Your character is granted three wishes, but the third wish...

[Coatleque]

The problem here is that everyone's characters are too damn nice to take up the offer! Not that Crofte is any different.

 

Coatleque believes firmly in the Twelve, and that Nymeia plots the fates of everyone on Hydaelyn. Therefore a wish itself would tempt the wrath of the goddess of fate in her mind. That coupled with the harm of someone else would keep her from accepting this offer.

[Nero]

You people are so kind and good-hearted! You all make me sick!

 

Jokes aside though, this is a pretty fascinating spectrum of answers. The majority are well meaning enough that they wouldn't consider such a thing, or are otherwise reasonably skeptical of wishes to refuse them. Beyond that, some people believe in the virtues of hard work and attaining something through your own effort, and a wish that negates that effort is seen as having no value. The journey is more valuable than the destination, as it were.

 

Some people would sacrifice themselves for the benefit of their peers, which is quite selfless. There are some characters who believe in "for the benefit of all" and wouldn't hesitate to use the wishes.

 

I was this close to typing out some long-winded malarkey on philosophy and the nature of morality and altruism, blah blah blah, but I'll just thank the people who gave this prompt a bit of thought.  The answers are really interesting.

[Warren Castille]

Where one person sees kind and good-heartedness, other people see selfishness and greed.

 

We could wish a peaceful end to the Garlean war. We could wish Ishgard back to sanity. We could wish for an unending era of prosperity and glory and we only have to pay the price of... one person. Sure, they might just be retconned out of existence. Sure, they might be bound to eternal damnation for eternity just so the rest of the world could see immaculate heaven and light.

 

We deny that, for all of Eorzea and the entire world, for one person.

[Aya]

Does that mean Aya would have to harm herself with her third wish? Oh noooooooooes!!!

 

Wait, I mean harm her poor, starving family back in Ishgard.  Right?  Right?  Right... mmhmmm.

[Zyrusticae]

Where one person sees kind and good-heartedness, other people see selfishness and greed.

 

We could wish a peaceful end to the Garlean war. We could wish Ishgard back to sanity. We could wish for an unending era of prosperity and glory and we only have to pay the price of... one person. Sure, they might just be retconned out of existence. Sure, they might be bound to eternal damnation for eternity just so the rest of the world could see immaculate heaven and light.

 

We deny that, for all of Eorzea and the entire world, for one person.

This is an intriguing philosophical quandary.

 

In truth, the desire to self-propagate is something written into the very core of our beings. An individual who is completely selfless and altruistic is an anomaly, and might be seen in many peoples' eyes as a freak accident. But even pure altruism can be said to have a "selfish" bent, in that they are often working towards the preservation of their loved ones, often children - and the reason they are so engaged is because those loved ones happen to carry much of their own genetic material within them. (The constant war of the genes is a fascinating subject in and of itself, I should mention.) Because of this, I tend not to value overmuch the ideals of selflessness as much as I do pragmatism. It's okay to be selfish. But it's also good to be aware of how your actions affect others. There is a happy medium to found there, I would think.

 

There's also the question of the value of such a sudden and all-powerful "solution". We, as living creatures engaged with nature, both without and within, recognize that conflict is a core part of our lives in some form or fashion. A life without some form of conflict tends to be considered boring and uninteresting, something that is very clearly borne out in the way we write our stories to have multitudes of conflict. There are, of course, stories without conflict (ostensibly referred to as "slice of life") where the draw is in other aspects such as the characters or the setting itself, but they are hardly the most popular form of storytelling out there. It can also be argued that the solution is simply too much resembling a "deus ex machina", which most will consider to be a faux pas in any otherwise decent story.

 

As such, I imagine that many people would balk at the idea of such idealistic wishes due to the possible unintended side-effects such wishes may have in a world where the people themselves starve for stimulation and entertainment. (The Matrix famously asserted that humans would reject such an ideal world straight away, hence the creation of the more realistic recreation of the world used in the simulation.) Of course there are many others who wouldn't think it through at all, but those are the types of people who would get themselves into a bad situation even without any stipulations or side-effects added to the wishes.

 

At any rate, it really takes a very specific kind of individual to be willing to sacrifice themselves entirely for the good of the world. Someone with incredible passion, an incredible disregard for their own future and their very existence, and someone with the insight to know exactly how to fix the world (instead of just fixing things temporarily only to have them unravel later down the road). Does such a person exist? I'm not sure, really. Maybe they do. But it'd be one hell of a coincidence to have them exist and be in the right place, at the right time, to make that wish in the first place.

