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I think we can all agree that Zoraal Ja wins the Deadbeat Dad Award, but one thing I think he did right for Galool Ja was to free him from his father’s burden.

Zoraal Ja was weighed down with proving his reputation as the “miracle” and earning his father’s crown. I cant help but wonder if he felt he had little choice in the matter with so many people looking up to him.

Rather than repeat history, however, Zoraal Ja gave Galool Ja a choice. “Here’s the crown I earned. If you want it, take it. But if you don’t? Then spurn it and choose who you want to be.”

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If anyone wants to join in for some spoopy fun this coming Saturday, some of my friends and I got a BIG event on the Crystal and Dynamis data centers going on! Games, prizes, and lots of fellow players to meet! Bring your spoopy glam and let’s go Trick or Treating! 🎃

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PSA for those coming back for Dawntrail, but please remember to be kind in group runs (PvP, dungeons, raids, etc.). I’ve seen a pretty big uptick in rudeness from players lately and I’ve been having to add more to my blacklist in the past week than I have in the past year before Dawntrail’s release. Remember, folks - we’re here to have fun and learn. Let’s keep our community a supportive place.😊

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yes, yes

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Elpis Flowers and The Meaning of Hope

I was recently gposing in Ultima Thule on my alt and decided to go to the field of Elpis flowers that were created in the finale of Endwalker’s MSQ. As I was checking out the screenshots, I noticed something that I never quite noticed before.

The Ultima Thule flowers we see are supposed to represent hope (at least according to player speculation), and unlike the previous Elpis flowers we’ve seen (where one color represents an emotion), we see a multitude of colors in Ultima Thule’s flowers.

Each color represents an emotion, connected to journeys that have felt the greatest of joys and the heaviest of pain. And yet, when these colors are brought together, we get the flower of hope, holding each emotion in its petals and shining forth no matter what and providing a path forward.

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Putting that new ❤️ emote to good use.

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Did Yoshi P read my old post? 👀

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Now that Menphina is gone, I just have to ask…where did Dalamud go?

Don’t tell me we left the poor pooch by his lonesome! :(

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New All Saints’ Wake quest spoilers under the cut, but…

…how dare this potted pipsqueak compare me to archon loaf. -.-

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Noooo, you can't bring Aymeric on a Tropical Vacation!

He'll melt.

🤣 I’ll be sure to have Cid make a magitek air conditioner so he can stay comfy. 😉

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On the Topic of Summoning Elidibus

Okay, all. This is a wild rabbit trail I’m following, but after thinking about it…it kinda makes sense.

Remember that ending scene in Pandæmonium with Elidibus in the Lifestream and him seeing the light? We figured that was him being reborn, but what if that was him being summoned?

Hear me out, because like I said, this is a wild rabbit trail. Remember back in 1.0 with Bahamut and his summoning? If you read Encyclopedia Eorzea (and I’m talking the first one, since that’s all I’ve seen at this point), on the bottom of page 26, it talks about Bahamut being summoned by Tiamat and the other dragons. The text states, “Her sorrow and anguish, combined with the rage of her kin, however, corrupted the spirit as it returned from the Lifestream- the result a mad tyrant little resembling what had once been the dawn wyrm.”

I’m weakest with ARR lore, but to me this sounds like the real Bahamut was yoinked out of the Aetherial Sea and corrupted when he became a primal. (And if someone more knowledgeable with ARR can prove me way off, please do, because again, I’m no lore expert.)

And if that could happen to Bahamut, couldn’t that happen to Elidibus?

Think about it. He’s a primal already. And with him being in the Sea, wouldn’t it be possible to summon him back? With enough prayer and petition, and the right amount of aether, it could make sense to see Elidibus as himself again (and with Claudien having the Heart of Sabik and the WoL warning him about it, it’s certainly open to having Elidibus return.). This could also explain Elidibus’ curiosity at seeing the light in the middle of him thinking about the path of the Star.

On top of that, it would make sense why Venat made sure her spirit was destroyed after her defeat by the Scions. In Shadowbringers she mentioned the form she would take would always be her choice, but what if she was afraid that through summoning, someone could bring her back and corrupt her, forcing her to do untold damage? If Bahamut, being the spirit of a dragon, could nearly destroy the world, imagine what bringing back one of the most powerful primals in history could do.

