[Spoilers] The Patch 4.5 Lore Discussion Thread!

[ObsidianFire]

That would make more sense if it is Solus saying that.

[Berethos]

Strange how only a few leaders are meeting with him (or the rest is very well hidden in scene), could it be that the alliance is split in their opinion about how to handle it?

Well hidden, for the most part (though Kan-E-Senna, Hien, and Aymeric aren't visible, so no indication if they are or aren't present).

You can see the feet of Raubahn and Lyse to Nanamo's left, which matches the screen on the patch site.

What is also super interesting? Alisaie to her right...and the WoL mostly just out of frame. For a brief moment you can just see the hem of the Samurai AF gear.

[RicaRuin]

I'm hearing "give the lie to this star's fraudulent existence." Give the lie to being an outdated way of saying to prove something is false.

This seems more likely to me, also, I suppose that it is saying 'anchor in the shard', rather than 'anchoring the shard', because - german version incoming!

Du als Pfeiler im Ursprung, ich als Anker in dem Splitter. Zusammen werden wir die Lüge, die dieser Planet ist, zerschmettern.

(We also get a mad laugh after that.) Well, translation: 'You as pillar in the source, I as anchor in the shard. Together, we will shatter the lie that is this planet.'
The voice sounds really similar to German Solus, but not 100% sure.

Also, German Varis is a bit clearer with his goals:

Ich will der Welt ihre ursprüngliche Form wiedergeben. Ihre eigentliche, echte Form. Und dadurch werden auch die Völker wieder zu ihrer ursprünglichen Gestalt zurückfinden. Jedes Volk hat seine Stärken und Schwächen, aber kein Volk ist vollkommen. Woran liegt das?

Translation:
'I want to return the world's original form. Its actual, genuine form. And with that, the races will also find back to their original shape/form. Each race has their strength and weaknesses, but no race is perfect/absolute. What is the reason for that?'
So... melt all the races into one or what? Poor Viera enthusiasts.

Also, Fun Fact, German Solus is more talkative than 'You of all people should understand.'

Darauf erwartest du eine Antwort? Ich bin ein Ascian. Du würdest es doch nicht begreifen.

Translation: 'You expect an answer to that? I am an Ascian. You would not understand it.'




EDIT:

In germany the voice that talks at the beginning sounds a bit like Arbert yet still different and his laugh at the end with the mother crystal sounds again like him but also not..its a bit strange. (And his laugh does not sound like from someone that is good..its sounding quite "evil") Varis was talking at the scene with the meeting, at least that sounds a lot like his german voice.

Watched it multiple times now and am quite positive that the voice in the beginning and when we face Zenos' body is identical and Arbert, but the one in the end is different and more like Solus earlier in the Trailer.

[Nightsword]

I absolutely would like to know about some of the lore hints by virtue of them being in the trailer.

[Anonymoose]

The Light will expunge all life...
Only you can forestall the Calamity...
Eon become instant...
Throw wide the gates...

Once again, my brain screams, "Hey, that's Joe Dempsie!"

Alliance leaders fighting Zenos!Elidibus, Lyse perhaps looks to be the one that breaks his mask (punch + shatter sfx). Yugiri not looking too good in the background there, but if she were dead-dead (yet), I think Hien would be finding a bit more energy in the moment. Varis (has a new Elezen doctor and) is taking to Ghimlyt himself, which is interesting since he didn't seem to want to greenlight the attack for Zenos!Elidibus just last patch.

My goal is this: to return the world to the way it once was, the way it was always meant to be.
In doing so, mankind will be made whole once more.
No longer shall we suffer from the dissension born of our differences.

Why you petulant sock puppet...

These lands, these people, this world─all shall soon change.
As it was, so shall it be again. As it should always have been.

Just like how if we knew the true power of the Echo, all conflict would cease because we would "be of one mind," I bet. Did Lahabrea and Igeyorhm make that seem like a good idea? Elidibus has been speaking in double meanings this whole game and I suspect Varis either has made some critically flawed assumptions or outright doesn't care if everything and everyone we know - as we know it - dies (practically speaking).

And, (admittnig up front this is just snark from the various understandings of order and chaos), look at Varis talking about order through chaos over here.

Win or lose, the path you walk leads only to oblivion.

Probably Mystery Voice even though it's transposed over Elidibus!Zenos speaking.

Long has their kind lurked in the shadows, laboring to sow chaos throughout our world.
I would see each and every one dragged into the light and put to the sword.

This dude also set my voice recog off something fierce, but I can't place it, yet. It's almost Roose Bolton from Game of Thrones, but my brain is still parsing alternatives from other games / movies / anime I've seen recently - especially "each and every one dragged into the light" sounds like someone else I know that I know but don't know.

Also that looks to be Resistance!Zenos on the battlefield, taking out a centurion, so we finally know what he's being saved for. But what's he doing...? Having fun? Gunning for the Warrior of Light? Gunning for the Arbiter of Zodiark possessing his own body? (Please be that last one.)

Also we get to battle those "vetted by the administration" (lol) guards.

Hien holding Alisaie back from "He has my brother!" is interesting, but it could be a red herring. If Alphinaud was really being held against his will, Hien would be all over it (unless it was guaranteed to be a failure resulting in losses). This looks to still be the Burn, so perhaps Alsaie just doesn't want to accept that Alphinaud would rather go another way after what just happened to him?

