#dawntrail theory

[estinininininen]

Alphinaud and Alisae are going to hit their growth spurt at some point and we're all looking forward to it, but I'm afraid a finger will curl on the monkey's paw: SE decides genetics wins and Alphinaud will walk up in the Dawntrail opening cutscene, smiling and expecting us to be happy he finally looks like an adult,

and he looks like Fourchenault

and we just have to Deal because that would make sense but aaaagh

[stardustdiver]

i have 2 crack theories spawned from lategame dawntrail

between aloalo, the key, the lalafell evacuation from southern isles to alexandria, the laliho milalla in living memory, the second laliho lalafell in tural (ive yet to meet them personally), the aloalo pixie:

the lalafell are serial shard hoppers, they have been to the first too

this one has even less going for it, like throwing darts in the dark, basically all i got for it is the speaker is referred to as She (like, 1:1 parallel with wol:azem pronoun usage ingame), she used the key to escape to alexandria, and with her parents returning her to the source she has gone full circle

krile is the speaker (current)

[varethane]

After hearing the premise of the new normal raid series, I had a wishful thinking theory for something they could do during later tiers of the Arcadion raids.

After they released the first set I'm like 99% sure this is not in the cards for the storyline coming up, but I still can't stop thinking about it........ so I made a comic for the AU world in which this happened. So savage in 2 weeks, eh?

[snapscube]

Pella Peach's current looks for MCH, RDM, and NIN :)

[whitherwanderer]

Galena, a Rusty Reforger & Pyrite, a Deliberate Deadeye feat. @shroudandsands

In one of worlds fourteenfold, a hyune reforger scales the crags of Alexandria's cliffs and ruins in search of precious electrope, artifacts, and other reusable materials. A scope is trained on him, a voice in his ear, coolly reminding him to watch his footing (as if it needed to be said).

The spotter is an ex-hunter who keeps the levin-cursed monsters and defective sentries off his back with a careful eye and a dead aim. She's also his wife, which makes it that much harder for her to watch him test his scavenging prowess over the deep canyons and crumbling spires that scar the land. Trust him as she does, she has her reasons to be wary.

Galena's methods are unusual. Instead of combing the ground, he climbs. The old kingdom's ruins hide valuable artifacts and electrope caches that would be out of reach for most, but more worrying is his choice not to wear a regulator despite the many obvious dangers. Among the reforgers, it's not wholly unusual for someone to refuse a regulator, but those who know the two hyune know well: it's not a choice made lightly.

———

Deep in the heart of Everkeep, Pyrite stalks the alleys of Solution Nine with a portion of the materials her husband gleaned from the old kingdom. It's how he can offer his support for the organization Pyrite now dedicates her time and talents to.

And an ex-hunter always finds ways to keep herself sharp; sentries vanish, dismantled and sold for parts in True Vue's less reputable markets. Weapons from the manufactories on the lower floors go missing and wind up in rebel hands. Credits grease the palms of the right people for the right intelligence and the doors of high clearance warehouses are left unlocked—by accident, of course.

As an agent for the rebel group Oblivion, the regulator Pyrite wears is a compromise allowing her to take advantage of Everkeep's systems while avoiding suspicion. But for all its conveniences, the regulator is also a grave reminder. Should Galena's hands ever slip, all she'll have of him is the recordings and images hidden away on encrypted data shards—assurance that they'd keep their promise never to forget again*.

———

No mourning, and yet no relief from the aching holes in their memories. All they have is the hints of a loss whose shape they can identify by feeling around its dark edges: an empty room, a closet full of clothes too small for either of them. A name that Pyrite herself chose, always lingering in the back of her mind but slipping through it like a sieve. An image of shade—a face that Galena chases through dreams and wakes up with no recollection of.

Loss enough to take immortality and toss it into a canyon. Pain enough to use that immortality as a weapon against the system that stole from them something so precious it becomes their reason and their resolve. Something that would be worth dismantling a miracle. *OOC Note: This was drafted before the Arcadion raids came out, which answers a critical question I had about the regulator mechanics. A person wearing a regulator will, in fact, remember someone who does not wear one after their death. So that final bit in Pyrite's section is wrong! Oh well.

