Lord Lolorito, Niellesfresne and the Sultana Connection.
Ok ok as everyone knows by now I'm still obsessed with the 1.0 Ul'dah storyline and the missing answers. Having said that I didn't make the connection at first, it wasn't till after I went back to watch the CSs again. I'm in the boat that I do not believe the Sultana (or the Scions) are dead. Teledji Adeleji walked into the Sultana's room with his intentions already made clear, the Brass Blades knew their purpose. The problem as we see later on in the cutscenes is the Lady-in-Waiting wasn't his to command, she was Lord Lolorito's. So whatever plan he had made involving the Lady-in-Waiting, such as a poison, is moot. He tried and failed and his life was lost when the Bronze Bull reared his horns. Teledji Adeleji is smart, but clearly not smart enough to not point a finger at Raubhan. Everyone in Ul'dah knows about the Syndicate and the Sultana's relationship. Clearly if she was to be murdered/assassinated it would come from the Syndicate. The announcement of such a murder would drive Raubhan mad, his gladiatorial rage would return, and it did. Teledji fell upon his blades because the Brass Blades and Crystal Braves were not his, he was rich but not Lolorito rich.

Where I'm going with this is that the Sultana isn't dead, as others have stated the Syndicate need the Sultana, she inspires the "little people" of Ul'dah while the rich Syndicate members simply inspire rage. A Syndicate member would never be Sultan to the people, the civil war would really break out then. No, she's still needed. Teledji had planned for her to fall but this is Lolorito's town. Now let me get back to the Niellefresne connection. Niellefresne was another person that spurned/"annoyed" Lolorito. He stole the Heartstrike dagger from him, to be used in a ritual to bring back Warbuton or allow Nielle to commune with the dead Warburton. Now this never happened, he was assassinated. However he dropped the Heartstrike dagger and it broke. The dagger looked like this:

And compare it to the Sultana's own goblet:

This is a bit of a stretch but the jewels (the pink) on both are very similar if not the same, both the dagger and goblet would be made by the Goldsmith guild which Lolorito happens to own. Now it's never said what gave the Heartstrike dagger it's power, but when Nielle dropped the dagger the jewel fell from the handle and cracked. Afterward it was never the same. Now could a goblet be made the same way as a goblet with a similar ability to a dagger that can cause a frozen-death-like-state? The goblet also falls in a dramatic way like the dagger, yes this is a common practice in movies to make it known foul play, but it doesn't have to mean it was a poison in her wine.

Now what would Lolorito gain by keeping her like this? Well the Syndicate need the Sultana, she is an image the smallfolk of Ul'dah can get behind. Ul'dah was founded by a Sultanate, it's part of it's history. Lolorito obtained early on an item that was said to be used by the Sil'dih to have created the zombie army. He would now have 2 influential "bodies" at his disposal for such a spell/item. Niellefresne and now Nanamo. If we'll see Nielle in the future I can't say, can only hope. But Nanamo would be a zombie who could grant him much more power.

Nanamo planned it

So this is basically Teledji and Lolorito were suckered into Nanamo's little plan. It would explain why Lolorito wasn't too happy in his cutscene. Teledji knew that the Warrior of Light had a bottle of poison, so whether he entered the room when the Sultana died or not he could come out a hero. With the Brass Blades at hand he could enter the room and tell the Sultana of the vial we had and proceeded to arrest of for attempting the murder. Either way he had the Brass Blades ready and his plan had began long before we were to meet Alianne. However Nanamo's plan began earlier when she told Kan-E-Senna and Merlwyb of her intentions.

In Nanamo's words (I'll admit you can interpret these things however you want, but this is my interpretation).
Nanamo Ul Namo: Yet that which I propose will entail the tearing up of this city's very foundations. And even Raubahn with all his strength and influence will be hard-pressed to keep his footing on such treacherous ground.
Nanamo Ul Namo: Thus would I ask you to lend him a steadying hand.
Nanamo Ul Namo: You who have endured the wrath of innumerable foes are the one hero in whom I can place my trust. Will you do this thing for me?
Nanamo Ul Namo: I am truly grateful. More grateful than I can well express.
Nanamo Ul Namo: How much we have both changed since that day we met beneath the Sultantree... And the days ahead promise to change us further still. I hope that we will recognize ourselves when all of this is over...

Dissolving the Monarchy wouldn't tear the city up. She already had little say-so in the the daily things of Ul'dah, she was basically a puppet. Perhaps she was hinting about faking her death. Lalafuto III of Belah'dia also faked his own death so he could run away with his mistress, so there is precedent for this. She mentioned to Kan-E-Senna and Merlwyb that she would dissolve the Monarchy, but she never said how. Giving Raubhan a hand is a bit ironic after the fact, that's easy to explain though. The Immortal Flames would need us more than ever going forward. Now here's the funny part, she mentions us meeting at the Sultantree. In the Ul'dah quest line you meet "Lilira" underneath the Sultantree. Lilira was the Sultana in disguise. She dressed up as an average Ul'dahn albeit in lots of pink but in the garb she looked like a normal fair-skinned Lalafell. This is clearly a foreshadowing for the events to come. Faking her death, fleeing as Lilira or under another guise. After all a few scenes later we learn there's only 2 ways out of the palace. The main way or the secret chamber in the Sultana's room. Though we do not see if anyone moved her body, the Scions would have clearly seen her as they fled through the secret tunnel. So she had to have been moved or fled herself before the Scions made their way into the tunnel. Teledji, the Brass Blades, and the Lady-in-Waiting all went into the banquet room meaning all the people who saw the Sultana on the floor were now in this room. No one moved the body because Teledji wanted to act fast and moving the body would have been viewed as tampering even in a corrupt society like Ul'dah. No one even checked her vital signs, it was just a "she's dead - let's move on."

The last line is most telling, why would we change so much that we couldn't recognize ourselves, I know this is just a saying but the Warrior of Light isn't changing. Nanamo is speaking out loud and talking to herself, trying to convince herself that she will be able to remember who she is..she will now be under a different guise and pretending to be someone else. Remember not only has Nanamo done this as Lilira but Princess Edvya has as well. So where she fled too, unknown. Who helped her, unknown. The only thing I can say is their isn't a Sultana in Ul'dah. The Syndicate can try to delay letting the Sultansworn and the people see her, she can only be sick for so long before people do not take 'no' for an answer. Ultimately Lolorito won't have a body to produce for anyone and that is why he isn't happy, the Lady-in-Waiting has laid out that the Sultana is ill but that's all he has to work with for now.

tldr
  • Nanamo suffered a Niellefresne-esque "death" via the Goblet, made from the same jewel as the Heartstrike dagger.
  • Nanamo planned from the start to fake her death, to flee the city as she once had before as Lilira. Following the precedent set by both Lalafuto III in faking her death and Princess Edvya in dressing up as a commoner.

I'm all over the place with this but since finishing the story on patch night I had these ideas running through my head. I'm sorry if they don't offer too much for the discussions but these are my own views.