Foreshadowing and other Sprinkled Hints of Endwalker in-game [Obviously Spoiler Talk]

So ever since getting Chrysalis in Roulette a week ago, and realizing the statues I missed before when doing it. Such as Zodiark, but even more the statues around him, and how they look AN AWFUL lot like the earring we were so conveniently given for pre-ordering, that's named after Menphina (Azeyma's sister in lore of the 12).

https://i.imgur.com/4xyoMDH.png
Now what would things to do with Menphina imagery have to do with Zodiark to be so prevalent in Chrysalis? Especially, moon.

I've been going to other previous places in-game, and reviewing things I might have missed that could hint at things to come, Foreshadowing the creators dropped that we didn't expect back then. In all honesty, it feels like everything is a puzzle.

Todays realization?
The full theme of Endwalker is named Enwalker FOOTFALLS.
Like a certain place in Thanalan

...A certain place near Vesper Bay and CRESCENT Cove.
The quest "Best Story Never Told" with riddles was around this area, as it revealed more about the Silent King's statue, but there's other such architecture that we may want to explore now.

Anyone else got anything they've gone back over and noticed?

A recent Famitsu interview had Yoshi P suggesting that the next story arc would be tied to some things we're already well aware of at this point, but would be not be expecting to be as important as they end up being (With "We're going THAT far?" being his predicted reaction from the average player).

Perhaps the whole situation with the Twelve is not as simple as it seems on the surface, and their history stretches even further back then was initially suggested with Azem possibly being where Azeyma and Azim stemmed from.

We still know scarce little about the so-called "age of gods" that Tupsimati and the horn that summoned Alexander were believed to be from, plus Silvertear Lake remains an enigma. Ol' Midgarsormr is going to have to come clean and tell us what his higher purpose is sooner or later...

Maybe a visit to the Dragons' homeworld is in order? That would certainly be far!

As long as we visit Meracydia, the New World, and get access to the rest of Hingashi first, then sure, let's go to the Dragonstar and meet a whole host of other Dragons with names derived from real world myth. And the Omega guys, let's not forget them.

Good to know I shouldn't trust that earring one bit! Fortunately I was well past having use for it. And reasonably, it does make some amount of sense that Crescent Cove might be important. After all, Crescent Lake held a secret location of great importance in both FFI and FFV.

And honestly, I'd consider going to the Dragonstar a bit of a 'shark jump' moment. Like, at that point, we've abandoned all pretense of scale and this is now a superhero story, which isn't what I came for.

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

And honestly, I'd consider going to the Dragonstar a bit of a 'shark jump' moment. Like, at that point, we've abandoned all pretense of scale and this is now a superhero story, which isn't what I came for.

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Agree, even if Endwalker is getting closer to this feeling of the WoL being the superhero. I hope anything 6.1 and later happens after some time skip, where our WoL has retreated a bit from our "glory". That's essentially the problem WoW has been facing. Ever since they had the SuperPowers (in Legion), le story can only get bigger or get disappointing.

Or we do follow the RPG trope of "punch god in the face", and once we are done with Hydezodie, we are thirsty for some 12 blood?
I'd love some more down to earth stroyline afterwards, we have still a lot to see on our world.

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

Good to know I shouldn't trust that earring one bit!

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You're about to really not trust it.

So more digging around. I have more to say on Footfalls and all that later. But with the Chrysalis and Menphina's Earring thing.
The same statues are in Amaurot.

When you're at the end in space, fighting Therion. The moon statues, or rather seats (as there are 14 of them and where the Convocation or Ascians left sit in cutscenes) are broken up and floating around in space with you.

I assume this is why we're going to the moon? Chrysalis, and possibly Zodiark or more on him are on the moon or in space.


https://i.imgur.com/zeDMWBN.png
https://i.imgur.com/s2JYHn6.png

NOTE HOWEVER: There are no statues of Zodiark OR the moon statues anywhere within Phantom Amaurot except for the 1 Z statue in Akademia...

So where does this moon link come from?

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

A recent Famitsu interview had Yoshi P suggesting that the next story arc would be tied to some things we're already well aware of at this point, but would be not be expecting to be as important as they end up being (With "We're going THAT far?" being his predicted reaction from the average player).

