Regarding Titus yae Galvus

[Cleretic]

Also keep in mind that if Titus was still important, he probably would've come up by now. FFXIV is not the type of story to just not mention a character until suddenly relevant as some kind of gotcha.

Especially since Titus basically only exists in the Lodestone short stories (he only exists in-game as an abstract, Varis' opponent for the throne is not named in 2.x). You use Titus as an ace up the sleeve for future Garlean content, think about it from the perspective of people who don't/haven't read those stories enough to remember him: that doesn't look like a clever lore pull, that looks like they pulled a crown prince out of nowhere.

[KageTokage]

Considering how they handled Solus/Emet-Selch, I wouldn't really consider it a stretch as he was mentioned only a handful of times prior to him being shoved into the spotlight at the end of 4.3.

Titus was mentioned more recently in Shadowbringers and Endwalker due to Nerva's involvement in things, so he wouldn't be a total non-entity.

[ElizanderNorisse]

Considering how they handled Solus/Emet-Selch, I wouldn't really consider it a stretch as he was mentioned only a handful of times prior to him being shoved into the spotlight at the end of 4.3.

Titus was mentioned more recently in Shadowbringers and Endwalker due to Nerva's involvement in things, so he wouldn't be a total non-entity.

^ this

Considering how things went in the MSQ, anything’s possible. Also the twins and Lucia & Maxima are still in Garlemald, so that nation’s story has not yet ended.

[ElizanderNorisse]

i gotta say im getting super sentai or kamen rider vibes from their armor. looks nice. then again garlean armor rules.

I agree! I’m so relieved that Yoshi-P’s lifting the ban off the Garlean gear!

[KageTokage]

I was thinking that maybe he'd be a new leadership for the remaining Garlean legions to rally under...except we already know that all of them outright refused to get involved with Nerva and instead wanted to reclaim the capital on their own terms if at all; likely due to the claims that Varis' death was orchestrated by him and Titus.

I have this lingering suspicion that something big is going on behind the scenes with them, but I'm not sure Titus will be the one responsible.

[ElizanderNorisse]

I was thinking that maybe he'd be a new leadership for the remaining Garlean legions to rally under...except we already know that all of them outright refused to get involved with Nerva and instead wanted to reclaim the capital on their own terms if at all; likely due to the claims that Varis' death was orchestrated by him and Titus.

I have this lingering suspicion that something big is going on behind the scenes with them, but I'm not sure Titus will be the one responsible.

Or perhaps the nation will return to being a republic again. So many possibilities. Varis’s bodyguards might still be alive tracking down Gaius and Estinien at this point. Since they saw what happened.

[Cleretic]

Considering how they handled Solus/Emet-Selch, I wouldn't really consider it a stretch as he was mentioned only a handful of times prior to him being shoved into the spotlight at the end of 4.3.

Titus was mentioned more recently in Shadowbringers and Endwalker due to Nerva's involvement in things, so he wouldn't be a total non-entity.

Well frankly I didn't like that instance, I've talked before about how I think Emet cheapened the Garlean story. But 'the first Emperor' is a pretty reasonable person to bring up and delve into for a story with an empire, because that guy very clearly existed and was in some way important; even if you forgot his name because he was last brought up back in 2.x, it makes sense. Titus isn't the same; he actually wasn't named even in Shadowbringers and Endwalker, Nerva was the guy that took spotlight as the contender for the throne. Honestly I just assumed Titus died sometime during Heavensward, Stormblood or even pre-patch Shadowbringers when he was so irrelevant that wouldn't even be worth acknowledging.

[MikkoAkure]

I was under the impression that Titus was killed in the first of two Garlean wars of succession.

Remember that there have been two civil wars over the throne. The first was Varis vs Titus and the second was Zenos vs Nerva vs pretty much everyone else. If the game is suggesting that he took advantage of rumors of Zenos being possessed by a demon, I don't think that would make sense and I would say it's probably a writing error.

It would not make sense for the loser of a whole civil war over the succession to not only still be alive when his presence threatens the stability of the throne, but still have political power. You would also think that he and not his son Nerva would have been mentioned vying for the throne in the second civil war if he were still alive. The Populares were also Titus' faction that he led and they were almost completely destroyed by Varis through being purged and gassed. If Varis somehow initially survived the civil war he started, there's no way he's still alive now.

On top of all that, there's no mention of him at all by even the Garleans when the idea of rebuilding Garlemald comes up when Fourchenalt brings up surviving members of the senate potentially leading and overseeing the rebuilding.

[Denishia]

Titus surviving the first civil war seemed unlikely, but especially not after the second one where Nerva was the other imperial faction leader and EW states that his family and remaining loyalists minus some guards and household support staff were all killed and Nerva himself died. Garlean leadership is reverting back to to what it had been for hundreds of years, aka the Senate. A question is how many of the remaining Senators are related to the pre-Solus Garlemald from 65 years ago via family ties or even if we get an old NPC who remembers the Republic and the lost traditions or if they're all pro-Imperial appointees, and if any powerful non-Galvus families remain with a viable powerbase that aren't warlords in formerly conquered territories like Noah or Valens or the various ex-pat organizations like the Lemures or Ironworks. And who among these factions or what coalition of them are going to form to rebuild Garlemald into a healthier and hopefully more stable (almost anything is more stable than Solus's manufactured horror) governance. And how much of this the game will show after similar narrative beats with Ishgard, Doma, Ala Mhigo, and Eulmore.
I'd more expect an equivalent of a Pompey descendent or a Vespasian, some new character, than a surviving Julio-Claudian Titus. But maybe it's not a weird writing error that Titus has never been outright stated to be dead, only implied.

[RyuDragnier]

I have this lingering suspicion that something big is going on behind the scenes with them, but I'm not sure Titus will be the one responsible.

I have a feeling Landis, which was the first Garlean territory taken before they were called the Garlean Empire (making them Garlean citizens), may be making a move. In the Ogre Battle franchise they were a pretty big empire (and somewhat evil). Landis is also the home of the Magitek Academy, so if there was ever a place for a 2nd Empire to make a seat of power, it would be there. The devs will either just have Landis be the new seat of power for a Garlean Republic that's more friendly, or we're going to be seeing the rise of a new evil empire over multiple expansions.