#anyway. that being said. fordola get behind me

[zurazakis]

i'm gonna be real i don't think there's a single ffxiv antagonist i've encountered so far who was right, or there is i certainly cannot think of them. after careful pondering it's like. honestly i barely want to consider ysayle an antagonist because it was so very short-lived, she had good intentions from the start & iirc a lot of what went wrong wasn't her doing specifically & she clearly feels guilty for it. i would not afford any other antagonist this because they are, in fact, actual antagonists who do wish for destruction or whatever it is that they cause. your starting point can be as laudable as possible if you descend into unforgivable deeds it doesn't change anything of what you've done. these people are still dead. these horrors have still been committed. i adore fordola, she's just a kid & life is a nightmare, & i am glad she is given the second chance she's given, but she was an antagonist & she was wrong. many such cases & denying it will not do anyone's reading comprehension any good

[brineffxiv]

In Radz-at-Han, Vrtra (via Varshahn) is preparing to make his grand announcement.

I can feel his fear and trepidation; no less than this great calamity could have prompted him to reveal his secret, so afraid was he of his people rejecting him.

It will be alright. They will see how much you care for them.

It is a lovely speech. His people do not yet know him, but they will. And they are willing to extend the same trust to him that he extends to them in this moment. Together, they will get through this.

That it would have. I hope that wherever she is now - the aetherial sea, or perhaps reborn? - that she knows where the path she started us down has led us.

Oh great. These fuckers again.

To his credit, Fourchenault recovers quickly when he discovers he's going to have to negotiate policy with a Great Wyrm. He quickly and succinctly gives a brief explanation of the Final Days, and what the Forum has been planning.

...I am both surprised and relieved. It's clear I need to reassess my view of Sharlayan; I was convinced that, being so insular, they would only seek to rescue their own people. Fourchenault has risen in my estimation. Marginally.

Vrtra will meet and discuss the details of this plan of evacuation with the Forum members in Meghaduta. I am heartened to learn that the decision will ultimately be up to the individuals to decide; Vrtra truly is a good leader.

Nidhana has caught up with us: she has a theory to share!

Y'know, I asked that exact question when Y'shtola first said they didn't have any aether. Without it, how do they exist at all?

Nidhana's theory, then, is based on the fact that strong negative emotions trigger the transformation. She posits that akasa is the alternate energy that the beasts are animated by.

That... would make sense. Because my flower seems to be influenced by the same force, and...

Aaaand it just exploded into black dust.

Well, if akasa is the force behind the flower's color-changing effect, then I think it's safe to say that there's something really fucked up influencing our surroundings right now.

*narrows eyes*

...Didn't Hydaelyn say that the flower would guide me? Or something to that effect?

That seems to imply... That Hydaelyn knows akasa is the force behind the Final Days. That She knew all the way back in Labyrinthos.

Why...

Okay, this doesn't make any sense. Because She may be incredibly frustrating, but She's not evil. ...Is She? That doesn't make sense either. She made the Loporrits out of love for us. She gave us a backup plan. If She knows what's causing the Final Days, why would She let us run about in circles trying to figure the answer out?? She must know about the akasa connection, because literally the only thing the flower does is react to it. Why else give it to me??

Is this like the Forum? Like. She literally can't tell me? But why? What rule could possibly constrain a being like Her?

This is... Really fucking fishy. I don't like this. I have a really bad feeling.

Yeah. And now I don't even have the flower to guide me.

Oh look I suddenly have a million (five) quests to distract me, better go do them...

Sadly the only classes I have at 90 are Sage and Paladin, so those are the only ones I can complete. Everything else I can only do up to level 87.

But, I did notice something curious while completing the Healer quest?

Fordola clearly sees the soul of Charlet, the man who became the blasphemy, walk off to join those of their deceased friends... According to everything Y'shtola said, this should not be possible? There should be nothing left of his soul? And yet there is. I am leery of getting my hopes up, but maybe the souls of those changed are not completely destroyed after all?

A mystery...

Anyway. I have a dinner to attend.

We have to remember, what we saw in Amaurot was end-stage. It is what is coming, but we still have time to stop it. Before things get that bad.

