Is it weird that I like Zenos as a villain?

[MetalSnakeXI1]

What? I thought the story made it clear Zenos was dead? That its just his meat being used? For all intents and purposes, the Ascian that is possessing him has become the new villian, whomever he or she is.

(SPOILER ALERT again for both previous and current patches)


Remember the sahagin priest from ARR and how he used the echo to possess different bodies similar to what the Ascians do?

Well Zenos used the Resonant(a power that is pretty much the same as the echo) to send his soul to a different body.....that of an Elezen who was a part of the Ala Mhigan resistance.

That elezen appeared in a cutscene inside the Magitek research facility in Gyr Abania where he killed a resistance member,stole a garlean magitek vehicle and mentioned that "the hunt" must continue......using the same sword zenos used and displaying the same power zenos used.

Also the ascian possessing Zenos's body is named Elidibus and he's a male ascian that's been in the game since ARR........remember?

[Edax]

(SPOILER ALERT again for both previous and current patches)


Remember the sahagin priest from ARR and how he used the echo to possess different bodies similar to what the Ascians do?

Well Zenos used the Resonant(a power that is pretty much the same as the echo) to send his soul to a different body.....that of an Elezen who was a part of the Ala Mhigan resistance.

That elezen appeared in a cutscene inside the Magitek research facility in Gyr Abania where he killed a resistance member,stole a garlean magitek vehicle and mentioned that "the hunt" must continue......using the same sword zenos used and displaying the same power zenos used.

Also the ascian possessing Zenos's body is named Elidibus and he's a male ascian that's been in the game since ARR........remember?

No. And Zenos was just picking up random weapons off the ground to use, so that doesn't even match up what that random Elezen using Zeno's katana. So that's implying that Elezen is somebody else since Zeno's defining trait was that he wasn't attached to any of his weapons.

[MetalSnakeXI1]

No. And Zenos was just picking up random weapons off the ground to use, so that doesn't even match up what that random Elezen using Zeno's katana. So that's implying that Elezen is somebody else since Zeno's defining trait was that he wasn't attached to any of his weapons.

Well when you're in a new body why not find the weapon that's been bathed in your power than just picking any random sword so at that time he didn't have much of a choice.

And even without the sword thing the game made it so obvious it's Zenos possessing his body,from the obvious background music to the mention of "The Hunt".....something only Zenos cared about and rarely any of his followers(even his devout nutjob worshipper Asahi) talk about.

As for the "No".....did you buy scenario skips to get to Stormblood?Cuz Elidibus isn't a new character at all.

He's been there since the days of A Realm Reborn where he met Minfillia and the Warrior of Light for the first time,played a big role in Heavensward where he brought in the Warriors of Darkness and cooperated with Urianger,and recently in Stormblood is assisting Emperor Varis using Zenos's body to establish Varis's authority over Garlemald to undermine the influence of the Populares,a group of Garleans that opposes the way the royal family's been running the empire with.

If anything he's the most active ascian out of the entire group beside Lahabrea who got offed by Thordan in Heavensward

[Edax]

Well when you're in a new body why not find the weapon that's been bathed in your power than just picking any random sword so at that time he didn't have much of a choice.

And even without the sword thing the game made it so obvious it's Zenos possessing his body,from the obvious background music to the mention of "The Hunt".....something only Zenos cared about and rarely any of his followers(even his devout nutjob worshipper Asahi) talk about.

As for the "No".....did you buy scenario skips to get to Stormblood?Cuz Elidibus isn't a new character at all.

He's been there since the days of A Realm Reborn where he met Minfillia and the Warrior of Light for the first time,played a big role in Heavensward where he brought in the Warriors of Darkness and cooperated with Urianger,and recently in Stormblood is assisting Emperor Varis using Zenos's body to establish Varis's authority over Garlemald to undermine the influence of the Populares,a group of Garleans that opposes the way the royal family's been running the empire with.

