Quote Originally Posted by Theodric View Post
On that note, was anyone else disappointed by how normal Sharlayan ended up being? Every time we've interacted with anything Sharlayan outside of Endwalker it has always had sinister vibes to it. Eureka. The abandoned colony. The assassination squads sent to kill anyone sharing state secrets. It's a real shame it was simply reduced to a Disney style city of magic with no real grit. I also didn't like how the Scions had no reaction to the 'evacuation plan' picking and choosing which races were acceptable to take on board.
From the the 5.5 MSQ and the 6.0 previews, I thought that the Forum was somehow in collusion with Fandaniel and Zenos, building the towers for them (or providing the tech), and that dad was going to perform sabotage from the inside. He saw which way the wind was blowing in the Forum, but disagreed with the rest of the Forum (who voted unanimously to reject Eorzea's call for aid). So to maintain appearances, he voted to agree with the plan so he wouldn't have to resign or be silenced. He would still have power and freedom to act. He formally cut ties with his kids in order to keep them from being targetted by the Forum if they ever discovered he was actually working against them, and so that when he made his move and burned the Leveilleur name in the process, he wouldn't drag his kids down with him.

That theory that Anima would turn out to be mom was a lot more interesting than what we actually got.



Did we ever find out what this symbol inside the tower was supposed to mean? Why make an art asset that so closely resembles Sharlayan's symbol and arrangement of the Forum seats?