The Warrior of Light has at least 3 alters and I can prove it (Plurality and Final Fantasy XIV)
I started playing Final Fantasy XIV back in April 2024 and was immediately hooked by the gameplay and story. Playing through with my girlfriends really helped, as I was originally a DPS, taking advantage of queue skips due to dating a tank and a healer.
If you know anything about Final Fantasy XIV, the game with a free trial that includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward and Stormblood expansions up to level 70 with no restrictions on playtime– it’s that the story is amazing and the DPS queues are long. I do believe I wouldn’t have gotten into Final Fantasy XIV quite as much had I had to wait around for the queue to pop. For my queue skips, I am entirely grateful.
As someone with DID, as soon as I started getting into Final Fantasy XIV, I was worried that we would split an alter of my Warrior of Light-- Ame Berry. Whenever we’ve gotten obsessed with media in the past, its happened so we were preparing ourselves for the weirdness that would follow. Thankfully, 26 days of playtime later, Ame has not appeared in our headspace. However, I have noticed something about him as I’ve played through the story, specifically the dark knight story and Shadowbringers.
The Warrior of Light (or darkness, depending on who you ask), is plural.
The following sections contain spoilers, quotes and images from the dark knight job quests and Shadowbringers, with brief mentions of Endwalker. Also, this is following my lived experience as a system host with DID, rather than any medical expertise.
1. Trauma
It’s no surprise the Warrior of Light is plural, considering the amount of trauma they’ve been through. Let’s have a rundown of some significant events:
- Watching the death of multiple friends
- Framed in the “murder” of the sultana
- Constantly thrown into battle against literal gods and expected to not die
- Often being treated as a weapon rather than a person
- The dragonsong war
- Being literally poisoned, to the point where they refuse drinks from anyone they don’t trust now.
- The quest “in from the cold”, which I won’t spoil as it is brilliantly traumatising if you see your Warrior of Light as a depiction of yourself.
These are just a few that come to mind, without spoiling too much of the MSQ.
2. Fray
The first time you encounter Fray, he (or she, this changes depending on your character’s gender. I will be using singular they for Fray going forward and editing quotes when needed to make sense.) is dead. You pick up the dark knight job stone off of Fray’s corpse. Suddenly, you collapse and the dark knight mentor Fray appears to you, saying that the rumours of their death have been “greatly exaggerated”.
Following this, you learn the way of the dark knight with Fray. It is often hinted, in your journals and in text, that the Fray you are learning from is not real. However, we do not get that reveal fully until the level 50 quest “Our Answer”, in which you have to fight Fray, who takes the form of your character, in dark knight armour.
It is revealed that Fray is a part of you and always has been. They are bottled up anger, the part that yearns for freedom. I see Fray as the protector of the Warrior of Light’s system, along with being an emotion holder. Protectors and emotion holders are exactly what they say on the tin, alters that protect the system and alters that hold specific emotions for the system.
There are several scenes where the Warrior of Light is being taken advantage of by quest givers, only for Fray to come to the front and tell them off.
Overbearing Trader: Truly, the Twelve must be watching over me, because you're just the man I need! <sniffle> <sob> I...I am the victim of a terrible─nay, heinous crime! I was waylaid by Qiqirn bandits near the Salt Strand, who left me with naught more than the clothes on my back!
Fray: ...And what makes you think I give a Qiqirn's arse about your troubles? Go and bother the Yellowjackets, like the sergeant said. I seek worthy prey, not a gang of rats.
Overbearing Trader: How can you say such a thing, [sir/ma’am]!? Without your help, I'm ruined!
– Dialogue during Declaration of Blood
Quick switches like this, especially when the host cannot deal with something, are normal. I usually switch out for most medical stuff, although I have gotten better at handling it recently. So for Fray to leap to the front like this in order to tell this merchant off is entirely realistic to me.
