The Road to 5.0

[Anonymoose]

I'm still trying to figure out where I stand (after that trailer put a wrecking ball through my 5.0 house of cards), lol. I did gain a little confidence back knowing I haven't lost my deductive touch; Grimlyt is merely opposite Rothlyt and this is Zenos!Elidibus's push on Ala Mhigo, which Varis neglected to consent to a hot minute ago. So Doma, if not Hien's alliance, answers the call. The anti-Imperial forces meet a sincere push by Elidibus. And then what?

Before seeing the 5.0 trailer I would have said I was pretty confident that Elidibus had set up the "balance" to trigger a Calamity - deleting a world and killing millions without rocking the boat hard enough to risk oblivion for the Source... and that Thancred's plan and the Warrior of Light are going to - against all odds - land a suckerpunch across Elidibus's face at the exact wrong moment.

And then The Voice... Once again, my weird voice-recognition habit screamed Joe Dempsie (Arbert) when I saw the trailer, but my JP friends assure me it's Alphinaud's voice actor in JP. Then I realize Colin Ryan didn't grow up too far from Joe Dempsie and I doubt myself... Could he fool me with a deeper pitch? But why would the voice be Arbert and claim the laws of time and space will bend before him? Expanse contracting, Eon becoming Instant ... that's Zodiark sh[kupo!]t.

And how do I align those possibilities with the three regional artworks we've been shown and the young girl... Ilsabard after a tragedy? The First, somehow? Hydaelyn incarnate? Minfilia reborn? Is our long-hypothesized "Larsa" actually "Princess Sarah"? sighs

I still need to think.

Someone's gonna die, though. Not because it's "necessary for a good story", but because change requires change. Transitions require gains and losses. Moreover, with Gosetsu, Gaius, and Zenos all coming back, the Red God needs three names if people aren't going to start looking at death in FFXIV like death in The X-Files. It has to matter. For every Nanamo, there must needs be a Haurchefant.