Revelations from Patch 5.4

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Werlyt Specifically

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Spoilered just in case, but more supposing

My money is on the Raen who wants to help us, Avilina or however it was spelled. She's going to work on the G-Warrior, right? Well she was part of the XIVth and the VIIth legions. I don't trust her, in spite of her nifty hat and cute face. I think she's going to sabotage the G-Warrior. I'm not sure how that's going to come into play, but... I got a bad feeling.

Normal Raid Roulette popped me back into E12/Eternity, and while the fight was going on I noticed that there were images in the skybox depicting memories of past events. I tried to get all of them, but most of my screenshots ended up being fairly low quality due to the skybox itself overlapping with the images.

The group shot of Ancients that, iirc, are meant to be the Convocation, alongside a top down shot of their meeting place in the Rift.
Therion's faces.
The statue of Zodiark.
Ardbert, and a location I can't remember specifically.
A better look at the group shot of 12 Ancients.

The images I ended up deleting my screenshots of appeared to be two shots of Amaurot during the Final Days, and one image of the ruined world—that one was particularly irritating to figure out, as it took a while to move around the room until it was out from behind the rest of the environment.

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Originally Posted by Rosenstrauch

Normal Raid Roulette popped me back into E12/Eternity, and while the fight was going on I noticed that there were images in the skybox depicting memories of past events. I tried to get all of them, but most of my screenshots ended up being fairly low quality due to the skybox itself overlapping with the images.

The group shot of Ancients that, iirc, are meant to be the Convocation, alongside a top down shot of their meeting place in the Rift.
Therion's faces.
The statue of Zodiark.
Ardbert, and a location I can't remember specifically.
A better look at the group shot of 12 Ancients.

The images I ended up deleting my screenshots of appeared to be two shots of Amaurot during the Final Days, and one image of the ruined world—that one was particularly irritating to figure out, as it took a while to move around the room until it was out from behind the rest of the environment.

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Was looking around during prog

I got a look at it during e12s prog it looks like 2 Amourotines running to each other most likely Gaia/Artemis during the final days. 1 wears a black robe the other more grey/whitish.

On the subject of Garlean Legatai...

One the thing I don't see brought up is that the more... let's say stable... Legatai are all from the previous generation. We've yet to meet a young Legatai from the current generation that is stable. And even what we know of the previous generation of Legatai shows us several that were... very much not stable.

For the older generation, we've got Gauis (57), Varis (46), Regula (44), Bash van Galbranth and Nael's father. Of those, Nael's father stands out as being the who who was... unreasonably demanding and uncaring about his own legion. To the point he didn't care that his own son ended up getting killed due to strategies Nael's father came up with. Gaius and Regula at least come across as showing some concern about the people under their command and not wanting to risk them with bad strategy. I'm not going to get into how they view their enemies... as viewing your enemy as someone you are better than is kind of a given in war. Gaius at least didn't think killing people off wholesale just because they are the enemy was a good idea though. Regula is a bit more nebulous... but it's worth mentioning that he was the Legatus over Doma before Yotsuyu took over and everyone agrees Doma was a lot more bearable to live in before Yotsuyu put in power. Not that that's a high bar to clear, but it's at least something. Speaking of Regula being the Legatus over Doma... the reason why he was was because the VIth Legion in Doma (and other Southern Othardian provinces) was so corrupt the local leaders were... essentially using it as their private army. So Varis sent Regula in to clean out the upper ranks of the VIth Legion. So apparently quality control over what the Legions were doing was something Varis at least was interested in (at one point). Bash van Galbranth is even more nebulous... but all the mentions of uprisings in Rabanastre have so far been revealed to have happened under his son's leadership and not his... he's also the only example of a non-native Garlean Legatus and he was from the place he held power over... so that might have helped the stability of his tenure.

The younger/current generation is where things start getting really bad when it comes to stable Legatai. Nael/Eula (38), Zenos (26) and Noah van Galbranth are both of this generation. Valens... might be... at the very least, he's younger than Gaius (although Gaius is one of the oldest characters in the game, so...) And... all of their legions are in... really crazy states, nevermind the provinces they have control over (or were trying to take over). Nael/Eula being crazy is almost a direct result of her dad being such a bad legatus... to the point she just wants everything to burn and doesn't care about anyone really. Zenos is clearly getting off on making people into sport for himself to fight. Valens is just... really, really mental. Noah... is more or less doing the same thing with his legion that Valens is (we see several mentions of experiments with overwriting people's brains and doing stuff like vivisections in Bozja)... Noah is just... not affiliated with Garlemald anymore. Which kinda begs the question as to how any of these people gained power in the first place. It's almost like their direct superiors didn't care they had gone absolutely bonkers, just that these people wanted power.

