The rift, the crystal tower, and the seat of sacrifice (Spoilers up to 6.0)

[Cleretic]

It's mentioned that the same cry was heard in the present day before the incident in Thavnair, so whatever the source of it was is still around.

I'm really hoping it's not just a red herring and that it has major significance.

Pretty sure that sound was basically the planet going 'OH SHIT' before the real bad stuff happened. The Ancients mischaracterized the sound as being an actual entity that was the source of the End of Days because they didn't know what was going on, but we as generally more clued-in people could recognize that it's more of a natural reaction. It's basically the first signal that something's gone wrong.

I don't think it has major significance, but I also don't think it's a red herring, it was just a symptom of the ensuing disaster. It's the smoke coming from your car's engine before it breaks down; you'd hardly say the smoke caused the problem, but if you knew what it meant then it might've told you what's about to happen.

That's my point. Lahabrea wasn't sundered. He existed as a complete 14/14 soul up until very recently, so it is impossible for Claudien to have a shard of Lahabrea's soul.

Therefore, if Claudien does have Erich's soul, then Erich cannot turn out to be "our" Lahabrea by the end of the Pandæmonium story.

And similarly, if Claudien does have Erich's soul and isn't Lahabrea, then it doesn't matter because there's no way to give him those memories, nor really any indication that doing such would be wanted or good.

[Lyth]

I don't think that Lahabrea is Eric, based on Tales from the Shadows.

In 'Through His Eyes,' Emet faces off against a Phoinix creation that accidentally gained a soul that was trying to resist the pull of the Underworld. This was likely sent to Asphodelos for study afterwards. In 'Ere Our Curtain Falls', Emet wakes from his sleep in the rift after Solus' death, only to learn from Elidibus that Lahabrea has just died. While reminiscing about Lahabrea's genius, Emet compares him to the fire creations that he has an affinity for making, namely Ifrita and Phoinix.

So it would seem that the Lahabrea who created the Phoinix that we fight in P3S is likely the same Lahabrea who gets killed by Thordan's magical sword at the end of Heavensward. At the very least, Emet seems to believe the two are the same.

We don't know whose memories are actually recorded on the unmarked crystal that was found by the Aitiascope researchers in the aetherial sea. By shape and colour, it seems like the same stone that went on to become Lahabrea's Convocation crystal. However, it lacks the Pisces constellation engraving, suggesting that it's not the same stone. It was probably intended to become the Lahabrea stone at some point, until it was lost into the present.

My guess is that someone simply recorded a message on the crystal in desperation and hurled it into the aetherial sea, which is where it suddenly appeared to the researchers 'propelled by an unseen force'. The proverbial 'message in a bottle' if you will. So the sender of that message could be anyone, including Eric.

---

As for the 'sound', there's a bit more to it than that. When you talk to Emet's reconstructed Amaurotians during quest 'The End of a World,' the description is:
'Tis said it starts suddenly, a cacophonous keening from beneath the earth.'

NB. A 'keening' refers to a high-pitched wailing sound.

When you talk to the Watcher during the quest 'In Shadow's Wake', the description is:
'One day, from within the earth, a terrible cry issued forth, affecting a profound change in all manner of life.'

Likewise, when you go to investigate Svarbhanu's appearance in Thavnair, Rhulmeira tells you the following during the quest 'The Blasphemy Unmasked':
'You mean the blasphemy? That's what the Radiant have been calling it, anyway. I saw it, too. We all did. I was standing here at the counter as Mehryde poured me a drink, when suddenly there came this dreadful sound, like a pained, angry groan. It was unlike anything I've ever heard. I turned around in shock, and from an ominous cloud of black mist rose the creature, enormous and ghastly to behold.

As for what happened next...to recall it sends shivers up my spine. By some stroke of fortune, I was able to slip outside before the beast got its claws on me... But the sight that greeted me offered no solace─the blue sky above turned red as blood. Mehryde, myself, and the other survivors clung to each other for dear life until the Radiant Host came to our aid.'

So the 'sound' is likely associated with the first transformation in a region, after which the sky turns red.

As for the Ouroboros and Lifestream references from the Golden Dhyata during the Studium quests, I think that's probably something different altogether relating to the new story arc involving the Void.