And now we understand why half the star was willing to give up their lives to summon Zodiark, don't we?

No, Y'shtola, you've got that backwards. Zodiark stopped the Final Days. Hydaelyn was the one who sundered everything in the process of subduing Him.

But, that's besides the point. Hydaelyn won't - I'm starting to suspect can't - tell us anything more. We're going to have to find our way from here without Her.

This is why I need to stop solving all my problems with murder.

What.

...But it might. There might be some fragment of his soul still in the Crystal Tower. Well, goddamn.

And so, I will go to the First. Y'shtola will seek to contact Hydaelyn in the aetherial sea. Alphinaud will rendezvous with the various world leaders and ascertain how far the Final Days are progressing. Estinien will--

????

Emet-Selch?

Are you...?

Hooooly Shit.

You can see me. You're not just narrating: you're watching me.

...And you know something I don't.

[motheatenscarf]

I think I'm almost done with Post-Shadowbringers stuff

I just did Paglth'an, so here are some catchup thoughts.

Holy shit, Alisaie figured out the cure for Tempering and between her, G'raha, Y'shtola, and Master Matoya, they've figured out how to mass produce this shit so that Tempering is basically no longer an obstacle. Go team!! Ga Bu's! little! voice! He sounds like he's about to ask if please, sir, he can he have some more porridge. Tragic little urchin. Outright Dickensian. So cute ;_; But more importantly,

This has led to the Alliance leaders finally, F I N A L L Y, making peace with and inviting the Beast Tribes to the table. They all seemed to start moving in on it at the same time, but credit still goes to Lyse imo for being the first one to insist, no, we mean everyone gets a seat at the table with the Ala Mhigan republic they're creating. Granted, they modled that on the republic Aymeric built and he was also talking to the Vanu, so. My goodest noodles. I love them so much! I liked Merlwyb getting some character development, but also the entire time she was talking about how to make amends to the Kobolds, I just sat there going, "Land back. You can give their land back. Land back???" But she managed to get them to agree to join up anyway, so... fine :T

Estinien's back! \o/ And he's maybe staying this time? We freed Tiamat and watching Talia, Estinien, and Alphinaud try to figure out how to put a software update on a 3,000 year old phone was way funnier than it had any right to be. Buncha dingdongs. Also, holy shit, Estinien meeting Alisaie was everything I hoped it would be and more. He mistook her for Alphinaud and gave her a noogie. She fucking H A T E S him. It was clear she was envisioning a heroic knight based on Alphinaud's descriptions and then Estinien made the worst mistake of his life. Amazing restraint on her part that she only yelled at him, I thought for sure that was the end for him. But he's actually grown a lot and had a good moment with Fordola where he basically said, "There are enough assholes out there who are good at killing like you and me, but what the world NEEDS is idealists like Alphinaud who actually plan to BUILD something out of the ashes we leave behind." Out of the Scions, I think Estinien is the one who groks Talia the most for this reason alone. That mentality of, I am not good. But you are. I was mostly joking when I said Estinien is her best friend/wingman now and he doesn't get a say in this, but yeah, they would definitely be the "We still never talk sometimes" kind of friends who can just chill in comfortable silence because they're on such a similar wavelength. Which I will say, did make me start to wonder about him and Aymeric and that very gay religious art way he was carried back to Ishgard. Like, oh no, do they maybe have some history there? But then Estinien said, verbatim, "I don't want to go to the Alliance meeting, Aymeric will be there and I don't want to be lectured," so... probably not! Also, the one instance where Talia can't relate to Estinien. Keeping the people you care about at arms' length because you're scared to let anyone in after what you've lost? Tired. Recklessly devoting yourself body and soul to protecting the people you care about because you'd rather die than be alone again after what you've lost? Wired. Get on her level, Estinien, in this house we listen to the Moogles' advice that the fuel powering dark edgelord shit is love.

Anyway, with the Tempering cure in the works, a LOT is shifting in the status quo, which I like. Fandaniel is boring and continues to be just... the fucking most, and I'm tired of him. I'm so tired of him. I have thoughts, but that's for another post.