The thing is... usually in a military setting... people have to get promoted to their position of power by other people who are in a higher position of power than they are (unless you're in a Klingon Promotion kind of empire, which Garlemald very well could be). Once you get as high as the Legatus position... there's not too many more people in the Garlean chain of command that are higher... except the Emperor. And... we know who the Emperor for the past sixty years has been: Emet-Slech. And then later Varis. And now no one. It's a gigantic free-for-all.

On the one hand, it's really easy to say the Legtai are crazy and are too powerful and obviously wrong about how they are doing things. On the other hand... they had to go through a whole set of checks to their authority to get where they are in theory. It suggests that the people acting as those checks are as... non-stable... as many of the current Legatai are. Or are at least easily intimidated (which is probably more the case). But even that kind of situation takes years to become normalized. No matter how I look at it, I get the idea that the Legatai being a bunch of mentally unstable people with a boat-load of power and people under their command probably was something Emet-Selch wanted to foster. It's a great way to cause chaos and it's... very hard to stop once the crazy spreads far enough in a chain of command. Get enough people who are not stable in control and the situation kinda just runs itself.

This also ties in with how... just about anyone we meet from Garlemald who is stable has been getting the heck out of Garlemald for quite a while by this point. Garlemald... isn't safe for people with common sense anymore, and... I can't help but think that was done on purpose given who was running Garlemald for the past 60 years and what their goal was (destabilize the Three Great Continents to cause Rejoinings).

WAIT.

It just hit me.
This isn't the first time there's been...

A cure for tempering

Wasn't that one of the powers of Phoenix? I mean, I wasn't THERE, I'm not 1.0, and that lore is a bit, hit and miss... but... wasn't it? And isn't that one of the reasons that Phoenix removed all traces of herself from existence as well? Because that power was TOO STRONG?

Legatuses

As a military dictatorship, whoever the Emperor appoints to be legatus becomes one regardless of qualifications.

That said every legatus we've met does follow the Empire's "Might Makes Right" philosophy. All of the legatuses we've fought have been formidable opponents (except Zenos who is overwhelming at first). Even before Bahamut's tempering empowerment, Nael / Eula was powerful. Gaius takes a ridiculous amount of punishment to knock out, and still drags himself out of an exploding castrum. Regula lacks the former two's awesome power, but compensates with gadgetry and martial prowess exceeding either. (He earned that position, despite detractors saying it was only a reward from Varis for his loyalty.) Zenos positively overwhelms everyone he goes up against, other legatuses included.

We haven't tested Gabranth or Valens' mettle yet, but one can be reasonably assured if we come to blows with either they will not disappoint. Nerva... is a complete enigma at the moment, but as he's been called a weak and ineffectual leader by some of the more gung-ho Imperials I don't feel like trying to estimate his prowess in battle would be a worthwhile endeavor.

All that said, considering the Empire's origin and purpose as an Ascian puppet state, the main reason people would be appointed to those positions is for their loyalty or their instability. A loyal legatus is not wont to question the Emperor's orders, and an unstable one is wont to stir up trouble of their own volition; both are ideal to advancing the Ascians' goals.

What separates Gaius from all of them is that, even back in Legacy, he was questioning the Emperor's methods and covertly rebelling against him. His reasons have always been pragmatic (doesn't like WMDs or chemical agents because they leave no resources to exploit), but personally I'm hoping the Werlyt events remove the "anti-" from his current status as a pragmatic anti-hero.

/10 char

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Originally Posted by ICountFrom0

WAIT.

It just hit me.
This isn't the first time there's been...

A cure for tempering

Wasn't that one of the powers of Phoenix? I mean, I wasn't THERE, I'm not 1.0, and that lore is a bit, hit and miss... but... wasn't it? And isn't that one of the reasons that Phoenix removed all traces of herself from existence as well? Because that power was TOO STRONG?

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Phoenix wasn't in 1.0 at all... the scene in binding coil was just that in binding coil. I dont remember anything at all about pheonix being able to cure tempering. As a matter of fact even as Phoenix Louisoux was still bound to Bahamut's will until we pretty much beat them though that was tenuous at best.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

we can have a friendly Ascian now?

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Laughs reading this after playing Eden

1234567890

MSQ

It's all important stuff, but it seems to be happening too easily.

Too easy to reset the kobold leader.
Too easy to resolve the pirate argument after being ominous.

I spent a lot of the patch thinking "all this is going right for us, without effort. When does it all explode?"

And it kind of did at the end, but... kind of not. It doesn't feel like everything's falling apart in the way it was at the equivalent point in 4.4 with the Scions falling unconscious - though on the other hand this point in 3.4 was more of a resting point for the characters, even with storms on the horizon.


Random notes:

For all that we compare ceruleum to petrol, apparently you can directly power a computer with it.

I loved Cid and Nero.
"I bet I'll do nine-tenths of the work!"
"Sure, and I'll do the bit that's beyond you."

G'raha fanboying over people is adorable. They're basically historical figures to him and suddenly he actually gets to meet them all.

It's interesting casually bringing up that detail that his Allagan blood is going to fade. Is that going to be a plot point?
Also, the attitude that just because the tower fulfilled its purpose in the other timeline, it's no longer a problem that he won't need to be available to run it in this one. (Unless the spirit vessels now operate as keys, I guess.)

There may be significance to being told that physical corruption from a primal cannot be fixed like the soul - just as we're working out how to fix the soul.

Sounds like Nerva is being set up as a future character/force/plot-point, being sponsored by Fandaniel for as-yet-unknown reasons.

Lyse getting attacked at the end... I don't know what they're planning to do with that, but I have say that if they wanted to create drama for the characters without upsetting the fans, she's not a bad target - which is not the same thing as saying I want to see her (as a person in the story) get hurt, just that they might be more inclined to write something bad happening to her (as a fictional character in a narrative) than to a fan-favourite.

Also I keep forgetting that she actually was attacked. I think perhaps because we don't actually see it on screen?

Thoughts on G'raha

I think previously I was arguing in favour of his current state more than most, but at this point I do feel like maybe he's too much Exarch, not enough young G'raha. I thought he was a merge of the two personalities (and I still think that would have been more interesting) but now it seems that it's simply been written that he's "one person" and the writers didn't see a moral conflict in adding the Exarch's memories and experiences onto his other self. It's not how I personally would have liked to see it handled, but here we are.

I think it could have been more interesting and poignant to have the Exarch truly die and it's just his memories, not soul in the crystal - so now we have young G'raha who can choose to draw on those memories and carry on the Exarch's legacy (plus it's basically a job soulstone to keep doing his PLD/WHM/BLM combo thing instead of archer) but also maybe talking about the Exarch like another person, not himself.

Still, they didn't go that way, and we just have one G'raha Tia who spent a "middle chapter" of his life in an alternate timeline and has now returned to his original body.

Matoya's Relict

I liked that the trusts don't solve/demonstrate the water gimmick in the Nixie battle. It was worth a wipe to have that thinking-process and realisation moment where I'd concluded that it was taking way too long with nothing happening and what if I stand in this waterspout I've been trained to avoid?

Also I generally take the set of characters that the game auto-assigns to me when I talk to the tank-trust and say I want to assemble a party... which in this case was not Y'shtola and I didn't swap her in. I should have. Will have to do it when I get my alt there.

Eden

The revelation that Mitron has been deleting Gaia's memories casts some light on her personality up to this point - it sounds like she's basically been stumbling through life in the dark, any positive experiences wiped out so she can't even remember enjoying them.

That said, she doesn't really seem to have a clear personality now that "angry and defensive" is out. Maybe she just needs some time to work out what else she is.

The symbolism of Eden turning into a "tree of life" at the end is very appropriate, given that it appears in the centre of the elemental wheel diagram.

Giant rainbow crystal - very subtle.

I felt so bad watching Gaia's memories shatter in E12, and we're supposed to be doing that fight every week. :(

Ryne using the gunblade to slice into where Gaia was trapped is dramatically appropriate and all, but... how does that work in a metaphysical space? Is she actually there? Am I overthinking this? (she says while writing an essay-length post about a videogame.)

The Sorrow of Werlyt

I haven't done them but I've been reading people's remarks here, and it all just makes me not want to touch them. I hate watching villains be awful people (and be awful to people), and it's one of the things that made Stormblood unenjoyable to me.