Fray, like most- if not all- alters, is imperceptible to others. Others cannot tell when they are controlling you, as it just looks like you. People are, understandably, worried by your behaviour as you seem to act “off” with them. This is also common in DID and plurality, with alters attempting to act as the host to mixed results. In our system, unless it’s really needed, we’ve given up masking entirely.
“That is, if you could stop denying the truth that's been staring you in the face since the moment we met.
Say my name. Say it. My real name. Our real name!
Come now, you knew Fray was dead from the beginning, but you didn't care!
You had a sword and a soul crystal. But what you wanted was a mentor.
A mentor with the gifts and the knowledge. A dark knight who could guide you on the path─who you could aspire to become.
A [person] who was free to say and do the things you would not.
...Even now, you continue to deny it. Well. Deny me all you want. You cannot deny what we have done.
Have I not been good to you? Have I not given you everything I promised?
Did I not help you to hear the whispers of our very soul!?
Open your eyes. Look. Do you see now? Do you see?
Everything up to now has been your story
..And everything after now will be mine!”
– Fray, during Our Answer.
Fray also talks to you through journal entries, this is a fairly common way that alters communicate – especially when there isn’t good communication yet. Having some form of book to write in that you both have access to can really be helpful.
The final dark knight quest revolves around you receiving a mysterious letter, that ends up being from Fray. The journal entries during these parts are particularly poignant to me as a member of a system.
“Now Gundobald, he's seen you at your best and at your worst. He's seen you when you were one and when you were two. He could tell you someone else wrote the letter, if that's what you'd like to believe. It'd be a turn, sure, but we've seen stranger things. Or he could continue to regard you with that same mixture of concern and fear that bubbles to the surface when the topic of us comes up, and say nothing of the sort. And you─you could go to Red Rooster Stead, with the answer of your choosing. See if it's all to your satisfaction.”
– A Journal Entry from Our Closure
3. Myste
The story of Myste is written by the same person as the story of Fray, and arguably is a little more forgettable than the first. However, it starts with your literal soul crystal splitting in two, symbolising Myste’s arrival. Myste bargains with you in order to start helping other people, saying that he will repair your soul crystal if you allow him to help others. I would consider Myste to also be an emotion holder. He holds the Warrior of Light’s sorrow and is often drawn to incredible lengths in order to feel that he’s atoned.
“His hair, his eyes..none of it is his own. He is imperfect..a failure..a misbegotten runt. And yet, is he not someone’s special someone? A young boy the dark knights encounter in Ishgard, his only wish is to ease the suffering of others—a wish born of profound regret. He only wanted to protect them...to save them somehow... But there is nothing more to be said of this child. The world is not so kind, so gentle a place that such naive wishes are granted. Yet perhaps it was not all in vain—for even today, might another not yet be saved by someone following in his footsteps?”
– Encyclopedia Eorzea Volume II
He is no one, his name denoting that he is from the slums, yet he desires to be so much more.
“Sid is unsure what to make of what we learned, though it seems fairly obvious to me what mischief the boy's been about. And you too, I hope. Anyway, it would seem that Myste was seen leaving the Reach and heading towards the Peaks. The hunt is on!
Two beasts, dead, with no discernable injuries. Now where have we heard that before? Sid finally realizes that the boy must have sucked them dry of their aether, in the same way that he stole our aether. Needless to say, he is far, far more dangerous than he appears. A pity it took you all this long to see it.
Wrong way, wrong way! He'll kill Sid and Rielle if we don't hurry!
And now, the betrayal. Myste believes that the only way we can atone for our sins is to “undo” them with his simulacrums. Every life we took, every death that weighs upon our soul, he would make amends for it all with his beautiful lies. I can end this charade, godsdammit, I can end it! Now is the time! You need me! YOU NEED ME!”
– Journal Entries from Our Compromise.
Myste is born of aether, your/the Warrior of Light’s aether. While this technically isn’t as plural coded as Fray, I still enjoy it quite a bit as plural coding.
