, he was just trying to screw over everyone. Look at what he thought of everyone: he obviously resented Garlemald for invading his nation, and he resented the Alliance for their apathy, particularly people like Rauban who he saw as traitors to their cause. But perhaps is most telling is what he thought of *his own people.* The whole purpose of the false flag attack was to kill his own countrymen and use their dying cries to fuel the summoning ritual for Shinryu. He mocks them and says they weren't willing to spill blood for their cause, so he had to make them. Illberd is so lost, he has nothing but contempt for the people he's trying to save. His summoning of Shinryu isn't a last ditch attempt to save everyone; it's mutually assured destruction. He doesn't think his own people are worth saving, but he doesn't want to let Garlemald or the Alliance get away with their crimes and failings respectively. It's kamakaze justice.
I'm in Stormblood atm (just got back with Yugiri) but honestly I agree completely with you. When I saw the cutscene of sacrificing the people to create a new primal it dawned on me how utterly short sighted he was in doing so. It was like, "Okay you made a primal, NOW what? You could have prevented such sacrifice after seeing HOW bad primals are when you were in the Crystal Braves... but also, causing this event in general put Ala Mhigo at such a disadvantage." People continued to suffer BECAUSE of Ilberd's plans and were grieving the loss of so many in rebellions and uprisings. Sure it would make Ala Mhigo priority numero uno to the Eorzean alliance, but at what cost? Zenos tightened his control over Ala mhigo currently and the other city states are still reeling from the ending of the dragonsong war. It just made everyone more annoyed with Ala Mhigo in my opinion, not a prosperous return to form he was expecting (kudos on pointing out its economy was also disastrous, I recall miners pointing out its hard enough to earn a living much less grow anything at times.)
I was surprised to learn there was a discussion of genius. I *do* think Ilberd's motivations are more understandable than it looked at first blush but I always felt the Ala Mhigans of Little Ala Mhigo were mind numbingly ignorant rather than him super clever. Maybe a genius by Ala Mhigan standards, though. Most of them were patsies for the madman of the week in ARR and HW. Edit: Also wasn't the Ala Mhigan revolt quietly instigated by Garlean agents? I don't even think the Ala Mhigns did *that* on their own.
Ilberd was a nationalist. He was a soldier for Ala Mhigo during the Mad King's War and he fought on the front lines against Garlemald alongside Raubahn. But everything that happened, with Ala Mhigo's subjugation, he probably felt what a lot of the German people felt after the Treaty of Versailles. He fell back on nationalistic pride, which drove him to ever more desperate actions. The thing is, Raubahn was all of this too, but Raubahn took to heart the words of Curtis Hext regarding liberty or death. You don't strive to bring back what you had before, but to try and make something better. Ilberd always sought to fight to bring back Ala Mhigo as he remembered it, and that consumed him because it was an impossible goal. I don't see him as smart in the sense of plans within plans or plots within plots. But he had a certain level of cunning to be able to take advantage of what he had. Cunning does not equal intelligence.
Ilberd was definitely a maniac and his plan only worked at all through sheer dumb luck. And what's worse, if he hadn't used the eyes to summon Shinryu, just taking the wall disguised as Eorzean Grand Company soldiers would've been enough to spark a response from the Garleans and reignite that front of the war, probably getting Eorzea to help with the Ala Mhigan resistance anyway. THAT would have been a decently smart plan. But for some reason he had to go further and summon a Primal, sacrificing the people he claimed he wanted to "liberate" because apparently it doesn't matter if all the Ala Mhigans are dead as long as the Garleans are too. And then of course the Primal tries to kill everyone anyway.
I wouldnt call him an idiot but his arrogance and impatience really does undermine his intelligence. regardless of how well a tactician you may be, if you are quick to temper and rash of action, it wont amount to much.
