The thought has been nagging at me for several months now-- what do we reckon will occur by the end of this Zodiark vs Hydaelyn story arc?
Back in 2013, I half-heartedly joked on the official FFXIV forums that the future final battle between Zodiark and Hydaelyn would reveal a much more sinister plot.. and now I reckon this will become a massive possibility by 6.0. Other thoughts that have been swirling in me meddling mind:
- The scions will make it back to the Source intact but with some consequences
- Estinien will return to a more focal point in the story-- both him and Alphy have always been favs of Yoshi
- Elidibus will evolve into something ... weird
- We will likely do another round of liberations for Dalmasca
- We will also finally be able to access the Garlean capital
- The 6.0 story will sequence into a possible "Back to the Future Past" scenario for 7.0 where we would have to travel back in time to the Allagan Empire era... and I hope this gives us a chance to save Emet in that era.
- Zenos will not die but also evolve into a sort of vessel for Zodiark... and who knows, prior to that we might see a final showdown between him and his father Varis-- yes yes yes-- we all know about his regicide on Varis but stranger things have happened within this wonderful game.
And while we are on the subject, I have to state this-- I am a fan of what the Garlean Empire could be... which is one of the core reasons I've always been very interested in their politics, culture and history. There have been a lot of brilliant debates on the official forums as to the validity of their actions for global conquest, the morality of their deeds and etc etc etc.
However, it must be said that I still do not believe all of them to be mindless territory grabbers plus the popularis faction has the potential to establish a lasting society of equality for all their citizens. The Garleans have had their bad times in ancient times... and in all fairness to them, they did have their own era of extreme suffering as well, in the blistering cold, no less. Today, they have an empire that apparently covers everything the cloud touches in that map --- by the way, anyone really notice the mass of clusters floating above the Garlean capital on the map? See image below... somehow I reckon this as well will be a critical location when 6.0 arrives. Reminds me of the Zilart island in FFXI... we used to refer to it as "sky").
In the end, I can respect the views that they have destroyed lives and upset the social balance of millions of lives on the planet (for instance, I'm still hoping the Devs will continue the questline for Drest so I can help him get back home)... but there are always two sides to a coin, three if we go by the words of the great Terry Pratchett (the edge is the third side). More on this another time but for now... lets just blame it all on Ascian meddling and get back on the main topic.
First off Elidibus and his part on the path to 5.0 MSQ:
He now continues to strike me as being even more sinister than initially imagined. He keeps humming this tune about working towards the salvation of this star (or "dimension") and our part in establishing a vision for a wholesome balance across the Final Fantasy "universe". However, he doesn't really furnish us with clear concrete evidence of what we need to do to achieve this so called "salvation".
What really, really, really worries me is the thought that this chap might actually be "developing" the WoL to become the corporeal vessel for Zordiark. Think about it... Hydaelyn and Zordiark are apparent mirrors of each other, the shadow that accurately reflects the light. Now, remember how Minifilia was able "ascend" to become "one" with Hydaelyn? The specifics are a little more complicated than that but the core matter remains that Milifinia arguably "transcended" to become a part of Hydaelyn. Is this what that creepy punk Elidibus is planning for us?
Not to mention, in the last cutscene for 4.3, Varis reminds him that the eikons cannot be tolerated but he slyly assures the Emperor that it was necessary during that battle with Tsuyu... but wait, didn't Lahabrea consistently babble on and on that the eikons were not to be tolerated under any circumstances? And yet, the Empire had her as an ace up their sleeve all this time.
Interesting.
In addition, his manipulations and "mentorship" with Unukalhai gives me a lot of pause for thought because the more I research his history with the kid, the more I'm convinced he's just using him. Thankfully, I firmly believe the kid is nothing like him and has seemingly now begun to further his own agenda that will likely help the WoL in the future. Nonetheless, lets still keep a weary eye on him... there was a time (when his face was initially revealed), that I even speculated him to be young Solus from the future-past-whatever under the guidance of Elidibus ---dunno, must've been the hair colour. Eventually, we hear his story and how wrong I was... but yeah, I still believe this young man still has his part to play.
That said, Elidibus has obviously been tinkering in world politics for far longer than we imagine... I personally suspect he may have even had involvements with Emet regarding the rise and eventual demise of the Allagan Empire -- then quietly relegated himself to the sidelines for eons until now. He has likely upped his participation a whole notch once the Seventh Astral began for mysterious reasons... and my gut feeling tells me he had a lot of dealings with Venat and other possible Amarout survivors in the past.
