truth hidden in the light

In the Rak’tika Greatwood, your mission is similar to the previous regions: you need to find the Lightwarden and slay it. Unfortunately, you have no idea where it is, save for a clue that leads you to ruins of an ancient empire. As part of deciphering this clue, you head with Y’shtola, one of your Scion allies, to a cave filled with murals and bearing a monument with long-faded inscriptions.

While Y’shtola is studying the monument, Ardbert approaches and points out each of the murals in turn: depictions of heroes throughout history, from the age of gods to the time of the fallen empire, and lastly, a mural that seems to bear the visage of Ardbert’s own companions.

Unlike the others, which are vivid despite their age, the painting of this world’s Warriors of Light is faded, as if someone tried to scrape it off. As Ardbert tells you, there was a man he knew who was struck by these paintings, and who joked that perhaps one day he’d add Ardbert and his companions.

Ardbert: Do you suppose your deeds will warrant an addition to this collection? Or some other kind of monument?

Before you can answer, Y’shtola returns to your side, and Ardbert vanishes.

While this scene does little to forward the overall plot, it tells us an awful lot about how Ardbert sees himself. He doesn’t think himself worthy of remembrance, not even by those he’d known and helped in life. Instead, he sees his legacy as something to be forgotten. Better that than facing the hatred he believes he duly deserves as one who caused the Flood.

But he can’t help but ask what your legacy will be. Will you help save this world? Will the people here remember you? Or will you become a more terrible monster than even Ardbert himself?

While you do manage to slay the Lightwarden of Rak’tika, it comes with several unwanted revelations.

The first comes from Y’shtola, who’s uniquely positioned to have insight into how you’re doing. She’s blind but “sees” the aether around you, and reports that every time you slay a Lightwarden, you’re not negating their Light-rich aether, but rather absorbing it. In other words, with each Lightwarden you kill, you are literally turning into one of them.

As if that’s not enough, more murals expose an equally distressing secret. The murals depict a city aflame, then a black godlike figure saving it and receiving supplication, then that same figure in opposition to a white figure, then the white figure winning over the black one.

According to Emet-Selch, this is the true history of the world: Hydaelyn, the very being who gave you the Blessing of Light, is nothing more than a primal herself. So too is Zodiark, whom the Ascians worship — or rather, are tempered thralls of.

This is a lot to take in. Thankfully, you have Ardbert to help you process it.

Ardbert: ...Think he was telling the truth? Emet, I mean. All that rot about Hydaelyn being no different from any other primal... If so, what would that make Her “blessing”? Are we just slaves to Her will?

Ahh ─ let's pay him no mind. Lies are the Ascians' stock-in-trade. Villains, heroes ─ all a matter of perspective, they'd have you believe. One man's fond memory another's waking nightmare... Me, I'm no saint or savior ─ just another sinner. And I know damn well I'm in no position to judge...

An enormous part of Shadowbringers’s success is its story, and it does succeed on multiple fronts — a narrative in a fairly limited geographic region to help make it feel self-contained, an incredibly compelling (and relatable) villain, and strong character work to flesh out the Scions who’ve stood by you since the beginning. But to me, the true reason Shadowbringers succeeded is because the Warrior of Light finally feels like the main character.

It’s not that you’re not the protagonist in previous expansions. It’s that you weren’t treated as a character. Because this is an MMORPG, the NPCs basically are the story, and you’re mostly just there to be the self-insert hero who saves the day by actually playing the game.

What Shadowbringers does, and what is most obviously emphasized by Ardbert’s character, is to actually have you grow and change as a result of the narrative. Yes, the Scions are concerned that their Warrior of Light is slowly turning into a Lightwarden, but they’re pretty hands off, as far as friends go. They leave you to your own devices a lot. Part of this is to emphasize the player’s ability to interpret each scene as they like — to keep this feeling like a self-insert story. You don’t want to be pigeonholed into a storyline that takes that freedom away from the player.

But because you don’t have a voice, you can’t tell the other characters in the story that your character is struggling with these revelations. Ardbert, therefore, exists to bridge that gap. Ardbert actually cares about how you’re doing, and checks in on you after every major plot point. In-universe, this is because you’re the only person he can talk to. Of course he’s invested in your well-being: he doesn’t want to be alone again.

How it actually comes across, though, is that it feels as though you genuinely have a friend who cares about you. You may feel the same way about the Scions (individually or as a whole), but Ardbert’s the one who gets what you’re going through. He’s literally there every step of the way. This is your journey together, not one you’re on alone. Just because Ardbert is a ghost doesn’t make that feeling less real.

There’s a lot Shadowbringers does right, but Ardbert is where the game truly shines.

Of course, the unfortunate problem is that Ardbert is just a ghost.

Soon after, you awake in the night to find that the Crystarium is under attack by sin eaters. After securing the city, you head out into Lakeland, the region that surrounds it, and fight off what sin eaters you can. It’s a long, difficult battle across the entire area, with people falling prey to sin eaters left and right.

And of course Ardbert is there, because he’s been there the whole time. There’s nothing he can do but watch as sin eaters strike down the guards. In one gutting incident, Ardbert tries in vain to call out to an injured guard as a sin eater approaches, only to go unheard. He tries to attack the sin eater himself, but he passes harmlessly through it. All he can do is listen to the screams.

Ardbert: Why did you spare me? Why? What have I done to deserve this mercy!?

The one part of your journey that Ardbert doesn’t join is the return to Amh Araeng. You head there so that the reincarnated Minfilia can meet with the Oracle Minfilia, and perhaps find a way to track the Lightwardens. (This makes much more sense in context.)

The Oracle doesn’t have a lot to say to you, nor do you have any opportunity to ask for clarity on Ardbert’s behalf, but things become a bit more clear when you return to the Crystarium. You’re not there for long before you’re overcome by the sheer force of the Light roiling inside you, and Ardbert reaches out to touch you. When he does, a light begins to glow.

Ardbert: What...what just happened?
You: There...was something Minfilia said to me...
Ardbert: Minfilia said my time had not yet come. That I still had a role to play. Not even the most valiant heroes can stand alone... No─ No, it couldn't be. There's only one hero in this room, and it is not me. I'm just a shadow, cursed to wander.

Someone knocks at the door, and by the time you can look back, Ardbert is gone.

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