Fan Fest Lore Revelations [Spoilers]

[Lauront]

Still wonder what actions we would have to do to stop a FLood of Light that is already happening. Also that would be quite another heavy packed expansion since we are kinda dealing with Garlemald and the Ascians too, throwing Dimension hopping on that pile would quite make this into stressfull storytelling imo.

Well, dealing with the Ascians may precipitate and even require that and take priority over it.

I'm still of the belief that Hydaelyn cannot be trusted. At least not fully. If Hydaelyn and Zodiark are two sides of the same coin then it stands to reason that they're both at risk of tipping things too far in regards to their respective element.

Exactly.

[Ramesses]

Hi I’m here at Fanfest and noticed something in Lore Book II that I think might play into Shadowbringer’s teaser.

There’s a page for each dungeon and a blurb for the final bosses. For Kuribu it says the statue is modeled after a transcendental being from another plane.

There are a few more likey answers: cinema team not always being 100% accurate; representation of Light, etc; but it’s fun to think about seven months out

This is exactly one of the reasons why I keep looking back at the Lore entries for Amdapor and Kuribu... the Fifth Astral era seems to hold some vital information.

[MicahZerrshia]

I've made this point before, but many leap to the assumption that they're easily shoehorned in the good/evil dichotomy.

While this is true we must remember that even tho SE is known for story, they also lean heavily on cliché. And while good the story is always very predictable and they are almost never ambiguous about alignments or anything particularly deep or thought provoking. So while there is little truly good or evil about divine beings when it comes to literary debate, this is also SE storytelling which while good, as I said, is also very lacking in any real depth. It is usually more like an angsty teen drama than anything.

[Balipu]

I have to replay the WoD arc, but I'm not entirely convinced the "Warriors of Darkness" were really defined as such on a cosmic scale as such. Hydaelyn blessed them as Warriors of Light and they still bear Crystals of Light.

Yes, Warrior of Darkness was just a nickname given by Elidibus. Same as how 1.0 heroes were Warriors of Light cause their face was not visible due to all the Light. But they weren't the chosen warriors of Hydaelin. It's like auracyte. A substance that means like three different things.

[Lauront]

While this is true we must remember that even tho SE is known for story, they also lean heavily on cliché. And while good the story is always very predictable and they are almost never ambiguous about alignments or anything particularly deep or thought provoking. So while there is little truly good or evil about divine beings when it comes to literary debate, this is also SE storytelling which while good, as I said, is also very lacking in any real depth. It is usually more like an angsty teen drama than anything.

I hope that we're both proven wrong on this being the eventual (but not necessary) outcome. They have deviated from this formula in some of their games. I have a feeling we might see a reprisal of something like DQXI, without wanting to give too much away.

Hi I’m here at Fanfest and noticed something in Lore Book II that I think might play into Shadowbringer’s teaser.

There’s a page for each dungeon and a blurb for the final bosses. For Kuribu it says the statue is modeled after a transcendental being from another plane.

There are a few more likey answers: cinema team not always being 100% accurate; representation of Light, etc; but it’s fun to think about seven months out

That confirms a hunch I had, thanks!

[ObsidianFire]

Finally, on my computer, not my phone...

The first time the Warrior of Light is associated with Light is in the quest "Into the Beast's Maw". There, the WoL meets up with Lahabrea for the first time and he calls the WoL the Bringer of Light. Later in "Reclamation", Hydaelyn herself calls the WoL the Bringer of Light as well. In "The Ultimate Weapon", Lahabrea calls the WoL the Bringer of Light again and Hydaelyn calls us the Warrior of Light flat out. So the title Warrior of Light isn't just an arbitrary title the Alliance came up with. It seems to be our title and role on the larger cosmic scale as well. It's what the Ascians and Hydaelyn recognize us as.

The other thing that I forgot until I went back and looked at 2.0 was how often Hydaelyn talked to us before Lahabrea cast Ultima. She talks to us almost every time we run into the Ascians to say that they are of the Shadow, of the Dark and are evil. She basically talks to us for all of 2.0 and doesn't stop talking to us until after 2.0 ends. This lines up nicely with the casting of Ultima, which both Hydaelyn and the Ascians agree weakened her a lot. I can easily see the same thing happening with Ysayle and Aarbert and Co. One day, Hydaelyn's talking to them every time something truly evil that needs to be stopped comes up, the next day she never speaks again and she doesn't have enough energy to tell them why. Like us and Minfillia, they try communicating with her, but they get nothing back, so they just keep doing whatever it is they were doing. The probably happened on all the other Shards as well.

As for the Warriors of Darkness, they were definetly chosen by Hydaelyn. That's what being given a Crystal of Light means. If they were chosen of Zodiark they'd have had Crystals of Darkness. And given that it seems they got all their info when they got to the Source from Elidibus, who we know has omitted information before, I have a very hard time seeing what they initially did when they got to Eorzea being indicative of what they would have done if they had found out they could make the attempt to talk to Hydaelyn right from the get-go. If Urianger knows that's an option, then the odds of Elidibus knowing that is very, very high. But hey, Elidibus saw the opportunity to use the Warriors of Darkness to instigate a Calmity, so he took that option. And Elidibus has never said he does not want Calamities to happen, just that he wants Balance.