[Cleretic]

Personally, my theory on Pandaemonium, which is based less on actual evidence and more based on the knowledge that normal raids end nowhere near where they start so I need to predict about two or three twists in advance:

The Lahabrea that we hear of is the same Lahabrea that made Phoinix, but isn't the same Lahabrea we fought in the present day. That Lahabrea is actually Athena, who will be brought back from the dead 'wrong', being quite deranged, and who goes on to assume her husband's identity, without anyone outside the events of Pandaemonium knowing*. Lahabrea's gradual insanity wasn't because of constantly changing bodies, but because Athena was either getting worse or just eventually stopped being able to keep up the act. You try keeping up a lie for a few thousand years, see how you go!

The final takeaway for Pandaemonium will be a meditation on how right it's been for the Ancients to play god as they do, especially with the forces of life and death.

*Themis will either incidentally lose his memory, or be proven to not actually be Elidibus.

[Iscah]

Wildcard plot twist: Erich ends up being Lahabrea; Claudien has a shard of Erich's father's soul.

[Kranel_San]

Wildcard plot twist: Erich ends up being Lahabrea; Claudien has a shard of Erich's father's soul.

Unexpected uno reverse.

[Nav_Fae]

Somehow it never really occurred to me until now, but it's going to feel awful when after eliminating this supposed grave threat to the star in the Pandemonium raids, we're forced to just let Themis/Elidibus be dealt the same hand he was originally; to be left oblivious to the tragedy that would later befall his world.

I suppose there is some slim chance things might manage to end on a brighter note, but I'm not counting on it.

The interesting thing here is that Elidibus also has their memory wiped. Something in Pandemonium is going to erase his memories of us there. He mentions in the ocular that being in the Crystal Tower has restored lost memories which is when he remembered we were in Elpis. He also mentions that the memory of us made him realize a truth had forgotten and it brings a warmth to his heart.

[Nav_Fae]

It's mentioned that the same cry was heard in the present day before the incident in Thavnair, so whatever the source of it was is still around.

I'm really hoping it's not just a red herring and that it has major significance.

I always thought the cry was Meteion
Like signaling the start of an attack.
After you defeat Zodiark on the moon, you get an echo vision where the planet turns black and Meteion says, "Ah, At last." very sinisterly. I always thought the cry was her for some reason.

[Nav_Fae]

I had initially thought it was the "keening" that precedes the visions of the Final Days we see both with ourselves and Krile, but that phenomena seemed limited strictly to Echo bearers, whereas the cry from the earth was evidently perceptible by normal people as well.

I'd like to think it's foreshadowing that Etheriys might be alive in a more literal sense then we think and that the dynamis from the Final Days was causing distress to some kind of primordial entity sleeping in depths beyond where even Hydaelyn resided.

This brings of a good question. Was the other Crystal even at the center of the Aetherial Sea or was it just deep but there's still more to explore. We kind of just glossed over the fact we were walking among the dead like it was no big deal. But I'm also left wondering what the difference between the Aetherial Sea and Palace of the dead is since the Palace goes 200 floors deep. You'd think it'd be deep enough to reach the sea.

[KageTokage]

The interesting thing here is that Elidibus also has their memory wiped. Something in Pandemonium is going to erase his memories of us there. He mentions in the ocular that being in the Crystal Tower has restored lost memories which is when he remembered we were in Elpis. He also mentions that the memory of us made him realize a truth had forgotten and it brings a warmth to his heart.

It's hard to say if his memory was actually wiped or if it's just been so ridiculously long since we were involved in the events at Pandemonium that he simply forgot.

It's implied his sense of self and who he was originally had been fracturing over the eons since he removed himself from Zodiark until eventually all that really remained was the memory of his duty.

[Cleretic]

I always thought the cry was Meteion
Like signaling the start of an attack.
After you defeat Zodiark on the moon, you get an echo vision where the planet turns black and Meteion says, "Ah, At last." very sinisterly. I always thought the cry was her for some reason.

Worth mentioning, that line was actually spoken by Hydaelyn's VA in Japanese. I don't know about other languages, and I don't know why they changed it. Maybe because the English localization figured it was more confusing and obfuscating than anything else?

That sound being from Meteion does make plenty of sense, though, since as I mentioned all evidence suggests it's just a first sign of the End of Days. The Ancients weren't really ready to conceive of a world outside of theirs, so they wouldn't have been able to identify that it came from elsewhere.