[Spoiler] Alliance Raid: Deryk...

[shadowclasper]

he can't be Thaliak, because Thaliak has already been shown ingame.




One of these two is Thaliak

[Shookbeast]

My apologies if this is already answered somewhere - but this shot was extremely suspicious. Are those symbols meaningful in any way?

[LittleArrow]

I almost forgot that Yoshida dropped a major hint about the raids in one of the live letters. The translation I read was he said that these raids will be the sort of epilogue to the whole hydaelyn / zodiark ark. I think that's INSANELY leading for our speculations.

For me personally it heavily implies that the 12 are related to venat and her summoning of hydaelyn. I personally feel that hint solidifies for me these are the 12 sacrifices that allowed venat to become the core of hydaelyn. I always thought that was insanely out of character for venat to kill AND use the aether of those ancients in the cutscene. Kill them? Yes. Use their aether against their will? Definitely no. I personally suspected that venat had her summoning posse elsewehere, and she had come to the city to try one last time to reason with her fellow peers to stop their summonings. Meanwhile, she was already starting to channel hydaelyn through her friends from afar.

I'm not tied to this theory, because I've seen the writing team retcon SO much story, just between the last expansion alone. I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped the whole hydaelyn summoning team all together, but with Yoshi's comment and the story we've been given, I strongly feel the 12 are the original summoners for hydaelyn.

Last thing to note, the entire focus of the post raid quest was really zeroing in that these beings have been here before, at the very least, 3rd age with the comet and their identities have been consistent (which means these are the original 12 from assuming the sundering). Everything to me points to the conclusion as stated above.

[Cleretic]

I almost forgot that Yoshida dropped a major hint about the raids in one of the live letters. The translation I read was he said that these raids will be the sort of epilogue to the whole hydaelyn / zodiark ark. I think that's INSANELY leading for our speculations.

For me personally it heavily implies that the 12 are related to venat and her summoning of hydaelyn. I personally feel that hint solidifies for me these are the 12 sacrifices that allowed venat to become the core of hydaelyn. I always thought that was insanely out of character for venat to kill AND use the aether of those ancients in the cutscene. Kill them? Yes. Use their aether against their will? Definitely no. I personally suspected that venat had her summoning posse elsewehere, and she had come to the city to try one last time to reason with her fellow peers to stop their summonings. Meanwhile, she was already starting to channel hydaelyn through her friends from afar.

I'm not tied to this theory, because I've seen the writing team retcon SO much story, just between the last expansion alone. I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped the whole hydaelyn summoning team all together, but with Yoshi's comment and the story we've been given, I strongly feel the 12 are the original summoners for hydaelyn.

Last thing to note, the entire focus of the post raid quest was really zeroing in that these beings have been here before, at the very least, 3rd age with the comet and their identities have been consistent (which means these are the original 12 from assuming the sundering). Everything to me points to the conclusion as stated above.

I'm not going to tell you that you're wrong, but I will tell you that we've already got a way this could plausibly connect as the 'epilogue': that the Twelve are turning up to resolve the power vacuum left by Hydaelyn's demise. Given that the more or less literal definition of an epilogue is 'asking what the hell happens after the finale', I think the story as we've been given right now would be a completely reasonable thing to call an epilogue without any extra connections.

There absolutely are extra connections we don't know yet, going by the Amaurot-reminiscent spirals and the Greek naming scheme going around. But I wouldn't say 'obviously X needs to happen to be an epilogue', because the pitch of the story on its face value would be perfectly fine as an epilogue.

[Alleluia]

My apologies if this is already answered somewhere - but this shot was extremely suspicious. Are those symbols meaningful in any way?

I think those bracelet models have been out for a long time and always had those markings on the cuffs. Beyond that, no idea if it’s going to suddenly be significant now. I can’t even really see the symbol well tho, to be honest. But I know they’re not unique gear.

For me personally it heavily implies that the 12 are related to venat and her summoning of hydaelyn. I personally feel that hint solidifies for me these are the 12 sacrifices that allowed venat to become the core of hydaelyn. I always thought that was insanely out of character for venat to kill AND use the aether of those ancients in the cutscene. Kill them? Yes. Use their aether against their will? Definitely no.

I don’t think we have reason to believe she did either thing. Nothing in the “live die and know” scene implies she used that crowd as Hydaelyn fuel. Or even killed them at all, beyond sundering them and we don’t know the mechanics of how that actually went down for those alive at the time clearly enough to be certain anyone was actually killed by it.

Her Hydaelyn fuel, though, according to both anemnesis anyder and her own testimony, was willing volunteers who helped her summon Hydaelyn on purpose.

It’s also stated that their souls were consumed by the primal’s essence, if I recall correctly? Like the energy still existed in her so they may not be permadead now, but they were also not just trapped in there like the ones on the moon.

I don’t think that the twelve can be her followers. At least, not ones that sacrificed themselves. The person in AA talking to Venat does imply that their group is going to continue onwards after she becomes Hydaelyn’s heart. Otherwise, who was it they were telling her she should stick around to lead? so at least some of them may not have sacrificed themselves. Of course he could have also been saying she should stick around to lead mankind in general, not their group, so that’s a point against any in her group remaining unsacrificed.

[Shookbeast]

I think those bracelet models have been out for a long time and always had those markings on the cuffs. Beyond that, no idea if it’s going to suddenly be significant now. I can’t even really see the symbol well tho, to be honest. But I know they’re not unique gear.

I agree. I think they’re old too - but those symbols definitely got a big spotlight put on them in this closeup. It could mean nothing, but if anyone knows what those symbols are - it might mean something.

[Erendis]

So, Hydaelyn died then the Twelve showed up and lured us to their realm to put us to the "test". Feels like too many tests lately >.>

Speaking of Deryk, for some reason name seems awfully familiar...

[Sakio]

I also do think that Deryk might be Oschon. As people said before, looking at the order of the raid bosses, he will most probably be the last boss. Besides that and the green color associated with the deity (which is not minor because the orbs from which the gods spawn represent their color), he is also the wanderer who is related to the bards, free souls (Bard's song The Wanderer's Minuet's comes from that title). If you ask me he looks like a bard hahaha (pure speculation here).
But leaving that aside, there is also a line in game that Deryk says that makes me think that he could be Oschon. He says "Aye, In my wanderings, I much prefer to have solitude". They do not make dialogues without thinking carefully the lines, might that be a hint from SE? If he is in fact him, I think it's a good way to link the story, we were always named as wanderers (ShB trailer) and now adventurers, what better way to end the story than with the deity of the wanderers himself.

[Laphicet]

He's the lord, obviously. If omnwhatever is indeed the seventh heaven as the heatstroke-addled roe scholar claims it to be then the lord and lady must preside over said heaven. The lord is Deryk and the monkey is probably thaliak. But who is the lady?

Either that or it's more likely that they didn't care at all about AST lore when making these raids, because if ophwhatever is indeed the seventh heaven then the characters involved should be dead or at least partially dying. Not to mention the fact that this stuff implies that astrologians were attuning to the sacred realm this whole time and drawing their power from there, rather than the stars beyond it... and that there is some confusion as to the order of the heavens and the difficulty of access may be tied to the gods within rather than the actual aetheric order of each heaven. But in the end they probably just want to forget AST even exists and didn't even consider its lore when making this questline.

[Tehmon]

The theories regarding Deryk being Oschon sound convincing, but why continue on with this farce? I think the more interesting question is why exactly is he going through all this, as he could've just lead the WoL into the phantom realm and called it a day. His motivations are less clear than his identity.