[111]

Natalie's wishes.

 

"Free Beer Forever."

 

"Free Fish forever."

 

"No more beer and fish for kage."

 

Sorry Kage.

 

 

-Would your character use the wishes to begin with? If yes, how would they justify it? If no, would your character feel regretful of not taking the wishes in the future?

 

She would, because she really likes beer and fish.

 

-What would your character wish for? Is there anything they believe worth sacrificing or harming themselves or others for? Does your character believe in ideals? Does your character hold their goals above the wellbeing of those they care about? What does your character value? Why would they obtain it through a wish, rather than traditional means?

 

See Above

 

 

-Does your character believe that the ends justify the means? If yes, when? If no, do they believe that good results from contemptible methods have no value, regardless of the circumstances? Why?

 

Natalie believes that she wants free beer and fish.

 

-Does your character believe that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? Would they make large wishes for the fortune of all, sacrificing the few for the many, or small wishes for the sake of their loved one's health? For selfish characters, do they believe that their own wellbeing and health comes before other personal advancements such as wealth or social status?

 

Natalie's need for beer and fish outweighs kage's need for beer and fish. He drinks too much anyway.

 

-How would your character contend with the knowledge of what they are responsible for? How does your character cope with guilt or loss? How do they react to the injury or damage that their loved one, or they themselves, must endure?

 

She would contend with the knowledge by eating one of her infinite supply of perfectly prepared flakey, steaming hot, perfectly seasoned fish. Then she would cope with the loss by drinking one of her infinite mugs of cold delicious beer.

 

-What harm would they inflict, and why? Would they make the harm mild but lasting, so as to minimise the effects, or intense and instant so that it is over quickly? What aspects about their lives or the lives of others do they consider

 

No more beer and fish for kage ever. It will turn to ash in his mouth. He will have to sit and watch nat drink and eat free stuff forever.

[Kage]

Natalie's wishes.

 

"Free Beer Forever."

 

"Free Fish forever."

 

"No more beer and fish for kage."

 

Sorry Kage.

 

Are we being specific about the alcohol cause remember Kage likes ale. So he's like dayum this is a good deal.

 

BUT WAIT. FISH :cry:

[Val]

Cyrus wouldn't take them at all. He'd certainly entertain the idea and want to do what he could to help people, and he would know that Unmei would likely offer to sacrifice herself for the good of many, as would he. ..But ultimately, he'd never let anything happen to her. He'd just promise to try his very best to help the world with his own two hands.

 

Melfice would.. well. He'd likely not take them, but instead spend several hours, weeks, months, whatever studying whatever device is granting them and try to find a loophole or see if there's a way to take that power from it--for scholarly purposes, of course! Assuming he would, it's rather hard to say what he'd use them on. He'd likely try to mess with people or something, but he's such a stickler for the optimum that he'd wait /forever/ to make sure that it was the best time for them to be used. In all likelihood, they'd never get used anyway and he'd throw the paper in his collection for studying purposes. Also, he's rather fond of his current companion and wouldn't wish to cause her any harm.

[Nero]

Where one person sees kind and good-heartedness, other people see selfishness and greed.

 

We could wish a peaceful end to the Garlean war. We could wish Ishgard back to sanity. We could wish for an unending era of prosperity and glory and we only have to pay the price of... one person. Sure, they might just be retconned out of existence. Sure, they might be bound to eternal damnation for eternity just so the rest of the world could see immaculate heaven and light.

 

We deny that, for all of Eorzea and the entire world, for one person.

 

This is exactly the sort of idea on philosophy I was planning to post, but I scrapped it in my earlier post out of a desire to keep things on track. Still, though, it's an interesting discussion.

 

How do we define altruism or righteousness? Is it "good" to forsake the benefit to the many because of the value of the few? But on the other hand, would it also be considered "good" to benefit others, even against their will? Do we, as single individuals with no hint of omniscience, have the moral right to make a decision with which we will not understand the full consequences? Making the wish "I wish everyone would cooperate and understand one another" is essentially just brainwashing. Wishing for an end to hunger or poverty has extraordinary consequences that might do more harm in the long run.

 

Anyway, this topic is debatably worth an entirely different thread on its own, but I'm glad someone else brought it up. It's something to think about.

[HonZoMon]

I remember a wise man once made a list of the three things that I'd wager Honzo would probably wish for...

 

 

Legit list coming soon :angel: