(Spoilers) Fandaniel's Memories

Right so like spoilers ahead. Seriously, here they come...

So what does Fandaniel have of Hermes's memories at the start of the game? By the time we defeat his soul towards the end he seems to have nearly all of them. Since the game does mention several times that people regain memories in death this makes some amount of sense...

But what about before that?

Does he only remember bits and pieces? Just the stuff erased by Kairos that was burned into his soul? All of it? None of the above? After Zodiark as he dies he mentions his past self would hate what he's become and talks about his question to the universe.

I am borderline illiterate and this is one part of the story that still confuses me

I'm up to level 82 on a replay and just watched a scene where Fandaniel says that even as a mortal (Amon) he had a recurring dream similar to Zenos's dream of Amaurot - I think in hindsight we are supposed to assume this is a dream of Elpis, perhaps specifically of the wiped memory that drives Hermes to despair.

Additionally, upon being raised to his position as an Ascian, he would receive the memories from Fandaniel's memory crystal, which are not actually Fandaniel/Hermes' own memories but an impression of him as remembered by Emet, Lahabrea and Elidibus after the Sundering.

Adding to this, we have the information that forgotten memories are regained after death - I'm not certain whether this is meant to include all past lives or just their immediately previous life, but I think it's meant to be all of them. In that case, "Amon" as we encounter him in the aetherial sea seems to be a mix of Hermes' memories and the determined-to-be-independent identity of Amon, but it's still unclear and we are interrupted by Asahi before we can try to appeal to Hermes' original nature.

(Though come to think of it, Asahi seems to be Asahi and not some amalgamation of any past lives he might have had - though perhaps in cases where each life of a person's soul has the same basic personality, it just takes the identity of its most recent life and there's no struggle between them...? This is all incredibly theoretical still, even though we've had glimpses of how it works.)

Iscah, that...for some reason made me wonder...could Asahi be present Hesperos? The obsession with the one who saved them (Zenos/Lahabrea), and the absolute jealousy of the one they felt undeserving of their station (Yotsuyu/Erich). Probably just coincidence, but for some reason your statement there made me think about that.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

(Though come to think of it, Asahi seems to be Asahi and not some amalgamation of any past lives he might have had - though perhaps in cases where each life of a person's soul has the same basic personality, it just takes the identity of its most recent life and there's no struggle between them...? This is all incredibly theoretical still, even though we've had glimpses of how it works.)

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I think Asahi was just clinging to his identity and connections, which is why it hadn't been lost in the swirl. Just like how everyone else we see in the Aitiascope retained their identities, they had something keeping them close to it. Just like how Papalymo, Haurchefant and Ysayle had us, Livia had Gaius and Rhytatyn had the Empire itself, Asahi had Zenos anchoring him.

It's like how so many ghost stories go with having unfinished business anchoring them; Asahi retained his 'Asahi-ness' because there's still things Asahi cares about going on.

It's likely never to be concrete, but I would say that he has almost all of them, because they were stirred to the fore by his Convocation stone. He'd branded his soul with the Elpis days of his memory, and the Convocation stone likely provided the Convocations' memory of him as an overly kind, upstanding soul. And Hermes was an overly kind, upstanding soul. Too much so, in fact. Also, if you've done the Eden raids, then you know that even just by having memories provoked at the soul level by a brute force method supposedly less effective than the Convocation stones, Gaia was able to recall being Loghrif and being in love with Mitron.

We also know that the Convocation that dealt with the first Final Days were close to him, with the exception of Emet-selch from Emet's statement on being chosen as the only Convocation member who would be impartial in judging his fitness for the seat of Fandaniel, because Emet did not know him personally.

Hence his remarks as Zodiark compared to his remarks as Amon.

After Atiascope, Amon mentions recurring dreams of Elpis and his time as Hermes, he just had no context until getting Ascian'd up. So he probably knows just about everything.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

(Though come to think of it, Asahi seems to be Asahi and not some amalgamation of any past lives he might have had - though perhaps in cases where each life of a person's soul has the same basic personality, it just takes the identity of its most recent life and there's no struggle between them...? This is all incredibly theoretical still, even though we've had glimpses of how it works.)

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I think Asahi and the other souls in the dungeon hasn't reached the point yet where their memories would dissolve. I think dissolving happens in the "void" he drags himself and Amon into which is why he says Amon's search for answers will have to start over again.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

After Atiascope, Amon mentions recurring dreams of Elpis and his time as Hermes, he just had no context until getting Ascian'd up. So he probably knows just about everything.

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At that point he could have had his memories restored via death (unless that only applies to the most recent lifetime) too, right? Hence why he never recognized the WoL as the Azem familiar from Elpis.

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Originally Posted by Ayuhra

Amon into which is why he says Amon's search for answers will have to start over again.

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I guess it also implies his reborn soul will still carry that memory/burden within him. That goes for Hades and Hythlo too, since it got burned into their souls as well. I suppose that's a setup for a scenario à la Voracious Resurgence, but I'm not sure if it will be relevant.

Amon acted on his own, but that memory sure didn't help one bit. I guess we will see :D

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I'm up to level 82 on a replay and just watched a scene where Fandaniel says that even as a mortal (Amon) he had a recurring dream similar to Zenos's dream of Amaurot - I think in hindsight we are supposed to assume this is a dream of Elpis, perhaps specifically of the wiped memory that drives Hermes to despair.

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Tagging onto this, in the same 5.2 cutscene where Fandaniel speculates about what Emet-Selch may or may not have done to Zenos (still unanswered, I believe?) he says he is fascinated by recurring dreams. I suspect that was the hint we were supposed to take from that cutscene.