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

[KageTokage]

The visions have nothing to do with Zenos' status as a Resonant as he claimed to have been having them for as long as he can remember.

I'm wholly convinced he's another reincarnated Ancient at this point, though who is still up in the air.

[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.

[Kesey]

The visions have nothing to do with Zenos' status as a Resonant as he claimed to have been having them for as long as he can remember.

I'm wholly convinced he's another reincarnated Ancient at this point, though who is still up in the air.

I'm starting to lean that way myself. And since the WOL was Azem, Venat (if alive) is a primal like Elidibus but on Hydealyn's side, known Ascians are all accounted for their ancient selves, that only leaves one ancient we know of, Hythlodaeus, who on one hand wouldn't seem like the type, but at the same time didn't join the split with Venat and called us "friend" just like Zenos refers to us as "friend". Is it possible Zenos is him?

[RyuDragnier]

I'm starting to lean that way myself. And since the WOL was Azem, Venat (if alive) is a primal like Elidibus but on Hydealyn's side, known Ascians are all accounted for their ancient selves, that only leaves one ancient we know of, Hythlodaeus, who on one hand wouldn't seem like the type, but at the same time didn't join the split with Venat and called us "friend" just like Zenos refers to us as "friend". Is it possible Zenos is him?

While possible, I'm guessing it's more possible that Urianger is Hythlodaeus. He always seems to know more than he lets on.

[Veloran]

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.

What "power" does Zodiark have, exactly? Zenos has no reason to reprise a fight that he lost using an entity that itself was already beaten. And again, if the Ascians could just free Zodiark, why would they not have done it already? Moreover, why should any of them consent to handing over their god to an absolute madman who just wants to burn down everything to facilitate his "hunt"? I know Fandaniel seems just as crazy or even moreso, but if he's tempered even he has no motivation to do that. Nevermind the rest of the surviving Ascians.

[Kesey]

What "power" does Zodiark have, exactly? Zenos has no reason to reprise a fight that he lost using an entity that itself was already beaten. And again, if the Ascians could just free Zodiark, why would they not have done it already? Moreover, why should any of them consent to handing over their god to an absolute madman who just wants to burn down everything to facilitate his "hunt"? I know Fandaniel seems just as crazy or even moreso, but if he's tempered even he has no motivation to do that. Nevermind the rest of the surviving Ascians.

The Ascians have been working toward summoning/reviving Zodiark. They need an 8th calamity/rejoining and the WOL has stopped the from accomplishing this every time. Furthermore, I'm not sure Zenos needs to burn everything down like a madman, as the 5.1-5.3 patches have clearly shown they have plan and preparing to go their "hunting ground" which is somewhere not the Empire. And the "power" that Zodiark possess is the ability to rewrite the laws of reality and once the 8th rejoining takes place he will be strong enough to escape the moon and then he will rejoin all the shards making himself fully powered. If I was Zenos, the path to victory is pretty clear and involves Zodiark.

[MrThinker]

...once the 8th rejoining takes place he will be strong enough to escape the moon and then he will rejoin all the shards making himself fully powered.

Remember the alternate timeline with a successful 8th Calamity in which this did not happen.

Regardless, Zodiark on the Source is 8/14 so speaking from a pure total aether point, he is indeed the more enticing option than Hydaelyn.

[Veloran]

The Ascians have been working toward summoning/reviving Zodiark. They need an 8th calamity/rejoining and the WOL has stopped the from accomplishing this every time. Furthermore, I'm not sure Zenos needs to burn everything down like a madman, as the 5.1-5.3 patches have clearly shown they have plan and preparing to go their "hunting ground" which is somewhere not the Empire. And the "power" that Zodiark possess is the ability to rewrite the laws of reality and once the 8th rejoining takes place he will be strong enough to escape the moon and then he will rejoin all the shards making himself fully powered. If I was Zenos, the path to victory is pretty clear and involves Zodiark.

Zodiark rewriting reality took the sacrifice of half the Ancients. I'm not sure that much aether even exists across the Source and shards now, and if it did we're basically just saying he'd need to win from the outset.