The Heart of Sabik

[Kith_Whulfth]

First post here on the forum, but here goes...

I have a few theories about the Heart of Sabik, but they all revolve around spoiler-y content...

Since the finer aspects of forum posting yet elude me, I'll just warn of the spoilers now and pray those who are as yet unaware of the revelations of Shadowbringers will have the good sense not to continue on without due caution.

No, really. Spoilers.

So, for the first, from the way that the shades Emet-Selch created to populate his faux Amaurot behave, a great deal of emphasis was placed upon selflessness, and the fact that an artifact of incredible power, charged with a spell so potent as Ultima, would be named for one individual is worthy of note. While it is possible that Sabik was in fact a city or state within the world of the Ancients, it seems more likely that an individual, either part of the council of 14 or from some other place of prominence, was in fact Sabik. I base this upon the fact that so many places in Amaurot are named rather practically, and unless Sabik was a close knit community centered around a particularly dangerous power source, the term Heart would probably not be appropriate.
This all being said, the fact remains that Sabik's heart is clearly some sort of stone requiring a charge. More specifically, my second, and more likely in my opinion, theory is that Sabik was (again) a famous or powerful Amaurotian or other Ancient, yet in this case I believe that the "Heart" is in fact not a manifestation of the individual, but the culmination of their life's work in the arts of Creation Magic. Specifically, I suspect that the Heart of Sabik is an uncharged form of creation matrix, not entirely different from the one we supposedly receive as a result of the "Community Cohesion" quest. Unlike our (sadly unusable) reward, this one is inscribed with the ultimate combat spell, and needs only the proper aether to be used. If this is the case, then the sad and simple answer to our question is that Sabik once was, and it is now our duty to remember that they once lived.

[Lium]

Other revelations we've had since ARR in regards to OP's post:

HW confirmed that the Primal Bahamut was created by Tiamat in an effort to resurrect him, though she saw immediately that he was not actually Bahamut
Emet-Selch confirms that he more or less orchestrated the Allagan Empire

Yeah, Emet-Selch is basically Valkorion.

[Valenth]

Honestly my thoughts as of now are that I want to throttle Lahabrea for bringing it up, cackling maniacally, never mentioning it again, then getting himself killed so we can't possibly ask.

It's the most evil thing he's ever done.

EDIT: Didn't see how necro the thread is but NICE Catapult! XD

Super necro indeed! xD Anyway, I am somehow thinking we aren't entirely done with Lahabrea yet... He was the absolute master of bodyhopping. i'm thinking he's probably still swirling around in the aether of what ever the Eyes of Nidhogg touched after being absorbed into them... Yes, I'm thinking he may either appear in some shape or form in Zenos or Estinien. His death was just too... sloppy for such an important character in the grand scheme of things.

[Jaywalker]

Super necro indeed! xD Anyway, I am somehow thinking we aren't entirely done with Lahabrea yet... He was the absolute master of bodyhopping. i'm thinking he's probably still swirling around in the aether of what ever the Eyes of Nidhogg touched after being absorbed into them... Yes, I'm thinking he may either appear in some shape or form in Zenos or Estinien. His death was just too... sloppy for such an important character in the grand scheme of things.

Lol honestly I think it’s possible he’ll come back too. FFXIV is full of living boomerangs who returned from more bizarre stuff.

Lahabrea has too much imo that still needs revealing while Emet-Selch I deeply mistrust his legion of clones. It’s too weird and specific a thing to bring up and not do anything with.

I do absolutely think Elidibus is convinced he is the only unsundered left, but to be fair Emet literally hid in the same room as him while he was talking to Varis then came out to talk smack the moment his back was turned lol.

More seriously though, figure if either Lahabrea or Emet-Selch come back in any way they won’t be the same as previous encounters. Figure Emet if he isn’t totally wiped from existence (I doubt that scenario) has at minimum been sundered. How big the scattered pieces of his soul are, ex. if he is basically soul-crumbs versus split in two or so pieces, would be more of a question for me personally.

Lahabrea, wouldn’t be shocked if he is basically dormant due to primal digestive juices + going too hardcore on body hopping and is a passenger with Zenos due to Shinryu/Nidhogg’s eyes. So when Zenos inevitably goes yandere and is wreaking havoc looking for his ultimate fight 2.0, personally gonna be keeping an eye open for indications Lahabrea could be waking up in there.

