Tam-Tara Deepcroft and Edda

[Nialle]

Voidsent are pro at sniffing out people's darkest fears/desires and then tempting them into terrible deeds. Just remember what happened to the lady of Haukke Manor, who used to be a normal Elezen (and also what happens during the THM class quests). Voidsent are not just pawns for unhinged mages, but can also manipulate and warp a person in return.


Who knows what changed in Edda, either mentally or otherwise, because of her dealings with the voidsent. Whether that thing was really Avere or a creature feeding off her feelings/killings and lying to her -- who knows?

[Cerat]

I could be insane myself here, but I like to agree with the theory that the Voidsent manipulated her in some way. After the events of the main story, she met up with us and had renewed vigor when it came to bettering herself, and return to adventuring. However, we also know that she lost A LOT from that one dungeon, Tam-Tara. I may be delving too deep into this, but here is what I've noticed from it. Edda makes no mention of family or friends aside from those she went to Tam-Tara and Sastasha with, not even in concerns to her getting married. After that, as I already said, she came back to us to express her gratitude for inspiring her.

With her renewed vigor she probably hit the books hard to become a better Conjuror and get a good grasp on magic, which she admitted to not being able to. However, the loss she experienced most likely was constantly weighing heavily on her. To her the adventurers with her, as abusive as they were, had been her friends. One of them was even her fiance. She likely felt that she was responsible for losing her friends and the death of her loved one. That loss, along with her desire to get better, would have allowed the Voidsent the key they needed in order to influence her. As I said, this was likely just influence rather than direct guidance. The mass numbers of Voidsent in the dungeon, up to and including her fight, lead the suspicion that she had some sort of dealing with them. They all seemed to be "on her side" as they were acting like Ushers and guards against unwanted guests. If you'll notice the only people that were ACTUALLY invited to the wedding were her friends, the adventurers she travelled with. Our characters weren't on the guest list, despite her numerous writings/ravings about us throughout the dungeon. We only knew what was going on because of Paiyo. That explains why the Voidsent were hostile towards us, but allowed Edda and Paiyo to go through the halls unscathed until Edda had set Paiyo in her area for the ritual concerning him. Voidsent, however, do not side with mortals unless they have something to GAIN from it.

What could they gain from enticing Edda down the path of Necromancy? Numerous souls. If you see from the "guests" she had went as far as to dig up her fiance's head and her dead "friend" to bring back to life. If you look at the rest of the dungeon as well, she brought in many other people as well. All the Best-men and Groomsmaids. The failures, note that they are called failures, and the grooms to be that are in the final encounter. All those corpses had to have come from somewhere, and the fact that they're not magicked bones means that they had to be fairly recent corpses. The only thing that could prevent the decay, as seen in Pharos Sirius, is the infusion of corrupted crystals with the corpse, those not infused decay into bone as seen with the countless skeletons throughout the game. Now, the failure corpses are likely one of a numerous number of victims that she was influenced to use to attempt to bring Avere, or a Voidsent posing as Avere, "back to life". Eventually the Voidsent/Avere grew to the point where normal souls would not be enough, and she would have eventually invited our character to the dungeon to fulfill that requirement.

I even beg to ponder that the Voidsent that had influenced Edda was the one that Avere became/was posing as Avere. And I also beg to offer that after the boss fight that same Voidsent attempted to take control of Edda as well, for its own survival. While we couldn't see Edda in the ending cutscene, the fact that Paiyo could strikes me as odd. It's well known that Voidsent often play tricks on their targets, as well as try to influence them. The fact that Edda appeared so close to her "death" and how her overall demeanor was drastically different than even the crazed Edda from the dungeon also stand out. In fact her demeanor was more akin to the Lady Amandine from Haukke Manor, someone who had been influenced and essentially taken over by Voidsent as well. Her giving up on her life because Avere had been defeated would have been the perfect amount of despair to allow a Voidsent in, especially if that same Voidsent had been the one that pushed that same soul down the path it had been going. I feel we'll see Edda again, but likely not in the same fashion as we last saw her.

Sorry for the long read ^_^; This part of the story really had me interested because I feel bad to see a character we inspired so much take the path she did. Add in my like for lore and I had to think of some reason as to why this may have occurred. If there are any major flaws in my theory I would love to hear them, or even just speculation on it!

[blackcitadel9]

From the point of view of a manipulative voidsent trying to get a poor girl weighed down by loss and a guilty conscience, you don't have to worry about aptitude. Seems to be that deals with the void aren't the hard part you just need the right way in. Perceived flaws or failings seem common. (Guilt for Edda, Vanity for Amadine, Proof of Worth for Thancred and his Ascian problem, not the same, but similar) As for follow-through, making her believe that Avere would come back if she just followed these steps. Lead her gently down the slippery slope under the guise of a "miracle", slowly warp her perceptions of right and wrong.

"It's all to reunite you with your one true love. Who could possibly say that's wrong? Why should YOU be denied, when others are happy?" etc.

So it all starts with a whisper here, and blood ceremony there, then when the failures occur (some of which you cause intentionally to power her desires all the more) you let slip a little morsel of info. something like this maybe "Weell, it could work if you up the juice a bit, but...you're not interested in that."
"No. Please. I want him back" or "I've come too far, sacrificed too much, to give up now"
"Alright...then follow these instructions. For love." *secret evil grin*
It works for us adventurers too. Just look at our Animus weapons and the 900+ souls we've harvested for power. But we're the heroes. It's all good right? Right...?

