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(11-15-2014, 04:58 PM)Amelia Wrote:(11-15-2014, 04:36 PM)Mae Wrote: I brought up Garuda because of an earlier statement of "If that were the case, female characters wouldn't have breasts at all.  Breasts exist solely for the purpose of producing milk for babies" that was echo'd a few times. We're a species that's hard-wired to equal breasts with femininity, regardless if something is a mammal or not.  I know Garuda's an asexual being, I was trying to point out the flawed logic of "breasts = mammal" in a fantasy setting, not trying to insinuate that Garuda -was- a mammal.
If Devs weren't appealing to our human-mammalian sensibilities first, Garuda's appearance would have been designed to be appealing to her Beastmen and that likely would've resulted in something MUCH more Ixal-like.
I always thought Garuda was based off of the mytholocal creature- the Harpy. And I think those creatures WERE female.
Though I understand in FFXIV lore they'd asexual.
I'm just going to sneak in here and mention something, since I saw this quest a ton of times, and while it doesn't directly apply, it might be some shred of.. something to potentially support the possibility that Garuda embodies an Ixal ideal of sorts.
Even though the Mamool'ja aren't the Ixal, there is a particular FATE around Bronze Lake where a Mamool'ja seeks to get into the springs, but is essentially denied for unruly behavior and oogling women in the past. Â It's not entirely clear if the offender actually did these things, or if it's just prejudice, but supposing it was to be considered true, it's actually possible that some of the beast tribes (or at least Mamool'ja) could find a more human-esque female form appealing. Â
If the Ixal are in the same camp that could explain it. Â But it also might not be anything either, since the Mamool'ja and the Ixal are entirely different. Â I just always thought it was interesting that a member of one of the beast tribes would potentially find the more humanoid races appealing. Â (Though I also agree with the harpy thing, considering Garuda's fury almost all of the time, and how SE likes to grab things from mythology. Â The harpy equation might be missed otherwise, if they felt it was important, unless stated.)
That said, I'd honestly think it'd be great if Garuda were some sort of entirely non-humanoid kind of creature and/or more like an Ixal in design, yet still have it be considered female if they wanted that aspect, instead of potentially doing the whole 'you can tell it's female because breasts' thing. Â Because, gods, we have enough of the whole ' it's a different race, they have entirely nothing to do with humans, but look, the ladies have boobs' stuff to last forever.