If anything he's the most active ascian out of the entire group beside Lahabrea who got offed by Thordan in Heavensward

No, I didn't scenario skip. Nor did I say Elidibus was a new character. Nothing I have said implied that. Last I remember, White Robe was chatting on the moon with a useless character.

[MetalSnakeXI1]

No, I didn't scenario skip. Nor did I say Elidibus was a new character. Nothing I have said implied that. Last I remember, White Robe was chatting on the moon with a useless character.

a useless character?Dude that's an entire patch of MSQ quests dedicated to that "useless" character and his friends in Heavensward and that wasn't even the last time Elidibus appeared in Heavensward either,after that he gives the eyes of Nidhogg to Illberd whom then would use to FREAKIN SUMMON SHINRYU THROUGH A RITUAL.

There is no way you missed ALL of this without buying scenario skips or pressing skip through every cutscene

[Edax]

a useless character?Dude that's an entire patch of MSQ quests dedicated to that "useless" character and his friends in Heavensward and that wasn't even the last time Elidibus appeared in Heavensward either,after that he gives the eyes of Nidhogg to Illberd whom then would use to FREAKIN SUMMON SHINRYU THROUGH A RITUAL.

There is no way you missed ALL of this without buying scenario skips or pressing skip through every cutscene

Yeah, he wasted an entire patch. Warrior of Darkness had absolutely nothing to do with the Dragonsong War. He was a complete filler character.
/sarcasm Oh he destroyed his own world and now he wanted to destroy ours? What a compelling character!

[Theodric]

Yeah, he wasted an entire patch. Warrior of Darkness had absolutely nothing to do with the Dragonsong War. He was a complete filler character.

I get the feeling that a lot of the game's nuances are lost on you in general.

Heavensward may have been primarily about Ishgard and the Dragonsong War but it was hardly the only plot element to be destroyed. The Warrior of Darkness advanced a plot line that has been a part of the overarching narrative since the days of 1.0...it isn't as if a story has to focus on one plot point at a time and nothing else. That'd be rather dull.

/sarcasm Oh he destroyed his own world and now he wanted to destroy ours? What a compelling character!

It's a good thing it isn't that simple, eh? He did exactly why Hydaelyn told him to do. The exact same thing that the Warrior of Light is doing right now, in fact...and despite doing everything correctly his world was still plunged into ruin and his life was forfeit as a consequence as well as the lives of everybody he cared for.

[MetalSnakeXI1]

Yeah, he wasted an entire patch. Warrior of Darkness had absolutely nothing to do with the Dragonsong War. He was a complete filler character.
/sarcasm Oh he destroyed his own world and now he wanted to destroy ours? What a compelling character!

Ummm...you do realize that they appeared AFTER the end of the dragonsong war so yes they have nothing to do with it BECAUSE IT'S ALREADY OVER.

And like Theodric said before me....this has been a plotline since 1.0.

His plotline's existence is to send a message to the warrior of light,who btw has been doing the same thing Hydaelyn tasked them to do as he did.The fact that there are consequences to our seemingly heroic action and as mentioned before....there are lots of people we killed that have actual loved ones in their lives whom they wished to protect by doing what they thought to be the "right thing" like Livia,Rhitatyn and the knights of the Heavens Ward.

If you want this to be a classic FF story like FF1 or 3 where the heroes are always doing the right thing and they will always prevail with no consequences to anything they do......then I dunno if there is anything in 14 past ARR that would interest you if you expect a permenant solution to the ascian problem especially when the story isn't even over yet.Cuz even the defeat of Thordan shook the very foundation of Ishgard and resulted in a dozen consequences.

[Alleo]

No. And Zenos was just picking up random weapons off the ground to use, so that doesn't even match up what that random Elezen using Zeno's katana. So that's implying that Elezen is somebody else since Zeno's defining trait was that he wasn't attached to any of his weapons.

Yet somehow he still always used Katana. We have it not 100% confirmed as true but his talk, the way he attacks, the comment about dieing but not feeling like going for redemption and the talk about the hunt and his knowledge about Garlean technology makes it quite clear that its probably him.

