Unukalhai and his Master [3.5 Triad Spoilers]

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Thanks for the input, guys!

Personally I think it's because, whether or not Elidibus himself is or not, Unukalhai is clearly dedicated to his Master's supposed purpose of "Balance". The Scions have no reason to distrust this notion either, as none of them, not even Urianger, are likely aware of Elidibus' more antagonistic actions; ie. Giving Nidhogg's Eyes to the Griffon.

I just wonder what cause we have to trust that purpose, is all - especially to the point where we'd just let an Ascian disciple in without even a bit of discussion. I know it was probably a matter of tying things up nice and quickly and we're just expected to fill in the gaps, but it seems to be one hell of a gap, and it marred my enjoyment of what was otherwise a really solid bit of story content. I kinda feel like it could come back to bite us as bad as tossing the Eyes off the Steps of Faith seems to have.

I'm also fairly confused about Elidibus's game, with one hand he is giving us aid to stop the Triad and on with other he is giving the Griffin dragon eyes to power a summoning.

The Triad, should they have escaped, could also have ultimately served as a unifier (as indeed they did, albeit did on a smaller scale at the end); conflict that exploits local, modern politics are probably more reliable for escalating into a Rejoining. As such, maybe he figured the loss of the Triad as a means of achieving a Rejoining was an acceptable sacrifice for getting a sleeper agent into our group (assuming that is indeed what Unulkalhai is), especially given all the other seeds of discord and strife being sown? That makes the most sense to me, at least.

Elidibus probably isn't a bad guy. At least, he hasn't shown the same kind of overt malevolence Lahabrea and friends had. (It seems to be that his thing is about balance, rather than good/bad)
He'll probably be fleshed out more in the future. I can't wait.

Elidibus is less openly malevolent, but his goal seems to ultimately still be the revival of Zodiark, and all his actions (save the Triad stuff) follow those of the other Ascians: cause strife on the Source to force a Rejoining. He definitely thinks he's doing right by the world by reviving Zodiark, and time will tell if that's true, but his actions are no less immediately destructive than those of his underlings. I trust him about as far as I can throw him - he's certainly being very underhanded about something that supposedly benefits the greater good.

As far as I can tell, he was using the Warriors of Darkness to gain a Rejoining, leading them on with tales of how those souls will return to the Lifestream and be born again. But did he not just want to empower Zodiark?

What's weird is that you'd think empowering Zodiark would involve preserving the Shards as much as it does forcing Rejoinings, since the Shards are a necessary part of that and can be lost due to their imbalance, yet Eli didn't seem to be taking any steps to halt the loss of their world to Light. Sure, he was happy that our intervention ultimately resulted in that, but he seemed to be more concerned with using its inhabitants to cause a Rejoining.

Maybe he was hoping that their Shard would be absorbed before it was lost completely. Or maybe the Ascians can't do anything about the actual balance (especially if it's as far gone as the First was) and he was just cutting his losses.

If Urianger had not done that and the Warrior of Light had simply destroyed the Ascians one by one...that would have led to a flood of Light that would destroy the Source. We know from the Warriors of Darkness and the Void that too much Light and too much Dark are both equally as bad.

Is the Flood of Light a problem for us, though? I was under the impression that was more of an issue for the Shards, their inhabitants, and the Ascians who need those shards balanced enough for a Rejoining.