6.0 Story Speculations

[HiraishinNoJutsu]

All of these secrets I why I hope we do end up going to Sharlayan. Surely it can't be a coincidence that they share so many similarities with the ancient world?

- The use of Greek in their culture. With the name "Amaurot" and as well as Louisoix becoming Phoenix a bird from Greek Mythology, as well as the Twin Grimoires Adelphos which mean "Brother"
- Both Sharalyan and Amaurot are learned nations of scholars
- The status Quo of non-intervention
- Members of the leading council disagreeing with their peers and leaving them, thus being branded a pariah (Azem and Louisoix)

I'd bet my bottom dollar that something fishy is going down in Sharlayan but I seriously doubt that the WoL would get a chance to truly pry into the society as an outsider looking in. Also I feel like if we do end up going with the Party of Endwalker were not going to be welcomed as openly as one might hope since we have

-Yshtola The disciple of Matoya who spited the forum in the past
-Urianger Louisoix disciple who was already denied help from Sharlayan in the past
-Alphinaud and Alisaie who followed in the Grandfathers footsteps and left to fulfill his duty
-And last but not least Two of the greatest masters of "Solving the problem with Violence" Estinien and WoL. (we know that they have a distaste for this thing)

Fourchenalt is described as letting people choose their own path whether he disagrees with it or not but as a Father I wouldn't be surprised if he clashes with us if he believes were a bad influence on his children and it would be some delicious character development for the Twins too!

[Cilia]

I also happen to believe there's a link of some sort between Amaurot and Sharlayan; if I recall right the spiraling shell design used as their emblem is seen at the end of Akademia Anyder.

I don't expect the Scions will be given a warm welcome given the nation's tradition of isolationism and nonintervention, but I do still expect that to be the "main hub" city.

[WhiteArchmage]

That's what's got me doubting Sharlayan (even if I still think it has the highest chance to be the big city), because from everything we know about them they SHOULDN'T be letting us in. Either Krile managed to convince the Forum in record time that The End of Days is coming and it's in everyone's best interest that Sharlayan leave its isolation and open up... or they won't have much of a choice because something big is going on there and we'll need to intervene ASAP.

In any case, we'll find out in *checks countdown* 1 day, 20 hours, and 59 minutes.

[Theodric]

To be fair, we do have an established precedent of near inaccessible areas abruptly opening up as and when the plot demands it. As I see it, there's a number of possible options including:

- Krile successfully makes a case for the Forum to make an exception to their established policy.

- Krile fails to convince the Forum and we look elsewhere for information and allies to work with.

- Krile fails to convince the Forum but we infilitrate Sharlayan somehow.

- Krile fails to convince the Forum but our character ends up attacking Sharlayan. (I mostly bring this up because it'd echo Cecil's invasion of Mysidia, though I'd be surprised if such a route were to be taken.)

- Something dire happens to Sharlayan and makes it completely inaccessible. (Unlikely, I think.)

- Something dire happens to Sharlayan and that is why our character and the Scions go to visit the place.

At the moment I'm 50/50 as to whether or not we go there during the expansion. There's certainly been a lot of build up towards the place and if we're after ancient knowledge and/or power then it does seem like the place to visit for that.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the isolation policy was due to thorough knowledge of the Source's true history. Here's hoping that such knowledge gets uncovered and spread far and wide.

[Vyrerus]

My money is on, Krile can't convince them, so the Twins use their connection with their father and estate for the first time since Coil to have us enter into Sharlayan under their auspices. Very similar to how House Fortemps gave us an in, in Ishgard. We about to get Ishgard 2.0.

Only this time, instead of a thousand year war with dragons, and an evil pope it's the end of the world again with evil by way of apathy nerd politicians.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Tbh i could see Fandaniel putting a tower near Sharlayan that makes them ask us for help.

[Kesey]

- Krile fails to convince the Forum but our character ends up attacking Sharlayan. (I mostly bring this up because it'd echo Cecil's invasion of Mysidia, though I'd be surprised if such a route were to be taken.)

