Revelations from the Announcement Showcase

[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.