I still haven't even got around to beating Sapphire Weapon yet and didn't have any enthusiasm for doing so, other than maybe to get into Terncliff, and this definitely doesn't make me feel like I want to keep going.

I may hold off clearing it until it becomes important for the rest of the plot, and it's very rare that I say that.

(At very least I may delay it until I get my alt who geeks out over magitek up to this point so he can have proper fun piloting the giant mecha.)

Void Quests

FINALLY.

I was particularly excited when I saw in the patch notes that all the extra quests around the Warring Triad had to be cleared, since that was a fairly good indication that Unukalhai would be able (and needing) to leave the Rising Stones at last. I would have liked at least a passing mention of what he's been up to in the meantime, but it's so good that he's moving forward after all this time.

Urianger's remark about Unukalhai potentially needing a "fully corporeal form" in future seems odd. It's not like we can provide him with one, unless it's supposed to be setting up that (as sometimes theorised) he is another shard of Azem and we'll need to be absorbing him sooner or later? The rest of the story seemed to instead suggest that he has Nyelbert's soul and Taynor can sense that at some level, which is a lovely idea.

Also a bit odd that Unukalhai is specifically pointed out as being in danger as a "physical ghost" but Cyella is in the same position. Though I guess Urianger doesn't know her to comment in the same way.

I was a bit miffed that we didn't have a non-sarcastic option when talking to Beq Lugg about having brought Unukalhai in the soul vessel. They seemed a bit snarkier than usual, too.

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Originally Posted by Rosenstrauch

Taynor feels that Unukalhai is familiar to him, like an old friend. The cutscene has a close-up of their eyes, too, and their eye color appears to be the same shade of purple...

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Oh. Um. I didn't notice that... Well, I guess that kind of works too (and would more explain the "might need to find a physical body" setup too) but... meh. Nyelbert is a nicer idea.

While it wrapped up nice enough here, it certainly seems like there will be further expansion on the Void quest storyline. I wonder if they'd even cross it over with Eden once you've completed both?


Glamours

(Yeah, yeah, it's not exactly lore but still.)

Eden raids - mage gear is based on Gaia's outfit, tank/DRG/aiming seems to be inspired by the wolf boss and the striking/scouting is... frilly. Not sure if it's supposed to be something. It's pretty though.

I saw someone call the white-crystal Bluespirit designs "white auracite weapons" which is a pretty cool idea.

Cryptlurker design seems strangely ominous for a final tome set. The previous sets (Ironworks/Shire/Scaevan) have all been top-tier new engineering and instead we get these ragged, weathered things. What are they meant to be? Recovered relics? Artistically distressed?

Also I'm just disappointed that the metal helms don't visor off the hoods and yet there's Fandaniel the Irritating prancing about in a helmless version. Rargh. Not a happy glamourer.



On a random note, I wish they hadn't reused Asahi's face for Moren. It's too distinct and he doesn't deserve the association.

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#1

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

Huh, reference to Mikoto and the crystal foci in the MSQ. Yoked-to-patch canon hard confirmed; no more half-juggling attempts?

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We've had plenty of crossover between MSQ and side story event references before, though usually coming from the side stories to ground them in time. The Dalmascan Resistance and destruction of Rabanastre mentioned in Lv70 MSQ, references to the formation of the Crystal Braves in the Binding Coil, the recent destruction of Val noted in the Crystal Tower storyline...

Eden has been very tight with where it should be occurring patch-by-patch in the 5.X MSQ, as well.



#2

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Originally Posted by Rosenstrauch

And it's interesting to see Titan, one of the less "aggressive" primals, recontextualized as a malicious figure. That his fatherly love for his children is a surface-level lie. That perhaps his nature as a primal—bleeding his warped and possessive aether across the land around him—undercuts the beliefs he ought to embody. It goes without saying that this would hold true for every primal, yes? All the way up to Zodiark and Hydaelyn.

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It's a fine balance with primals because it's not the kobolds' deity Titan that is malicious, but the primal made in the image of the deity Titan which, despite his supposed identity as a loving father to his kobold children, has driven those children to murder and sacrifice one another in his name, while also rendering them unable to recognise that conflict.

I suppose the question then is whether defeating Ascians to protect the world is an equivalent "evil" committed in Hydaelyn's name... but at this point I don't think so. Certainly a different scale to sacrificing innocent people (either unwilling or only willing because they're tempered) to summon their protector-god.



