Yes indeed ladies and gentlemen-- spoilers therein--- so stop reading now if you haven't at least finished Shadowbringers up to patch 5.5.
No-- seriously-- stop reading now--- quite a few spoilers ahead...
Your last chance...
Right--- seriously speaking, what would have happened to the Garlean empire if Varis and Regula had lived?
I was seriously hoping that the Devs would expatiate a LOT more about their story through our echo ability-- their childhood, their friendship, their ambitions to clean house, Regulas' restructuring of the corrupted VIth legion when he took over, the machinations against him at the imperial court and how Varis staunchly supported him. I really, really liked their story and wished we had delved into it more.
All these would have been fantastic side quests we would have explored extensively whenever we made it to Garlemald. When Gaius re-appeared in patch 4.X, I was super excited not only because he had been one of my fav NPCs from the very beginning but also because his return and subsequent interaction with Varis would have been perfect for our echo ability to discover the Garlean past. We could have used the echo to further understand the narrative of the Empire's past, the genesis of Emet's reign, the political agendas of the earlier generations of the imperial family, the identities of the nine aspirants to the throne -- all through the eyes both Gaius and Varis. In other words, Varis would have shown us the inner happenings within the royal family-- Gaius would have shown us the happenstances around the family and the empire.
But no-- the Devs, after utterly baffling me by killing off Regula after only a few cutscenes in Heavensward, then did Varis a massive dirty after exhibiting his impressive brilliant intellect to the Alliance leaders. I remember watching that meeting scene and nodding with a massive grin on my face saying-- "Varis my boy, you are the exact type of respectable adversary that the Alliance need as their wake up call-- this is why you are truly the Emperor that the Garleans deserve-- you f**king earned it, mate". I was really looking forward to exploring his thought process, what makes him tick, his future plans for his empire-- ever notice that in the throne room scenes, [U]he's never seated on the throne-- he's always staring at it in deep thought[/U]. I always wondered about that-- why won't he sit on it? What was he always thinking about? How did he really plan to crush the Ascians? Did he foresee his son's schemes?
Ironically, a couple years ago, even though I had joked a couple times on the forums/discord that Zenos might commit regicide, I didn't expect it to occur so-- soon-- or in a slightly anti-climatic fashion and I'm still baffled. Understandably, Zenos (another fav of mine) killing Varis was apparently a necessary catalyst to unleashing civil war and instability in the Empire so that the foundations of the Endwalker tale can be set. However, I had envisioned a more involved scene for Varis and his mad scheme with the Black Rose-- here's a very loose and basic example of the steps that might have made for a richer tale involving Varis (just a very basic rough example):
- The impatient Zenos decides to cede from the empire so he can chase his prey
- Daddy tries to rein him in, they fight, Zenos seriously wounds him and establishes a new capital-- Varis decides to unleash the Black Rose on his son's forces
- Other factions use their quarrel to their advantage and press forward with their own agendas to ascend the throne
- Empire then begins to fracture further, with the Populares and Optimates also seceding
- Zenos expedites the next calamity and Varis enlists our help to stop his wayward psychotic son as the empire descends into second civil war-- we also get to see Varis unleash the Frumentarium
- The war also allows us to be introduced to the rest of the Legatus while also exploring their characters-- the loyal ones, the cunning ones, the bored ones, the sly ones, the exhausted ones, the sit-on-the-fence ones
- It's also at this point that a dying Varis can be involved in a series of regional quests tendered to the WoL which explains the past, present and future of the empire-- Varis also lets the WOL utilize the Frumentarium for further intel
- Perhaps even toss in Varis' maneuverings to be your friend behind the scenes but his political need to act as your adversary in public --after all, you did dispose quite a number of his Legates, and he may still have to make a public example of you just to save face. This interaction would have formed the backbone of his interaction with you and the Devs could have had loads of fun exploring this dynamic.
- Underneath it all, a younger Larsa-like figure (Nerva? or Varis' younger children?) try to salvage what's left of their homeland and form a fragile truce with the Alliance to face the new calamity-- Cid, Nero and Maxima act as possible mediators. Varis is thus able to uphold his stoic, proud nature in public until he dies while all the while, working with Nerva and the mediators in private.
- Now add in all your nuances, plot twists, hidden agendas, and the harsh reality viewpoints of the average Garlean who just wants peace. Let the story evolve, let Varis and the WoL gain mutual respect of the progressive Garleans and ensure that these tales all taper into the existing lore-- no need to go all GoT-season-8-style and kill off player favourites without proper cause and effect.
This is just a very simple example of how players would have been able to get a deeper interaction within the Garlean fabric and House Galvus-- after all, they have been our main adversary through four expansions, and Varis would have been a pivotal figure as several elements descended into chaos-- but we didn't get that because he's done.
Such a shame.
What have you done Devs-- what have you done? I'll leave this video here of one of my favourite "villain" of all time-- Prince Nuada from the Hellboy 2 movie
