Revelations from Patch 2.55 [SPOILERS]

[NoloeTazier]

As much as i want her to live because she's my favorite i really don't want them to destroy a huge part of the plot just to satisfy fans with a dumb convoluted "Oh my hand maiden was only pretending to be a traitor to weed out the real traitors and then she slipped a sleeping pill in my drink so i could pretend to be assassinated as part of their plan then we can secretly plot to stop them". That would be really really dumb.

I really looking forward to seeing where that storyline goes along with Ishgard and Iceheart. There are a whole ton of cards on the table and we still don't know a great deal of the Ascians role in it all it's possible they are manipulating all sides in some way.

Like I stated, it wouldn't be the first time it has happened. Lalafuto III faked his own death to get away from his role as Sultan of Belah'dia. Nanamo has left Ul'dah before under a disguise as Princess Edvya did before her. History tends to repeat itself. So it's not like the writers are destroying any of the plot if anything they're giving a nod to their own history that they have created in this game.

The Niellefresne connection is probably the least likely but it's a base I wanted to get out there because if it does happen then at least some people will have a bit more knowledge of who the guy is/was. It would mean a bit of closure to the 1.0 Ul'dah story line that still hasn't been completely finished and Ferne has said that things would come back, F'lhaminn did eventually.

None of what I said is probably remotely true but it's always fun to speculate/theorize with the current lore/history we have that runs back thousands and thousands of years.

[Aeliott]

There is some plausibility to her being alive, but I think it would be very disappointing if she was. Now I don't mean that in a cruel way of course! But it would completely undo the whole impact of this "season finale". Because let's face it, the scions are probably not dead. Were Nanamo still alive it would all feel cheap and like no "good guys" are mortal after all. People have mostly responded well to the developments in 2.5 because until this point it was all very much us inevitably saving the day and getting showered with adoration, with no real feeling of threat. Moenbryda's sacrifice was the only bump on that road but she was introduced so late that, for me personally at least, it was hard to care as much as the writers probably wanted me to. Again, there are so many questionable camera shots and facial expressions on top of everything else that I can't say for sure that Nanamo is gone, but the thought of her being alive makes me think a lot less highly of everything that just happened.

Another thing to consider: this game goes extremely overboard on foreshadowing. People are actually suspicious of Tataru of all people. But by that point in the story (well, even earlier) it is so. freakin'. obvious. that things aren't going to go down well at this banquet that her rather blunt musings about this time together seeming a bit final and parting smile actually made people question if she's on it because well, we know! Tying in with this, the camera lingering on Nanamo before drinking could just be tension purposes. We've seen the voice-acted maid and the several 10 second establishing shots on the bottle she has. We know. This game is very hard to read what it intends with facial expression and camera focus sometimes, and the foreshadowing to the player was so overblown that I can't feel sure about any of the subtleties sending our thoughts wild.

If it turns out she is still alive in the future, instead of going "aha! That's so clever, the signs were there all along!" I'd be kind of sad at the plot armour. I can live with, I don't mind her living, I'd just be disappointed.

[lilirulu]

If Nanamo does turns out alive...I'd probably end up disliking her as character. You have to be a certain kind of ruthless and uncaring to fake your own death and not tell your closest friend of it. Especially seeing as Nanamo should have been aware of how Raubahn would have reacted.

[Aeliott]

If Nanamo does turns out alive...I'd probably end up disliking her as character. You have to be a certain kind of ruthless and uncaring to fake your own death and not tell your closest friend of it. Especially seeing as Nanamo should have been aware of how Raubahn would have reacted.

If Nanamo IS alive, I'm very sure she wasn't aware of what would happen when she had a sip, and didn't plan to die, or fake it. In my opinion, if she's alive it's because the hand-maid was either instructed to use a non-fatal poison that simulates death, or the maid actually on Nanamo's side and used a non-fatal substance when the Syndicate (or real conspirators) wanted her to genuinely kill her.

...or there's this tinfoil-sounding thing about a knife of resurrection, but to me that would be a whole different level of cheap.

If she is alive and was in on it, as you say I would lose all respect for her based on how reckless that is. And why do it when in a room with someone else who could end up "framed"? It just doesn't make sense.

[Dalvy]

I too would like to echo my distaste for Merl's lack of action. That's really unlike the lady that snarled at Alphinaud and went guns blazing into the Sahagin lands.

[Mimiru_S]

If she is alive and was in on it, as you say I would lose all respect for her based on how reckless that is. And why do it when in a room with someone else who could end up "framed"? It just doesn't make sense.

Unless she intended to frame us for it, so Ul'dah would be united against her "assassin". lol.

[Frederick22]

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance
6. Dark Knight
7. Revenge !

I cant be more agreed.

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

This may or may not hold relevance, but I've noticed that in many different stories, the Japanese tend to remove more sweeter/"innocent" characters from the stage before things get ugly, thus Tataru's seeming goodbye scene in Costa. This is of course assuming that the sweet character is not integral to the situation about to blow up (Nanamo), or by effect of tragedy, some kind of catalyst for plot development (not necessarily "innocent" but, Moenbryda, Aerith is also a popular legacy reference). I'm sure this isn't a solid rule of Japanese drama, and there has to be some exceptions out there, but generally speaking, when the kids and innocents exit the stage, things get violently serious.

[Fenral]

...or there's this tinfoil-sounding thing about a knife of resurrection, but to me that would be a whole different level of cheap.

Until you add F'lhamminn to the equation. With the way things have been going, that knife could very well be one of the few 1.0 plot points that Yoshida wants to get back to.

And I was never talking about feel-good, warm-fuzzies, happy necromancy. I'm talking about the "came back wrong" sort of necromancy. Maybe so wrong that Raubahn has to kill her himself. That necromancy.

[lilirulu]

On the topic of Necromancy; Didn't during the ALC LVL50 quest they manage to resurrect the deceased lover of the Guildmaster for a short while?