4, Ardbert
You first meet Ardbert in Heavensward, where he is an antagonist hellbent on summoning primals to save his own world. Minfilia (who is a much more important character than I have made out by literally not mentioning her at all up until this point), travels with Ardbert to stop the apocalypse happening on his home world. She stops the flood of light happening on the first, but the world is mostly destroyed as it wasn’t stopped sooner. The other warriors of light of the first died, but Ardbert was deigned to live life as a ghost, as Minfilia said he had a purpose yet unfulfilled.
Unfortunately, due to this, he has lived a good many years by himself, until the Warrior of Light comes along and starts talking to him. He’s shocked the Warrior of Light can see him, as no one else can.
Ardbert: So it's your lot's turn to be the Warriors of Darkness, is it? It's funny how things work out.
Warrior of Light: These are my “private” quarters...
Ardbert: Aye, I know. Just the place. In case you've forgotten, you're the only one who can see me. If we had one of our little chats in public, people might start thinking you'd lost your wits.
– Dialogue from Warrior of Darkness
Ardbert and the Warrior of Light are incredibly similar in many ways, even down to the colour of their souls. During Shadowbringers, the Warrior of Light can be found discussing things with Ardbert in their chambers. This usually boils down to finding more out about each other, or trying to strategise what to do next.
Seto, Ardbert’s amaro companion, originally mistakes the Warrior of Light for Ardbert due to the colour of their souls being the same. Having since learned to speak, Seto tells you how much he loved Ardbert and enjoyed his friendship. The Warrior of Light encourages Seto to take to the skies again, as he once loved flying. Ardbert is happy to see his old companion once again.
Warrior of Light: Tell me, does anything strike you as different about my soul?
Seto: Your soul? Hm... How can this be?
Ardbert: Seto, my old friend. You've grown!
Seto: Oh! Oh, Ardbert! How I've missed you! I'm sorry I couldn't keep you safe... Or even console you. Had I only learned to speak sooner, I would have told you how much you meant to me. How much I cared.
Ardbert: I knew. I always knew. But I'm happy to hear it nonetheless. Thank you, Seto. My partner in crime.
Seto: I see... His journey continues. Then I will not yet bid him rest. With you, he may look forward to many more adventures. It has been a while since last I flew. Perhaps I too will go on a little adventure. Ride the winds, seek the horizon... Yes. I think perhaps I will.
– Dialogue from The Journey Continues
The scene of Ardbert fronting to speak to Seto once more is a very touching moment in the main scenario quest that really hammers home that Ardbert is his own person.
Ardbert also provides a great deal of comfort to the Warrior of Light. Due to this, I believe that he fits the role of a caretaker. A caretaker, in system terms, is someone who is there to provide help and comfort to other alters. Eventually, after a whole expansion, Ardbert decides to merge his soul with the Warrior of Light’s in order to save them.
Merging alters is a thing that happens and is even encouraged during therapy sometimes, although functional plurality also exists. We tend to prefer functional plurality for ourselves, but understand that that isn’t for everyone. To me, Warrior of Light and Ardbert merging is a powerful metaphor for healing after enduring trauma after trauma.
During Endwalker, at Ultima Thule, Ardbert is the first and last to cheer the Warrior of Light on during their walk to defeat the Endsinger, once again fulfilling the role of caretaker. It is not uncommon from alters to appear from dormancy occasionally, which this could be seen as. However, I do more see it as just a ghost from the past. Even the song sang in Ultima Thule is said to be sang by Ardbert.
5. Plurality or Just Fantasy?
There is, of course, an argument to be made that this isn’t plurality and is actually just standard fantasy. I do feel the story is most arguably plural representation during Fray and Myste’s storylines, where the characters come from within the Warrior of Light themselves. Alters can come from all kinds of things-- We split a new alter once just because we failed to cook eggs and our brain took it as a catastrophic failure. It is important to remember throughout all of this that alters are their own people first and foremost. Fray, Myste and Ardbert are definitely their own people with wants and desires of their own.
It’s hard, when you’re plural, not to see things like this as similar to your own situation. It can be comforting to see your own character go through similar things to you and be just fine.