Guesses as to what the new mystery MSQ trial coming in 4.3 will be? (Spoilers)

[VargasVermillion]

I'm hoping we get to humiliate him on top of Zenos rubbing salt in the wound by dismissing him later.

He really doesn't come across as a remotely sympathetic character when he's basically just mad at the Domans for refusing to submit to the Garleans like he did, and he doesn't even seem to have an excuse like wanting revenge how Fordola did.

I mean he was educated at a very young age and we can assume he was treated better than the ala mhigans generally were. I'd imagine he simply views doman culture as obsolete since he was raised on the garlean one which is all about efficiency and being useful to a 'greater cause'.

[Theodric]

There's likely more to Asahi than meets the eye. We have this conversation around these parts during every single patch. Remember when Yotsuyu and Regula were painted as having absolutely no redeeming qualities at all and then - exactly as predicted - it turned out that there was, indeed, more to them than was immediately apparent?

We can go even further back in regards to Estinien and Ysayle. Or even the minor antagonists involved in the Lancer and Gladiator class quests. I'll admit, there's a chance that Asahi is another Zenos who just wants to watch the world burn but...Zenos is the exception rather than the rule where antagonists are concerned.

[SynthielLyrin]

... of all to mention to imply Garlemald has redeeming qualities, -Yotsuyu- is not one I expected. She was a sadist, and a traitor even if her actions can have some justification (revenge, to never feel so powerless again). She drove Doma to despair, to the point that -Zenos- commented there was no fight left in them. No sport. Beaten dogs, and naught else. Regula, I will give; he had his own measure of honor and regard for others, even the savages. But Yotsuyu so far has nothing for redemption; for empathy, yes, but from a painful backstory to what she did there is far too much to consider "redemption." And hell, you're missing out on the perfectly amenable theatre company.

That said, I doubt Yotsuyu is the primal herself. There is nothing in her to summon something based on her hopes and desires, unless it is a dango primal. But, giving her an item that maybe holds power- because I doubt that mirror is only a mirror- and throwing her out to a crowd that bays for her blood... that may well summon one. And Asahi holding the cards on what he sends his prisoners with for the exchange may well feed a primal too, just to stomp on Doma. On the Warrior of Light, who took his Lord from him.

(... Asahi creeps me out. Discount viper of an Emissary. I do not trust.)

[radhaz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdsvfYf-R0I

[Jack-Rakan]

I know this is a far fetched thing, but it's just something that popped into my head while I was at work.

Grynewaht.

For some reason I was thinking this guy would be the new trial.

[Alleo]

There's likely more to Asahi than meets the eye. We have this conversation around these parts during every single patch. Remember when Yotsuyu and Regula were painted as having absolutely no redeeming qualities at all and then - exactly as predicted - it turned out that there was, indeed, more to them than was immediately apparent?

We can go even further back in regards to Estinien and Ysayle. Or even the minor antagonists involved in the Lancer and Gladiator class quests. I'll admit, there's a chance that Asahi is another Zenos who just wants to watch the world burn but...Zenos is the exception rather than the rule where antagonists are concerned.

The following is just my opinion:

Two of those people you wrote about are death, one got possessed and nearly died too and the other lost herself. Not that great of a count imo.

Estinien was under the influence of Nidhoggs eye so a lot of stuff happened thanks to that. Ysayle was a special case and she did sacrifice herself at the end to atone to her sins. Minor antagonists should not count imo because Asahi is far above them and could take Doma down or start another war. Thats a bit different to some minor NPCs in job quests.

Yotsuyu does not have a redemption because she is not Yotsuyu right now. Her old self also did not have redeeming qualities because a sad past does not redeem oneself. It just makes one understand them.

Regula was still a soldier till the end and he died to fast to really say much about him. Also how did he truly get an redemption? He choose to side with us because that would deal with the situation better but we can be quite sure that he would have still fought against us later on. His sacrifice was good (and yet a bit strange too) but that does not suddenly make him be on our side. If he saw that beast tribes or us savages are not bad and then ignored a direct order from Varis to kill us or the tribes then we might be able to talk about redemption. But for most of the time he just did what was better for Garlemald (which is not something evil either but also does not make him good too) and had that one scene where he showed that he cared for someone outside of Garlemald but which also killed him. He had a way too short life in this game and I wished be had seen more of him because he may have changed on the way..but he never had the chance to go that far.

