6.0 Predictions: Will it be Garlemald, Sharlayan, or Meracydia?

[Kesey]

I'm saying that because Hydaelyn resides in the aetherial sea, she is directly connected to the source of all aether. If Zenos were to control her like he did Shinryu, he would have straight access to effectively infinite power. And yes, Zenos' obsession with "the hunt", the meaning of Venat's name, and the fact that he's been having vivid visions of the Final Days his entire life can't be a coincidence.

Also, narrativley, I don't really see a scenario where we just beat Zenos controlling a somehow-returned Zodiark, and that's the end of it. There's no way Hydaelyn is just left around either, and I don't see how else thet could send her out considering she doesn't even have enough strength to speak, let alone do some big sacrifice.

I don't think that Hydaelyn is the source of aether, that comes from the star itself. Remember she is losing power, or at least was telling us she was losing her power when she was previously speaking with us. I still feel strongly the hunt connection for Venat is a call back to Sagittarius not Zenos, as to Zenos "the hunt" isn't a real hunt but combat where he is unchallenged (meaning his victims are only prey); he longs for a true fight that he can possibly lose which can only be provided by the WOL. The visions Zenos has of the Final Days may mean something deeper or could just be a reflection of how strong his resonate has grown. On that front we'll just have to wait and see will probably know sooner than later.

A pretty popular idea that has been tossed around the community is Hydaelyn will fight Zodiark through us and Zodiark fight Hydaelyn through Zenos; leading to WOL vs. Zenos fight. I personally wonder if Zenos is more powerful than an Ascian now and Fandaniel intends to use him as the "new" heart of Zodiark to make an ultimate elder primal. But you've implied that Zenos is Venat and that scenario is Zenos finally remembers long enough to switch sides to Hydaelyn and his whole character can be trashed and redeemed in one stroke. I guess its possible, but is Zenos worth redeeming? And if Hydaelyn is true enemy as you've also implied and Zenos is Venat then why is Zenos working with Ascians who are Hydaelyn's sworn enemy? Not sure that even fits with Hydaelyn as we know her, whose personality at this point could be dishonest, but her dishonestly falls in line with more of lie-by-omission then out right betrayal. Given these thought, I'm not buying Zenos is Venat plot.

[Veloran]

I don't think that Hydaelyn is the source of aether, that comes from the star itself. Remember she is losing power, or at least was telling us she was losing her power when she was previously speaking with us.

A pretty popular idea that has been tossed around the community is Hydaelyn will fight Zodiark through us and Zodiark fight Hydaelyn through Zenos; leading to WOL vs. Zenos fight. I personally wonder if Zenos is more powerful than an Ascian now and Fandaniel intends to use him as the "new" heart of Zodiark to make an ultimate elder primal. But you've implied that Zenos is Venat and that scenario is Zenos finally remembers long enough to switch sides to Hydaelyn and his whole character can be trashed and redeemed in one stroke. I guess its possible, but is Zenos worth redeeming? And if Hydaelyn is true enemy as you've also implied and Zenos is Venat then why is Zenos working with Ascians who are Hydaelyn's sworn enemy? Not sure that even fits with Hydaelyn as we know her, whose personality at this point could be dishonest, but her dishonestly falls in line with more of lie-by-omission then out right betrayal. Given these thought, I'm not buying Zenos is Venat plot.

I never said Hydaelyn is the source of aether, I said she's sitting in the source of aether, IE the Lifestream. Presumably the reason she continues to weaken is that, like Alexander, she chooses not to draw aether from the sea.

This is the very reason why Hydaelyn fighting Zodiark through WoL actually makes no sense. She's so weak that she actually brings nothing to the table in that scenario. In order to fight she would need a huge amount of aether, and if she's unwilling to draw upon the star's aether, there's basically nothing she can do in her current state. Meanwhile, whether or not Zenos is Venat, his ability to override the will of Primals could lead to him mantling Hydaelyn and using her connection to the Lifestream to gain almost infinite power and threaten the very survival of the planet.

The issue with the Zenos-as-Zodiark idea is that it's contradictory with what we know about the position he's in. Zodiark was sundered like everything else and locked in the moon, it's arguable whether or not he's cognizant, or even "alive". The Ascians have spent 12,000 years working towards his resurrection through the rejoining of the Source and shards, so how exactly is Zenos supposed to just become his new heart and suddenly he's both free and got the power to threaten the world? If that was possible you'd think the Ascians would have done it by now.