Emperor Solus and the far reaching effects of his empire on the Shadowbringers MSQ
This is one Garlean character I have always been eager to delve into. Young, brilliant, charismatic 24 year old military genius becomes a Legatus and nobody bats an eyelid? How did he do it when he only joined the military at age sixteen? Sure, he had the distinguished lineage, the necessary family name and intellect but how did he get his hands on Magitek technology in the first place? There has to be a lot more to their extremely rapid technological advancement than just having Cid's father Midas at his side. Solus/Emet must have been one heck of a guy, with a heck of team around him, and a heck of Cerulean resources at his disposal... and now we all know why-- he was one of the three critical members of the Ascians. However, I will say it again, who were the other members of "Team Solus"?
Perhaps it's just me but I also keep getting the sense that Emet intentionally wanted to exhibit a sort of "Odin-like" figure in his later years as the Garlean Emperor (see image below, I think I posted this a while back)
Which brings me to...
Gaius and his part to play on our path through 5.0:
I cannot stress enough how excited I am about this guy's re-appearance. He will continue to serve as our focal point for our Echo abilities to view a LOT about the past histories of the Empire, Emet/Solus' rise to power, the other Legati, the real agenda of the Ascians, the Frumentarii and so much more.
One more thing... now that we know what he looks like, Nero's resemblance to him is still... compelling... unless, maybe, I took this artwork I found (a while back) too much to heart-- the artist had made Gaius a blondie like Nero.
Here's one other mystery I really want to know about Gaius... is there still something highly unusual he knows about the Twelve and the Ascians? Does he see the WoL, the WoD and other Echo users as unfortunate proxies in the Zodiak vs Hydaelyn "war"? As such, is he planning to give Man back the power to dictate their own actions within this universe (similar to how Vayne Solidor carried out his plans in FFXII?). Back in AAR, he kept emphasizing the notion of the strong ruler, and saying to the WoL some lines along the themes of:
More importantly, I keep sensing that it is through Gaius and his recent (assassinations?) of a few Ascians that we will get to finally understand what the Heart of Sabik really means. When we first fought Gaius and Lahabrea at the Praetorium in 2.0, the Ascian mentions it as being so powerful that even the ancient Allagans didn't decode all its secrets. This still intrigues me...where is the Heart of Sabik now? It stands to reason that it if is even a fraction as powerful as Lahabrea says it is, then it did NOT get destroyed when we defeated Ultima.
So is it in Gaius hands now? Does it have anything to do with abilities to transcend?
Page 15 of my much beloved Encyclopedia Eorzea Volume One establishes that the Echo grants the power to transcend Words, Time and Worlds. The third type of transcendence, "Worlds", is what I think we will really delve into as we begin our path to 5.0... and the Ascians will either be terrified of our ability to use it or will try to use it against us to further their weird ambitions. In the end, I also want to believe this ability will also grant us the avenue to go back in time to the Allagan Empire (to fix things?)... yeah, that could be the foundations of the 6.0 expansion.
Yes indeed... much of this will be fascinating to see unfold.
However, it must be said that I still do not believe all of them to be mindless territory grabbers plus the popularis faction has the potential to establish a lasting society of equality for all their citizens. The Garleans have had their bad times in ancient times... and in all fairness to them, they did have their own era of extreme suffering as well, in the blistering cold, no less. Today, they have an empire that apparently covers everything the cloud touches in that map --- by the way, anyone really notice the mass of clusters floating above the Garlean capital on the map? See image below... somehow I reckon this as well will be a critical location when 6.0 arrives. Reminds me of the Zilart island in FFXI... we used to refer to it as "sky").
In the end, I can respect the views that they have destroyed lives and upset the social balance of millions of lives on the planet (for instance, I'm still hoping the Devs will continue the questline for Drest so I can help him get back home)... but there are always two sides to a coin, three if we go by the words of the great Terry Pratchett (the edge is the third side). More on this another time but for now... lets just blame it all on Ascian meddling and get back on the main topic.
First off Elidibus and his part on the path to 5.0 MSQ:
He now continues to strike me as being even more sinister than initially imagined. He keeps humming this tune about working towards the salvation of this star (or "dimension") and our part in establishing a vision for a wholesome balance across the Final Fantasy "universe". However, he doesn't really furnish us with clear concrete evidence of what we need to do to achieve this so called "salvation".
What really, really, really worries me is the thought that this chap might actually be "developing" the WoL to become the corporeal vessel for Zordiark. Think about it... Hydaelyn and Zordiark are apparent mirrors of each other, the shadow that accurately reflects the light. Now, remember how Minifilia was able "ascend" to become "one" with Hydaelyn? The specifics are a little more complicated than that but the core matter remains that Milifinia arguably "transcended" to become a part of Hydaelyn. Is this what that creepy punk Elidibus is planning for us?
