What would the path be had you been able to contain the light?

[SannaR]

Yoshi-P did say that he knew what Azem was doing. I have a sneaking suspicion it'll either play into the final part of Pandaemonium, or it shall be a subplot for the next big arc of the game's story (possibly with us seeing bits of pieces of Azem's past as it moves forward). Slowly writing a canon for Azem while keeping it open ended enough to where people are still able to push their character into the role.

Correct. They did state that they wanted to allow the player to decide what their Azem was up to. But when they were pressed again for an answer they did say that they had an idea of what Azem's story is/was but couldn't say more at the time. I'm still in the was trying to find a 3rd solution or dealing with something else that was just as important but died/was sundered before they could finish it camp. Which somehow also didn't allow them time to respond to Venat's group. Even if I kind of want them to show up at the end of Pandeamonium they have been very careful to not have them bump into or interact with the player character. So maybe in an epilog cutscene talking with Elidibus from behind?

[Absimiliard]

I suspect, if they do show Azem, they will almost definitely do it with hood up or as little more than a silhouette. You can gauge quite a bit about a person's appearance just by viewing their head from behind.

[Ralphe2449]

If they wanted to be vague, they should've said that Azem just disappeared, never to be heard of again. Instead they specifically wrote them to OPPOSE Zodiark's summoning, and remain silent regarding the plan of sundering/summoning Hydaelyn. So it feels a bit silly to now essentially say '' Azem was doing what the player wanted to and we can't really reveal anything on the matter (yet?) because it might upset some people '' when you've already made it very clear that Azem did not support the convocation and Zodiark's summoning. Pick a lane, please.

Considering we know that Azem did not join Venat's group I feel it is quite clear he wasnt interested in either "solutions" and was possibly looking for a third way out or some other thing, which is good because it means Azem did not really choose a side unlike us though which we very clearly did.

[RyuDragnier]

Considering we know that Azem did not join Venat's group I feel it is quite clear he wasnt interested in either "solutions" and was possibly looking for a third way out or some other thing, which is good because it means Azem did not really choose a side unlike us though which we very clearly did.

Felt like we actually didn't choose a side.

[Ralphe2449]

Felt like we actually didn't choose a side.

Venat/Hydaelin's goal was never to bring back the ancients or to even find an alternative, her goal was to uphold the status quo she created and in order to do that she needed people to defeat the Ascians and later the dumb bird since both were a threat to her plan.

In this regard all her objectives have been achieved
-The status quo of the sundering remains
-The unsundered which were the main Ascian threat are no more and their civilization will never return
-The loud bird is gone

Whenever each WoL cheered at this result or not matters little since at the end of the day, her objectives were fulfilled and her enemies are gone. The side of Hydaelin won and we were a part of it whenever we liked it or not for obvious reasons xd

[Lyth]

I always thought the status quo was Amaurot.

If you want to support an edgy faction, come join the Voidsent instead. They're much more entertaining and a lot less stuffy. And the backstories have been great so far. If they let us have our own domain with Disgaea style voidsent to recruit, then I will be content.

[Cleretic]

I mean didn't Azem kind of disappear in the current story as well?

I mean, yes and no? There's rather a difference between outright saying a character disappeared, and what they've done, which is basically just not mentioning them after a certain point. Like I said, outright saying they've disappeared sounds like an actual plot thread, it sounds like 'where did Azem go' is a thing we're supposed to speculate about because the answer will be important. But just not coming up in that story anymore, that's different; it could mean that they're waiting in the wings for a big return, but it could also just mean 'nothing they did after this point mattered, their actions are no longer narratively relevant'.

To compare to other characters in this game: Right now, Azem's presence during the End of Days is like the presence of that absent leader of the Arcanist's Guild from their storyline; yeah, they're off doing something, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will matter. If they instead wrote that Azem disappeared, we'd be looking at a situation with Louisoix and the 1.0 Warriors of Light, where the events around their disappearance are an active plot thread. And you might remember that in their case, that active plot thread was followed up on pretty much instantly, so we can assume they wrote that hook in knowing they'd be immediately answering it rather than leaving it to the uncertainty of future plans.

Considering we know that Azem did not join Venat's group I feel it is quite clear he wasnt interested in either "solutions" and was possibly looking for a third way out or some other thing, which is good because it means Azem did not really choose a side unlike us though which we very clearly did.

The thing about this isn't that Azem didn't join Venat's group exactly, it's that Azem didn't respond to them. And we only hear about that from Venat's group's side of things; basically, they gave Azem's number a ring and they didn't pick up. That actually makes a huge difference.

Yes, it is entirely possible that Azem deliberately ignored their summons. But it's also possible that Azem would've joined them very readily, but missed their call. Possibly for an innocent reason like 'they're a weird wanderer that's hard to get a message to' or 'more interested in building a cool house', possibly for a more alarming reason like 'too busy doing a Secret Third Plan' or 'too dead to pick up the phone' (that last one I think is kind of implausible, but not an impossible story to wrangle). Azem's situation is deliberately so vague that we can't read anything into their intention, at all, so going 'well obviously they were working on a Secret Third Plan' isn't actually a theory with evidence, it's just what you hope they're gonna be doing, and I've said before why I think that's unlikely.

[RukoBoshi]

possibly for a more alarming reason like 'too busy doing a Secret Third Plan' or 'too dead to pick up the phone' (that last one I think is kind of implausible, but not an impossible story to wrangle).

Never considered the possibility of Azem being dead during the sundering, but it could interesting explanation as for why no one heard about them again.

But did the souls of the dead get sundered ? I know the Lifestream was, so that's a possibility but i don't remember if it was stated to be the case.
Considering that not only the living, but the whole world was sundered that should be possible i think.

[Alleo]

Never considered the possibility of Azem being dead during the sundering, but it could interesting explanation as for why no one heard about them again.

But did the souls of the dead get sundered ? I know the Lifestream was, so that's a possibility but i don't remember if it was stated to be the case.
Considering that not only the living, but the whole world was sundered that should be possible i think.

They have to be sundered because before Zodiark was created and thus way before the sundering the majority of the worlds population was already death. If they did not get sundered afterwards we would have a huge amount of people with unsundered souls running around.

[RukoBoshi]

They have to be sundered because before Zodiark was created and thus way before the sundering the majority of the worlds population was already death. If they did not get sundered afterwards we would have a huge amount of people with unsundered souls running around.

Oh that makes sense ! If that's the case then i would kind of like if Azem died fighting an unknown enemy.

It would feel more satisfying if we defeat an opponent even the wanderer couldn't. I like when enemies have defeated strong foes before we fight them, like Nidhogg.