Revelations from Keynote III (2019)

[polyphonica]

I firmly believe things with Garlemald will not be wrapped up nice and neat in a bow with a truce or a decisive victory or something. I think we'll take down Zenos - our finest moment thus far - before being unceremoniously snatched away to the First by as-yet-unknown means. With the Warrior of Light well and truly MIA and no evidence of his/her passing but a dead Zenos, the Empire will fall hard on Eorzea and Othard.

I definitely agree that the war in Garlemand will not by any means be wrapped up. But, for in-game continuity reasons, I think our means for going to the First will be different than what happened to the other Scions, since it'd be too much of a dichotomy for us to supposedly be "whisked away" to the First but still be able to teleport to all the other Source zones whenever we want (which will be required for game mechanic reasons). They can't very well end 4.56 with us passing out like the other Scions, but then after the cutscene we're walking around again on the Source. So instead, I think they will find a way to "bridge" the dimensional gap and allow us to teleport back and forth at will. They've certainly implied that the Crystal Tower has some connection (or is) that portal/gateway, but we should see soon enough.

As a result of all this, I don't think the WoL will go permanently MIA, but will basically travel "off world" from time-to-time. The question will be whether there's a way for other people to communicate between the planes (so they can come back when needed), but perhaps that's where the apparent Y'shtola/Matoya swap comes in somehow. But regardless, whatever happens in the Grimlyt Dark seems like it will put the war on hold for a while longer.

Then you have Y'shtoya and maybe-Urianger talking about accepting or defying fate as a forest burns around them, with Y'shtoya declaring that she will "hold the line" until their friend returns. The firestorm is implied to be some sort of cataclysmic event, but I wonder if it's not something more mundane like a magiteknical barrage of fire from the Garleans.

I would have tended to suspect this is occurring in the First as well, as we know that the Scions are NPCs that will be available as part of the Trust system (which means they are on the First with you, unless they also have the ability to go back and forth freely). The "hold the line" scene could be shortly after they "wake up" on the First, while they're waiting for the WoL/WoD to appear there (so basically, in roughly our current timeframe).