The Road to 5.0

[Alleo]

Why trivialise the shield? Seems to me that without it, the WoL could well have ended up a smear beneath its feet. It's like a tank pretending the healer doesn't exist, even though they'd be dead without them.



Conversely: how can you create too much darkness? The light/darkness duality in the setting is very metaphysical and cuts to the core ontology of the setting, i.e. two divine entities aspected one to darkness, the other to light. I don't think it goes as far as simply someone with bad intentions or machinations but actively taking a part in the light/darkness struggle as it manifests through Hydaelyn/Zodiark. It is something that possibly requires vessels like the Ascians (or similar), or the WoL (or similar) to enact the will of the god in question. Hydaelyn may not be always able to step in and do what you suggest. She was not able to in Arbert's homeworld; if she were, it'd raise the question of why she has not. So I think anonymoose's theory on "hitting the brakes" may hold merit.

I am not putting the shield down but kinda ask for more instances where she helped us directly. Because Kryle also got saved directly by her so we are not her only special one. I was just interested because you wrote that she got us much more aid but I am not sure if one instance counts as that and we also dont have any good information about the other WoLs of the other shards. All we know is that there is only one WoL on the original world, a group of WoL on the first shard and on the lost one we know of at least one WoL which is the kid. (Seemingly he got born to late or something?) We also go the information that some of the void monsters might have been old WoLs that used too much of that white crystal and got corrupted.

I agree that the Darkness part is also still strange but I could at least see how too much disaster could have changed the shard to something like the void. But I really have a hard time seeing how too many good deeds will destroy it too. Did they get too much Aether back thus it did not know where to go and created too much light with that?

I also believe that she was not in the first shard because she was too weak. We are on the original world yet she still was not able to communicate with us. She also seems to rarely be able to act on her own. So maybe thanks to all the calamities she saw that they are overdoing it but could not do anything at all. Because as soon as she got the couple of crystals of light she was able to take the light in...which begs the question on how a light flood is even dangerous if she can just "eat" it.

Maybe I truly just see this too literal but seeing how its our actions that seems to change it, I kinda want to understand it. Because somewhere down the line we probably have to decide what to do and I really want to understand the decision. x)'

(Also I am still a bit annoyed that neither the WoL nor the Scions tried to find out more about the floods and the balance after they have met the WoD..it will probably only be interesting again if the plots wants it to be..)

[ObsidianFire]

(Also I am still a bit annoyed that neither the WoL nor the Scions tried to find out more about the floods and the balance after they have met the WoD..it will probably only be interesting again if the plots wants it to be..)

The Scions (specifically Urianger) did find out more about floods and the balance of Light and Darkness on the shards. That's what Urianger is doing for the better part of the 3.1-3.4 patch cycle. He's taking a page out of Elidibus' playbook and convincing Elidibus that he is on his side to figure out what Elidibus and the WoD are planning. Once he did find that out, he figured out a way to give the WoD a third option. Instead of having to watch their Shard get flooded with light or bring about a Rejoining (another Umbral Calamity), he figures out the WoD can ask Hydaelyn to take the light of the WoD shard back into herself. In fact, the only reason Hydaelyn can do that is because Urianger orchestrates events so the WoD can get a weakened Hydaelyn's attention. Once she knows about what is happening on the WoD shard, Hydaelyn is the one who suggests that she send her Emissary to the WoD shard to absorb the excess light into Hydaelyn.

So yeah, Urianger's the only person we've met so far who can beat Elidibus at his own game. The amount of knowledge that required is immense and is the direct result of years spent studying esoteric prophecies that no one else bothers looking at. Mostly because they're busy saving the realm doing other stuff or worse, people have bothered looking at this stuff but stand by Sharlyan's non-interference policy... Part of Urianger's character is that he's the researcher studying everything in the background and only brings up what he is researching when it is relative to the plot. I'm fully anticipating that once it's confirmed that Elidibus is involved in Garlamald, he'll show up again. At the very least, the Scions (and probably the Popularis) are going to want his advice on everything the Ascians are up to and he's the closest thing we have to an expert on the subject.

[Kallera]

Here how I think the poem could relate to us, assuming Zenos’s possession trick is not a major theme.

Born of the poems refer to the hero, blue, crimson, and the result, light or darkness. While the first poem makes an obvious, sound of uplifting and inspiring:what Or work in Eorzea has been doing, perhaps the 2nd poem is more a garlean interpretation of what the Warrior of Light is: a deceiver of copious bloodshed that takes away the “light” of civilization. Or perhaps, through the events of the future, that is what the Character becomes to them.