Honestly. If the Ascians suddenly approach you, and you have any knowledge about them, you need to seriously take another look at what you're doing. 'Cause that's a big ol' red flag right there.
yeah, generally not a good sign if the creepy guys in spooky masks and spiky black robes with dark powers come up to you going "hey, love your work, big fan"
While I think Ala Mihgo was worth saving (Pushing the Garleans out of another territory and liberating the people there, while also adding a new nation to the alliance after helping in it's rebuilding), Ilberd and his betrayals did nothing but deepen peoples lack of enthusiasm to aid Ala Mihgo. He was willing to let anyone die so long as it pulled him even a little closer to his goal, and do anything to do it. In the process, the crystal braves (which I personally believe was a good idea WHERE MY CRSYTAL BRAVE SALUTE AND UNIFORM SQUARE?) were taken control of and made a puppet for the monetarists, lost any status he had in Eorzea, lost the support that the Warrior of Light and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, as independents, likely would have done at some point in the future. Hell, none of the city states aside from Ul'Dah were even willing to cooperate with the Crystal Braves due to this, and the Immortal Flames still harbors animosity towards the brass blades over that situation. (I genuinely believe the Flames, were it up to them, probably would have went "war in the streets" mode against both the Braves and the Blades.) So that's another thing in my rambling, where he (through his deeds) could have gotten the other armies of Eorzea to cooperate with the Braves and one day liberate Ala Mihgo. Because of what he did however, he and the crystal braves as a whole lost any and all backing from the armies. Basically, everything he did made nothing but enemies, not allies, and as such he threw away any possibility of Eorzea being willing to help Ala Mihgo out of the goodness of their hearts/strategic purposes.
It simultaneously stuns and doesn't surprise me at all that there were people who thought Ilberd was a genius. Like, I do understand why he took drastic measures for his homeland, why he was mad that the city states weren't immediately pushing forward once they had handled the Garleans on their own soil, esp given what we've seen of how Garlemald treats the people they conquer (regardless of the state of Ala Migho before during or after, that's an entirely moot point when people were suffering then and there in his homeland). But understanding his perspective doesn't make his actions smart or right and it certainly doesn't mean people have to (or should) agree with what he did. He could've accomplished a lot more keeping up the Griffin persona and keeping all those people alive. But he was a desperate fool.
Havent watched the full video yet, but i definitely think ilberd having a flawed plan was intentional from the opening lyrics of shinryu's phase 2 theme, which talks about "blind betrayal" and "head eating its tail" Shinryu is what stood between Ala Mhigo and freedom at the end of stormblood and things probably would have gone better had ilberd not summoned it. Thats just my interpretation.
Thinking back on it, something that may have been an contributing factor to liking Ilberd may have been his voice. See, when we first meet him before 3.0, his voice - and its direction - paint him a bit as a charismatic tactician, to say nothing of his actions at the time, at least on the surface. When we meet him again after the fact, however, the voice and direction given for Ilberd is DRAMATICALLY different from before, really leaning into the crazed sociopath he ultimately turned out to be. Honestly, had it not been for this, I think it would actually be a little likely, if still rather dubious, that Ilberd could be seen as "clever."
Tbf that betrayal and chopped off arm was one of the best cutscenes in ARR, I think that was peak for him but after that it was clear he was a weakling compared to the WoL and had zero plans.
Also At the end of it all not only Shinryu got captured but got completely taken over by Zenos who then got defeated by us. Cope and seethe in hell you, rotten bastard cause the Empire and us especially got the last laugh. Cope and Seethe, Illberd.
A lot of people seem to forget Black Rose was a thing. Ilberd had no knowledge of the true military prowess of Garlemald, and underestimated the power of a country which was very close to continental domination...