Asahi might have more than meets the eye and might have more reasons. But we simply dont know and we cant just say that it will go either way because not everyone will be a Ysayle. He did live under Garlean rule so at least him being on their side is understandable. But we saw in the echo scene how he also hated Doma and how he "loved" Zenos. He also sold his sister when he was still young. This whole deal seems to be just a personal attack against the WoL. He even goes against Varis and constructed some kind of fake peace talk because of us. He paid the red Kojin and so on. Nothing in his behavior, especially at the end, screams good. And just because others got at least some good in them (but if that redeemed them remains subjective) does not mean that they have to go the same way with him too.

Zenos imo is only an exception because he is so rutheless and doing a lot of things out of boredom and wanting a challenge. Thordan had reasons, even the Ascians have reasons but having reasons to do something does not make them redeemed characters. You have to change and do something good to be redeemed. I mean Fordola got a redemption arc going, but her just sitting in prison would not help her situation. But understanding the pain of the people and helping out was setting her on that path. In ARR Gaius and his men died and got no redemption, the Ascians die and get no redemption, beast tribes that are tempered die without a redemption, in HW Thordan and Nidhogg as the big bads die without true redemption, WoD are just misguided and not real enemies either, Ysayle was probably the only one in HW that was really our enemy at first but changed, traveled with us and tried to do the good thing and died, Estinien was possessed. Honestly SB is imo the first expansion where at least one major enemy (Fordola) get an redemption, Zenos was killed without it and Yotsuyu is not herself anymore. So I cant really see how major antagonists truly got redemption till now. Most of those that stand in our way and are truly bad (even with some good reasons) are death.

My point of this post is: Having maybe some reasons that are understandable or maybe some character parts that are relatable dont make someone a good person or gives them redeeming qualities. We are humans thus we will all have our good and bad sides. You can look at some of the worst people in our history and will still find at least some things that make them human in a way. Or see their past and understand how they might have gotten to that path. But I dare to say that we would still not redeem them for their actions.

As an example from Marvel: Thanos saw how his planet died thanks to overpopulation. He was banished by his people because killing half the planet might have solved the problem for a time but was completely horrible. But because of what happened to his planet he got himself the goal to collect the stones to wipe out half the universe and thus solve overpopuluation with that..You can understand his reasons and motivation to do that but his plan is still completely horrible with who knows how many unseen consequences. He also just decided to play god.

Putting my answer behind spoiler because its a bit big and kinda off topic since this topic is more about the trial and not the people.

Still feel that Yotsuyu will play a role in it.

I know this is a far fetched thing, but it's just something that popped into my head while I was at work.

Grynewaht.

For some reason I was thinking this guy would be the new trial.

Didnt he die? And I really hope that he is not the trial. I feel a bit sorry for that guy, especially after he was changed that much.

[KageTokage]

After remembering that the emperor himself is in on whatever it is Asahi is scheming, I'd be surprised if it didn't involve a primal of some sort. His little talk with Elidibus implied to me that he's not afraid to use them to further the empire's goals if they can be controlled and restrained.

A somewhat outlandish thought I had is that the Doman prisoners might have been deliberately allowed to be tempered by some manner of primal, and that they'll secretly be used as a catalyst for a summoning. Lakshmi's tempered showed that they're perfectly capable of maintaining a facade of sanity if it's required to further their goals.

[Alleo]

After remembering that the emperor himself is in on whatever it is Asahi is scheming, I'd be surprised if it didn't involve a primal of some sort. His little talk with Elidibus implied to me that he's not afraid to use them to further the empire's goals if they can be controlled and restrained.

Does the emperor really know that Asahi is planning something? I sadly dont have the best of memory but I cant really remember that they said that ingame. I always got the feeling that he was doing this behind Varis back and Asahi talks about a master in the last scene (if I remember it correctly). Since Asahi seems to adore Zenos a lot and since Zenos and Varis seems to not get on that great I cant just see him working with Varis. Maybe he even wants to get the throne to Zenos.

[KageTokage]

Hmm... Yeah, I was mistaken.

He just said "my lord", though I wonder Zenos and/or Varis actually know about his scheme or not. It does seem like he knows Zenos is still alive, though, because he doesn't refer to him in the past tense.

In any case, I imagine we'll probably have a better idea of how things will play out once the 4.3 trailer drops.

[ChaoticCrimson]

We only really have Asahi's word that he's acting on behalf of the emperor's interests. We also know Asahi is far from trustworthy. For all we know, Asahi could be lying about his credentials, and frankly it's a very real possibility. But I also wouldn't be surprised if there was at least a grain of truth behind some of his words. Time will tell.