Doing an NG+ of Shadowbringers, like you do, and I'm struck this time by how often the story pits "the one who survived" against "those who want to move on." There's so many ways in which Shadowbringers is about grief and mourning, but I don't think I had noticed this pattern before.
Ran'jit is the first example of this we meet, and kind of the poster child for it in Shadowbringers. Why is Eulmore's general an assassin? That doesn't make a lot of sense, and we see throughout the plot that while he's very dangerous, he's not good at strategy or leadership. You know. Things generals do. But he was never supposed to be a general. His father had been the general. Zal'bard turned into a Lightwarden and then Minfilia had been Eulmore's general. She was the strategist, the leader. And then she, too, died. And Ran'jit was the one who was left.
Ran'jit's inability to cope with his grief over the deaths of his father and who knows how many Minfilias is what pushes him to follow Vauthry.
Titania is a more direct example. Because Titania survived their victory over Il Mheg's Lightwarden, they became the impediment to their people moving on. All of Il Mheg had to devote their efforts to simply keeping Titania in check.
Emet-Selch is another obvious example. One of the few who survived the sundering, trying to bring back the past that he lost instead of moving on.
Even Magnus in Twine fits the pattern. His wife and son died, and now he's literally stopping us from moving forward down the trolley tracks.
The Viis kind of do this, too. The survivors of ancient Ronka are stopping people from learning anything from their fallen empire purely because that's what they were told to do.
And the forces that oppose them (other than the WoL) are all people who have chosen to move on. For Ran'jit--both Minfilia and the Crystarium have chosen to live for tomorrow. Like, that's the Crystarium's theme song. Even when it's the Night's Blessed vs. Ran'jit, it's the group that's working toward the future versus Ran'jit and the group that's waiting for the end. The final obstacle to slaying Titania is persuading Seto to have hope for the future. Magnus' opposition is Jeryk and Thaff actually fixing the trolley. The Viis are convinced by the seal that they don't have to hold on to the past anymore.
Ardbert's arc is kind of the culmination of all this. He was the one left behind. He's initially pretty indignant that you can't do anything and there is no future for his world. And he gradually changes until he wants to see the First have a future so much that he will make that future happen.