When I had my own "oh gods, Ilberd won" moment, it wasn't really in response to his intelligence, but rather his methods. Specifically, summoning a primal. By this point in late HW/early SB, the narrative is hammering the point that the Scions (and thus the player should similarly) abhor summoning. It harms the planet, it harms those who summon, self-defense inevitably turns into warmongering. At this point in the story, every primal is swiftly put to the sword. The summoning tribe is reprimanded for using such a reckless weapon, and they typically have none of their grievances addressed or even validated. So in comes Ilberd. His bloodbath doesn't exactly compare to 1000 years of war with Thordan, but it makes one of the biggest single spectacles we've seen around summoning to date. It births a primal that not only has to be cocooned, but we feel compelled to unleash Omega against it, and even *that* doesn't immediately resolve on-screen. So with Garlemald's staunch stance on primals priming this situation to be a powder keg, the nation-states have no other choice to move in. Ilberd summons a primal as an act of terror, and if you overlook some sloppy finer details and what-ifs, he ultimately gets what he wants in both the short term and long term. The narrative has never rewarded a primal's summoner like this before this point. It defies the established narrative up until now of "summoning a primal means you'll lose everything."
I never thought he was more than a desperate madman. Thanks for the video. I especially liked the history recap. You might want to look up the non-food pronunciation of wanton though. :)
Ilberd was the first Samurai before Samurai officially existed, back in ARR when he first cut off Raubahn's arm. His whole fighting style at the time screamed Samurai to me and I was disappointed he didn't use that particular fighting style (sword fighting with no shield) until the end of HW.
Thinking on this lecture, I wonder if "Ala Mhigan Nationalism" might end up being a problem in the future. Cooler heads are in charge now, but I think it's a mistake to discount the... er, cooling effect that the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and their relations with the Eorzean Alliance have on international politics. The move to republicanize Ala Mhigo was spearheaded by a former Scion, after all. It makes me wonder how many revanchists might exist who could push for a restoration of the monarchy if the economy of the city-state begins to fail again--something that is almost statistically certain given its geographic location unless salt production turns out to be exceptionally profitable and sustainable. And even then, diversification is key to economic security. Becoming "the salt state" is an ill omen if anyone else finds minable sources of the mineral and can bring it to market cheaper.
But fite for al'mickey. Mickey must be saved and only Old ardbert--I mean Illberd can do it. So kewl. Such sacrifice. so much edge. The way Raubahn mourns him makes me wanna witchdrop the guy.
I’ll agree wholeheartedly that Ilberd wasn’t smart. Because he wasn’t. He was a bit clever here and there, but ultimately was an angry, desperate man who wanted his home back. I don’t think that sentiment is stupid, and reducing Ala Mhigo to nothing but barbaric and evil based on the acts of crazed monarchs and times of great desperation is highly reductive and dumb in it of itself-but ultimately it’s what we all do when backed into a corner. He did what everyone would when scared and upset and frustrated after years of nothing working. Which is anything. And in this case he was given power beyond anything he’d ever seen by a magic man who promised him exactly what he’d been looking for if he used it. So he caved. Ilberd was not a smart man. He was a sad one. A pathetic one, who had festered and obsessed to the point that he was a shell of a man he might’ve once been. But the people of Ala Mhigo can take what they have been given and learn from the mistakes of the past and do better.
Ilberd got the drop on the WoL because they were being spread far too thin (and very much ready to or have already started to sink into depression) and Alie was too busy with the bahamut situation to keep Alph on the ground. His plans would have fallen apart if The Coils was regular Raid Content.
I think what pushed Ilberd over the edge into impatience and insanity was the loss of his family. After that, all he had left was Ala Mhigo and fighting for its freedom. It became an obsession of his and seeing how Raubahn had become so wealthy and powerful in Ul'dah while he was relegated to scrunching around for table scraps as a mercenary just to survive made his mental state even worse. Especially since Raubahn seemingly never did anything with his wealth and power to help Ala Mhigo or its refugees scattered about Eoreza. So if that's the case, it's understandable why Ilberd went down the path he did. Still not right that he did so, but many people would have done the same thing if they were in his position if they lpst literally everything they knew and loved, only to see their best friend seemingly living it large without a care in the world elsewhere.
