Fan Fest Lore Revelations [Spoilers]

[KageTokage]

The dungeon looks to be the war-torn battlefield where the allied nations presumably intercept the Garlean counterstrike and is the same place where the WoL was fighting Elidibus in the trailer.

It seems like we're walking in on the conflict well after it's already started.

[Iscah]

From the trailer, I'm not sure it's possible to see it in terms of "this part happens in present day, this is the past" etc.

In the new Famitsu interview, they say there is a deliberate presentation shift away from direct story telling to a more themeatic display.


https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._interview_of/

Q: I think the trailer switch from the Hollywood style, to a more theme-oriented European movie style.
Y: Absolutely. Our target is to make our audience to not entirely understand what's happening, but still can enjoy a sense of epicness.

With that in mind, as others have pointed out, the Amdapor bosses may just be a representative of light, and how the WoL - throwing themselves at it again and again - is constantly rebuffed. Only the switch to Darkness / Dark Knight overcomes this "foe".
Another thing, I wondered about the visions the WoL is having. Premonition or flashback? It's not clear, naturally. He is, however, initially shown as his 1.0 archer, in a land reminiscent of Mor Dhona. There are crystal formations that can be seen at the start. Themetically it is a good place (if indeed it is, and not just some random wasteland, also highly plausible), because it is where the WoL's story started (for 1.0 players, at least).

I don't think "making the audience not entirely understand what's happening" is supposed to mean that the things we are seeing are purely symbolic. The 'not understanding' comes with the reason behind it happening. When is this? Where is it? How did [our character] get from where we are now to that desolate place, and who is speaking to him?


Interestingly I very nearly wrote in my previous post that the wasteland looked like Mor Dhona - I did notice the crystals - but on second thought I decided it was a lot less crystalline and more muddy. Could it be the aftermath of the battlefield?

Or... something that occurred to me the other day, but what would happen if someone summoned a primal in Mor Dhona?

Given the beast tribes' endless seeking of crystals to summon new iterations of their primals, why has nobody made use of the huge field of them sitting in place? Are we just fortunate that the tribes tend to stay in their own territories and not venture into other regions?

[YianKutku]

What is it?

It's called "The Ghimlyt Dark", although what that actually means is anyone's guess.

Screenshot of the concept art from the Live Letter stream:

"War-torn" is a good descriptor. It looks like the immediate aftermath of a serious and brutal bombing campaign.

[Iscah]

Something that came to mind is Kingdom Hearts - twisting over the idea of "becoming Warrior of Darkness", I remembered that this is essentially Riku's role in that story (as 'second protagonist' vs Sora remaining linked to Light - at least in the main games, though I never got around to playing all the side stories).

Funnily enough, the shot in the trailer that cuts from WoL to Thancred running up the stairs immediately put me in mind of a shot from KH2's opening cinematic (here, section starting around 2:42) of the characters running up a staircase - this is meant to represent the sidestory "Chain of Memories" which had two separate story paths for Sora and Riku.

And I just rewatched the ending for Riku's story. I'd forgotten just how much of a "dark knight" he is. Using the power of darkness, fighting an 'inner self', still ultimately allied with the Light...

And wow, some of that dialogue seems appropriate right now.

From around 17:00:

MICKEY

Your darkness belongs to you. Just the same way your light does.

Up till now, I thought darkness was something that should never exist. Then I spent time with you and changed my mind.

The road you chose - I didn't know. Light and dark, back to back.

With you, I think they might meet in a way nobody's seen before.

And around 18:30:

RIKU
What are you making me choose now?

DiZ
Between the road to light - and the road to darkness.

RIKU
Neither suits me. I'm taking the middle road.

DiZ
Do you mean the twilight road to nightfall?

RIKU
No. It's the road to dawn.

The road to dawn. The road that lies balanced between light and darkness.

I hope that's our road too.

[Cilia]

So big battle, we kill Zenos-Elidibus, and that makes everything go pear-shaped. Best guess.

While walking a middle road is a nice idea, eventually you reach one end or the other. In Kingdom Hearts' case of Riku, he reaches Light before the end of II, and only in CoM and II is Darkness presented as anything more than evil. The "road to dawn" is, in other words, the path of redemption.

The Warrior of Light has no such need to walk that path. Everything they've done has been selfless sacrifice; barring presently-unforeseen consequences of whatever goes down in 4.5, the need to walk the path of atonement or redemption is... not there at the moment. Without that the term "balance" remains nebulous as ever.

[Theodric]

The dungeon could, potentially, be some sort of Echo vision or alternate timeline. If it's not, then my bet is that 'Zenos' seizes control of Garlemald. The patch preview shows him sitting down in artwork - on a throne, perhaps - and Solus looks particularly unhinged as he looks down at someone. I wouldn't be surprised if Varis is exiled, imprisoned or killed to force Garlemald's hand. So far he's been against playing into the hands of the Ascians - though his hands have been tied. If he does order a counterattack, then it almost certainly won't be consensual on his part.

[KageTokage]

I'm curious as to what the dungeon's name is in Japanese, as it has a multitude of kanji before the "Ghimlyt Dark" part which definitely doesn't just stand for "the".

Considering that the initial story synopsis for Shadowbringers mentions us encountering Elidibus-Zenos before the alliance has properly gone to war with Garlemald, I feel like the dungeon is going to be something occurring in the present/our own reality.

If I had to guess, the Garleans/Ascians decided to raze a town/settlement on the Gyr Abanian border with the intent of provoking retaliation from the alliance and the main reason we're called over is because of the "revived" Zenos.

I'm also really curious as to how the real Zenos is going to play into this mess, though. I'm half-hoping he decides he wants to fight his own body after seeing that its new owner is a match for us.

[Iscah]

While walking a middle road is a nice idea, eventually you reach one end or the other. In Kingdom Hearts' case of Riku, he reaches Light before the end of II, and only in CoM and II is Darkness presented as anything more than evil. The "road to dawn" is, in other words, the path of redemption.

The Warrior of Light has no such need to walk that path. Everything they've done has been selfless sacrifice; barring presently-unforeseen consequences of whatever goes down in 4.5, the need to walk the path of atonement or redemption is... not there at the moment. Without that the term "balance" remains nebulous as ever.

That's true, but the "middle path" doesn't need to be a road to redemption - rather in FFXIV's case it could be the path that we need to walk so redemption isn't necessary. Or this is the downfall and the middle path to redemption comes later.

(And it also seems appropriate, given the apparent association of story colour-schemes and times of day - we are now at nightfall, and we do need to walk the road to dawn. Possibly as in the "eighth dawn" after the coming eighth Calamity...)

I guess it comes back to that problem of "what does taking the side of darkness actually look like?" - without compromising our morals or actions as a character.

It's going to be a long and agonising wait to see what this actually means.

[RukiaFae]

Posted this on another thread and was wondering what thoughts are on this.

Seeing Thancred makes me wonder if the other Scions were taken out purposely to save them from this battle. Almost like the Avengers plot. The voice knows they are needed and if they weren't taken out early then they would die on the battlefield. This may be the reason why we couldn't find a solid connection between the Scions that were treated.

[Ceridwenae]

I'm curious as to what the dungeon's name is in Japanese, as it has a multitude of kanji before the "Ghimlyt Dark" part which definitely doesn't just stand for "the".

If that's pronounced as "gimlet", a gimlet is one of a few things. In this case, I'd imagine the tool used for boring holes may be of most relevance. Typically used for wood, though, so may not be literal.

Alternatively, it's cocktail hour.