[finalrespite]

If you have any commentary please add in the notes I'd love to see what others have to say about this.

Some of these possibilities may not be mutually exclusive, mind (I think they're funny). I also think it'd be interesting to see how this holds when Dawntrail actually drops.

[mages-ballad]

also my hopes for Solution 9 is that if its ascian related, its that altima and deudalaphon are involved and its funny. like they faked their deaths, let gaius have their masks, and are just kinda chilling and built a whole city. not even interested in the zodiark stuff like theyve just been doing their own thing now.

i dont mind more ascian lore and involvement but i would like to see them no longer in the position of being the Big Bads with this new story arc

[sunnythanalan]

Dawntrail

Okay theory time! This section has huge Endwalker and Dawntrail spoilers so read at your own peril. Also, please help me workshop these ideas because I don't know if I have all the facts correctly.

Okay. I was thinking about Emet making Azem's crystal even after Azem had been thrown out of their seat. I was being angsty about how that must have hurt both Emet and Hyth, since Hyth ultimately sided with team Zodiark. Then I thought about the latest short story in which Hyth reflects on Emet's hurt that Azem has left and not come back in time. They both seem abandoned by Azem, which peaked my interest because until now I always thought there had been a huge blow-up and that Azem had been driven away. But the text refers to Azem trying to find their own answer to the problem and HytHades had hoped they'd return to them once they did that. A tiny spark of hope of Azem coming in clutch and saving the day.

Now. Hear me out here, hear me out. We now know from the few glimpses we have gotten that Solution Nine is way advanced and is a completely different civilization than the others on that continent. There is a theory going around that Solution Nine is actually a "digital" world, a save, if you will. And then in the key art for the Arcadion raid there's what is thought to be believed an Ascian glyph, but it doesn't match up to any of the other glyphs from FFXII that has been used to recognize the other Ascians with, right. But that's because there's only thirteen glyphs from FFXII - so is the fourteenth Azem's?!

AND IF IT IS AZEM'S!!!!! DOES THAT MEAN that Solution Nine is Azem's attempt at saving the ancient's civilization in a backup??

Because! Because Yoshi-p teased us and said it is a bit reminiscent of Garlemald, except Garlemald was red while this one is... purple? That's not an Allagan colour, that's an Ascian colour.

I KNOW I KNOW they said we're moving on from the ancients and the ascians and all that, but a girl can dream right?

[klopford]

My predictions for Dawntrail!

[whyamiherewhosummonedme]

WAIT. REPLAYING SHADOWBRINGERS AND. IN AMAUROT. THEY TALK ABOUT THEIR "NEIGHBORS ACROSS THE SEA" AND HOW THEY WERE AFFECTED FIRST. IT WASN'T JUST AMAUROT.

DAWNTRAIL MAYHAPS?

[stardustdiver]

so.. Yak T'el (Mamook) has been battered with meteors which changes the aether in the area

the location on the world map points to solution 9 as western North America

ynow what else is in western North America? Nevada

YNOW WHATS IN NEVADA?

AREA 51👽🛸

thanks for coming to my TED talk

[lowtidelizard]

Some random musings and thoughts about Dawntrail below the cut, based on what we know so far! I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts - I love discussing theories!

The team have mentioned that the story will feel like two distinct arcs which connect to each other. My thoughts are that the first arc will be the succession part of the plot, culminating with the Valigarmanda trial (Wuk Lamat seemed to imply that this was very important as part of the succession process, perhaps even being its culmination). The second part I am guessing will deal with Solution Nine.

I think it's very possible that the twins may switch out of the party after the first part of the plot, and that we may join forces with Thancred, Urianger and Koana (Wuk Lamat's brother, who appears to be a MCH and is almost certainly the one who recruited Thancred and Urianger). It almost feels like the twins are only there to fill Trust spots, and the fact that they're not on the poster makes me think they won't have major roles. However, I could be wrong!

