An ominous premonition? (Slight spoiler for the Studium quests)

[Vyrerus]

This thread is fascinating. I completed the Studium quests a week or two ago, and thought about this thread some more. While the end of the quests have the Sharlayans focusing on possible space exploration, if we're looking specifically at the Snake Shedding its skin and such... I could posit a few wild guesses.

We have many unknowns in our story, but some of the biggest ones are Midgardsormr and Silvertear Lake, as well as Midgardsormr's children. Namely, Azdaja.

Azdaja is a respelling of Azhdaha or Azhi Dahak from Iranian mythos. An Azhdaha is a snake that has grown to incredible size( 30 guz or 60~120 feet / 20~40 meters -ish). Upon reaching such a length, God will cast them into the seas, where they may grow to 10,000 guz and sprout wings, after which they will make waves. Apparently they can also grow large enough to, "damage the sea." In the Iranian epic, the Shanameh, these snakes are slain by several notable heroes (and generally referred to as dragons).

With Kesey's input about the fish being from Egypt, that would bring us to the snake god, Apep. Apep is the god of Chaos, and is set directly against Ra, god of Light and Truth. One is day, one is night. They fight every night, as Apep tries to stop Ra from causing the sun to rise. Apep is also known as Apophis.

Apophis, in Egyptian myth, has existed since before creation. Always swimming in the dark waters of chaos. Atum and Heka created the Sun, bringing order out of chaos, and causing duality to form. This angered Apophis, who became the sworn enemy of the sun, since it represented divine order and divided the world by opposing concepts. Apophis seeks to swallow the sun, and return the world to unified darkness.

In this mythology, Ra sails a ship across the sky to ferry the sun, and Aphophis assaults it during the night. The most powerful gods of Egypt all ride the ship, and they kill Aphophis each night or at least drive him away, but he regenerates to assault them anew. Aphophis succeeds in halting the ship or driving it back to port on cloudy days and eclipses.

Living in the underworld, Apep/Apophis is said to sustain itself on the souls of the dead. Though in other depictions Apophis is said to be all powerful, and not require nourishment of any kind.

As far as the seven wedges go... the Egyptians passed down ways to help combat Apophis. Fire, Knives, Lances, Spit, The Left Foot, Fetters, and Ritual Banishment(Destroying an idol or figurine of Apep).

While it's not concrete at all... I guess I'm just laying all this out to say, maaaaybe we're gonna fight Azdaja. Maybe Azdaja is evil.

[KageTokage]

Given how...strange dragon biology is, it wouldn't surprise me if one could transform into something truly horrific given the proper stimuli.

Ehli Tou developed strong, dexterous hands after he "evolved" due to his crafting apprenticeship and the fact that Vrtra is the only one of the first brood (Or true dragons in general as far as I can recall) we've seen thus far that actually speaks instead of using telepathy could be a similar adaptation to fit his need/desire to communicate with other races in a manner they'd find less alien.

[OGChocolateThunder]

I'm beginning to think Hydaelyn and Zodiark were protecting the Source from more than just dynamis. I like the idea that the serpent is meant to be a metaphor for the Lifestream which still sounds relatively ominous.

The whole "Eventually, the serpent devours its own tail, and renders new flesh using its own." almost sounds like a direct reference to Ouroboros and "devouring it's own tail" was actually referenced in the theme for Shinryu EX, The Worm's Tail, lyrics.

**The Worm's Tail Lyrics:**

Come don the mask of blind betrayal*

E’er does the head devour its tail

[Zohar_Lahar]

Having finished the Studium quests tonight, my initial impression of the babelfish message was the Greatest Serpent of Ronka. Though it wasn't explained where that linguistic book got the message from.

[KageTokage]

I hadn't put much thought into the "rendering new flesh" part of the prophecy initially, but now I'm wondering if that's in reference to the Lifestream's ill-understood capability to produce new souls as opposed to recycling existing ones.

I also wonder if perhaps the fact that numerous souls had been outright destroyed by the Final Days could've produced some kind of negative feedback with the Lifestream attempting to create numerous new souls to replace them, but taxing itself to an extent that starts having repercussions on the world above.

[LystAP]

I also noticed that the number of "wedges" that need to be driven into the figurative serpent's back also happens to match the number of shards that are remaining...which is stirring up even more thoughts about the potential implications.

safety spoils for EW ending

What if the world was only able to sustain itself to Zodiark and Hydaelyn's presence and now it's due to slowly unravel unless the shards are somehow "linked" to the source to stabilize the flow without destroying them?

The shards have always been kind of unstable. Given the circumstances, Hydaelyn might not have had time to really be detailed with how she sundered the worlds. While the Ascians are gone, arguably you might not need them to cause a calamity, mankind has no issue with causing a calamity for their own selfish reasons. In the past, the Ascians would occasionally create heroes or act to restore a world out of balance, and of course you have Hydaelyn creating warriors of light.

Now both are gone, who is working to ensure that the shards are stable?

[Kaliesto]

Considering our brief visit in the lifestream, I'm sure it will play a bigger role.

Probably gonna end up seeing more Souls of Hatred that was defeated by the Warrior of Light, maybe these souls actually escape and take on super powered forms?

Maybe the Reaper Job might actually have a bigger role in it.

OR

The Void will taint the Lifestream in some way?

I feel like the Void tends to be put to the wayside despite the fact the Void is gigantic threat itself.

[RyuDragnier]

I think it's going to be something older than that. Azem wasn't available during the End of Days, and it would take something big to keep their attention, something just as life threatening to the star. And with all the hints from the Studium quests that the Lifestream is going nuts now after Zodiark's death, I have a feeling we're going to be finding out what exactly is going on within the next few expansions.

[KageTokage]

All the business about people Echo-blessed or otherwise hearing a cry from the earth when the Final Days struck a region really makes me feel like the Ancients viewing Etheriys as a living thing with their souls as drops of its lifeblood was more then a simple metaphor. Perhaps the star has always had a will of its own; just one that worked in more subtle, inscrutable ways that caused the Ancients to think otherwise, as even they understood little of how the Lifestream and the cycle of life and death functioned.

I feel like the next major mystery to be unraveled is the origins of the star itself and perhaps that will serve as the greater underlying plot hook whilst we deal with the repercussions of a world changed by Zodiark's demise and the aftermath of the Final Days.

[_Koneko_]

All the business about people Echo-blessed or otherwise hearing a cry from the earth when the Final Days struck a region really makes me feel like the Ancients viewing Etheriys as a living thing with their souls as drops of its lifeblood was more then a simple metaphor. Perhaps the star has always had a will of its own; just one that worked in more subtle, inscrutable ways that caused the Ancients to think otherwise, as even they understood little of how the Lifestream and the cycle of life and death functioned.

I feel like the next major mystery to be unraveled is the origins of the star itself and perhaps that will serve as the greater underlying plot hook whilst we deal with the repercussions of a world changed by Zodiark's demise and the aftermath of the Final Days.

pretty sure the sound was simply a resonance with the dynamsis of ethyris to the song of oblivion rotting the planet from the inside out which frankly is more scary to me then any other possibility but i predict that the surge of souls from zodiark will cause problems