[Dark-Saviour]

I don't think it's "Voidsent told her to" more "Voidsent laid the breadcrumbs" I mean laying the knowledge about necromancy in a place where only a person mad enough to look for it will find it, from there it's only a matter of time. I honestly have no doubt that Edda, after however she got the knowledge of the art, experimented and cultivated her powers on her own volition. She just happens to have been that batshit crazy.

Necromancy is definitely a void art though, see as there are ALOT of voidsent in Tam-Tara HM, though that could also be her using her new powers to tap into the void energies already present in the area, seeing how the Lambs of Dalamud used it to to revive Galvanth the Dominator in the Story mode version. So many possibilities :3

I don't really have a problem with "She's using void powers". I DO think the whole, "She's being manipulated and following their plan" thing is stupid and takes away from this particular story by making it extremely generic and repetitive in terms of how things tend to go in this game.

Something more along the lines of "She managed to understand and utilize void magick far beyond what any normal human should ever be able to." simply out of natural aptitude and madness would work far better, IMO.
If there's any void manipulation going on, I'd rather see it go the other way around where she's subjugating them and the upper tier of voidsent don't see her as a boon or a mark, but more of a threat.

Basically, rather than having 'breadcrumbs' laid to lead her to the void, I'd rather think she just burst through the wall like some kinda necromantic kool-aid-man and started stealing their bread of her own volition.

[Morningstar1337]

...Basically, rather than having 'breadcrumbs' laid to lead her to the void, I'd rather think she just burst through the wall like some kinda necromantic kool-aid-man and started stealing their bread of her own volition.

Oh yeah!

She could easily have known of the Amdapor war and and then started smashing though the void like a crazed demented chessmaster. Hell she might have even manipulated the Voidsent into think they were maniplating her when the opposite is the actual truth.

Even ehr death could have been a benefit to her machinations. Considering what we now know about the afterlife and the Void. If she lives then "Avere" also lives. If she dies, she gets even more access to void magicks.

[Bombast]

I don't really have a problem with "She's using void powers". I DO think the whole, "She's being manipulated and following their plan" thing is stupid and takes away from this particular story by making it extremely generic and repetitive in terms of how things tend to go in this game.

Something more along the lines of "She managed to understand and utilize void magick far beyond what any normal human should ever be able to." simply out of natural aptitude and madness would work far better, IMO.
If there's any void manipulation going on, I'd rather see it go the other way around where she's subjugating them and the upper tier of voidsent don't see her as a boon or a mark, but more of a threat.

Basically, rather than having 'breadcrumbs' laid to lead her to the void, I'd rather think she just burst through the wall like some kinda necromantic kool-aid-man and started stealing their bread of her own volition.

The problem being is that we know she's massively incompetent, and, more significantly, this obviously isn't her story. It's just another chapter of the voidsent story, which starts in Haukke Manor and will, most likely, 'end' in CT3.

[Dark-Saviour]

The problem being is that we know she's massively incompetent, and, more significantly, this obviously isn't her story. It's just another chapter of the voidsent story, which starts in Haukke Manor and will, most likely, 'end' in CT3.

A) She was massively incompetent. As a healer. It's quite possible that she was actually rather terrible at that, but naturally pre-disposed to necromancy. And it's also possible that she had an artificial wall in front of her that grief and madness tore down.
B) This doesn't need to be part of the larger voidsent story that's going on with CT3. It doesn't all have to be part of a giant overarching plan, and trying to shove everything under one umbrella just serves to undermine the potential the game has. I'd much prefer that this is her story that exists as a tangent to everything that's going on. Degrading her into a tool to further that story (that honestly shouldn't be overextended further, IMO) completely diminishes the beauty of and connection to her particular story-arc in my eyes.

I fully expect it will just become "lul voidsent overlord. Push her to the side so we can fight this guy and try to pretend this is actually interesting". But that's mainly because I have no faith they will actually deliver a satisfying story. :-\

[PArcher]

A) She was massively incompetent. As a healer. It's quite possible that she was actually rather terrible at that, but naturally pre-disposed to necromancy. And it's also possible that she had an artificial wall in front of her that grief and madness tore down.

Just to say something, necromancy and healing are not so different in the grand scheme of things. Both involve bringing life to dead things, and with keeping them alive (heck, look at D&D. ALL healing spells belong to the school of necromancy). Main difference would be the source of power, not the casting itself (and intent, but you can use necromancy for good, and healing for evil). Necromancers naturally make good healers due to their knowledge of how the body works, and healers can also make great necromancers for the same reason.

We know the Voidsent are jealous creatures, only helping mortals when they have a lot to gain. Necromancy almost certainly cannot be learned without a Voidsent's aid, whether indirect or direct. Edda is definitely being manipulated by *something* that is incredibly powerful, as she is known to be a bad mage and knowledge in-and-of-itself likely wouldn't be enough to help her.

[myahele]

What about the priest of dalamud?

Weren't they in tam tara deepcroft to revive Galvanth? They were also holed up in amdapor keep.

Maybe she had some ddealings with them? Though she probably was so grief stricken that she surrendered herself to darkness.

[Jobefuzz]

Did Avere truly love Edda? He treated her like garbage, or was she delusional?

Edda is Meg