#11

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Originally Posted by JeanneOrnitier

Haven't done MSQ yet, but the Cylva quests:
This definitely feels like a story we're going to come back to in the future. I actually am wondering more and more if 6.x will be going to the Void after all.

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I wouldn't take these quests as any indication that we're going to the Void in MSQ - if anything they further rule it out because of the large assortment of prerequisites to get to this quest line in the first place. Because it requires the role quests, you need least three classes levelled to 80 (four if SCH/SMN isn't one of them) and that seems too big a hurdle to place in front of MSQ progress.



#39

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Originally Posted by Lium

The Navel

The highlight for me was seeing Ga Bu cured. That was a touching moment. Though in the Navel, it was super weird that the kid's parents were still lying there dead. After all this time? Za Da didn't just kick them into the lava or something? I know it was for dramatic impact when Za Da was cured to see what he had done, but I thought that was really odd.

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I don't think that was them; we just can't tell one kobold from another. The implication (as I took it) is that every summoning of Titan involves sacrifices now.

#42

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Originally Posted by rainichan

Tower locations
I usually lurk these threads, but a fun post-msq an observation a friend made that, save for a couple of areas, was true:

All of the towers are in areas where we've fought Primals OR have a beast tribe presence. The only areas I didn't see the towers in were North Shroud, Central Coerthas, East Shroud, and Sea of Clouds. The towers can be seen from any aetheryte you port into, and they're pretty hard to miss.

The locations we saw them at were in Southern Thanalan (closest to Forgotten Springs, almost directly easy by the Amaljaa encampment where the fate Blood, Augur, Hex, ....whateverthelastoneis spawns), South Shroud (closest to Camp Tranquil), Dravanian Forelands (by the entrance to the Hinterlands; can't be seen in the Hinterlands), Yanxia (past Castrum Fluminis), The Lochs (down by Sothward, closest to Porta Praetoria), and of course the one by Nym in La Noscea.

The fact that they're all in areas where there are beast tribe presence OR where we've had a trial against a Primal really stood out to us; why it's like that can be coincidence or they're using these areas for concentrated aether to power their Mass Tempering GarleanMhachiAmaurotianAmhacarlean Machines to temper people who get too close to them. After all, Black Rose is no longer a thing, how else do you make a lot of people lose their minds?

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"True except for a couple of examples" when you've only got six examples is not a great hit rate for a correlation.

Southern Thanalan, sure; the Forelands and Nym, maybe; but the others aren't linked.

South Shroud has a few goblins (though goblins are everywhere) but not near Camp Tranquil and the area's primary forces are the Coeurlclaw and Redbelly bandit groups.

Yanxia's main beastmen are the Lupin, who aren't treated as such. If you were going to link it to the Namazu then it should be closer to Yuzuka Manor.

The Lochs doesn't have a beastman presence either - while the Fringes and Peaks have the Ananta and Qiqirn, respectively.

#46

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Originally Posted by Jennah

Though [the next expansion] *is* supposedly going to be called 'Forspoken'; and 'Spoken' is 14's word for 'player character races'. Perhaps about expanding the definition of 'Spoken' to actually include everyone? Or, less optimistically, an all-out Beastman war?

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I think that title got debunked, but in any case "Forspoken" doesn't mean "for the spoken" but (loosely) "spoken against".



#55

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Originally Posted by Fenral

Little details I had filed away for later are starting to trickle back to the forefront, so here goes:
More MSQ thoughts:

...Or maybe, they're setting up a scenario in which G'raha's all-access pass expires while he's on some urgent solo mission in the depths of an Allagan death-fortress, with optional "he knew his time was running out, but he had to do it anyway" eulogy. It would be a huge backpedal if handled badly, so hopefully my read on the situation is wrong. It's probably still one or two major versions out, either way.

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I can't see them killing him off like that, but I could see his powers timing out at a really inconvenient moment and leaving us all to fight our way out of something that looked straightforward on the way in.

#57

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Originally Posted by NoblePigeon

Something I'm a bit unclear on regarding the revealed Eden stuff:

Are the bodies Miltron and Gaia in, in their flashbacks, the ones they were actually born in, or were both presumably body snatched from someone else? If it's the former, I think it's the first time we've seen Ascians in their "original" meatsuits. I assume Gaia's current body is her own since it's the one she was reincarnated in, right?

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Mitron says "no matter how many times we are reborn" so it sounds like they are definitely reincarnated versions in that scene.

