Summary

• The Warrior of Light's power has reached unbelievable levels in Final Fantasy XIV, making threats seem less believable.
• Dawntrail attempted to move the Warrior of Light into a mentor role, but it caused them to be pushed aside in the story.
• In order to make believable threats to the Warrior of Light, their power level should be reduced narratively.

Final Fantasy XIV raised the stakes throughout several expansions until the Warrior of Light faced the cause of the Final Days, winning the battle and allowing life to have a chance to thrive on other planets once more. Then, Dawntrail tries to bring the Warrior back to their roots as an adventurer who was asked to help Wuk Lamat in the Rite of Succession. However, Dawntrail made it obvious that the Warrior of Light has a power problem. Luckily, it's a power problem that can be solved in multiple ways, and most solutions are fairly easy to integrate into the story.

This isn't an issue unique to FFXIV, or the Final Fantasy franchise alone. It's not even unique to video games, and is instead rather common to see in anime and television shows, where the stakes grow higher and the enemies get stronger, forcing protagonists to increase their own strength in order to thwart the current villain's plan. After a decade of content being released, FFXIV has also reached the point of the Warrior of Light having overcome so many threats, that their power is high enough that it's difficult to believe any villains would be a real threat to them.

The Warrior Of Light Has Become Too Powerful

Threats Are No Longer Believable

In A Realm Reborn, the story starts with an average adventurer. They're unknown, but quickly gain renown for possessing the Echo, which protects them from being tempered by primals. This makes them a valuable asset to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and that starts their journey to becoming the Warrior of Light, a fighter with unmatched power. However, that's a simplified version of the situation, and the Warrior's fight against the Endsinger required the help of Dynamis in the form of prayers from their companions, who were unable to withstand the actual battle.

It takes a decade and several expansions for the Warrior of Light to reach this level of strength, and it comes with a set of expected side effects. First and foremost, after stopping the Final Days – which are the same as those that ended the society of the Ancients and led to the Sundering of Etheirys – it's tough to believe that there might be a threat that the Warrior of Light wouldn't be able to handle. Sure, the circumstances of their fight against the Endsinger were unique, but preventing the extermination of all life in the universe is tough to beat.

It's Time To Weaken The Warrior Of Light

It's A High Risk, High Reward Approach

Instead of raising the stakes to heights that are increasingly unbelievable, it's time to reverse the approach and make the Warrior of Light weaker. FFXIV's Dawntrail expansion was meant to make the Warrior more of a mentor figure, but in practice, that meant that they spent the majority of the game on the side, nodding when needed. It's rather disappointing, and there was plenty of wasted potential, but it also seems to indicate that a new approach is needed. In this case, it would be a risk to reduce the Warrior's power, but it also comes with a lot of rewards if it works.

When put into practice, this power down could look similar to the beginning of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. To avoid the issue of Link having all his equipment and power from Breath of the Wild, he's severely injured when Ganondorf's seal is broken, which results in him losing his right arm along with his strength and most of his health, giving players a fresh start to the game. It's time for FFXIV to use this approach with the Warrior of Light, which opens the path to a new story arc built around navigating threats without their immense strength.

The first narrative arc that revolved around Hydaelyn and Zodiark ended with Endwalker, but now the new narrative arc that began in Dawntrail has received no shortage of mixed reviews. With the stakes brought back down from the threat of the Final Days, the issue of the Warrior of Light's immense power became glaringly obvious, as they would be able to handle every obstacle on their own, and it feels odd that they don't have a large role as a result. Going forward, it's starting to feel like the best choice isn't to make the Warrior a mentor, but to reduce their power through the story of Final Fantasy XIV.