Perhaps the whole situation with the Twelve is not as simple as it seems on the surface, and their history stretches even further back then was initially suggested with Azem possibly being where Azeyma and Azim stemmed from.

We still know scarce little about the so-called "age of gods" that Tupsimati and the horn that summoned Alexander were believed to be from, plus Silvertear Lake remains an enigma. Ol' Midgarsormr is going to have to come clean and tell us what his higher purpose is sooner or later...

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The age of gods was the period before the first calamity (of wind) according to the first lorebook
Now, a weird part in the first lorebook is that scholars only worked out the first calamity was wind by virtue of process of elimination

Originally with the supposed age of gods and the calamity of wind, I had initially thought that the sound could have classed as the wind calamity. Since sound is a manifestation of air moving in patterns...much like wind.

That matches up with the gods (ascians) being wrecked by wind (the sound). There's also another mention that the moogles of moghome knew of a wind disaster way in the distant past. We also know that the ascians may not have been the only people around at the time since Azem had to go round meeting others. So moogles could have met the ascians but they too got split by the sundering since they are on other worlds too.

only for that theory to fall apart when I remembered that the sound predated the first calamity, then the void came along as a first failed attempt at rejoining.

That being the case, the lorebook mentioning the period before the calamity of wind but after the sundering was a time of unchecked energies of creation. That would make sense since there would undoubtedly be some violent aether around from a dimensional split
It is likely this era when tupsimati and alex's horn were made. Unless they are ascian relic pieces. Both are capable of drawing immense aether from surrounding areas. These would be useful tools to stablise violent aether in an area, like say after a dimensional split


We know in any case that the sound was either paused rather than stopped, or fandango did something to make another sound.

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Originally Posted by Nekaru_Infitima

Anyone else got anything they've gone back over and noticed?

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All I have in this vein of thinking is Sunken Temple of Qarn. Its a temple dedicated to Azyma that both the NPC outside it and the duty finder description say is the Beleh'dians actually building upon a "much older structure". And then we go in and there are what look, to me, like Concept vessels being used as lamps. Specifically thinking outside the golem fight room.

Temple of Quarn is also one of the few hints thanks to a side story that Emet remembered not only Azem, but also that one time Azem went "I'm going to use Ifrita to save some grapes." As the door puzzle's symbols are The Flames of Magic and the Fruit of Knowledge. I'm sure there's been other nods staring at us in the face about the past that we just don't recognize as hints due to not knowing what to look for.

We just know that symbols of Azem in some shape or slight variation keeps on popping up. One of the reasons why I get mad at both Emet and Elidibus when they get mad at us for forgetting in game history is there'd be more to remember if they weren't destroying parts as collateral damage each time they create a calamity.

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Originally Posted by Recon1o6

That being the case, the lorebook mentioning the period before the calamity of wind but after the sundering was a time of unchecked energies of creation. That would make sense since there would undoubtedly be some violent aether around from a dimensional split
It is likely this era when tupsimati and alex's horn were made. Unless they are ascian relic pieces. Both are capable of drawing immense aether from surrounding areas. These would be useful tools to stablise violent aether in an area, like say after a dimensional split

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I think the implication is that the "age of the gods" is in fact the misremembered time of the Ancients. Most likely not the time after the sundering but before the first calamity, but the time before the world was split and the Final Days. Tupsimati and the horn are probably Ancient creations.

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Originally Posted by Alleluia

All I have in this vein of thinking is Sunken Temple of Qarn. Its a temple dedicated to Azyma that both the NPC outside it and the duty finder description say is the Beleh'dians actually building upon a "much older structure". And then we go in and there are what look, to me, like Concept vessels being used as lamps. Specifically thinking outside the golem fight room.

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Originally Posted by SannaR

Temple of Quarn is also one of the few hints thanks to a side story that Emet remembered not only Azem, but also that one time Azem went "I'm going to use Ifrita to save some grapes." As the door puzzle's symbols are The Flames of Magic and the Fruit of Knowledge. I'm sure there's been other nods staring at us in the face about the past that we just don't recognize as hints due to not knowing what to look for.

We just know that symbols of Azem in some shape or slight variation keeps on popping up. One of the reasons why I get mad at both Emet and Elidibus when they get mad at us for forgetting in game history is there'd be more to remember if they weren't destroying parts as collateral damage each time they create a calamity.