Soon, we will throw wide the gates...

Another voice "attack" (whether this is what it's saying at that time or not, less certain, but the visual effect is clear). The Warrior of Light and Alisaie struggling to connect. Is she succumbing to the same soulless sleep as the others? ...Or is the Warrior of Light being taken away?

"Only you... Only you..." + Warrior of Light alone in the art + Warrior of Light alone in the trailer.

You will be the capstone of this world; I, anchor in shard.
And together, we will give the lie (prove to be false) to this star's fraudulent existence!

Capstone has a few meanings. The crowning achievement decorating the apex?
Or a synonym for keystone, the strongest part of an arch that allows it to bear weight?

Also, look at the locale; that's a reskinned "Aetherial Sea" zone, again, no? Mystery Voice's domain. I would say it was a red herring in that what sounds more like Solus's voice is laid over this, but Solus's voice has the reverb filter going on. Rather than standing on the elemental glyph, this one looks...cosmological. This seems like either we don't have a choice or it's a temporary alliance of convenience against something we don't want.

Even when it sounds like a good idea to merge souls and merge worlds and make things "whole," mankind tends not to go for it in Final Fantasy, lol. What's the point, losing everything we know, everything we've fought for, the journey we've been on itself? That's something our quasiantagonist wants to do and nigh universally, good points be damned, must they must be stopped.


For those looking for red herrings and like the idea that this story may be going to The First:
What if that's the star he's talking about proving the fraudulence of?


SIDE-STORY SIDE NOTE
Awww, yiss.

[zuzu-bq]

Oh no, Moose post incoming. I'm intrigued, this trailer wasn't as hype as the previous one and too short to cover the lots of MSQ we will have in the next months, do remember scenes of part 2 are included in every x.5 trailer. So we'll be back here to speculate more and more once we cut out part 1 scenes away of the trailer.

The editor of these trailer become so good into misleading us that I always try to not let my imagination run wild since the flow of cutscenes and voices are all mixed up across content we'll recieve. Some scenes though are, interesting to say the least. More Eureka secrets revealed? Kirle seems legitimate surprised with something, oh no. I'm honestly invested in the story surrounding the Isle of Val and I wonder if we can save Ejika from the primal's grasp or if he was enthralled for good. Hydratos seems very nice, we got images of the insides of the castle finally. An Ozma-like creature as an NM? And what certainly is Absolute Virtue, my XI veteran friends are in terror.

Throw wide the gates, once again. On the MSQ side, Varis coming to us to "return the world to what it once was". He seems to be fed up with all the Ascian bullshit just like the Eorzean Alliance. In the Prelurde and Requiem images combined, the resulting image is very well composed, all characters facing directly to us except Old Solus, maybe that means their goals will coincide? Varis was included in the promotional image. The circle in the end, similar to the blessing of the light but clearly nothing alike. I've counted Fourteen circles, one of them being unlike the others... are those...?! And yes the voice seems to be Solus, while his JP voice is somewhat generic (even though the acting of it is good) the NA voice is very distinguishable.

We finally get some Ivalician glimpses, Ramza's back with what looks to be his Armor from the last chapter of FFT. And bunny legs. Not much else from 24-man raid really, Yoshida said the story would be intense but the PLL gave us nothing but scattered teases around the trailer. I'm glad my predictions of having us meet with a Viera by the end of the Ivalice raids was correct, and gives players a nice introduction to the soon to be new race.

[SannaR]

One thing that stuck out to me was us trying to grab hold of Alisea's hand during a mysterious voice episode. Like if we were able to grab the other's hand it would have stopped it or something.

[Anonymoose]

Oh no, Moose post incoming.

Better late than never! I got distracted comparing Shadowhunter's voice to Roose Bolton trying to exclusive / not be able to exclude him from my brain screaming, you know this guy. I was already struggling enough with not being able to rule out Joe Dempsie as the mystery voice, lol.

[Xie_Belvoule]

Glade to see this trailer confirm my theories on pretty much everything.

Garlean counter attack- check
Varis is removed from the picture so solus can make his move- check
GC leaders get a beatdown- check
Zenos, my friend returns- check
Zodiark appears- check
Zodiark will likely reveal that mama crystal isnt all she seems- check

The only thing I don't see is black rose but that's probably the big shocking moment in the patch. While hien was away the domans are hit with the black rose.

It's obvious to me now what Varis' plan was, to create a world where everyone had the echo. The Resonant was his original attempt to create a version of the echo that could be mass produced. He wants to create a world where everyone can understand everyone else, thus making them immune to the schemes of the ascians. In a world where everyone has the echo their would be no misunderstandings, no lies, no strife. A world without war or conflict, a world where the true power of the echo would lead to everyone being "of one mind"
Side bonus, in a world where everyone has the echo, then the primal threat is eliminated as everyone would be immune to tempering.

Essentially a world of total peace as everyone would be linked to everyone else via the echo, bridging the gap between them. Like Halderman's novel Forever Peace.

[RicaRuin]

It's obvious to me now what Varis' plan was, to create a world where everyone had the echo. The Resonant was his original attempt to create a version of the echo that could be mass produced.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but the Resonant was Zenos' personal project and most likely not supported by any other, seeing how Aulus goes on about Zenos being the only one believing in his research.