[FFXIV : Shadowbringers msq spoilers]
This is the last area of the Shadowbringers msq, kept secret until the end. The surprise is here : who expected such a masterpiece in the depths of the dark sea of Norvrandt?
Amaurot, a lost paradise that Emet-Selch cherishes more than anything.
The name Amaurot appears in Utopia (1516), written by the english philosopher Thomas More (1478-1535). It is the capital of the island of utopia, an imaginary world that represents the ideal society and the perfect government. The author details all about her foundation, appearance, people and management :
“ Amaurote is gently sloping on the slope of a hill. Its shape is almost a square. […] The streets and the places are suitably arranged, either for the transport, or to shelter it against the wind. The buildings are comfortably built ; they are brilliant with elegance and cleanliness, and form two continuous rows, the width of which is reduced to twenty-two feet. Each house has a door on the street and a door on the garden. These two doors open slightly with a helping hand, and let in the first comer. The Amaurotines apply in this the principle of common possession. To avoid the idea of individual and absolute ownership, he has changed houses every ten years, and what has to be divided. […] Really, we can not imagine anything more pleasant or useful to the citizens than this occupation. The founder of the empire has understood well, he applies all his efforts to turn the spirits towards this direction. The Amaurotines attribute to Utopus the general plan of their cities. This great legislator did not spend time in the construction or beautification of what had been planned ; for that it took several generations. So he left to posterity the care of continuing and perfecting his work. The current houses are elegant three-storey buildings with stone or brick exterior walls and interior plaster walls. The roofs are flat, covered with crushed and incombustible material, which costs nothing and retains better than the lead of the wounds of time. ”
- Extract from Thomas More, Utopia II. Cities of utopia and especially the city of Amaurote, 1516.
So, the presence of Amaurote as the main city of ascians people makes sense, but the illusion built by Emet-Selch brings even more.
In Amaurote, time seems frozen. The atmosphere and music of the area offers a curious mix of serenity and nostalgia. The city shines with beauty and greatness, but the streets are empty and dark. The few Amaurotines who lives there appear and disappear like ghosts, wandering eternally for two purposes : confront their opinions and exercise their creative magic.
These wishes are similar to those described by More in his book : the people of Amaurote designed and built their city to be functional and safe. Every Amaurotine and every building is affiliated with a particular function. Architecture is sophisticated and not only functional, because in Utopia, creation is the essence of human and that can lead him to always go to the best, for him and for others.
So, it’s possible that the life in Amaurote that we see and Emet-Selch describes to us have never been real in this way. She would be a projection of his own utopia, probably ideal city of the ascian civilization. His trauma of incalculable wars, plagues and calamities, the memory of the apocalypse and the loss of his people, his whole planet, are probably the consequences of this utopian Amaurote.
We are walking in the city where Emet-Selch would have liked to live. We are walking in the streets of his last dream who could ward off the pain of his past.
Emet-Selch is not only the keeper of memories and history of this world. He gives us his precious burden, his ideal world of harmony to which we must henceforth work, and no longer act blindly.
Amaurot will remain a shadow, an illusion, a dream, but which must be an example towards a better world. For everyone.
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