Zenos keeps making a big deal about wanting a new weapon and they keep deliberately not showing it, and I know Reaper was introduced in Endwalker, so I think that's what they're teasing there, and if he winds up going Reaper I am going to SCREAM. He's already Talia's dark mirror and I already headcanon that her dumb Dark Knight sword that's too big for her was yoinked out of his stupid golf bag. So if he just goes "uno reverse, bitch!" and is now copying her by going Reaper, they are going to be in danger of being legit frenemies and I don't know how to feel about that! That is the exact kind of escalating rivalry I've wanted out of a good nemesis for her!

But also like, Zenos' plans seem so fucking stupid. I don't know what he's got in the works with Fandaniel, he says all he wants is to fight the WoL again, but I don't get how facilitating the apocalypse accomplishes that?

Like, buddy, if you want a fight, roll up and ask her. I brought a character who started her existence as a fucking Sith into this game, you are never gonna find another WoL more eager to drop whatever she's doing just to kick your ass.

[sword-and-lance]

((so anyway about Werlyt, MASSIVE AMOUNT OF RAMBLING SALT UNDER THE CUT

I’ll preface this by saying that I know that given the kinda shit quality of the earlier stuff that there wasn’t...much they could do to make this cap off in a satisfactory manner

at least they aimed fairly high on the emotional stuff and in isolation without the previous bullshit hanging over it all the final cutscene with the Diamond Weapon is about as good as one could ask for I suppose

also the cutscene cinematography on a technical level was really on-point this time around--I don’t even have any qualifications for that statement, it was just real nice lol

...BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT

Japan if you could stop doing an imperialism apologia for FIVE FUCKING MINUTES--

this smacks of the whole shit with Hi/en (trying to not have that show in the tag I am not in the fucking mood lol) and the Xaela, like “oh but the author behind the OOC curtain people saaaaaaay they’re fine with [really shitty thing] so it’s okaaaaaaay”

like...it wouldn’t bug me quite so fucking much if we weren’t literally just given lip service as to oh he feels sorry now :( all while he’s...insinuating himself back into a leadership position over the people he severely severely fucked over for years

and...no one says anything about how this is kind of fucking weird and maybe you should sit this one fucking out, Gaius, we saw what you did the last time you were allowed access to a bunch of children and that was one of the more kinda fucked up war crimes

no emotional nuance here, just “oh he says he’s sorry so clearly no one is ever allowed to be mad at him again! 8D”

like holy fuck you even had elfboy there going oh yes clearly my wife and children getting killed is exactly equivalent to my oppressor losing his kids so I Can’t Even Be Mad

even though those are...not the same situations in any manner beyond “kids are dead” holy shit, one involves being dehumanized so badly that the people doing that shit to you don’t even think you count as a person anymore so who cares if you die

...the other one is your own fucking bullshit ideology coming back to bite you and everyone around you in the ass

and I knooooow that you only have so much time in a questline to both advance the plot and cover situational nuances, but

do y’all think that the horrors of imperialism are just something you can handwave off because you just say you’re sorry, Japan

do you think that just saying sorry magically means that no one can reasonably be mad at you anymore

honestly it’s that lack of nuance that is just killing me here I think--Fordola for instance is quite openly not liked still by a bunch of Ala Mhigans for her role in their Imperial oppression, it’s outright stated (I think) more than once that we won’t try to kill you but we’re not gonna forgive you for hurting us either, and there’s a lot of interesting ideas there about how yes just endlessly spilling blood in vengeance is not the best idea but also this doesn’t mean that you somehow have to forgive people just because they’re sorry--and holy shit I don’t even particularly like Fordola as a person (though she’s a great character I will say) and I’m saying this jfc

...and then we have this whole thing with Gaius which just yeets all that nuance out the window because oh the hot man is sad :( it would be so mean to still be mad at him :( he said he’s sorry :(

and that’s not even getting into him being oh-so-shocked at...a number of things that practically every fucking Legion including his what the hell were doing for years and years, which makes him look either wildly disingenuous or just immensely fuckin stupid

and the villain just remained a goofy cartoony cardboard cutout until the end, and not in the fun way either, just in the wow so this is what you have to do to make Gaius look sympathetic huh way

like holy shit I’m almost wishing you had just left the guy alone instead of doing this questline around him honestly, that was infuriating))

[gegenji]

Shadowbringers Ending Tangent

----------------- WARNING!! -----------------

This is all highly spoilery and talks about the information provided during the last stretches of the expansion up to and including both the final battle and the aftermath thereof. Therefore this is all going in a Read More, and I highly advise not clicking unless you’ve completed the Main Scenario. Or you don’t mind spoilers, of course.

