story predictions for shadowbringers

[Iscah]

I was thinking about the scene from the trailer with the WoL stumbling alone in the wasteland... and I'm going to predict that this is the Lv78 trial.

Something happens in the Lv77 dungeon (because LvX7 dungeons tend to end badly for certain comrades) and we're isolated from the other Scions. Maybe they're trapped or apparently killed and/or their souls finally snap back into their bodies on the Source. Anyway.

So stuff happens, we're on our own now with a taunting gremlin, and Innocence (probably a recurring appearance before this point) attacks. Cue the theoretically-solo trial fight.

[Mansion]

I was thinking about the scene from the trailer with the WoL stumbling alone in the wasteland... and I'm going to predict that this is the Lv78 trial.

Something happens in the Lv77 dungeon (because LvX7 dungeons tend to end badly for certain comrades) and we're isolated from the other Scions. Maybe they're trapped or apparently killed and/or their souls finally snap back into their bodies on the Source. Anyway.

So stuff happens, we're on our own now with a taunting gremlin, and Innocence (probably a recurring appearance before this point) attacks. Cue the theoretically-solo trial fight.

I came to think that the generic trailer in the wasteland would not be in the gameplay. It made more sense for me to read it as a symbolical scene rather than an actual excerpt from the MSQ.
And it "solves" the problem we had on the "history must be unwritten" ; for me it's a generic illustration of the Flood of Light that has been caused by everything we did so far; hence the canon jobs switching (plus it shows us actually defeating Zenos/Elidibus which did not happen in game). It shows a possible future (the win or lose, the path leads only to oblivion) that is not actually happening, but our switching to WoD is the solution to avoid it.
I really think the trailer was careful designed to lure us on a track, while it was just a cinematic setting to hint at big themes of the expansion.

My new food for thought is the "flashbacks" of the Scions in the General Trailer, and the mention of convoluted time and space, Urianger seeing the future in the Launch Trailer. For now I just thought that Time passes at different paces, and when we finally get on the First perhaps our Scions have been there for months (or years). That explains why we see Rak Tikka burning in a trailer but it is already burnt in game.

[EdwinLi]

I was thinking about the scene from the trailer with the WoL stumbling alone in the wasteland... and I'm going to predict that this is the Lv78 trial.

Something happens in the Lv77 dungeon (because LvX7 dungeons tend to end badly for certain comrades) and we're isolated from the other Scions. Maybe they're trapped or apparently killed and/or their souls finally snap back into their bodies on the Source. Anyway.

So stuff happens, we're on our own now with a taunting gremlin, and Innocence (probably a recurring appearance before this point) attacks. Cue the theoretically-solo trial fight.

I suspect the wasteland is actually Eden or the beginning of its creation. They shown us a clip of what Eden will be like before we begin the 8 member raid storyline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ZimOkMVnk

We know that at some point Eden will be created from the trailer due to the symbol of Eden covering the First but that is still late into the storyline. Still, notice there is a very large dead Sin Eater in the background of the sample video they shown us. I suspect that maybe the boss you speak about.

[Daralii]

I suspect the wasteland is actually Eden or the beginning of its creation. They shown us a clip of what Eden will be like before we begin the 8 member raid storyline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ZimOkMVnk

We know that at some point Eden will be created from the trailer due to the symbol of Eden covering the First but that is still late into the storyline. Still, notice there is a very large dead Sin Eater in the background of the sample video they shown us. I suspect that maybe the boss you speak about.

That thing is Eden.



Her summon animation, complete with the same glyph and clock seen in the launch trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Nqt0B3MHQ

[Seraphor]

I don't think Edwin meant the wasteland itself IS Eden, but that the wasteland is the setting for Eden, not the setting for a trial.

But... I don't think that wasteland is the same wasteland from the trailer.
Eden's wasteland looks more like The Burn, while the wasteland in the trailer looks like somewhere in Kholusia.

[Dualblade]

Having watched Ethys's new lore tore video for Il Mheg, I have a new theory/prediction for the First.

So we already have evidence of worship of Light and Darkness on the First rather than of things like the Twelve. However we also have something slightly different that also implies worship in Il Mheg: Mithai Glorianda, the tower that the WoL/D goes to to fight Titania in the benchmark and it seems in the full game. If Ethys is right about Mithai being a derivative of Mithras, a Sun God (Armenian I think?) And the name would mean "For the Glory of Mithrai".

