Revelations from the Announcement Showcase

[Erendis]

New 8-man raid will be "totally original," but is named after FF2's final dungeon and features a surprise return from an antagonist we assumed was dead and gone.

/doubt

Except...

Lahabrea was the Scion of Light associated with Mateus the Corrupt. Mateus Palamecia, better known as "the Emperor," was the main antagonist of Final Fantasy II. He was slain as a minor boss a little past the halfway mark but, in death, usurped the throne of hell itself and waged war against the world of the living from the castle Pandaemonium.

So they're failing miserably in the originality department right out the gate, but even so, it's a cool nod.

Pretty sure they said Pandemonium is new 8 man. And 24-man will be totally original.

[MrThinker]

Pretty sure they said Pandemonium is new 8 man. And 24-man will be totally original.

Lahabrea's opposite esper in FFXII is Mateus. Mateus is the name of the FFII emperor in some materials. The emperor took command of the castle in hell, pandemonium and became the new ruler of Hell. Lahabrea is returning man.

[Lauront]

The Lahabrea thing does indeed seem like a very strong nod to his Mateus aspect. Whether there will be a more literal role for Lahabrea to play remains to be seen - his soul wasn't returned to the Aetherial Sea in the usual way Ascian souls are. It was in Nidhogg's eyes until Estinien pierced those. Who knows what happened to him whilst in them.

I'll reserve judgement. The image at the end of Hydaelyn/Zodiark is interesting, and I wonder if that's where they're going with Anima. Incidentally, a screamer, summoned from the Underworld, and one born of pain, something Fandaniel touches on in one of his rants. My guesses are some forced fusion of the two primals, perhaps linked to the ultimate origin of the Final Days.

The reversed version:



Her sceptre does look a bit like Mateus's, as a side note:



The comment they made that there's no good or evil but just light and dark with reference to the inspiration for the image is a reinforcement of the point from earlier on I suppose. EDIT: Apparently it's no light and dark as well. Hmm so it may be touching on something symbiotic about them, or how they require each other to exist; she exists against a contrast of darkness, he against one of light. Possibly as a result of her being grafted onto him to summon her. This is a IV inspired expansion and the moon played a strong part in that (so wouldn't be surprised if Zemus appears at one point or other), but at the same time with Zodiark shielding the "moon" I wonder if there's some IX reference going on here, where you had two linked worlds - linked through the Underworld, maybe, with the Source attacked through some cross-world invasion. Zodiark seems very distressed, whereas Hydaelyn seems placid, and this looks like scene where he's being enervated. If I'm not mistaken, the moon was created when Zodiark was expelled, so it's peculiar that he's shielding it pre-sundering. May have something to do with the world "glowing" when the derplander approaches it from the moon - cutting a very Elidibus-like figure for a brief moment. A Gaia/Terra dynamic dating to ancient times would be interesting, if that's the aim. The top of her sceptre looks like a moon, with a reddish sphere behind it. Both IV and IX featured a red moon, with IX doing so in relation to Terra.

I'm still expecting Sharlayan to be the "big" city for 6.0. Thavnair is a nice surprise. I am guessing we're going to get some more coverage of Ilsabard and the moon concluding the zones.

Overall, I'm just lukewarmly interested to see where they're taking things, since it does look like they will touch on the ultimate cause of the Final Days and say Fandaniel has a more complex story than we thought. Still hoping Zenos is dropped by the end of 6.0, although the comments on his one-sided "friendship" make me wonder. If they're adding a scythe job I kind of expect that will relate to the new weapon he's picking up and serve as a nod to him being Hades's great grandson, as a reaper. Not hugely excited but some interesting aspects and at least they made Zodiark hench AF and not noodle armed.

[Zohar_Lahar]

I'll reserve judgement. The image at the end of Hydaelyn/Zodiark is interesting, and I wonder if that's where they're going with Anima. Incidentally, a screamer, summoned from the Underworld, and one born of pain, something Fandaniel touches on in one of his rants. My guesses are some forced fusion of the two primals, perhaps linked to the ultimate origin of the Final Days.

It's like what the Word of the Mother once said: "Before there was life, in the depths of the aetherial sea, Light and Dark did once dwell as one. But the Darkness coveted power, and the balance was broken. Thus was I forced to banish Him unto the distant heavens, to forever remain apart. A moon bound. In sundering the star did we cry out, and the barriers 'twixt planes chance to falter."

Now granted, she failed to mention the part about the Final Days and them both being summoned as eldest primals by the ancients. Seeing as the new Terminus beasts once again resemble voidsent, there must be a connection between the Final Days and the Flood of Darkness that befell the Thirteenth, and the Flood of Light that almost claimed the First.