Anyways, it’s a long shot, and this is what happens when my post-migraine-brain gets to thinking. If Elidibus does end up being summoned back, I really hope we don’t have to fight him again. Poor guy has been beaten up enough already.

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WoL: So…you and Oschon?

Menphina: Oh, who knows. I love everyone equally.

WoL: …

Menphina: Besides, Dalamud is the best. I LOVE THAT DOG. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GIVING HIM TO ME!!!!!

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How Deryk Solved the Problem of the Ancients

When we talk about the Myths of the Realm finale, I think many of us went in expecting how the story would end.

We knew the Twelve were former Ancients from Venat’s faction. We knew they were getting ready to pass the torch to mankind. Heck, we even knew Deryk was Oschon.

But despite the predictability of the story, I think Myths highlighted a nagging problem Ancient society was plagued with and never could get over: the inability to enjoy life simply for what it was.

When we think about it, the Ancients based their lives on their work and purpose. Once that purpose was done, death awaited. We saw it in Ancient society with the Elpis arc. We saw it with the Ascians, like Emet-Selch and Elidibus and their speeches on duty. We also saw it with the Twelve, who after all these millennia of guiding mankind to stand on their own feet again, decided to call it quits and return to the Star.

Work becomes life, according to the Ancients, and once that work is done, what life is there left to live?

But then Oschon came along.

Like the rest of the Twelve, Oschon (or Deryk, as he called himself) was like the other Ancients. His work was wrapping up, and after a final test for mankind, he was going to return to the Star with his friends like the other Ancients before him. But unlike the rest of the Twelve, rather than observing and keeping communication to a minimum with mankind, he reached out and became one of them - joining their travels, breaking bread at the table, listening to their hopes and dreams.

Though still at work, he got to do something the other Twelve had little chance to do - see the newly created world not from the eyes of a protective deity, but of a man. And when he allowed himself to glimpse a life outside of his work, it awakened a desire to remain. While the other Eleven returned to the Star, Oschon decided to stay, embracing Deryk’s identity and finally taking the time to simply enjoy the world and people he’d spent lifetimes protecting.

In short, Oschon learned a lesson the Ancients ignored - how to see the beauty of life outside of work.

Though the Ancients weren’t wrong in celebrating their purposes and finding joy in what they did, we saw in the Elpis arc and Hermes how damaging it was to make life solely about work. Would Hermes have been as distraught in taking Fandaniel’s seat knowing it didn’t mean the end of his mentor? Could the Eleven have gotten to know their people had they stayed, and thus find new purpose in the world they helped shape? Menphina says in her final battle, “Let’s delight in the simple things,” but does she really allow herself to?

No. Instead, it’s Oschon, the wanderer…the loner. The one who really wasn’t supposed to be around people much, but chose them over his purpose as an Ancient anyways. And despite still having love for the Eleven, he allowed himself to do something no other Ancient (except perhaps Elidibus) could do: remember the Ancient world, but still embrace the new.

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Square, I beseech you.

Add the Twelve’s glams to the game. I need my Azeyma cosplay, please.

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Thinking back to that time when Yoshi P said he didn’t think Emet-Selch would want to be reborn.

Because if we think about it, if Emet-Selch was reborn through the Lifestream, and his soul was put through the Aetherial washing machine, he’d lose his memories of the people he loved.

He’d rather live an eternity in the afterlife with his memories intact than live a thousand lives and forgetting it all.

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Remember the bad timeline that G’raha escaped in Shadowbringers to change the future? The short stories in Lodestone imply that the timeline still exists, and that Midgardsormr is out there helping patch things up.

But with the recent story with Athena and Pandæmonium, since we weren’t in the bad timeline to stop Athena (and also release Hydaelyn from her duty), does that mean that Athena ascended in the bad timeline? And if so, are her and what’s left of Hydaelyn fighting it out in the Aetherial Sea?

Don’t leave me not knowing the answer to this question, SE, come onnnnnnnnn…

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Gotta hand it to the writers for throwing this side dialogue tidbit in there because there’s actually quite a few conversations going on in the medical/psychology field about a bad diet and it’s connection to depression.