About fighting alone or in a group, here are some quotes out of the lore book:

Garuda: "[..] the trio emarked upon their journey to confront Garuda." "Amidst the whirling winds the adventurer suceeded in striking down the Lady of the Vortex, only to see her rise once more [...]"

Rhitahtyn sas Arvina: "The adventurer then led a small unit into the innermost sector, and at the end of a fierce struggle, dealt [..] his death-blow"

Castrum Meridianum: "[...] the selfsame adventurer [...] once more took charge of an elite adventurer unit." "[...] Cid nan Garlond delivered the adventurer and his comrades to the stage of the final confrontation with Gaisu [...]"

Ultima Weapon: " [...] the adventurer was spared death and as the fires raged all about, he laid low both Gaius and his Ultima Weapon." (seemingly the rest has died)

Ramuh: "[...] the Lord of Levin elected to suspend judgement until the Warrior of Light himself underwent a trial by combat. Thus was he forced to strike down Ramuh [...]"

Against Nabriales: "He then tore open a dimensional rift [...] and the Warrior of Light followed. In that otherwordly void the adventurer defeated his Ascian foe and rescued Minfilia, returning all three to the Rising Stones."

The steps of Faith: "[...] that the Scions make every effort to assemble a contingent of elite adventurers - a volunteer force under the leadership of the Warrior of Light."

King Thordan: "Judgement passed the self-proclaimed god-king duly turned to leave, but not before issuing the Warrior of Light a challenge. [...] he would need to strike him and his knights down. How the Warrior of LIght managed to overcome such impossible odds that day, none can say."

This are only small examples but the lore book makes it quite clear when we are alone and when we have other adventurers with us. As far as I can see we only had them with us at the end of 2.0 against Garlemald and at the steps of faith (where we searched for adventurers even ingame). Every single primae was done solo according to lore book and some even wonder how he for example manages to slay Thordan and his knights alone. That way the story also makes sense because we simply had no time to get adventurers in most of the scenes. So for me it makes sense that ingame all the talk about having comrades is mostly just a hint for us to gather people and maybe an ingame joke about this.

About the topic: I am fine with villians like Zenos because people like him do exist in the real life too and not everyone needs some bad past to have reasons to be a certain way. I am just a bit sad that his story did not end after the fight, because I am not really sure how he can still be interesting to the story itself and I dont want someone that constantly tries to fight us either.

[Iscah]

(SPOILER ALERT again for both previous and current patches)


Remember the sahagin priest from ARR and how he used the echo to possess different bodies similar to what the Ascians do?

Well Zenos used the Resonant(a power that is pretty much the same as the echo) to send his soul to a different body.....that of an Elezen who was a part of the Ala Mhigan resistance.

That elezen appeared in a cutscene inside the Magitek research facility in Gyr Abania where he killed a resistance member,stole a garlean magitek vehicle and mentioned that "the hunt" must continue......using the same sword zenos used and displaying the same power zenos used.

We've *assumed* it's the Resonance that allowed Zenos to do that.... but can't be 100% sure. (I've seen an alternate theory that it might be something to do with the sword - which seemed to initially get pointed out as 'something special' but that's never come up again... so perhaps some chance of an ancient relic being able to harbour a soul until the next unfortunate person comes along and picks it up. Compare the lore surrounding the primal Odin, which suggests the primal actually resides in the sword while the armoured rider is a tempered mortal.)


In any case, the "katana-wielding soldier" is certainly intended to be Zenos, and there are several cues.

- his choice of weapon (whether it's the exact same sword or not)

- his reference to "the hunt"

- speaking in theatrical metaphors - Zenos also did this in the scene at Ala Mhigo just before he killed himself. Possibly earlier too - would not be surprised it it's a running feature of his dialogue I didn't notice at the time. I will pay more attention when I get to replaying Stormblood!

- saying he has "lost many things, but his mind is still his own" - implying that his body is not.

- just before flying off, he smirks - and it's very much Zenos's expression on a different face.