[Lauront]

There's been some guesses that the t-shirt may have been a subtle tie in to Templar (as the director of The Filth and the Fury is Julien Temple), which is incidentally a job based on the mystic knight archetype. It's a sword user, so whether they'd really want sword user #6, or instead to bring in some other weapon (like a scythe, or similar) is anyone's guess. I still think they'll tie it to Zenos in some capacity what with the "new weapon", and the fact that he's trained in a similar style with his sword arts, albeit using katanas to draw out the aether from them for now. Maybe the WoL/D will jump to it as well in the rest of the trailer? Who knows. I'm not particularly expecting any ties to Necromancer for the time being. I'm still hoping they'll touch on that or some other darkness-using caster in a future expansion.

Back to Lahabrea, it's hard to say what to expect, but he went through hell and back, having been trapped in Nidhogg's Eye, then wandering the Aetherial Sea. As the raid will set in motion after the MSQ of 6.0, which is set to conclude by then, my guess is the war between the two primals might have some effect on him. He was already worn down before and struggling to retain his sense of identity, unlike Emet, so who's to say, if he's out there, what kind of memories triggered by witnessing this all might do to him. If there's some hidden entity or place behind the Final Days, or some other-dimensional monstrosity, it could all tie to that too. The French language version puts his title as "President", which is another way the term Speaker can be construed, and there's frequent references to Amaurot as the heaven where the angels resided, so there's already a slight Light Emperor theme running through him. Were he to take on the Light Emperor/Emperor of Hell guise it'd have superficial similarities to the one he knows as their saviour (Zodiark) and the one who damned them (Hydaelyn), even if the symbolic references are switched (angel - damnation, demon - salvation.) At least my hope is we'll get to learn a bit more of Lahabrea, that the writing will be good and that we'll see him back at his full power, and then some. Fire was his preferred element and his sigil burns bright with it.

It's like what the Word of the Mother once said: "Before there was life, in the depths of the aetherial sea, Light and Dark did once dwell as one. But the Darkness coveted power, and the balance was broken. Thus was I forced to banish Him unto the distant heavens, to forever remain apart. A moon bound. In sundering the star did we cry out, and the barriers 'twixt planes chance to falter."

Now granted, she failed to mention the part about the Final Days and them both being summoned as eldest primals by the ancients. Seeing as the new Terminus beasts once again resemble voidsent, there must be a connection between the Final Days and the Flood of Darkness that befell the Thirteenth, and the Flood of Light that almost claimed the First.

The alternative explanation is that the Voidsent are beings corrupted by darkness. We see this process replicated in the tank role quests. We also know the beasts of Terminus were the product of creation magicks and the dread fears of the Amaurotines, after the sound triggered the loss of control over their powers. The DNC quests also have a similar phenomenon where anxiety yields creatures of nightmarish aspect, but in this case something emanating from the earth (in which the Underworld aka the Aetherial Sea is to be found) in the form of a sound preceded the phenomenon and then led to loss of control over their powers. My guess is darkness has a lot to do with an active state of aether, and any heightened emotional state may be more prone to yielding it (also suggested in the DRK lore I believe), thus the form is more the same end product but from a different process, created from uncontrolled creation magicks impelled by dread. The 13th only became that way after Igeyorhm rushed a calamity there without the Source being in a "receiving" mode at the time, when the Ascians were still figuring out the whole process. So I do think there's a connection but specifically in the process (overload of darkness) that yields such "demonic" forms.

I'm somewhat dubious of Hydaelyn's explanation at present, as we don't know how much she truly understands or knows as a Primal. Venat may be privy to this knowledge in detail, but the Primal itself may just be operating on what it believes to be the case. We saw from both Ryne as Hydaelyn and Elidibus as WoL that they can take on a fanatical urge to drive out darkness - and two primals going to war with one another would be a very good catalyst for that sort of behaviour - so to what extent her explanation is conditioned by that, is anyone's guess. Whether Venat - if in there (after all, Elidibus was able to jump ship) - herself even remembers is an interesting question.

I'm on the fence about how they'll employ Anima, especially if it's tied to the origin of the sound, or whether it'll just be a bound up monstrous form of the two primals (albeit they don't tend to reveal the final trial like this), but the art of the two of them flowing from one another - presumably at a time when they both occupied the Aetherial Sea and were vying for supremacy, each seeking to protect the star from their perspective - is suggestive of it. For now I'm betting on it having to do with Fandaniel, given that he has an expressed self-destructive desire along with his urge to take the world with him, and his allusion to "pain", a concept tied intimately to Anima. He's barely an Ascian in the usual sense, given his very different aims to them, and he is intimated to have a more complex story, so I'm expecting/hoping it'll tie to the Final Days' ultimate origin. So far they seem to be going for some Kuja vibes with him, but maybe they'll throw in some Seymour, too.

