Death unto Dawn page up

[Kesey]

If anyone is going to die in 5.5 my money would be on Arenvald for the following reasons:

• Minor enough not to cause outcry, but major enough for people to know who he is.
• A close tie with both Alphinaud and Fordola. We know Alphinaud is going to be working up to a big "character moment" as he's going to change class, so this would potentially spur him forward.
• He doesn't appear in the trailer at all, but we do hear him. This is... strange, and a little suspicious.
• They said they had trouble "cutting around the spoilers" for MSQ in this trailer, and his absence feels like they want his appearance to be a surprise.
• We see Alphinaud frustrated in the trailer at not being able to save someone (I don't think this is him, but it's definitely a theme), and he looks sad or apologetic toward an angry Fordola in the scene where she pushes him over. Maybe reaching a bit, but this scene would make perfect sense after his death/something happening to him.

Like I've said before, I personally am not the biggest fan of character death but in this case I could actually see it making sense to progress the plot (Alphinaud's character development, and also development for Fordola, who could possibly join us in Endwalker).

I feel like you have something here. Fordola seems to be the last character to be added to the main cast for Endwalker (as Yoshi-p did hint a character will come into the story in 5.5 that will play a major role in Endwalker in a recent interview).

Arenvald is one of the good ones, but the major thing his character arc wanted was to liberate Ala Mhigo and he's accomplished that. He's fallen from prominence since Stormblood only popping up in the summoner quests to remind you he and Fordola are still there. But if Fordola has a bigger role to play, then sadly Arenvald hits all the major rules of character deaths: being meaningful, moving the plot, and forcing other characters to grow.

[Kesey]

I thought Arenvald had deathflags since Stormblood. I'd rather he not die, but I would not be surprised if he did.

As for the Nerva topic. If he is young, I can see Gaius end up being his adviser/ right hand if they go that route. I wonder if Gaius was ordered to kill Nerva's older siblings assuming he had any? We know Gaius killed 9 "aspirants to the crown" and I guess it goes with the atonement-forgiveness theme.

Well Sorrows of Werlyt is a Gaius redemption arc and a character growth moment to make a better father figure. Which plays into crowning a young Nerva and putting Gaius in the position of Regent as a future story arc.

[Lauront]

I feel like you have something here. Fordola seems to be the last character to be added to the main cast for Endwalker (as Yoshi-p did hint a character will come into the story in 5.5 that will play a major role in Endwalker in a recent interview).

You're correct that he said that - more specifically:

An important character that will play a crucial role in the Zodiark vs. Hydaelyn story will make its appearance.

Source here.

I took that to mean someone with more direct involvement in that whole saga though (e.g. Venat), and there is also that mystery spectral figure in the trailer.

With that said, I agree with the rest of your post.

[MoofiaBossVal]

EDIT: Having skipped over the trailer, I was not aware of this, but apparently Fordola is still wearing her slave collar from the short story. I wonder if that'll be a point of contention for any of the Scions, or if it'll go unnoticed.

Given that Ul'dah still allows slavery and nobody ever questions it, I'm guessing not.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Well Sorrows of Werlyt is a Gaius redemption arc and a character growth moment to make a better father figure. Which plays into crowning a young Nerva and putting Gaius in the position of Regent as a future story arc.

Idk if it’s as much of a redemption arc as it is showing how bad of a father he is lmao. But we’ll see.

[Rosenstrauch]

I wouldn't call it a redemption arc until Gaius is forced to admit his failings extend beyond "I trusted an Ascian". Given that Diamond Weapon will be channeling Zenos, it may be an appropriate time to delve into just how badly he (Gaius) screwed up Ala Mhigo and how warped a person he became in the pursuit of his ideals. With some effort, it could tie neatly into the story as is. But then they also have to acknowledge the whole "Gaius's kids have been hunting for primals" thing, as well as the whole "Valens was a candidate for the XIVth Legion Legatus, but was overshadowed by Gaius and then worked under Nero on the Ultima Weapon without Gaius knowing" thing...

FF14 has a nasty habit of pushing back story development to the third act of its three act stories, and I worry they may have bitten off more than they can chew with Werlyt.

[Lauront]

Although it could be Zenos (the three split red beam did remind me a bit of his Sword Art), Rhitatyn has been put forward as another viable candidate.

[Theodric]

Personally I'm disinclined to read too much into things at the moment. It really seems like a contrived excuse to just have some big, flashy robot fights in-game and tying them to Garlemald happened to be the easiest way to do so. Gaius was quite obviously brought back due to the popularity he garnered back in 1.0 and 2.0, though he's now such a completely different character that many of his fans no longer care much for him.

The lack of any acknowledgement by either Gaius himself or the writers in regards to the soldiers he brought to Eorzea dying is just bizarre. They didn't need to introduce some random orphans - they could have easily have had the desperate survivors in the various Castrums across Eorzea band together to create and unleash the Weapons instead.

One could argue that he could have done more to bring stability to Ala Mhigo when he was stationed there but I'm inclined to think that, much like with Regula, there were saboteurs working against him.

Given that the leaders of the Eorzean Alliance also have a poor track record when it comes to forcing their will and opinions on others/being woefully incompetent at times...I'm pretty reluctant to single out Gaius for that.

[RicaRuin]

Although it could be Zenos (the three split red beam did remind me a bit of his Sword Art), Rhitatyn has been put forward as another viable candidate.

While Sapphire fits the helmet thing, I don't really see a certain similarity with the others, as they are simply close to their original FF VII design. Only Sapphire has this obvious change from the usual design.

Personally, while not quite resembling Zenos, Diamond's design gives me some real Shinryu vibes there.



(On another note, you always have such pretty art in your signature but never the artist, drives me little crazy! )

[KizuyaKatogami]

I wouldn't call it a redemption arc until Gaius is forced to admit his failings extend beyond "I trusted an Ascian". Given that Diamond Weapon will be channeling Zenos, it may be an appropriate time to delve into just how badly he (Gaius) screwed up Ala Mhigo and how warped a person he became in the pursuit of his ideals. With some effort, it could tie neatly into the story as is. But then they also have to acknowledge the whole "Gaius's kids have been hunting for primals" thing, as well as the whole "Valens was a candidate for the XIVth Legion Legatus, but was overshadowed by Gaius and then worked under Nero on the Ultima Weapon without Gaius knowing" thing...

FF14 has a nasty habit of pushing back story development to the third act of its three act stories, and I worry they may have bitten off more than they can chew with Werlyt.

Ehhh don’t think it’s channeling Zenos. I thought it at first too however there are a lot of signs for it pointing otherwise, main sign being that the song we hear at the end of the trailer is p2 diamond weapons theme and it’s a remix of Rhitatyn and Livia’s battle theme. My guess is that it’s going to be a split boss between both of them given that the actual arena has 2 split platforms.