Tales from the Shadows

I want Varis to come back and tell us all about old man Solus. He must have lived a miserable youth if that confrontation was anything to go by.

Also, white hair. Now'm really curious about Hades' original face and body... and what the heck they'll do with all those Solus clones just kinda sitting around.

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Originally Posted by Gula

I want Varis to come back and tell us all about old man Solus. He must have lived a miserable youth if that confrontation was anything to go by.

Also, white hair. Now'm really curious about Hades' original face and body... and what the heck they'll do with all those Solus clones just kinda sitting around.

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It makes me want to see how an Ancient truly looked like behind the robes and mask now way more than before~

This was definitely a loretastic Tale! Additional insights into life in Amaurot are definitely welcome, as are snippets of insight into the lives of our favorite omnicidal maniacs back when they were normal (if rather above-average) people.

It did bring up a few very puzzling things, though! The Underworld, for instance... Is this supposed to be the Lifestream? If so, is it the SAME Lifestream we know? It appears that there's a cycle of life and death involving the Underworld... are the Ancients themselves, being immortal beings, not a part of it? Or are they still subject to it on the rare occasions when they do die, or are born?

And the fact that Creations have no souls (unless a stray soul gets tangled up in the Creation process)... Zodiark and Hydaelyn are both Creations, as well - does that mean they have no souls? Or were they, perhaps given souls deliberately? Perhaps this is why the sacrifice of half the Ancients was necessary, so their souls could become Zodiark's soul? As for contemporary Creations (Primals, basically) - do they have souls? Or are they just cleverly designed to appear as though they have souls? If they do have souls, do those souls persist when they are not currently summoned, so the Primal gets the same soul each time?

It may be significant, that in contemporary times the idea of creating a Soul doesn't seem to be that big a deal (the Heavensward Relic being one example), whereas the Ancients considered it to be flat-out impossible. This may be due to the way that the current Lifestream is constantly dispersing and assembling souls - soulstuff may simply be more malleable now?

And the immortal bird... I definitely think this is meant to be the Phoenix that inspired the legends that lead to both Suzaku's evolution and Lousouix's en-Primaling. Well, probably. I mean, unless Hades failed to put it down, it doesn't appear as though the poor thing had much of a chance of getting itself widely known. Maybe Lahabrea made another soulless version, later. And speaking of Lahabrea, I can't help but wonder whether this was truly an "accident". Could the guy have incorporated a soul deliberately? Or, perhaps, even tried to create one, was semi-successful, and lied about it to cover his misdeeds? We know Lahabrea as a cackling supervillian, and while this MAY be the result of his transformation into an Ascian, perhaps the guy had a dark streak all along...

So much food for thought!

I am crying. 'Tis everything I wanted, a snippet of Emet's life in ancient Amaurot. It seems he was pretty reclusive back then, an interesting change from the man we came to know, but at the same time mayhap it was this special sensory with every kind of life and soul that made him, in a sense, the most sociable of the Ascians.

Apparently Hythlodaeus was the original smug, cheeky character, more similar to Emet in the present. That was adorable. Also they do mention the WoL/D's past Amaurotine incarnation! Emet seemed a bit tsundere about them and Hythlodaeus was certainly trying to convince him to break the news in person. I wonder if Emet was shy and that was why he loved theatre and stuff, 'tis often said that those who are most timid are who best work as actors.

The final part with how he held a glimpse of hope as he cradled his newborn son was extremely heartwarming and sad. I firmly believe Emet is, or was -until his fate is certain, I am keeping both options possible- not beyond redemption. It would be a nice change for once that a relevant villain got a redemption not through death, and if Emet had such a stout bond with the Underworld, who knows... Meh, if the WoL/D is the unbroken thread between past and future, they could also be the thread that allows the ancients and the fragmented to join hands. Seize a better future, as Ardbert once put it.

But that is just one of my ramblings. I shall re-read this one quite a few times, searching for details. Anything that gives me insight into Emet-Selch is more than welcome. And this story was such a marvelous treat.

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Originally Posted by ShadowMeowth

Emet seemed a bit tsundere about them and Hythlodaeus was certainly trying to convince him to break the news in person.

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Great. Now I can't get him out of my head as the tsundere to Zenos' yandere and Exarch's dandere.

Thank you blessed writers for this expansion gawd.

The thing that stood out the most to me about this latest update is that Emet-Selch is annoyed by the incurably smug.

Emet-Selch.

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Originally Posted by Berteaux_Braumegain

The thing that stood out the most to me about this latest update is that Emet-Selch is annoyed by the incurably smug.

Emet-Selch.

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'Twould seem the OG overpowered gifted and his why-is-this-jerk-my-friend duo were Hades and Hythlodaeus. History repeats with the WoL/D and Emet. I guess some things never change.

I guess it just goes to show how hard the loss hit Hades, carrying his departed friend's legacy by adapting some of his personality into his own. I wonder if it was a conscious decision on Hades' part or if he started acting so snarky and flippant over time without realizing it.

The "Proto-Phoenix" is also interesting, probably being a precursor to what we'd now know as primals. More importantly, this discovery was almost certainly pivotal to the summoning of Zodiark and the subsequent summoning of Hydaelyn. What's intriguing is that this discovery was completely accidental, and not the product of deliberate research, though apparently making souls for their creations was something the Ancients had tried doing previously and failed. Makes me more suspicious that other such accidents led to bring about some of the events of the Terminus. But I wonder if it was the creation magic that provoked the "sound" that began the Terminus or if something else was in play that caused it. Did the breakdown of this magic bring it all about, or did the magics go haywire as a result of the Terminus? Or perhaps another as-of-yet unknown external influence affected the world and the magic altogether? Still so much seems unclear and/or unanswered for now. I suppose it's for future patches to elucidate though. Even so, the story did give some insight into Hades and his past, which is definitely awesome.

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Originally Posted by Scintilla

I've only read the new story once so there was probably much that I overlooked but, if the WoL's original self was already a part of the convocation (assuming we're right and they were), wouldn't they already know about Hades appointment to the position? Rather than having to be told so by Hades or learning of it through rumour?

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It depends on how it is structured, and if anything more important came up for the individual like child birth or a disaster within the sector we (if we are apart of the convocation) are in charge of. It could be a majority vote within reason (most members present etc) or it might be unanimous but we don't know, based on the story Hades was just appointed that day and it seems like it is nighttime so it is possible we could/couldn't have known about it by that point.

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Originally Posted by MrThinker

I believe it was simply a misnomer on our behalf due to reasons, but yes, it is never stated that he was Architect in the game, and it appears that instead it was Hythlodaeus. Also they really teasing our original self being close friends with Hades.

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Let me ask then, from where did you think that Architect is a role, capital A? If we do in fact take it from a seated title (Words of Lahabrea) then isn't the case that Hythlodaeus is not it as Hythlodaeus refuses to take the seat/role?

Emet-Selch is mentioned as an "architect", lower case emphasis but it's not the same moments as they are called "speaker" and "emissary". Emet-Selch may not be Architect, but Hythlodaeus is not it as they refused to be a part of the Convocation.

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Originally Posted by Scintilla

I've only read the new story once so there was probably much that I overlooked but, if the WoL's original self was already a part of the convocation (assuming we're right and they were), wouldn't they already know about Hades appointment to the position? Rather than having to be told so by Hades or learning of it through rumour?

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The story is only that Emet-Selch was newly seated. We don't have any sort of indication of the timeline. It could be that the friend is part of the Convocation but not involved in the appointment or in my opinion it's more likely that the ancient!WoL was not appointed until later. That the Final End for Amaurot is far off in time.