6.0 Story Speculations

[Yuella]

SE just uploaded 1.0 trailer which featured the Battle of Silvertear Skies. Maybe Silvertear is the 6th secret zone.

[Cleretic]

SE just uploaded 1.0 trailer which featured the Battle of Silvertear Skies. Maybe Silvertear is the 6th secret zone.

I still don't think the sixth zone will be anything terrestrial, just because it would be so weird to set up 'this is the Moon Expansion, where we go to the Moon, and there are apparently enough Moon Zones that we aren't calling the one announced pre-release just 'The Moon'', and then have the final zone not be on the Moon somewhere.

My guess is the final zone is effectively gonna be the Lunar Subterrane, but under a different name so we can pretend it's not just the Lunar Subterrane.

[Vyrerus]

The Lunar Underworld. The Lunar Burrow. Lunar Hobbiton. Its literal translation was, "Moon Ravine." Hmm... Maybe with us getting a Maria(Mare Lamentorum), we'll get the other moon name terms from our worlds.

Like say... Lacus Odii (Lake of Hatred).

Or... Sinus Aestuum ( Seething Bay)

[KageTokage]

I suppose the moon could be the place where "souls and stars slumber" that Emet Selch mentions in the launch trailer...but I think I'd prefer a less predictable finale then just going up there and having Zodiark somehow fix everything again after some obligatory interference from Zenos and Fandaniel.

I'd like it most if Alphinaud referring to the Final Days as the true nemesis ends up being fulfilled in a literal sense with the final boss being an entity responsible for causing them; an embodiment of the world's fear, despair, and everything else we stand against as a beacon of hope. The way the "sound" was described as not only causing creation magicks to run rampant but grip the victims with an unnatural fear seems strangely reminiscent of a primal's tempering, so I'm half-expecting that someone ended up spawning some kind of primal-like monstrosity that feeds on dark emotions as its "faith" either accidentally or intentionally after some kind of traumatic event provided the creative muse for it.

[kaynide]

I’m also in the “probably a second moon zone” camp for the 6th zone, but I also could see it being some other kind of content, like several dungeons or even the deep dungeon itself.

I’m just not really sure how they can make the lunar sub terrain interesting enough to merit an entire zone, especially with what we’ve got in labyrinthos. 2 subterranean zones? Though maybe that’s the new “tech” to show off, like how giant flying zones dominated heavansward..maybe there is something new mechanic that utilizes the underground.

[Jandor]

I reckon the 6th zone is the void between worlds that the Ascians retreat too. All the messing about with the fabric of reality that's going off will have the side effect of turning it into something that's explorable as a regular zone.

Bit of a long shot, but getting my guess in early on the off chance I get to say I called it

[KageTokage]

I reckon the 6th zone is the void between worlds that the Ascians retreat too. All the messing about with the fabric of reality that's going off will have the side effect of turning it into something that's explorable as a regular zone.

Bit of a long shot, but getting my guess in early on the off chance I get to say I called it

This suddenly called back to mind an oddity from the Eureka storyline that while the Isle of Val was initially expected to simply dissipate into the Lifestream after it had been teleported into it, it inexplicably emerged seemingly wholly intact, with only the Students of Baldesion being absent for reasons unknown, which seems extra strange when considering that the wildlife managed to survive somehow, plus they had the wards around the arsenal to protect them.

What if they didn't simply vanish into the aether, and rather ended up somewhere...else, perhaps having detected something while set adrift, and choosing to investigate? Given the existence of a bizarre place like Pandemonium that seems to rest on the border of corporeal/aetherial, it wouldn't surprise me if there was more hidden in the rift between or the Lifestream itself.

[Cleretic]

This suddenly called back to mind an oddity from the Eureka storyline that while the Isle of Val was initially expected to simply dissipate into the Lifestream after it had been teleported into it, it inexplicably emerged seemingly wholly intact, with only the Students of Baldesion being absent for reasons unknown, which seems extra strange when considering that the wildlife managed to survive somehow, plus they had the wards around the arsenal to protect them.

What if they didn't simply vanish into the aether, and rather ended up somewhere...else, perhaps having detected something while set adrift, and choosing to investigate? Given the existence of a bizarre place like Pandemonium that seems to rest on the border of corporeal/aetherial, it wouldn't surprise me if there was more hidden in the rift between or the Lifestream itself.

It should be noted, most of the wildlife actually didn't survive; what's there seems by all evidence to be newly migrated-in or developed life, attracted to the utterly wild aether. I always thought the way they did the initial dunking was by warping the wards themselves, thereby explaining why they're broken when we get there.

I've actually got a separate theory on how exactly the island got back out, although it's one without any evidence beyond 'sounds legit': that Proto-Ozma did it. After all, we know that dimensional control and travel is exactly its wheelhouse; transporting the island ultimately isn't a world removed from what non-Proto-Ozma did to Nym. Again, there's no evidence this actually happened, just 'it sure is interesting that there's a being that would be capable of exactly this mystery just hanging around on the island'.

Although, there's a big warning I've gotta say on tying Endwalker speculation to Eureka, that I kept getting told when I tried to sell people my 'Anima is actually Emmerololth' idea; they will never write the main story in such a way that Eureka would be required reading (either in 'actually making it required for the MSQ' like the Crystal Tower, or by 'this won't make sense without it' like the Binding Coils and Tiamat). That doesn't mean Eureka story details are outright completley off-limits, just that they'd have to be something you could package that makes sense by itself. Because if you tell people 'yeah, do Eureka to make sense of this', people will balk at that, and the developers know that.

[Vyrerus]

I reckon the 6th zone is the void between worlds that the Ascians retreat too. All the messing about with the fabric of reality that's going off will have the side effect of turning it into something that's explorable as a regular zone.

Bit of a long shot, but getting my guess in early on the off chance I get to say I called it

I like this theory, though my money's with Cleretic if I have to make a bet.

Also your Miqote is lookin' good and I am not one for Miqotes!

[GoldStarz]

I still don't think the sixth zone will be anything terrestrial, just because it would be so weird to set up 'this is the Moon Expansion, where we go to the Moon, and there are apparently enough Moon Zones that we aren't calling the one announced pre-release just 'The Moon'', and then have the final zone not be on the Moon somewhere.

My guess is the final zone is effectively gonna be the Lunar Subterrane, but under a different name so we can pretend it's not just the Lunar Subterrane.

While I fully expect the 6th zone to be a 2nd moon zone, I'm not sure I'd call Endwalker the "moon expansion", while the moon is very heavily focused in the marketing aspects the tone of everything makes this feel much more like the "apocalypse expansion" than anything else.