Although attacking Sharlayan will most likely be off the table, a proving exercise, much like Mount Ordeals was to Cecil, could easily be required of the WOL to gain the status necessary to access Sharlayan resources or be taken seriously by Sharlayan citizens. Given the tone of the msq so far, I see this FFIV similarity as more likely.

[KageTokage]

I'm thinking we won't go there immediately and that it might happen after our initial visit to Thravnair as judging from the dungeon, a sizable part of the island ends up getting devastated somehow, which might be the kick in the pants they need to realize just how grave the whole situation with the towers is.

[Rosenstrauch]

Thinking on the Final Days, putting some pieces together and hypothesizing...

The Fatebreaker (Eden 11 Boss) carries the epithet "Dread Hope"—this is because he represents both Ran'jit and Thancred (Dread and Hope respectively). And when he's defeated, Mitron balks at the achievement, refusing to accept that the WoL and Ryne could triumph over her fears when his own people couldn't do the same. One might argue the reason we were able to do so, despite how powerful the Fatebreaker was, is because Ryne had already conquered her fear of Ran'jit and had a... three year reality check in Thancred's case. While she certainly fears the former and loves the latter, they aren't quite the deific figures Mitron wanted them to be.

Or maybe Ran'jit and Thancred were just second bananas to the WoL. Who can say? But I digress—what I want to do is draw attention to the words "dread" and hope", and two synonyms for those words: "fear" and "faith". The Fatebreaker is a being straddling the line between both, and was manifested using both as a source of strength. In this respect, the Fatebreaker can be said to be both a Primal—a false god born out of the would-be summoner's faith—and a Terminus, born from the unchecked creation magicks of the Amaurotine people and their deepest fears. And of course, both Primals and the Terminus share the common root of being born from, and shaped by, the subconscious of their creators.

With that in mind, I have to wonder if Venat and Hydaelyn's goal was, in actuality, stripping humanity of the power to summon such creatures by any means necessary, and that this goal is what led to Hydaelyn sundering not just Zodiark, but also the entire world. If the Unsundered trio hadn't somehow avoided it, there wouldn't be anyone capable of using creation magic left. Nor would there be anyone left who could pass on the knowledge of how to use it. After all, the Unsundered raising up their fallen comrades and seeding civilizations with the power to summon primals is the very reason they keep cropping up, and it's not out of the question that the few edge cases where the Ascians aren't involved (Enkidu, Susano, Lakshmi) wouldn't be possible if the Source hadn't been rejoined as many times as it had been.

Of course, the fact that primals were involved in the destruction of the Thirteenth and the salvation of the First (Eden) makes it clear that primal summoning is still possible even on a fully sundered world. Though in both cases this was ether explicitly or implicitly done with Ascian aid, the possibility of "accidental" primal summoning is still there, I suppose. Perhaps sundering the world into fourteen parts was the most Hydaelyn could do without the world becoming incapable of supporting life, and so "make it impossible for this to happen again" gave way to "make it nearly impossible".

… but all of the above is just guesswork and speculation on my part, so take it with a grain of salt. And as much as there's a specific direction I'm expecting them to go with Hydaelyn, I find the character interesting enough that I don't particularly care where they go with her, so long as they don't anticlimactically kill her off so we can wear her corpse like Socker Boppers while Zenos does the same with Zodiark.

… or force the player to go along with the Scions choosing to suppress Hydaelyn's history "for the greater good" after they made a clean break from such behavior by the end of Shadowbringers. Gods, characters like Octopath Traveler's Cyrus Albright are too few and too far between.

[Raikai]

- Something dire happens to Sharlayan and that is why our character and the Scions go to visit the place.

To me, that's the most likely scenario. I don't see Sharlayan's neutrality guarding them off Fandaniel... In fact, being a nation that holding so much knowledge, makes them actually a bigger target for the Telophoroi.