Board Thread:The Last Sovereign Discussion/@comment-1435995-20180527175726/@comment-31808207-20180530215629

I'm good with Nidhogg, it's definitely more.. refined than the other options.

To throw in my own two cents on the topic, even before this, I perceived a strong similarity between Xerces and Elidibus from Final Fantasy XIV (spoilers for FFXIV to follow). Elidibus is the functional leader of the Ascians, the long-running antagonists of the game who seek to cause chaos. However, he's a stark contrast to the other Ascians--not just because he wears white to their black, but also because he makes every attempt to appear reasonable. His stated goal, much like the Anak's, is to avoid the world going out of balance (and he sees the PC, the Warrior of Light, as tipping the balance between light and dark dangerously in favor of light).

And... he's not lying, much like I don't think Xerces is outright lying. He does want to preserve balance, because a world tipping too far into light or darkness makes it a void that's completely useless in his long-term plans to release the dark god he's the emissary of. But he can certainly sound dangerously persuasive, especially before you know the cosmological reasons behind his interest in balance. I'm pretty sure if the game ever has a truly final story boss, it'll be him...

Similarly, I believe Xerces’ stated goal of balance, but only because an imbalance of power, like someone gaining power too close to the original lustlord's, would interfere with his plans. Possibly it would ruin whatever alignment the two goddesses were talking about in the interlude scene previously.

[As an aside, I totally know the feeling of picking a long-term internet handle based on a franchise you lost much interest in years ago. *looks at Megaman*]