I am guessing that the four claimants to the throne are Wuk Lamat, Koana, the Mamool Ja shown on the poster, and Erenville. Their positions on the poster make an almost perfect compositional square, and we know that Erenville is hiding something.

I don't necessarily think that Wuk Lamat will end up as the ruler of Tural. She clearly has a lot of insecurities - I would argue that she has put her name forward for the greater good, rather than having any ambition to rule herself. However, her story could go several different ways, and she may develop in a way that allows her to overcome this.

I am guessing the Mamool Ja on the poster is the "warmonger" sibling that Wuk Lamat mentioned. He might even be a blood relation of Gulool Ja Ja. Could he perhaps see himself as more "worthy" of the throne than his adopted siblings?

If G'raha and Y'shtola do come along (as the trailer would seem to imply), I could see G'raha either finding something else in the Baldesion Annex, or finding something in his research that makes him decide to follow - or warn - us. As Y'shtola is also in Old Sharlayan, it's not too farfetched to suggest they might come over together.

I don't have much to say about the lady at the top of the poster, other than I am guessing she'll be connected to Solution Nine in some way. Solution Nine itself is interesting, even just because of its name. What problem was it created to solve? Was it the ninth iteration of a possible solution?

[lilas]

6 and 16 for your Dawntrail WoL/OC questions pls. ♥

Dawntrail Questions, hi and thank you Z! <3

6. How did they feel about competing against Thancred and Urianger?

Answered here!

16. What are their thoughts about the Key?

Avi’li is quite keen to test its capabilities actually. He’s already had talks with Raha, Shtola, and Krile speculating about its use. I’ve said before that Avi’li is secretly a mad scientist, so I imagine he actually wants to rush to use the Key and G’raha is being the voice of reason and is like “hey hey hey how about… we actually know what we’re doing first” to which Avi and Shtola are both 😩😒 at

But I’m sure the Key will come into play real soon. :>

[singing-swan]

I keep wondering which shard exactly Alexandria is from. We get to directly compare the disaster it went through due to the lightning to the flood of light, so it was big enough to be a Calamity. Which would make it the Twelfth. The thing is that the Twelfth got rejoined during the Second Calamity, so there shouldn't be *anything* left from it. So it's either something can be left of a shard after it's been rejoined, or it's a completely different shard. In the latter case, maybe the people who brought the world-traveling key were from the Twelfth and accidentally brought something with them that caused a similar calamity to their own when they fled?

Either way brings interesting possibilities, both for the worldbuilding and future storylines, I hope they do something with it 👀

[etheirys]

the theories about Solution Nine are spinning in my head at quantum speed (potential spoilers under cut)

credit.

And then there's the ancient language used which people have already translated on signs.

And then the Ascian tower which people are thinking Altima or Deudalaphon (Altima is the seat of aesthetics and art, Deudalaphon is the seat of architecture and invention).

Other things that might be important: not only is Zodiark dead and gone, we've also figured out in previous patches how to un-temper people. Food for thought. 🔍

Yoshi-P did say everything was going to change in 7.0 and "an insanely advanced city (with all tech included) rejoining itself to the Source in a reverse Crystarium" certainly fits.

And lastly why this seems to be a shard and not a future timeline crashing into ours, Emet said, "Some of the civilizations in the reflections will surprise you."

[asteriasfallingstarsandtears]

Theory/Hope of mine for Dawntrail:

Solution Nine is on another Reflection

Thoughts:

Emet said some of the other Reflection's civilizations would surprise us.

Terra was a mirror world for FF9 that attempted to "join" to Gaia.

We haven't seen most of the Ascians since ARR.

Anyone on another Reflection may not know the plan was torpedoed by WoL/Azem (just imagining the sighs from them being "worst former coworker ever").

Y'shtola is still looking for a way to Reflection hop and we haven't seen her reasoning for coming to Tural.

We just had Pandaemonium as a raid series.

We were told FF9 is important to the story, but they can't/won't tell us why.

Before anyone says anything, I don't need this to be correct. I'm having fun. I like to theory craft and think of different possibilities even if they don't come true.