6.0 Story Speculations

[KageTokage]

I'm wondering if the "Garlemald" primal/probably-Anima was perhaps summoned through fear and desperation so that all those whom it tempers would be placed into a similar state of mind for the sake of emulating the conditions that led to the Final Days. The few tempered we have heard speaking sounded very distressed as opposed to fervently patriotic like one might expect from folk subservient to the will of an empire.

It's also mentioned that Lunar Bahamut's unusual appearance was caused by the altered state of mind his summoners were placed in, so perhaps those trapped in the towers are being subjected to some kind of nightmare...and considering the vivid memories of the Final Days that Zenos possesses, the purpose of him controlling the primal could be to project those memories onto them and add more fuel to the fire.

[RyuDragnier]

Also I reformatted the quoted dungeon text to strip out all the "voice of Emet-Selch" bits that made it hard to read:

[ FADING FOOTSTEPS ]

And lo, vile beasts did rise.

The fabric of our star began to fray…
…and the unchecked energies of creation begat malformed beasts.
Just as prayer gives rise to primals, our dread made manifest our deepest fears.

Thus did the first doom befall us.

The first beast was striking in its unsightliness…
As if to scour away all life, it called down a cataclysmic deluge.
Yet even its defeat did not halt the march of oblivion…

For soon did the sun bend low, scorching earth and boiling seas.

The land buckled; the cities burned; the waters ran red with blood…

Thus did the second doom break us.

The beast bellows, and gives birth to terror. A terror which, in turn, gives birth to new beasts…
Its gaze turns skyward, and fiery rain falls from the heavens…
Once the fear has taken root, it cannot be expunged…
As if feeding upon the horror, the beast bloats…then shivers…then ruptures…
Yet this was far from the worst of it. Come, and I will show you…

[ FADING HEARTH ]

Just a little further…
…and you will see the end of a world.

Yet it was neither claw nor flame, but our very sins —

The star was fading. We saw we had to weave its laws anew…

Stacked to the heavens where they took root, corrupting its halls —

But between us and our goal loomed a final misbegotten fiend…

Thus did the third doom undo us.

From the depths of despair, the last harbinger arose…
Its voice was fulgent destruction, and none could stand in its path.
And as it edged inexorably closer, we knew…
Without decisive sacrifice, our star would surely perish.

I feel like we might be missing some lines from the zone names (red text) but I can't check right now.

That third one is a massive red flag to me.

Perhaps the Moon itself is the third doom? After all, stacked to the heavens where they took root, corrupting its halls sounds a lot like something being created in the sky near the planet. None standing in its path would guarantee its the moon. Because after all, nobody could dare destroy such a gigantic thing, and what would happen to the planet if the moon itself crashed into it?

[Riastrad]

Zodiark was intended and summoned as the solution to the problem. That is not a guarantee that he was "working as intended" - it sounds very much like there was a flaw in the concept that made him dangerous in the long run even if he solved the immediate problem.



Also I reformatted the quoted dungeon text to strip out all the "voice of Emet-Selch" bits that made it hard to read:

[ FADING FOOTSTEPS ]

And lo, vile beasts did rise.

The fabric of our star began to fray…
…and the unchecked energies of creation begat malformed beasts.
Just as prayer gives rise to primals, our dread made manifest our deepest fears.

Thus did the first doom befall us.

The first beast was striking in its unsightliness…
As if to scour away all life, it called down a cataclysmic deluge.
Yet even its defeat did not halt the march of oblivion…

For soon did the sun bend low, scorching earth and boiling seas.

The land buckled; the cities burned; the waters ran red with blood…

Thus did the second doom break us.

The beast bellows, and gives birth to terror. A terror which, in turn, gives birth to new beasts…
Its gaze turns skyward, and fiery rain falls from the heavens…
Once the fear has taken root, it cannot be expunged…
As if feeding upon the horror, the beast bloats…then shivers…then ruptures…
Yet this was far from the worst of it. Come, and I will show you…

[ FADING HEARTH ]

Just a little further…
…and you will see the end of a world.