Not to mention, in the last cutscene for 4.3, Varis reminds him that the eikons cannot be tolerated but he slyly assures the Emperor that it was necessary during that battle with Tsuyu... but wait, didn't Lahabrea consistently babble on and on that the eikons were not to be tolerated under any circumstances? And yet, the Empire had her as an ace up their sleeve all this time.
Interesting.
In addition, his manipulations and "mentorship" with Unukalhai gives me a lot of pause for thought because the more I research his history with the kid, the more I'm convinced he's just using him. Thankfully, I firmly believe the kid is nothing like him and has seemingly now begun to further his own agenda that will likely help the WoL in the future. Nonetheless, lets still keep a weary eye on him... there was a time (when his face was initially revealed), that I even speculated him to be young Solus from the future-past-whatever under the guidance of Elidibus ---dunno, must've been the hair colour. Eventually, we hear his story and how wrong I was... but yeah, I still believe this young man still has his part to play.
That said, Elidibus has obviously been tinkering in world politics for far longer than we imagine... I personally suspect he may have even had involvements with Emet regarding the rise and eventual demise of the Allagan Empire -- then quietly relegated himself to the sidelines for eons until now. He has likely upped his participation a whole notch once the Seventh Astral began for mysterious reasons... and my gut feeling tells me he had a lot of dealings with Venat and other possible Amarout survivors in the past.
Emperor Solus and the far reaching effects of his empire on the Shadowbringers MSQ
This is one Garlean character I have always been eager to delve into. Young, brilliant, charismatic 24 year old military genius becomes a Legatus and nobody bats an eyelid? How did he do it when he only joined the military at age sixteen? Sure, he had the distinguished lineage, the necessary family name and intellect but how did he get his hands on Magitek technology in the first place? There has to be a lot more to their extremely rapid technological advancement than just having Cid's father Midas at his side. Solus/Emet must have been one heck of a guy, with a heck of team around him, and a heck of Cerulean resources at his disposal... and now we all know why-- he was one of the three critical members of the Ascians. However, I will say it again, who were the other members of "Team Solus"?
Perhaps it's just me but I also keep getting the sense that Emet intentionally wanted to exhibit a sort of "Odin-like" figure in his later years as the Garlean Emperor (see image below, I think I posted this a while back)
Which brings me to...
Gaius and his part to play on our path through 5.0:
I cannot stress enough how excited I am about this guy's re-appearance. He will continue to serve as our focal point for our Echo abilities to view a LOT about the past histories of the Empire, Emet/Solus' rise to power, the other Legati, the real agenda of the Ascians, the Frumentarii and so much more.
One more thing... now that we know what he looks like, Nero's resemblance to him is still... compelling... unless, maybe, I took this artwork I found (a while back) too much to heart-- the artist had made Gaius a blondie like Nero.
Only a man of power can rightly steer civilizationDoes he still think like that? Will the journey through Shandowbringers expatiate on his new ideals? Plus, I seriously want to know how epic he was in his younger years and how he came to establish himself as Solus' favourite... afterall, he was so held in high esteem by the Emperor that he was given his own brand spanking new legion, the XIVth. In ancient Rome, one had to be a member of the Senate, or from a super influential wealthy family to attain the rank of Legatus; so either Gaius was related to Solus (I'm still hoping for that)... or he had performed such incredible feats for King and country. But more on that another time.
Why do you grovel at the Twelve's feet?
Such power as yours befits a ruler!
More importantly, I keep sensing that it is through Gaius and his recent (assassinations?) of a few Ascians that we will get to finally understand what the Heart of Sabik really means. When we first fought Gaius and Lahabrea at the Praetorium in 2.0, the Ascian mentions it as being so powerful that even the ancient Allagans didn't decode all its secrets. This still intrigues me...where is the Heart of Sabik now? It stands to reason that it if is even a fraction as powerful as Lahabrea says it is, then it did NOT get destroyed when we defeated Ultima.
So is it in Gaius hands now? Does it have anything to do with abilities to transcend?
Page 15 of my much beloved Encyclopedia Eorzea Volume One establishes that the Echo grants the power to transcend Words, Time and Worlds. The third type of transcendence, "Worlds", is what I think we will really delve into as we begin our path to 5.0... and the Ascians will either be terrified of our ability to use it or will try to use it against us to further their weird ambitions. In the end, I also want to believe this ability will also grant us the avenue to go back in time to the Allagan Empire (to fix things?)... yeah, that could be the foundations of the 6.0 expansion.
Yes indeed... much of this will be fascinating to see unfold.