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Yeah I noticed the parts about Qarn that I wasn't going to mention yet because I wanted to organize my thoughts. But the trim on the buildings around Footfalls, Qarn, and Azys La Cathedral are all the same, which I googled because I don't own the encyclopedias (=(), and apparently this was answered with https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post3572906 by a dev.

The part that stuck out to me from their answer though is

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This lead the Allagan scholars to conclude that the Meracydian symbol for the sun, and the Allagan symbol for Azeyma (goddess of the sun) must have both have the same origins, and that somewhere, countless years in the past, that symbol made its way to several different regions across the globe, the evolution of its meaning differing slightly depending on the location.

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Which okay, maybe Azem's symbol, but the symbol on the stone is quite different from the 12 symbols and Meracydian symbol.

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(It also helped that Qarn was built atop the remnants of something much, much older than the Belah'dian civilization)."

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That's an extra 'much' are we talking Ascian old, or older still? Also game says rumors and signs of it being older, no confirmation. Dev is stating it as fact, so that's interesting.

But then we also remember that Emet mentioned influencing the Allagan empire, so maybe again Emet spread the mark of Azem.

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Originally Posted by Nekaru_Infitima

The same statues are in Amaurot.
When you're at the end in space, fighting Therion. The moon statues, or rather seats (as there are 14 of them and where the Convocation or Ascians left sit in cutscenes) are broken up and floating around in space with you.

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Now this is cool! I never noticed.

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Originally Posted by Nekaru_Infitima

Chrysalis, and possibly Zodiark or more on him are on the moon or in space.
...
I assume this is why we're going to the moon? Chrysalis, and possibly Zodiark or more on him are on the moon or in space.

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The thing that's been bothering me to Hell as of late is the different accounts (all surrounding the same line of dialogue) around how Zodiark ended up in/bound to the moon. I complained about it less than a week ago, so I feel I ought to apologise for being repetitive, but

Minfilia (speaking for Hydaelyn) says he was cast into space, "a moon bound."
And then the Encyclopaedia Eorzea describes what she says as Zodiark being cast into space, "a moon, bound."
And on pages before that, it says explicitly, that Hydaelyn (as the will of light) cast Zodiark (the will of darkness) into space, "where it became the moon."

It's such a minor detail, but it's driving me crazy—probably because Endwalker is so close and I'm getting a bit antsy.

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Originally Posted by dreamfisher

The thing that's been bothering me to Hell as of late is the different accounts (all surrounding the same line of dialogue) around how Zodiark ended up in/bound to the moon. I complained about it less than a week ago, so I feel I ought to apologise for being repetitive, but

Minfilia (speaking for Hydaelyn) says he was cast into space, "a moon bound."
And then the Encyclopaedia Eorzea describes what she says as Zodiark being cast into space, "a moon, bound."
And on pages before that, it says explicitly, that Hydaelyn (as the will of light) cast Zodiark (the will of darkness) into space, "where it became the moon."

It's such a minor detail, but it's driving me crazy—probably because Endwalker is so close and I'm getting a bit antsy.

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I don't have a problem with this. These are in-universe sources and therefore not required to be 100% reliable. Hydaelyn doesn't need to tell us the whole truth or even the truth at all, and the Encyclopaediae are an in-universe account of the history of the world from an in-universe author's perspective and research, so I'd even be okay with them disagreeing on far greater details than this.

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Originally Posted by Rongway

I don't have a problem with this. These are in-universe sources and therefore not required to be 100% reliable. Hydaelyn doesn't need to tell us the whole truth or even the truth at all, and the Encyclopaediae are an in-universe account of the history of the world from an in-universe author's perspective and research, so I'd even be okay with them disagreeing on far greater details than this.

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I suggested all of those, as well, previously! I just didn't want to repeat it, here.
It's especially difficult to hear a comma, so it would be understandable if that bit was just left out of the Scions' official account.

It's not the inconsistency that bothers me so much as not knowing which is the truth.
Was Zodiark stuck into an existing moon, or was the moon formed as a part of the sundering? That's what I want to know.

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Originally Posted by Nekaru_Infitima

So more digging around. I have more to say on Footfalls and all that later. But with the Chrysalis and Menphina's Earring thing.
The same statues are in Amaurot.