Yet it was neither claw nor flame, but our very sins —

The star was fading. We saw we had to weave its laws anew…

Stacked to the heavens where they took root, corrupting its halls —

But between us and our goal loomed a final misbegotten fiend…

Thus did the third doom undo us.

From the depths of despair, the last harbinger arose…
Its voice was fulgent destruction, and none could stand in its path.
And as it edged inexorably closer, we knew…
Without decisive sacrifice, our star would surely perish.

I feel like we might be missing some lines from the zone names (red text) but I can't check right now.

Perfect. Thank you.

[Tensaihime]

Okay, I’m going to try my hand at speculating today:

I wonder if a lot of higher-ups in Sharlayan have been tempered. Either by Hydaelyn because their brightest minds were messing with her, or by Fanboy, to stop them helping us... or maybe even some other entity we don’t know about yet? I know Alisaie has a cure for tempering now, but I would still welcome a boss fight with one or more of these obstructive bureaucrats. I’ve grown to hate that sort in this game. Especially Fortnite here. I want to unleash my inner Dulia-Chai on Fortnite.

(The trailer shows Y’shtola chewing him out, but I’m really hoping the OG Matoya somehow has a chance to give him a tongue-lashing that makes “little sun” look like a compliment.)

During the break in that joke of a peace talk in Stormblood, somebody says (I think it’s either Aymeric or Hien) that religion isn’t allowed in Garlemald, but the people are required to revere the emperor. That made me think a primal!Varis fight was coming, like how I got suspicious after Elidibus’ flashback and him constantly talking up Warriors of Light. Well, there’s no primal!Varis fight for obvious reasons, but I think something will come of all that devotion. We’ve already had people yelling “glory to Garlemald!” Maybe that part of the land itself is or will become a primal? Maybe Zenos, and later the WoL, will use it to reach the moon? I don’t quite know where I’m going with this, but I’ve never stopped wondering about that little fun fact and what it could mean for the story.

Also! That Ultima Weapon knockoff we fought as Estinien. Surely they’re going to do something awful with that.

If the plot is “the world is ending”, I’m positive we are going to lose somebody. Somebody important, y’all. I don’t know who, but I know it’s happening if things are this crazy. And I have reminded myself I came back even after what I thought was a total wipe in 2.55 and it’s likely to only be one or two folks this time. But I’m still super nervous, because I’ve gotten attached to a LOT of people.

On a related note, I’m worried about how much destruction we’re going to see before Zenos and Fanboy are stopped. This Ascian makes me think of a Great Value Kefka, and I’d be pretty disappointed if “winning” meant “going home to the giant smoldering heap of rubble previously known as the world.”

I still have to do all the side/bonus content, so forgive me if the question has been answered in there, but what happened to those other Solus clones? I was glad to be free of him, but I’d still welcome back Hades from the void again (somehow) to help put a stop to this nonsense. I would laugh so hard if Zenos got beaten down by someone or someone other than the WoL and did not get, as someone else put it, “the big dramatic pointless fight he craves.” I confess I‘m not too keen on the idea of my WoL absorbing Hydaelyn/Venat. I kill primals, not become them.

[Tensaihime]

Y'know, it would be pretty funny if all this "Zenos is the big bad of the expansion!" stuff was a smokescreen for Varis coming out of nowhere, Emperor of Hell and Heaven style. Whether it be kicking his own son out of finale or being the/one of the driving forces behind the plot of Pandaemonium, I think it could work.

Yooooo, I love this idea! Varis gets his own back against his lousy son (although, to be fair, he was also a lousy father) and Zenos doesn’t get to be the big bad in his precious overdone staged battle. I’d ugly laugh for longer than I have about “little sun.” And I saw that cutscene at the beginning of April.

I'm kind of wondering how much of a presence the Telophoroi/tower-tempered masses are going to have as enemies in 6.0 with it seeming like the Final Days returning is going to lead to a resurgence of terminus beasts.

I feel like they're a more interesting threat overall, particularly when they could be used as a reason to introduce a multitude of new lesser primals who simply serve as dungeon bosses and such plus they raise a big moral dilemma in the fact that they're all mind-controlled innocents, but their numbers are too great to make saving all of them practical or realistic.

