Tales From the Shadows Updated (SPOILERS ABOUND)

[Mieck]

My main takeaway is that Middy is just waiting for the right moment and set of circumstances to spring back to life. If he chose to do so in this divergent timeline, he could well do so in the real.

[Rosenstrauch]

Now there's something I've been wanting ever since 5.0 came and went. I'm not sure I even have the words to describe how satisfied this makes me.

Very good to see more of the Eighth Umbral Era—and it's good to see that it will continue to have a future, even if it's not one we'll see in FFXIV itself. Middy being back after his two hundred year power nap is quite lovely, too.

[YianKutku]

And the Keeper Of The Lake will become the guardian of those who work to bring the Eighth Astral Era. Hopefully another champion will rise and prevent a Ninth Calamity, but even if they don't, I like to think that Midgardsormr is still impressed by how mortals persevere, holding hope in the midst of ruin.

So Midgardsormr gets to flex his full power in that timeline, 200 years after the end of Stormblood. Hmm. I wonder if ours will come back sooner.

Chances are high, largely due to the time bubble. If Midgardsormr did come back at any point in the game's lifetime, and I think he very likely will due to how useful a plot device he is, it would be basically like he slept for a week or two between the Omega raids and whenever "now" is.

And Omega doesn't even need to be made mandatory, since it's not like Midgardsormr had been doing anything of note, so for those who haven't done Omega, it would just be "I didn't see a need to comment, so I took a nap".

[ShadowMeowth]

My intention was to silently return to the shadows after having said everything I could about the previous tale, since I cannot say much about G'raha, but this game and these writers have the ability to blindside me in a glorious way.

Honestly, you give Midgardsormr and I will be immediately interested. Not only because dragons. Not only because Sormr was our aetherial companion throughout Heavensward. It is also the fact that he is the Guardian of Silvertear Lake and he is there to protect "the thing that we do not know it is but it is most relevant". And with this comment from Yoshi-P that we should be looking to Heavensward to get the idea for 6.0 (which I am doing with my latest alter after a very enlightening replay of A Realm Revamped) Sormr's surprise reawakening as harbringer of the next Astral Era in the alternate timeline is something to study from a narrative way and coupled with our previous tale.

I will explain myself. Besides the Dragonsong War being pretty much a smaller-scale-War-of-the-Ancients, I read a couple of in-depth studies related to Emet-Selch and his character progression, and while of course much is left to interpretation, the fact remains: we have Azem's crystal aka the encore-phone in our possession. Sormr was the greatest dragon that even after death lingered and decided to travel alongside us to see our worth and if we could end the cycle for himself. I assume you all can guess what is my point. Now we just not only have in our hands The Truth and basically sworn to give the Ancients their rightful place in history but we are seemingly about to tread into Garlemald, another cycle of conflict with the nations of Eorzea. Both of these plot points are straight-up connected to Emet.

In short: this story, I enjoyed, yes, but it further reaffirmed me in my belief that it is setting the ground for what comes next. The previous tale with Emet in the Lifestream and mentioning the pausing of the falling curtain "while their worth is far from sure". Sormr awakening from death to remind us that he exists and he put us through a very similar trial being there with us to observe (by stripping us of the Blessing of Light, no less!). Yes... I can start to glimpse where they were going with the Heavensward comparison. Let us see, then, how things unfold from here in 5.4 and 5.5. I think those will be key moments as well and they will stem from these last two tales.

[KalinOrthos]

This little story was everything I wanted from this series and more.

I love the fact that Midgardsormr seemed to regard the Omega "toy", that was a fantastic callback to the third story. And I'm ecstatic that the writers didn't forget about the Eighth Umbral Era, I've been wanting to hear from that lot since the Twinning. It's so good to see even they who worked so hard to ensure our future in the main timeline, finally get the happy ending they deserve, even if it means working just a bit longer.

[LystAP]

Great story!

I wonder who was the young girl holding Omega. Biggs didn't seem to immediately recognize her and Middy focused on her first before looking down at the Omega toy. I would like to believe that Omega managed to regain its transformation ability over 200 years and made itself a small new body.

And if Middy is now watching over the survivors, that means that he can also rally the other dragon broods to help. Ishgard in this timestream on a whole other level?

[Rokke]

I think I am more confused about the timeline after this

So the “bad future” is still around just now its crystal tower-less and survivors are ready to start salvaging it in earnest… which is why Graha didn’t poof when he saved the day… but doesn’t that also mean there is a future where the bad guys lived, the 1st shard destroyed, and Zodiark was 1 step closer to being set free?

otherwise, Middy and little Omega~

[LineageRazor]

Definitely a warm, fuzzy conclusion to the open-ended question of the Exarch's original timeline.

At least, until the fridge horror starts to sink in. Horray, humanity survives, and with Middy's help, they'll start to rebuild the world!

Exactly as planned. Ascian tactics 101 - bust the world back to the stone age with a Calamity, wait for the mortals to claw their way back from the edge of oblivion, and then hit 'em with the next Calamity! So it's been 200 years - so what? That's nothing to an Ascian. Operation Zodiark is right back on track. Even better, Hydaelyn was already barely able to put up a fight; it's unlikely she'll be able to raise another champion like the Warrior of Light again.

It might take another few thousand years, but in this timeline we can count the days until the remaining shards are eliminated (with all the accompanying genocide), the Source is made whole again (after several more Calamities), Zodiark is awakened, and everyone that's left gets fed to him to resurrect their fallen brethren. (Maybe. We don't kinow yet whether their plan will actually work.)

After all that, even if everything really goes exactly as the Ascians hope, Amaurot is restored (and sure, those other cities, too, why not) - they're back to square one. The Sound strikes again - now what? Time to feed Zodiark once again, I suppose!

But for now, at least, things are looking up!

[Brightamethyst]

That was really great story but holy cow did it leave me with more questions than answers and opened some doors that were probably best left closed.

Are alternate Emet-selch/Elidibus still alive in that timeline? Obviously Zodiark hasn't revived or everyone would be gone, but are alternate Ascians now working towards a ninth calamity?

[Lasana]

Are alternate Emet-selch/Elidibus still alive in that timeline? Obviously Zodiark hasn't revived or everyone would be gone, but are alternate Ascians now working towards a ninth calamity?

As far as we know, yes, although I'd guess Emet's probably curled back up for a nap while Elidibus does his work on one of the other Shards to start priming it for a Rejoining.

But now that their opponents on the Source know how the Rejoining works, how the Ascians enact Calamities, and have Midgardsormr on their side, a Ninth Calamity isn't a foregone conclusion anymore and some new Warriors of Light - Warriors of Middy? - might pull off what ours and the Scions weren't able to do in the original "bad" timeline and stop them. We can hope, anyway!