I wonder if Ilberd had connections to the Ala Mhigan nobility as it's not unreasonable to assume that at least at the start the nobility saw the elimination of the monks as simply increasing their own power not thinking about the long term effects and generally wouldn't suffer the worst of the ill effects of the Autumn War or the failing economy. Now if Ilberd was from a noble family high enough to benefit from the status but low enough to not get caught in the paranoia of the Royal Court during the Mad King's reign only time he would have suffered any sort of true hardship would have been when the Garleans took over. This would go a long way to explain his nostalgia after all when Ala Mhigo was free he lived a life of relative luxury but now he's just 1 refugee among the multitudes, it could also explain his lack foresight and tactical and strategic blunders if he got his leadership status thru his family and not thru merit.
If dumbdumb had just waited one more expansion... Then again, he cleared away the crazy crop of idiots who caused Ala Mhigo to get in its own way in the first place.
Do we know, how Ala Migho has recovered now after Lyse, Raubahn and Co. taked over the leadership inside this state? In Endwalker it was showned how Garlemald try to recover from his downfall. But how is the state inside Ala Migho?
To me, his cause always felt more like an excuse to one up Raubhan out of sheer pettiness, jealousy and pride, dashed with thinking he's literally the only one good enough to fight for Ala Mihgo, when for example he says that the people he rallied to attack Balesar's wall weren't dedicated enough to the cause anyway, so it's fine to use them.
i watched a really good video on stormblood recently and it put it this way- that ilberd had lost so much faith in his people that he wanted "an ala mhigo without ala mhigans." and i think that's really the heart of what's wrong with ilberd. he doesn't care about the people of ala mhigo at all anymore, he doesn't care about ANYTHING anymore, really, because the primal he summoned likely would destroyed ala mhigo ( the place ) if it got to wreak havoc. so while you brought up all those points abt ala mhigan history, i don't think ilberd gave a damn about it all in the end. not the people, not the place- maybe just the vague idea of ala mhigo was all he cared about. however, i do think the way that people hate on him while giving other villians who have done comparable things a pass is... suspicious, to say the least. ( you can see this same phenomenon with hermes and he's a million times more sympathetic than most of the villains )
@@SynodicScribe I think it is a bit unfair to call Hermes a moron. I can only recall one pivotal moment where he blindly made the wrong choice which eventually caused the whole sorry mess.
@@theodorelambrakis2809 For someone in his position he made choices that he should have known were tremendously against the rules for obvious reasons, but did so anyways. As such, he falls in the moron category. lol
@@SynodicScribe as far as i can recall the only rule breaking before he went postal was not submitting the Meteion concept for evaluation. Its not like the Ancients were not tinkering with some really hazardous stuff all the time. Pandaemonium is the living example of that hubris. To me aside from burdening his creation with the most difficult question in the universe his greatest sin was that after he got his answer he completely gave in to despair, even going so far to assume that the Meteions managed to encounter every civilization in the universe and conclude that there is no point in life. FF14's universe was abundant with sentient life. Only the ones mentioned by Meteion have chosen the path of oblivion and we do not know how many civilizations she and her sisters eradicated after becoming the endsinger. The Ancients were far from perfect and hermes had the major flow of being a great empath.
The more I think about it the more I realize Ala Mhigo is basically the city state that is really really really REALLY incompetent, like UNGODLY legendarily incompetent. And I'm spacifcally talking about its legacy and history not its people. So nice work Illberd you did all that for nothing!
Ilberd was proved correct. The Alliance and WOL could liberate Ala Mhigo and were not. Whether their reasons for not doing so were good or bad, Ilberd didn't care. He wanted to force the issue, which would of course require an initial sacrifice no one else was willing to make and may even cost him his own life. He succeeded. What his qualities were as a person are tangential to the topic.
