The Exarch's Dream

[Iscah]

Whatever the possible outcomes are, it's important to keep in mind that - unless the ARR re-edit or future MSQ progress is going to make the Crystal Tower mandatory - it is very unlikely that we are going to see young G'raha Tia in future MSQ because there's no guarantee that he's currently in the tower. Thus far they have avoided building on any events from an optional story unless it is set as a prerequisite, and have already continued this approach with the Exarch, as he tells Urianger that the WoL hasn't met his past self yet if they haven't started the CT quests.

The time travel plot is, at least in part, a very elaborate way to bring him back into the story without breaking continuity, regardless of whether the player has completed the original storyline or not.

So any theorising for me, at least, is running on the premise that the resolution has to work equally well (with at most a varied line or two) whether G'raha Tia is currently asleep in the tower or he's never set foot in it.

All that said...

It's certainly not looking promising for the Exarch getting out of this story alive, although I would have said that during 5.0 as well.

The repeated mentions that they may somehow need to get his blood into the crystal is certainly setting up for some kind of sacrifice, although given that he first received royal blood from Unei and Doga as some kind of sparkly magic thing means that getting it into the crystal might be much the same process.

Another possibility is whether his own crystalised body counts as "a crystal infused with his blood"...

One thought I had is that if the Exarch somehow becomes the crystal that will transport the Scions home, then that might also carry his soul with it and it could be placed into the Crystal Tower itself, to reintegrate with G'raha (whether he's currently there or not) at some future time.

But of course that's back to the question of whether or not the Exarch should continue to exist at the cost of his other-timeline self's identity, and - particularly given the game's overarching themes - the answer is almost certainly no. Remember the past and mourn those we have lost, but don't try to preserve it at the cost of those in the present.

So, as much as I would like him to live and be happy, I am anxiously prepared for the likelihood that he is going to die and it is going to be bittersweet but for the best - that he should not be immortal and that at last now he can rest, safe in the knowledge he has succeeded in his mission. (But I will be very happy to be proved wrong.)


Though, a possible non-fatal alternative: sacrificing his arm to create the spirit vessel?

And/or letting him live but "brought down to normal" - no longer bound to the tower, no longer bearing the blood of the Allagans, just green-eyed G'raha Tia free to live a normal mortal life from this point.