As to whether Fandaniel will in any sense be the final boss, it all comes down to how you interpret "Fandaniel". Much as Elidibus-WoL was a "new, never before seen foe" or something to that effect, if he were to somehow take on some other form it would subvert expectations a bit. They placed some significance on Zenos's one-sided view of the WoL as a "friend". Yotsuyu struggled to retain her form as Tsukuyomi when she lacked the emotional impetus for it, and Zodiark is a primal far more powerful - so maintaining and controlling that form will take even more sheer willpower, and I wonder if this "friendship" might weaken that resolve and create an opening for Fandaniel, or the Primal itself, to exploit. Perhaps we'll see a scenario like Necron from IX, where Kuja's self-destructive urges shaped Necron's view of humanity - and so with whichever Primal Zenos ultimately tries to devour. A strong reason I believe as to why Elidibus was chosen to be the original Zodiark was his sheer determination and dedication. On the other hand, it might precipitate an urge to merge the two primals, given that the WoL - for now - draws on Hydaelyn's power.

It's interesting that they're jumping straight into the new story after 6.0, but I guess they really do want this arc wrapped up now.

Regarding the title? Meh. At this point Forspoken sounded much better. I wonder what it and the other trademarked IP relate to then.

[Vyrerus]

Templar.

Hmm, that sounds pretty robust and spot on. I could also see them calling it Zealot, maybe?

[Zohar_Lahar]

The alternative explanation is that the Voidsent are beings corrupted by darkness. We see this process replicated in the tank role quests. We also know the beasts of Terminus were the product of creation magicks and the dread fears of the Amaurotines, after the sound triggered the loss of control over their powers. The DNC quests also have a similar phenomenon where anxiety yields creatures of nightmarish aspect, but in this case something emanating from the earth (in which the Underworld aka the Aetherial Sea is to be found) in the form of a sound preceded the phenomenon and then led to loss of control over their powers. My guess is darkness has a lot to do with an active state of aether, and any heightened emotional state may be more prone to yielding it (also suggested in the DRK lore I believe), thus the form is more the same end product but from a different process, created from uncontrolled creation magicks impelled by dread. The 13th only became that way after Igeyorhm rushed a calamity there without the Source being in a "receiving" mode at the time, when the Ascians were still figuring out the whole process. So I do think there's a connection but specifically in the process (overload of darkness) that yields such "demonic" forms.

It wasn't just creation magicks going haywire; "The sound distorts all living things within earshot". Not unlike what the Flood of Darkness and Flood of Light has demonstrated.

Theoretically it's possible, but given several Sin Eaters were also reskinned voidsent enemies, I'm not putting stock in the idea.

If we operate under the assumption Emet-Selch was telling the truth about what happened to the Thirteenth, and in good faith that he never lies...

How would that contradict what Emet-Selch said about the Thirteenth shard? His Amaurot recreation made it impossible not see a connection between the Final Days and the Flood of Darkness/Light.

[Iscah]

How would that contradict what Emet-Selch said about the Thirteenth shard? His Amaurot recreation made it impossible not see a connection between the Final Days and the Flood of Darkness/Light.

Does it? I never once thought of those - it's an entirely different phenomenon. This isn't an overflow of light or darkness, it's something else happening while the balance is, if not stable, then not something Emet thought worth bringing up.

And the "distorts all within earshot" thing is a bit odd but unless it was actually distorting people in ways that Emet didn't bother to portray with his recreations, I took it to mean the distortion would directly be the loss of magic control. It can't be warping everyone that hears it into monsters, or there'd be nobody left to explain that they heard a sound at all.

[Cilia]

Something I've not seen mentioned much is Anima.

X players will remember that she is not just another aeon (summon) - she is effectively the intended Final Aeon of Seymour, the secondary antagonist of the game, with Final Aeons being made by sacrificing someone very close to their intended summoners; in Anima's case it was Seymour's mother.

I can't help but wonder if Anima will end up being more than just a boss fight for the sake of having a boss fight, like a lot of mid-game trials (I assume she's going to be one of the two in Endwalker).

How would that contradict what Emet-Selch said about the Thirteenth shard? His Amaurot recreation made it impossible not see a connection between the Final Days and the Flood of Darkness/Light.

Flood(s) of Light / Darkness are created by severe aetherial imbalances leaning toward Light or Dark, respectively. What happened to Amaurot was not that.