You have been warned!

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, I want to discuss two plot points and an amusing musing to wrap things up. The big two, however, are as follows:

Who is the Warrior of Light?

What is the Nature of the Echo?

One leads into the other, and I’ll include a couple screenshots for reference. At least for the first part. The second is more personal theory than anything that was overtly (or perhaps subtly) provided by the expansion itself, and thus has no real evidence to screenshot. Still, I want to throw it all out there for folks to think about (or just tell me I’m dumb and thinking way too hard about things, either or)!

So, to begin...

Who is the Warrior of Light?

With the lead-up to the final battle with Solus/Emet Selch/Hades, a lot of things got thrown at us very quickly. But there’s a few things that got mentioned both here and in Amaurot (the section of the Tempest, not the dungeon itself) that I think give us some insight into who the Warrior of Light is - as well as who they were.

First and foremost, we learn that Ardbert is basically the First’s version of the Warrior of Light, or - more precisely - a sundered fragment of them. It was mentioned that his aether has the same hue as the WoL’s by the Amaurotine shade who talks to them in the “Amaurot DMV” as I like to call it. We already know - thanks to Solus’ demonstration in the Crystal Tower - that Hydaelyn’s power is such that it can split one into many, lesser fragments (which is what caused the Sundering). The Warrior of Light made up of seven fragments of themself rejoined - and it’s the eighth from Ardbert himself that allows them to be able to contain the overwhelming Light of the five Wardens they absorbed and bring it to bear against Hades.

But it’s the other bits that follow hints to what the original form of the Warrior of Light was prior to the Sundering:

This is more subtle, but the clincher is the moment I’m sure everyone remembers (as it’s a supremely awesome scene!):

Given this scene after Ardbert’s rejoining with the Warrior of Light and - more importantly - Emet’s reaction to it along with the hintings our shade friend made, I think it’s pretty obvious who the WoL was prior to the sundering: Emet’s friend who spoke to you in the DMV - Hythlodaeus.

Perhaps there was more to the Shade being aware than Emet just thinking “oh, they’d figure it out.” Perhaps there was a bit of resonance as the Amaurotine recognized itself in the Warrior of Light, and in the faint echo of Ardbert. And it was that which helped allow them to become aware enough to gain awareness despite being an arcane doppelganger. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it and Emet thinking Hythlodaeus would figure it out was enough.

But there’s other tidbits that I think also provide a bit more context on who this Amaurotine is beyond just “Emet’s Pal.” During the exploration of the area, it’s revealed that one of the Fourteen - the leaders of the city - is doing something heretofore unprecedented and stepping down from their position. This leader is never named and nothing is ever said about them. We know from Solus’ side-conversations that the rest of the Fourteen (of whom our Big Three Ascians were members) imbue the star with its own will and create Zodiark - and are tempered by him in the process.

The Fourteenth, however, escapes this. Whether they’re involved in the summoning of Hydaelyn to counter Zodiark, I do not know. I believe not, but the Amaurotine in question being tempered by Hydaelyn could explain the Blessing of Light. After all, Ifrit claims the WoL “belongs to another” - though the Echo itself seems to block tempering in general anyway.

This could explain why the Warrior of Light is so strong. It’s not just that they’re 8 rejoined Amaurotine fragments, they’re the fragments of one of the Fourteen - someone on the same power level as the Big Three. Perhaps that’s why they’re so darn good at everything.

And, to lead into my next point - and my personal conjecture - why they have the Echo.

What is the Echo?