It's worth noting that the big truth Arbert wants to tell the Warrior of Light right before Hydaelyn takes the Warriors of Darkness back home is not that Hydaelyn was wrong or is evil. It's that Light and Dark don't matter in and of themselves. What Arbert says does matter is how the Warrior of Light chooses use both Light and Dark.

[Lauront]

Her calling us by an already established label that would later take on a different significance is what I am getting at.

It's worth noting that the big truth Arbert wants to tell the Warrior of Light right before Hydaelyn takes the Warriors of Darkness back home is not that Hydaelyn was wrong or is evil. It's that Light and Dark don't matter in and of themselves. What Arbert says does matter is how the Warrior of Light chooses use both Light and Dark.

Yes, i.e. they're not intrinsically good or evil. He was originally chosen by her. He later changed paths.

Hydaelyn presents a certain image in pursuit of an agenda we cannot fully fathom yet. So does Elidibus.

[Dualblade]

Note this post is a little rambly.

With the talk of Hydaelyn, Zodiark, and balance, time to bring up another theory of mine on the whole balance thing.

SO, if we all remember (in paticular if I remember right), back in 3.2 we learn a little bit of the history between Hydaelyn and Zodiark. Namely that they used to live in balance, until Zodiark began to covet power and was banished by Hydaelyn. Now a couple things here point towards possibilities.

1.) Zodiark broke the balance first, and while Hydaelyn managed to stop him it caused the split that made the Source and Shards. It may have been that she had no other way to stop him, or atleast believed there was no other way, but the creation of the Shards is probably what makes the current balance more shaky for Light.

2.) The first shard to fall to something other then a Calamity/Ardor was the 13th, which became the Void (of Darkness). This Shard was also most likely the closest to Zodiark, thus making it easier to fall. The same could be said of the 1st Shard and Light, and even then it wasn't until after the 7th Calamity that a Flood of Light started to happen...coincidently, as Obsidian pointed out, Hydaelyn also weakened enough that she couldn't talk to her Champions, with even Minfillia who was most sensitive to her voice barley being able to hear her.

3.) Even before she was unable to talk to her WoL and Minfillia, she has been shown to not be able to just control those with the Echo. Ascian manipulation of Ysayle started before her strength was drained by Ultima after all. Given that each Calamity weakens her it also wouldn't be surprising if she was saving her strength for the WoL and those more sensitive to her Voice.

4.) Both our WoL and the WoD from the 1st Shard were killing Ascians after the 7th Calamity. If the assumption is that Darkness has been steadily growing stronger over the ages without suffering big losses, its possible the sudden loss of multiple powerful dark users suddenly tipped the scales towards Light...which affected the 1st Shard much more greatly than the Source. Thus the start of a Flood of Light.

5.) So now, where does this leave us here as becoming WoD? There are two possiblities in my mind.

A.) Zodiark, during his time removed from Hydaelyn, has had a change of heart but been unable to really act on it until recently. Even with the Darkness having gotten stronger and Hydaelyn much weaker he still isn't able to reach out to others without...consequences. Though it could also be that the whole "Scions souls leaving the body" is because they are being pulled into the 1st Shard to help combat the Flood of Light.

B.) Elidibus is going to manipulate us to stop the Flood of Light, which we can agree with because it isn't a good thing, its a mutual goal...but by doing it on his terms we end up helping further his goals much more than our own, which ends up causing us to lose. The voice is Arbert who is trying to help guide us into stopping both the Flood of Light and the Calamity that Elidibus is trying to bring about, though the way he has to contact us is not the most pleasent. Or by design, again forcing the Scions into helping stop the Flood of Light (assuming that the "written" history is that the WoL alone goes into the 1st to try and stop the Flood.)

On a personal note, I don't think Hydaelyn is evil. At worst she is a light(er) shade of gray in comparison to Zodiark and the Ascians. So far the story doesn't really present her as being malicious towards the living beings on the planet.

[KageTokage]

I guess Elidibus is probably going to be the final boss for SB if the 4.5 dungeon is anything to go by.

I'm wondering just how badly things are going to go south in the aftermath, though. I guess it remains to be seen whether it was the initial counterstrike from Garleans or something later that ended up being the catalyst for the next calamity.

[Cilia]

I don't think "winning too hard" is what causes a Flood of Light, but killing the Ascians (cutting out the Dark). You need both for stability, but with Zodiark dead / sleeping His agents are the only beings that bring that... and killing them removes it. Important to remember that while Light is Hydaelyn's domain, She doesn't seem to have much power over it, and cutting out the Dark will cause Light to do what it does whether She wills it or not.

I'm wary of trusting Hydaelyn after what happened to Minfilia (Bloodborne will teach you to be skeptical of deities), but don't forget that She cast out Zodiark to preserve the balance... unless She's lying. There is likely more to the story than we yet know, but I don't believe Hydaelyn is lying or has a secret agenda.

I guess Elidibus is probably going to be the final boss for SB if the 4.5 dungeon is anything to go by..

What is it?