#63

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Originally Posted by JeanneOrnitier

Eden's Promise

I always thought Mitron was a woman, but in retrospect I'm not sure why I did. I guess I thought it was a feminine sounding name?

Why was the Shadowkeeper a wolf instead of Cyella, though? Did I forget something from the role quests?

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Funnily enough, I went the other way and would have assumed "Loghrif" was a man.

As for Cyella, remember that for all we tend to keep up with these things as they happen, the role quests and raids are independent storylines. There's no guarantee that players have learned the truth about Cyella by the time they arrive at this point.

#83

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Originally Posted by Rufalus

I'm trying to get over how contrived and rushed the story always is to fit the patch structure. The scion kids routinely come up with historic breakthroughs in science based on mere moments of pondering, and all wild theories immediately produce the desired outcomes neatly. The full-time scholars of the world must really suck compared to our gang.

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Several of the Scions are full-time scholars. Or most-time scholars with occasional breaks to save the world.

Y'shtola and Urianger are constantly researching. G'raha Tia was an expert on the Allagan civilisation even before all the Crystal Tower stuff happened. The twins were in something apparently equivalent to university at age 11. They're from a society where everyone is engaged in some kind of study.

Also, it's not an idea they came up with by "moments of pondering" - they've put in a lot of groundwork and research in the previous patches, including a lot of off-screen work first on how to get the Scions home and then specifically on healing the Light-afflicted, which they developed with the help of an expert in a relevant field. They then had to wire up (and burn out) an Allagan supercomputer to develop a new spell in a process that would presumably take years of human work.



#92

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Originally Posted by Jonnycbad

Telophoroi= Telos (Supreme end), Phoroi (Plural of beacon/lighthouse). Lighthouses can be poetic for things that usher or *bring* about something (a beacon of hope). So while it literally means "End Beacons", I think it translated better to Endbringers.

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Wouldn't "lighthouse" be pharos? Everyone else is just directly translating phoroi to "bringers" without playing associate-the-words.



#107

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Originally Posted by Cilia

[Regula] being besties with Varis is... beside the point, and at the end of the day it's not as if Varis was a good person either (even taking his difficult situation into account).

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"Good people" or not, Regula's friendship with Varis seems like a wasted plot point.

I'm still hoping for Varis to turn out to be not-quite-dead and do something interesting, though.



#115

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Originally Posted by ICountFrom0

Wasn't that one of the powers of Phoenix? I mean, I wasn't THERE, I'm not 1.0, and that lore is a bit, hit and miss... but... wasn't it? And isn't that one of the reasons that Phoenix removed all traces of herself from existence as well? Because that power was TOO STRONG?

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I'm not sure if that was one of Phoenix's powers but from memory, the reason we mustn't summon it (or even describe it to others lest they attempt to summon it) is to prevent it from becoming a drain on the land's aether again.



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On a non-5.4 note, I got my rather-serious Elezen alt through 5.3 the other night and - in the interest of trying all dialogue options at least once - figured if any of my characters was going to go "..." instead of "really, G'raha" at the final scene, it was going to be him... and he made a sort of disapproving face and Raha's ears droop instead of perking up. I felt so mean. :(

And there's Iscah, with the obligatory wall. Here goes:

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Originally Posted by Iscah

Eden

Ryne using the gunblade to slice into where Gaia was trapped is dramatically appropriate and all, but... how does that work in a metaphysical space? Is she actually there? Am I overthinking this? (she says while writing an essay-length post about a videogame.)

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FF8 spoilers (doesn't actually spoil plot, but it's trippy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTlU0KBv8ss

Watch up through 6:15. Most of Eden's ending cutscene is from here, but I can't actually find the gunblade slice that I was looking for, so that might have been lifted from one of Squall's limit breaks instead.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

#55
[G'raha's condition]

I can't see them killing him off like that, but I could see his powers timing out at a really inconvenient moment and leaving us all to fight our way out of something that looked straightforward on the way in.

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If it wasn't clear already, I have watched entirely too many single-cour anime series, and as a consequence have experienced pretty much every possible way to kill off most/all of your main cast. Just putting that out there as my worst possible read so I stop thinking about it.

My softer, FF3/9-esque read is that it will be used as a non-lethal way to explore mortality. His "time" is limited, but his new arc will be about finding the value of his life past the expiration date on his superpowers. Setting a time limit may have even been Doga and Unei consciously pulling an Archmagus Noah (FF3 edition) to force him to ponder the question.