When you're at the end in space, fighting Therion. The moon statues, or rather seats (as there are 14 of them and where the Convocation or Ascians left sit in cutscenes) are broken up and floating around in space with you.

I assume this is why we're going to the moon? Chrysalis, and possibly Zodiark or more on him are on the moon or in space.

NOTE HOWEVER: There are no statues of Zodiark OR the moon statues anywhere within Phantom Amaurot except for the 1 Z statue in Akademia...

So where does this moon link come from?

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Interesting, I just looked through my screenshots of the end of the Amaurot dungeon taken back when I first ran Amaurot in 2019 and.. no such statues appeared for me there in that scene (there's just lots of the darkness crystals floating around). Not that proves anything to the contrary though - far from it, as I was playing the more limited DX9 client so... thinking about it the client might have not included those models for me due to LOD and draw distance issues - I'll have to replay Amaurot again and check now that I'm playing on the DX11 client after upgrading my potato PC, but I'm liable to believe you more, so, nice catch!

As for why the Ascian 'pedestals' are there, and why they have 'crescent moon' iconography, it raises many interesting questions! (Especially as the ARR artbook already hinted towards this explaining the design brief for the Chrysalis was that it was "created from the memories of the Ascians", so I think we may have found the link!). :D

Either way, that's well spotted! As for what it means..... *puts on darksteel foil hat again*

You can see a single crescent moon sculpture atop one of the purple crystal clusters that's behind you after jumping to the platform where you fight Therion, though it's purple (As opposed to white like the ones in the Chrysalis) and kind of blends in as a result.

I feel like it had to have been put there as some manner of subtle foreshadowing.

On the subject of the Chrysalis, there's also that strange door across from the Zodiark statue. It makes me wonder if maybe Zodiark himself sealed something away when he stopped the Final Days and the Ascians chose to construct their little meeting hall there just in case whatever is in there started breaking out.

Another thing noticed.

Part of the Answers Lyrics, which a lot of people point out fit the Amaurotians more than the Bahamut. Or calamities in general.

This line:

Our souls have been torn, and our bodies forsaken / Bearing sins of the past, for our future is taken.

If they're the creators, what sins are they bearing from the past? It could be not them, however in Amaurot Emet says something curious.

https://i.imgur.com/RSJOPaq.png

"but our very sins."

What sins? Emet has gone on about the whole Utopia Amaurot is so perfect spiel. Yet in the dungeon he says their sins. And in the song, it says the sins of the past.

Wondering if this is a foreshadowing of HOW Amaurot became stewards.

Whatever the sins were, he says they corrupted the halls of the heavens. So it had to be something particularly bad.

I think reading into Answers is high-risk, given it predates the current lore/story team. Of course, there's nothing stopping them having mined Answers for additional narrative content to add.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

A recent Famitsu interview had Yoshi P suggesting that the next story arc would be tied to some things we're already well aware of at this point, but would be not be expecting to be as important as they end up being (With "We're going THAT far?" being his predicted reaction from the average player).

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Wouldn't surprise me at all. Look how important that seemingly insignificant flavor questline was with Alisaie and her friend.

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Originally Posted by filkry

I think reading into Answers is high-risk, given it predates the current lore/story team. Of course, there's nothing stopping them having mined Answers for additional narrative content to add.

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And yet, Answers turned out to be extremely important, story related for the Ancients, and Venat as a whole. That montage, god it was beautiful.

Maybe a long shot but some details i been ruminating about since 87 area from SHB, (when emet selch says Remember, remeber us when he is dying) and hydotaleus says memories will return on their last moments, 2nd, part of SHB main theme (2 scores wasted) referring to the shard lost to the void and the moment Venat is injured in the cinematic she get injured only twice

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

And honestly, I'd consider going to the Dragonstar a bit of a 'shark jump' moment. Like, at that point, we've abandoned all pretense of scale and this is now a superhero story, which isn't what I came for.

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...of all the posts of mine to actually have to follow up on.

They pulled it off, and I'm not even entirely sure they could've done that ending, or the Dragonstar, any other way.

Still hoping it doesn't blow out the scale, though. I'm still someone who really wants stories more on the scale of 'uncover local intrigue' rather than 'save a planet'. Hopefully the way Emet talked about the Twelve as the only mystery of Eorzea doesn't suggest they aren't interested in writing stories about any of the rest of them.