[Daralii]

Super necro indeed! xD Anyway, I am somehow thinking we aren't entirely done with Lahabrea yet... He was the absolute master of bodyhopping. i'm thinking he's probably still swirling around in the aether of what ever the Eyes of Nidhogg touched after being absorbed into them... Yes, I'm thinking he may either appear in some shape or form in Zenos or Estinien. His death was just too... sloppy for such an important character in the grand scheme of things.

That's the point- he looked down on men and saw them as nothing more than tools and playthings to be used. He was then outsmarted and killed by one. The fact that it turns out he was one of the most renowned academics of his time just makes the irony better.

[FJerome]

Lahabrea has too much imo that still needs revealing while Emet-Selch I deeply mistrust his legion of clones. It’s too weird and specific a thing to bring up and not do anything with.

I do absolutely think Elidibus is convinced he is the only unsundered left, but to be fair Emet literally hid in the same room as him while he was talking to Varis then came out to talk smack the moment his back was turned lol.

My five gil is that Emet-Selch's clones are going to be used as a call-back to the Clone Xande we fought in the Crystal Tower, since it's likely that OG Xande was probably just another of Emet's identities.

Elidibus and Emet-Selch working at cross-purposes was interesting, especially because Emet mentions that Lahabrea had already previously taken over his duties on the Source. I wonder if the other two Unsundered had a policy of forcibly benching Emet every time a fragment of the 14th got caught up in their plans because they knew Emet was going to be emotionally compromised.

[Jaywalker]

My five gil is that Emet-Selch's clones are going to be used as a call-back to the Clone Xande we fought in the Crystal Tower, since it's likely that OG Xande was probably just another of Emet's identities.

Elidibus and Emet-Selch working at cross-purposes was interesting, especially because Emet mentions that Lahabrea had already previously taken over his duties on the Source. I wonder if the other two Unsundered had a policy of forcibly bench Emet every time a fragment of the 14th got caught up in their plans because they knew Emet was going to be emotionally compromised.

Ooo, possibly! I'm actually weirdly skeptical of Emet-Selch being Xande himself simply because (acting aside) the personalities seemed radically different. But omg I would absolutely be willing to bet at minimum we might see something in the vein of Xande, Doga, and Unei with him returning. Again, it is just too conspicuous a plot thread and frankly his character got built up too well for me personally to buy he's 100% out this fast. I mean honestly, players thought Gosetsu and Yotsuyuu were dead for a while too only for them to slam back into the spotlight.

Also I think you're right on with how Elidibus and Lahabrea were trying to handle Emet-Selch. Re-watched a couple of early cutscenes and Emet was literally old, sick, and dying in his original Solus body at the beginning of ARR. And he was really pissed about being woken up again so soon, too. The guy was basically depression-sleeping and both Elidibus and Lahabrea seemed to prefer that (despite Elidibus commenting that Emet-Selch is extremely effective, meanwhile Lahabrea repeatedly trips over himself) than making further use of him. Also makes me wonder a bit if Lahabrea's original world has already been rejoined or if he's technically supposed to be doing something elsewhere and whatever his original job was got put on hold.

[Daralii]

Ooo, possibly! I'm actually weirdly skeptical of Emet-Selch being Xande himself simply because (acting aside) the personalities seemed radically different. But omg I would absolutely be willing to bet at minimum we might see something in the vein of Xande, Doga, and Unei with him returning. Again, it is just too conspicuous a plot thread and frankly his character got built up too well for me personally to buy he's 100% out this fast. I mean honestly, players thought Gosetsu and Yotsuyuu were dead for a while too only for them to slam back into the spotlight.

Xande's machinations caused the Calamity of Earth. I wouldn't be surprised if Hades was either Xande or one of his close advisors, like Amon.

[Jaywalker]

Xande's machinations caused the Calamity of Earth. I wouldn't be surprised if Hades was either Xande or one of his close advisors, like Amon.

Yup I’m with you in close advisor and massive influence! Sometimes he does direct action as per Solus and sometimes he influences things from the shadows like with Vauthry. I personally just lean toward the latter a bit in that instance.

[JeanneOrnitier]

Emet did say he was behind Allag but I doubt he was either Amon or Xande, because the Amon we fought was still the original Amon and I'm pretty sure the lore book said Xande 2.0 had Xande 1.0's soul. Emet probably gave Xande 1.0 the idea to make the empire.