Now why do I think this is important? Because Eorzea also has a Sun god: Azim, and with him Nhaama for the Moon. They warred endlessly until their own creations for said war started to make some peace with one another, causing the two gods to put aside their differences and leave the world (or that part anyway) in their children's care. It is said they left the mortal world...but given that we have multiple realities on Hydaelyn, its possible they instead left to the First where they once again became objects of worship, this time of Light and Dark.

On top of this quite a few people believe that the two might in fact be dragons, two of Midgarsomr's first brood. Bahamut and Tiamat are sometimes ponder'd on given that they are the Dawn and Dusk dragons, however we also have Azdaja and Vrta, the two whom we have only seen in art outside of the game. Meanwhile on Norvrandt there were not any dragons...until again recently when in the lore tore video Ethys's found The Church in Dammroe Field, whose destroy'd building housed a broken dragon egg, and nearby what seems to be a B rank dragon hunt called Vulpangue. If Azim and Nhaama are in fact Azdaja and Vrta, that would also explain why dragons are able to appear on the First as well.

And of course finally, if its true that Azim and Nhaama became worshipped gods of Light and Dark on the First, we may very well end up fighting both of them (rather than fighting Hydaelyn. At least not yet for those who really believe she's evil.) Azim could possibly be our final boss for Shadowbringers, with Nhaama maybe being the 5.3 boss as while darkness comes back to the First it brings with it those who would use it for purposes less noble than our own.

[JeanneOrnitier]

My new food for thought is the "flashbacks" of the Scions in the General Trailer, and the mention of convoluted time and space, Urianger seeing the future in the Launch Trailer. For now I just thought that Time passes at different paces, and when we finally get on the First perhaps our Scions have been there for months (or years). That explains why we see Rak Tikka burning in a trailer but it is already burnt in game.

I'm pretty certain of this too. In the trailer it sounds like Alphinaud is the one who says "we've been fighting the Sin Eaters for nigh on a hundred years."

[QT_Melon]

Another Wild Theory: Aether is actually a "finite resource" meant to sustain ONE version of itself... not the various shards now in existence

[Daralii]

I don't think Edwin meant the wasteland itself IS Eden, but that the wasteland is the setting for Eden, not the setting for a trial.

But... I don't think that wasteland is the same wasteland from the trailer.
Eden's wasteland looks more like The Burn, while the wasteland in the trailer looks like somewhere in Kholusia.

I was referring to what they called a large, dead Sin Eater in the background, when it's just the top of Eden.

[MrThinker]

Having watched Ethys's new lore tore video for Il Mheg, I have a new theory/prediction for the First.

So we already have evidence of worship of Light and Darkness on the First rather than of things like the Twelve. However we also have something slightly different that also implies worship in Il Mheg: Mithai Glorianda, the tower that the WoL/D goes to to fight Titania in the benchmark and it seems in the full game. If Ethys is right about Mithai being a derivative of Mithras, a Sun God (Armenian I think?) And the name would mean "For the Glory of Mithrai".

Now why do I think this is important? Because Eorzea also has a Sun god: Azim, and with him Nhaama for the Moon. They warred endlessly until their own creations for said war started to make some peace with one another, causing the two gods to put aside their differences and leave the world (or that part anyway) in their children's care. It is said they left the mortal world...but given that we have multiple realities on Hydaelyn, its possible they instead left to the First where they once again became objects of worship, this time of Light and Dark.

On top of this quite a few people believe that the two might in fact be dragons, two of Midgarsomr's first brood. Bahamut and Tiamat are sometimes ponder'd on given that they are the Dawn and Dusk dragons, however we also have Azdaja and Vrta, the two whom we have only seen in art outside of the game. Meanwhile on Norvrandt there were not any dragons...until again recently when in the lore tore video Ethys's found The Church in Dammroe Field, whose destroy'd building housed a broken dragon egg, and nearby what seems to be a B rank dragon hunt called Vulpangue. If Azim and Nhaama are in fact Azdaja and Vrta, that would also explain why dragons are able to appear on the First as well.

And of course finally, if its true that Azim and Nhaama became worshipped gods of Light and Dark on the First, we may very well end up fighting both of them (rather than fighting Hydaelyn. At least not yet for those who really believe she's evil.) Azim could possibly be our final boss for Shadowbringers, with Nhaama maybe being the 5.3 boss as while darkness comes back to the First it brings with it those who would use it for purposes less noble than our own.

Eorzea's sun god is Azeyma, who is female, while their moon god is Menphina, also female. Azim and Nhaama are the gods of the Au Ra from the Azim Steppe.