We know that all the Ascians have the power of the Echo, and the Echo is a keystone for how their powers work. We also know that the Big Three are the survivors of the Sundering, and they flaunt how they know how we don’t truly understand what the Echo actually is. And I think I know why:

The Echo is a manifestation of Amaurotine aether.

When the Amaurotine died or were sacrificed or still living at the point Hydaelyn caused the Sundering, they and their aether were split across the Reflections. And it’s the fragmented manifestation of them that results in the Echo. At least, that’s my theory anyway.

After all, the Amaurotine were ageless and undying prior to the Sundering according to Emet. Wouldn’t an imperfect version of this allow for, say, one’s essence to survive beyond death and move to a new host? The soul is “too powerful” to return to the Lifestream. 

Also, the Amaurotine’s aether was so great that they could Create (read: summon) and have their creations (read: Primals) live just off their aether instead of needing to take it from people and the planet. And without being tempered (as I believe Zodiark and Hydaelyn were just on a scale so vast that their Will overwhelms even Amaurotine resolve). Having even a bit of that aetheric capability - or overbearing Will - could be what prevents people with the Echo from being tempered. And it could explain why Ysayle - who had the Echo - was able to so easily manifest as Shiva as well as maintain her sense of self during it.

Thirdly, even despite speaking a language that no one present at Amaurot could speak, all the Scions understood what was being said. And the Amaurotine shades understand what is being said in turn. A preternatural ability to speak and understand all languages. Sound familiar?

It was my original belief that to have the Echo manifest requires that the original Amaurotine involved to be exceptionally skilled or powerful (hence why Ardbert apparently also had the ability, which links to my “one of the Fourteen” theory) and/or that enough Amaurotine aether is in a person that the skill/power threshold needed is lower. Hence why we are seeing people manifesting the Echo on the Source - seven rejoinings means that people are nearly half-Amaurotine at this point, so the more powerful Amaurotine souls are manifesting the Echo.

Taking this further, it’s feasible that all the Echo-users are the souls of the strongest of the Amaurotine - the Fourteen. Which would also explain why they’re so rare - as there would be just fourteen souls (barring uplifting through Ascian interference or replicating that aetheric energy through Resonance - though I have a pet theory that Zenos might actually be one of the Fourteen as well and was “inactive” due to being born a Garlean) that could be strong enough to make it manifest. After all, we only know of five (the Warrior of Light, Minfilia, Krile, Arenvald, and Ysayle) that were 100% not induced (unlike Fordola and Zenos, and the sahagin priest could very well have been uplifted by the Ascians, though could be the sixth if not). Adding the Big Three, that’s eight out of fourteen - leaving six unaccounted for.

Six (or five, if the sahagin counts) who might get revealed as the story unfolds - perhaps as Elidibus’ ‘Warriors of Light’ he threatened to send at our heroes at the very end of the MSQ. And I wouldn’t put it past SE to have the biggest players all be of these original Fourteen. Hence my pet theory of Zenos being one as, after all, he had the same treatment as Fordola yet has much higher capability - such as the body-hopping. And, if we want to go full theorycrafting and believe that being born Garlean inhibits Echo capability like this, perhaps our other major Garlean player Gaius is a latent Fourteen member.

Again, this is all conjecture based on what’s been presented thus far and has no real concrete proof behind it. However, I think I might be onto something with all this and thus my desire to just dump it all out for others to see and think on. Maybe provide more information that could prove or disprove my theory! I’m honestly curious to see what people think about it, so feel free to comment/reblog with your own thoughts!

And now for that Amusing Musing.

With that very last cutscene in Garlemald at the end of the MSQ, I’m getting a funny feeling that Zenos is going to try to do what he did with Shinryu but on a much bigger scale. After all, he just found out that Hydaelyn and Zodiark are Primals. And he’s out to get the Best Battle Ever with his War Crush, the Warrior of Light.

So I’m banking on him absorbing and (perhaps attempting and failing to) controlling Zodiark. And the Warrior of Light is forced - either by Zenos himself or as the only possible way to deal with him - to do the same with Hydaelyn. Which, of course, leads to the climatic final battle between the two. A titanic clashing of two god-men wielding the powers of the Two Greatest Primals.

... Please look forward to it.