Revelations from Patch 5.5 (Part 2)

[Lauront]

A decent patch to set up EW. Purely commenting on the MSQ for now as I’ll get round to Bozja later. Might have more thoughts on it later.

Daddy…

…Leveilleur. I expected his appearance based on the way they worded matters when describing him. The Forum’s utter unwillingness to listen to Krile does suggest, IMO, that G’raha is right, and there is a reason that the island is not showing all its cards yet, rather than genuinely ignoring the problem. That reason being it has its own plan. I got the impression Fourchenault was cutting ties in order to protect his children (remembering back to the New Year greeting), since his position is derived from the Forum and one which he must act on whether he wills it or not. Also if he were to try convince his children to return and did so successfully, their meddlesome friends would soon follow, too, potentially frustrating their pans. With that said, maybe he wants them free to act, away from prying eyes.

So this to me looks like a front. Sharlayan is the next destination, so we will find out in due course. IMO the change in policy must have coincided with the withdrawal from their colony – their isolationist stance was not always thus, as the island used to try convert others to its brand of astrology, as per this (quoting from EE2). Even though Fourchenault was in favour of an isolationist stance, the entire stance of the Bibliothecs seems concocted to withdraw Sharlayan from the whole affair. I enjoyed daddy Leveilleur’s voice acting.

As an aside, the similarities between this sight of the Pleroma (lore) from the Antitower and Sharlayan’s emblem and persistent spiral shapes, dating all the way to Amaurot (and in turn, their connection to the ones appearing within Fandaniel’s towers) have me intrigued.

Alphinaud

Well, as always he received more character exploration, having to confront once more his track record with the Crystal Braves and use the experience in a productive fashion, as he marches on his path to being the “hero” of the story. Looks like Arenvald was crippled from the experience, but nonetheless spurs Alphinaud on; the dialogue with Fordola suggests he has a role to play yet. By all appearances, he was even harder hit in a sense by their father’s decision, feeling inadequate to convince his father or the Forum to change tack, when his grandfather could not, then rallying after some convincing from Arenvald.

Dreamer…

So the way this was worded initially made me think it is Zenos, since he’s been having dreams of the Final Days. Yet judging from the dialogue translated from the French version, I think it is indeed the tower (or more precisely, something embedded/held in it), and it is a living organic thing, with a shriek at the end. I wonder if this is Fandaniel’s [redacted]. Certainly, the "you know what" that he wants Zenos to control.

My supposition is that Fandaniel is incapable of creating the Final Days in exactly the same way, since sundered mortals lack the ancients’ unique capacity for creation magicks. With the clear dreams Zenos has of the Final Days, perhaps that has been embedded into whatever the structure is and is allowing Fandaniel to exploit this. By dreaming more, it can gather more aether, probably siphoning it as the towers do. Possibly requiring an act of control from Zenos to do it. Although gathering more aether by dreaming would appear inconsistent with a Primal, mayhap it would not be if it’s draining the land to fuel this dreaming and start the inception of the Terminus beasts. Fandaniel refers to the “gateway of the gods” being complete. Maybe a bit of embellishment but perhaps it is in relation to whatever he truly serves. It calls to mind the floating Zealaurot zone, although that could also tie into Sharlayan's plans in some manner. With the dreams plus Anima, as others have noted (and some pointed out this as well) - the X refs do seem to be coming in thick and fast.)

The ability of his glyphs near the Confluences to sow chaos amongst the elements again reminds me of an aspect of the Final days, detailed by Hyth. Whether this is a different method to how it was achieved in ancient times or not remains to be seen, though the Walls of the Forgotten has long had me suspicious in its resemblance to a Telotower (top here and also here). Perhaps they hid any such structures better back then. Either way it does look like the ultimate plan was to route all the aether back to Garlemald. We’ll see what more the towers are hiding.

They continue to each operate based on their own obsession; Fandaniel, to bring the end of all life, and Zenos to get the fight he wants and bait the MC, roiling with rage. Finally, we saw the moon take on its ominous reddish hue.

Even with the cure for tempering, some soldiers in the fight remain too far gone to rescue.

Mysterious Lady

Almost certainly Venat. From the mask, with its ancient styling and symbols reminiscent of Hydaelyn’s winged form, to the way she beckons the MC with the “Hear”, it all points to her. Elidibus had the following line in the FR version and we’re probably seeing something like that, with this just being a projection of her true form. I remain convinced that there will be friction in dealing with her in some facet or other, but with it looking more likely that Fandaniel does indeed serve some other force, that to me will likely be the true antagonist of 6.0. Guessing the MC will be keeping that ghostly sight to themselves for a while...

The oddness in the whole encounter is the fact that she's projecting herself, rather than speaking via the Primal or appearing directly. Running with the assumption that she is Venat... for as long as the Blessing of Light is there we can assume so is the Primal, but as the scene cuts off then that isn't really determinative of much. So it could mean any number of things, including contacting the MC from somewhere difficult to reach (Aetherial Sea... better yet, the moon...) or the Primal is fading as she does it, which is of course going to have implications as to the Blessing itself, hence making me sceptical of that being the case so soon... Thancred's language about there being no more primals, taken to its logical conclusion, means no Hydaelyn or Zodiark left in the long term either...

The passing similarity of the spirals on her mask to several designs within Sharlayan have me wondering if there is a direct connection, given their fascination with studying Hydaelyn, or whether it's just more generically Amaurot-inspired.

[13:58] ??? : Votre Mère vous accorde encore sa grâce, mais vous sentez certainement vous aussi que son énergie s'amenuise progressivement. Ce n'est qu'une question de temps avant qu'elle ne soit complètement tarie.
= “Your mother still grants you Her grace, but you too must certainly feel that her energy is gradually dwindling. It’s only a matter of time before it is completely dried up.”

[13:58] ??? : Bientôt elle disparaîtra, ou plutôt elle retrouvera sa forme initiale.
= “Soon She will disappear, or rather She will regain Her original form.”