G'raha stuff:
Quote Originally Posted by Iscah View Post
Rammbroes' message to G'raha strikes me as odd and ambiguously worded, and I originally took it with an alternate interpretation that didn't seem to play out. I need to set my thoughts on it out as a separate post, I think.
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All happiness aside though, wasn't he specifically in the tower to guarantee that there'd be someone able to control it at whatever point it was reopened? Unless the soul crystal continues to be functional as a key not physically bound to an individual, I suppose.
Ramnbroes message was specifically meant to absolve him of his "duty" to the Tower, as well as his inherited duty to Lady-never-mentioned-again Salina herself. The tower has brought hope to people of future times, just not on the Source. Mission accomplished. Sealing it again is more of an "and the Master Sword sleeps... forever" formality than anything else. It's going to sleep again, but this time without leaving that nagging sense of wasteduntapped potential. The writers have other toys they want to play with now. (Like Azys Lla, maybe?)

It also still stands that it could eventually be awakened and operated by other means, just like literally every other piece of technology ever made. Hell, that's been proven at least partway already. The "living key" bit was only ever a flimsy diabolus ex machina to begin with, so the less they dwell on it the better, in my opinion.

Quote Originally Posted by Iscah View Post
Alternately or as well, seeing as we didn't actually see G'raha's reawakening, perhaps we woke him first up and asked whether he was willing to accept it. Not that you'd probably want to say no to something like that, but again, the Exarch IS G'raha and would justifiably know that he would want to do it.

Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey.
G'raha outright says that there are no contradictions in his memory, which I believe means his Source self was asleep at the time of the transfer. His Source self's memories end at the time he sealed the tower (and presumably found a cozy corner for a catnap), so the only new memories would be waking in the Eighth UE, getting sent to the First, and then returning to the Source. It's a single, unbroken chain of events with no divergence, therefore no opportunity for Source!G'raha to exist as a separate individual. Which I guess still sounds awful if you write it all out, so that's probably why they didn't.

Is it maybe too convenient? Yeah, sure. Is there room for a darker "but actually" down the line? Also yes, but going into that now would have soured the feeling they wanted for this particular finale, just like how the Exarch's body going off warranty wasn't brought up at the end of 5.0 proper.

Unless the real plan is for every Scion but Alph and Alie to have some sort of Sword of Damocles like Y'shtola's cast-from-lifespan aethersight, and for them all to come back into play at the worst possible moment. Yeah, not going to think about that anymore...