Ilberd had an entire Grand Company at his disposal - one over which he apparently commanded no small amount of loyalty. Had he been more patient he could have easily maneuvered things in such a way that the rest of the Eorzean Alliance would *willingly* liberate Ala Mhigo. Granted, he couldn't have had any idea that the Dragonsong War was coming and would end with a reformed Ishgard that was no longer at war with Nidhogg's brood. Hell, one could even argue that his actions are responsible for that outcome, considering that the Bloody Banquet forced Alphinaud and the WoL to flee to Coerthas in the first place. However, it's entirely possible that a newly restabilized Alliance could have opened diplomatic avenues with Ishgard and came to their aid during the Dragonsong War, a path which would have certainly involved the WoL and ended with much the same outcome but with +1 Grand Company in the mix. With Ishgard's might secure, Ilberd could now more seriously petition the rest of the Alliance to look at liberating Ala Mhigo. But this time when it comes time to assault Baelsar's Wall he doesn't have to sacrifice all of his allies and summon a primal over which he has no control. They might not even be stopped by Castellum Velodyna or need to destabilize Garlemald's control over Othard, which means less time faffing about on the other side of the planet and more time doing the thing he wanted. Alternatively, if Doma still needs to be liberated then the Crystal Braves, not being tied to any particular region of Eorzea, can mobilize to the Far East and support the Resistance. More crushing defeats for the Imperials, more revenge for Ilberd. So yeah, I 100% agree with the main thrust of this video. Ilberd wasn't motivated by strategic goals or any high-minded ideals of liberation so much as he was in keeping with the long-held Ala Mhigan tradition of short-fused violence and betrayal.
counter point to some of your arguments: Ilberd didn't want to just liberage Ala Mhigo because of its history, but also because it was his home, a home he wanted to see free of Garlean occupation and oppression. A history of warmongering by your country doesn't mean you wouldn't still want it freed if it was overrun by another nation (I would compare that to say if China conquered the United States. The US has a horrible track record of military invasions, but I'd still want my home liberated if we were conquered by someone else) Also I do think that 100 years is actually longer than you'd think and that it was just spite that made the nations of Eorzea not defend Ala Mhigo against Garlemald. To use a real world example, England declared war on the United States in 1812 and burned down Washington DC, but in 1914 when World War I broke out, the United States (eventually) still entered the war on the side of the United Kingdom. The US entering the war in 1917, or 105 years after the English attacked the United States. I do think that while reckless for sure, I do think that his way of doing things was the only way to actually get Eorzea off its collective butts and actually go on the offensive against Garlemald, which up to that point, the city states had been content to just defend their own borders against the Garleans, and showed little interest in helping to liberate the other nations they subjugated. It wasn't some grand tactical plan, just basic framing of the Eorzean city states as being part of his offensive at Baelsar's Wall which forced their hand into participating in war against Garlemald. Also I'm not sure I share your assessment that he wasn't patient enough considering Garlemald had occupied Ala Mhigo for 25 years by the time we arrive on the scene to help liberate it. That's an incredibly long time to wait as your friends and family are subjegated, children are indoctrinated into the conquering culture's way of life, and refugees are suffering in the city states they did manage to flee to, often being treated like third class citizens because of the war waged by their ancestors a century ago. How long should he have been expected to wait to see his home set free? Because speaking for myself, I think 25 years is more than enough time waiting and watching and hoping aid will come, at which point, I can't say I would act much differently, and I would too try to force the hand of the people whose aid I need when given the chance.
This was absolutely my take away from his character, I wouldn’t even call myself a fan but he’s so human and messy and just boiling him down to “crazy” really does a disservice to the story. Seems like people just want everything to be black and white when it comes to character but how is that interesting?
@@redmetz FFXIV often does a good job of making their characters have depth, which is why I like this game. But I think a lot of people are conditioned from playing other games into thinking there needs to be clearly delineated good guys and bad guys, and Ilberd defies fitting neatly into those categories. What's even more interesting are the people who might have no real sympathy for him but wept over Emet Selch, someone who was frankly a much worse person, but the game does a lot more to smack you over the head with his backstory.
