Revelations from Patch 4.4

[Iscah]

...as we know that [Ascians] require a host to manifest on this star.

I've forgotten the details of the "how Ascians work" information - does it say for sure that they need to be within a host at all times? Or are they perhaps just a lot more vulnerable without one. (Not trying to prove you wrong, just trying to reconcile that information with what we've seen happen.)

The Black Rose:

Gaius suspects that the Ascians are responsible for making use of the Black Rose. This could very well be true, though I reckon there's another viable alternative. Zenos. The original one, that is. He did have access to pretty much everything in Ala Mhigo after all...and he's depraved enough to use it on a whim, perhaps in an effort to lure the Warrior of Light for another confrontation in the hope that he can get the true death that he desires? Even if the original Zenos is unrelated to the use of the poison, the fact that he did not show up at all in the latest batch of MSQ's makes me even more certain that he'll be dealt with as the final boss of 4.5 - as a loose end to tie up.

I'm not sure it would be Zenos's way to use poison like that. Given his 'thrillseeking' mindset and love of swordfighting, if he wanted to kill an entire encampment of people, I feel like he'd do it himself.

Also it seems like a very long shot to do that out in the middle of nowhere on the off chance that the Warrior of Light happens to stumble across it. It would be different if it was in an area we're active in, or we were already on his trail and he wants to get us riled up.

I always thought that was his Uncle Titus' casket?

I don't think it was ever said that Titus had died? The only death directly talked about is Solus, and then it shows the coffin and Varis spitting on it. I assumed it was therefore Solus, and it set Varis up in a negative light in his introduction. It wasn't until reading other people's discussions here that I heard it might be Titus instead, which made more sense (at the time), assuming we were supposed to read between the lines that Varis 'won' the war of succession because Titus had died / was assassinated.

It also doesn't help that we (the players, not the WoL) know what Zodiark looks like. He looks like Hydaelyn's dark purple twin. I'd kind of expect to see him if he was the one talking to us...

Do we know that for sure? Or has it just been assumed that dark crystal was "Hydaelyn's opposite" Zodiark?

I interpreted it as a vision of Hydaelyn being corrupted somehow.

about Solus

so is that the real solus or ascian possed solus im confused

I took it to be "the Ascian who was possessing the person named Solus throughout most-if-not-all of his military career and reign as emperor" who is now 'freed' from that body, but still essentially is the person who built and ruled the Garlean empire all this time.

On Dotharli beliefs...

The Dotharl believe that if you kill yourself in the House of the Crooked Coin, you remove your soul from the reincarnation cycle. The idea that it isn't just Ascian/Echo users' souls that can float around after death and attach to a body but everyone is intriguing...but more interesting to me right now is the idea that perhaps all those Dotharli who killed themselves on the statue (who removes the bodies?!) actually had their aether integrated into it.

I took it as the person jumping into the chasm, and presumably being absorbed entirely into the pool of aether.

And a random thought:

Because I clearly have my priorities straight... at whatever point we have the Scions 'recovering after getting their souls back', I wonder if we get to see Urianger's face properly again? I'd wondered prettymuch from the start of the game what he looked like, so it was good to finally see him without his hood and goggles in the Warriors of Darkness arc (once I'd gotten over the shock of it being him). Was just getting kind of used to it and then he was back to usual.

This may also be part of why I want Estinien to get back into the story. Still getting used to him with that appearance and connecting it up mentally to Edgy Heavensward Dragoon, because we only ever see him briefly and then he's off again. Still, it's been nicer replaying HW with my alt knowing what he actually looks like, being able to picture him reacting to things more easily, because it was bothering me throughout my first time around. (But I do also want him back because he's an interesting character.)