I fly a lot past that stupid tower in Dravania, and I have wondered about this. How are we supposed to save everybody AND keep those monsters from rampaging? It’s one of the reasons I worry some beloved characters are going to die in Endwalker.

That is also a fair point, though we are "told" the sundering made the world unstable most all the damage is Ascian made, the calamites? Ascian. The many wars and strife? Ascian. The loss of the 13th? Ascian the almost flood of the 1st? Ascian. It's easy for them to call us unworthy and all we do is kill each other, when their the ones dropping bombs on one nation then tell the other nation it was that other nation who did it. Of course with free will some people will do horrible things, but it's been revealed that most of the worst sins of the sundered were actually orchestrated or straight up caused by the unsoldered.

It's why Emet's big speech during the end of 5.0 rung hollow for me, while I understood and sympathised with the Emet of 12000 years ago who watch everything he cared about die, but you've been killing, torturing and brining suffering to people for thousands of years, you don't get to talk down to me about being "unworthy"

THANK YOU. Maybe 50% of the sundered wouldn’t sacrifice themselves for others, but Louisoix did, Papalymo did, Haurchefant did. And there are more. They’re not a total loss, and I bet they could become even better even faster if SOMEBODY didn’t keep handing them superweapons and turning them against each other. I was so mad at Emet, I wanted a dialogue option after the fight where I flat-out refused to remember him.

[Matthew21]

THANK YOU. Maybe 50% of the sundered wouldn’t sacrifice themselves for others, but Louisoix did, Papalymo did, Haurchefant did. And there are more. They’re not a total loss, and I bet they could become even better even faster if SOMEBODY didn’t keep handing them superweapons and turning them against each other. I was so mad at Emet, I wanted a dialogue option after the fight where I flat-out refused to remember him.[/QUOTE]


Or maybe say : “yeah, we’ll remember you, as an example of what NOT to do.”

[BlitzAceRush]

I'll remember them for what they were, the civilization they built and the wonders they created, the people THEY were, not what the three who lingered on for far too long became.

[YianKutku]

"Remember that we once lived."

"Well, yeah, we also remember that the Allagans once lived, but we sure as heck aren't going to be remembering you or them as anything other than a dire warning."

[Theodric]

Thankfully we can take immense comfort in the fact that the Ancients will be honoured and remembered moving forward. I know nuance isn't everybody's cup of tea around these parts, though the story isn't written to pass scathing judgement on the Ancients. Emet-Selch was framed clearly as a hero fighting for his people's survival whereas the Warrior of Darkness was very much in the same situation on the opposing team.

As for the Allagans and the Ancients...well, neither civilisation was lacking in redeeming qualities at any rate - much like how you can see elements of Roman architecture and culture present in modern society in the real world, be it through architecture, language or inventions. Certainly, there's individuals and factions who try to cast society's progress backwards by trying to eliminate such things altogether but as we saw in Bozja, just because a particular concept is tied to a subjective 'enemy' it does not mean that such a concept is worthy of discarding completely.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Thankfully we can take immense comfort in the fact that the Ancients will be honoured and remembered moving forward. I know nuance isn't everybody's cup of tea around these parts, though the story isn't written to pass scathing judgement on the Ancients. Emet-Selch was framed clearly as a hero fighting for his people's survival whereas the Warrior of Darkness was very much in the same situation on the opposing team.

As for the Allagans and the Ancients...well, neither civilisation was lacking in redeeming qualities at any rate - much like how you can see elements of Roman architecture and culture present in modern society in the real world, be it through architecture, language or inventions. Certainly, there's individuals and factions who try to cast society's progress backwards by trying to eliminate such things altogether but as we saw in Bozja, just because a particular concept is tied to a subjective 'enemy' it does not mean that such a concept is worthy of discarding completely.

Yup agreed. Plus it’s not like they paint the sundered people in a good light either. There’s horrible people on their side as well. I’m actually kind of happy that they’ve pointed out that Hydaelyn’s act wasn’t good, intentional or not, and really has just caused more death in the long run than the rejoinings ever would.