To make the Ilberd Question even worse, had he not unleased Shinryu into Ala Mhigo, the WoL might not have been able to defeat the Endsinger a few Expansions later. It was clearly not the slightest bit part of his plan, but it worked out very well for most everyone in the end regardless
A few points on why I feel you are incorrect here. One, you're ignoring the fact that Ilberd was one of the individuals who was fighting in the first revolution against King Theodric along with Raubhan. He knew and understood full well 'why' Ala'mhigo was in a poor state. He had fought for his entire adult life to free his homeland from a tyrant, and then saw it quickly overtaken and decimated by a force which was every bit as terrible. He then spent 'years' of his life, continuing the fight, only for it to grow weaker, and weaker and weaker with every passing day as his people grew used to the state of affairs and the leaders of the Eorzean alliance turned a blind eye to their suffering, as they all grew complacent as well. He believed in the dream of an Ala'mhigo that might have been formed after the revolution. Over time, after seeing disappointment after disappointment, after watching his cohorts from the first revolution abandon the cause to try and form a new life, he never was able to let it go. In essence, Ilberd was a tragic villain driven to madness by his failed hopes and aspirations. He knew full well what he was doing when he did what he did. He was bitter after years of constant war and failure, and the real tragedy of it all is that by the end I think he had finally given up, and simply wanted to kill as many people as he possibly could. I think this is really all summed up in his final speech. "How long have I struggled to reach this point. My countrymen so innured to the taste of defeat they no longer balk at its bitterness. Shouting my throat raw with rallying cries, only to be greeted with dull eyes and blank faces. My 'brothers and sisters in Uldah have surrendered to their apathy and their appatites. Were it not for the glint of Lolorito's coin I doubt even those here today would have answered my call." This is not a man who was an idiot. This is not a man who was a fool. This is a man who was angry at the entire world after feeling that his friends and comrades had abandoned the dream that they had fought for years to create, who felt abandoned by his friends (Think Raubhan), and who's rage had become a blistering inferno. He was simply someone who no longer cared about the consequences of his actions. He knew exactly what he was doing when he slaughtered those people. He didn't care about the consequences. His sole in summoning Shinryu was to destroy the Garleans, and what came after would come after. To state that he is an idiot, is to imply that he did not know exactly what his actions would cause. He was a sad. Bitter. Angry man. Who simply wanted to hurt as many people as he reasonably could. And you see that with what Shinryu actually became.
gotta agree. He can be seen as an idiot, but now looking back it isn't because of the reasons stated in the video. It's because he's just a man that just fell to his immense anger towards the Garleans and those who seemingly didn't want to support him in getting his homeland back, and now he just wants to lay waste on everything to make them feel the same he had to feel for years. And after reading the comments he was also wrong on some historical accounts in regards to Ala Mhigo, why it fell down, why it was attractive enough for Eorzea to go there and do trade, and the benefits of retaking it from the Empire
You make a good point by pointing out geopolitics and economic factors but have you considered this Alphinaud: Berd'd Raubahn: Berd'd Warrior of Light: Arguably Berd'd Papalymo: *Big Berd'd*
It was a consequence that Ala Mhigo was liberated... not the direct... also it took some help from adding in Othard/Doma to get there in the end... It wasn't his victory at the end of the day,
(EW SPOILS) You are clearly missing the absolute galaxy brain move Ilberd accomplished by summoning Shinryu. which would then be consumed by Zenos, to then later be used to smash up the Endsinger and ultimately save the world meaning Ala'mhigo is saved. Technically Ilberd saved Etheris, and all it took was and arm and a leg. (All in jest, Ilberd is dum dum and I am pretty sure the game is trying to tell us this, he is clearly not presented as in the right. You could say his plan was Sloppy)
Came here expecting a deep character analysis. Got that, but also fun lore about the Autumn War and global trade. It's like finding some extra chicken nuggets in your happy meal. Also I agree, Ilberd was nuts. For everything you said, and also for wanting to kill his best friend for the crime of building a successful life outside Ala Mhigo and inspiring other refugees to do the same instead of go back to die for some dirt. (I'm not very patriotic IRL either. Home is where your family is, not what flag you're under. ...Unless that flag is Garlemald's, in which case take your family and RUN.)