[LineageRazor]

Again, all of this is a very weird tangent, and none of it has anything to do with what we might be doing come 6.0. It's just cork board conspiracy theorizing, really. But if it's not absolute rubbish, I can't help but wonder now if the mysterious "fairy" behind Gaia's powers is actually Igeyorhm. Aside from certain hard facts—namely that we killed her in an apparently permanent fashion—she potentially fits the bill a bit more than the Ascian I expected it to be. Would be hell trying to explain how she "survived" us, though. Death is but a door, and time a window, I guess?

It wouldn't be hard to explain Igeyorhm's survival. As a Sundered Ascian, she was only one of fourteen fragments of the original Igeyorhm. Even with several of the worlds Rejoined, there's probably a few more Igeyorhm soul fragments banging around out there, and any of them could be ascended to the role of an Ascian, if someone capable of doing so cared to do so.

We well and truly killed Igeyorhm - but what we killed was actually one fourteenth of Igeyorhm...

I don't think that Hydaelyn is the source of aether, that comes from the star itself. Remember she is losing power, or at least was telling us she was losing her power when she was previously speaking with us.

I don't think we have reason to doubt that Hydaelyn is losing power. We have an independent third party confirming it - Lahabrea. "Oh, Hyadaelyn... it seems the task of keeping your champion alive has exhausted what little strength you had left." This indicates both that Hydaelyn was ALREADY significantly drained even before Ultima, and that afterwards she was practically powerless. It's possible that Lahabrea was wrong, or overstating her weakness, but I don't think that he would have any good reason to lie for her benefit.

There are other ways to weasel around this. Just because she's out of power, doesn't mean she's STILL losing power. She might even be regaining some. She HAS mustered up the oomph to perform a few more miracles, such as adopting Minfilia as her own "Ascian" and saving the First. But I think we can take it as a given that at the end of the Praetorium, Hydaelyn was at an all-time low, and Lahabrea was entirely earnest in his gloating about it.

The issue with the Zenos-as-Zodiark idea is that it's contradictory with what we know about the position he's in. Zodiark was sundered like everything else and locked in the moon, it's arguable whether or not he's cognizant, or even "alive". The Ascians have spent 12,000 years working towards his resurrection through the rejoining of the Source and shards, so how exactly is Zenos supposed to just become his new heart and suddenly he's both free and got the power to threaten the world? If that was possible you'd think the Ascians would have done it by now.

The fact that Zodiark is sundered actually works toward the narrative's benefit if the goal is to have a WoL-versus-Zodiark finale. I think it's safe to say that our taking on a full-powered, in-his-prime Zodiark would be just silly. Original flavor Zodiark was ridiculously powerful; he could literally rewrite the laws of reality, if Emet wasn't exaggerating for theatrical effect. For us to take on a barely-sentient, freshly-awakened Zodiark under the thrall of a mortal with delusions of grandeur brings the battle to much more reasonable levels. We already made short work of another Primal Zenos manipulated in such a way; reduced-power Zodiark would be escalation, but not impossibility. Especially if we channel Hydaelyn, or something along those lines.

[Kesey]

I never said Hydaelyn is the source of aether, I said she's sitting in the source of aether, IE the Lifestream. Presumably the reason she continues to weaken is that, like Alexander, she chooses not to draw aether from the sea.

This is the very reason why Hydaelyn fighting Zodiark through WoL actually makes no sense. She's so weak that she actually brings nothing to the table in that scenario. In order to fight she would need a huge amount of aether, and if she's unwilling to draw upon the star's aether, there's basically nothing she can do in her current state. Meanwhile, whether or not Zenos is Venat, his ability to override the will of Primals could lead to him mantling Hydaelyn and using her connection to the Lifestream to gain almost infinite power and threaten the very survival of the planet.

The issue with the Zenos-as-Zodiark idea is that it's contradictory with what we know about the position he's in. Zodiark was sundered like everything else and locked in the moon, it's arguable whether or not he's cognizant, or even "alive". The Ascians have spent 12,000 years working towards his resurrection through the rejoining of the Source and shards, so how exactly is Zenos supposed to just become his new heart and suddenly he's both free and got the power to threaten the world? If that was possible you'd think the Ascians would have done it by now.

Fandaniel enters the story to entice Zenos to Zodiark. That was at the end of 5.1. 5.3 ends with Zenos saying he is going to "reprise that transcendent moment" which he is referring to the time he became one with Shinryu. Hydaelyn, in her weaken state even in the aetherial sea, is a poor choice for what Zenos wants to do. Zenos is going to try and take Zodiark's power.