10th Anniversary Amano key art [6.5+ Spoilers?]

[Absimiliard]

At first glance i thought it was Meteion or Hydaelyn. I see no reason to not be Hydaelyn, yellow represents not only the sun but gold and gold is the final state pursued by medieval alchemists. She is made whole again in the aetherial sea and her personal suffering found an end. Hydaelyn or Venat doens't appear in ARR trailer, they often doens't let key character exposed.

Didn't the devs say her soul was destroyed? I'm not sure what's left to be made whole.

[Elissar]

Didn't the devs say her soul was destroyed? I'm not sure what's left to be made whole.

Yep, you are right. At the time when i was writing, i forgot this detail. For now, we can see it symbolically in terms of writing/arc.

[Cilia]

Having only played the original FFVII Crisis Core on the PSP years ago and not the recent PS4/PS5 rerelease, I'm not sure if anything was changed, but back then Minerva was just... a completely optional superboss with just some excuse plotting for her existence thrown in (as is typical of superbosses) - she was literally just something big and powerful for Zack to kill.

I didn't finish it because... reasons, but other than using the voice cast from Remake and upgraded graphics to my knowledge it's exactly the same as the PSP game. There's some extra minigames and Buster Sword proficiency building once you get it, but the core game is the same as it was 15 years ago. It even reuses the FMVs from the PSP version, which... tend not to hold up so well in HD.

There's some thin lore around Minerva (she's the will of the Planet made manifest, and she saves Genesis after you defeat him) but other than that yeah she's just kind of there off as the final Mission boss.

Didn't the devs say her soul was destroyed? I'm not sure what's left to be made whole.

Destroyed isn't quite correct - her soul dissolved and sublimated into aether, removed from the cycle of reincarnation.

There's Buddhist imagery there.

[Elissar]

Destroyed isn't quite correct - her soul dissolved and sublimated into aether, removed from the cycle of reincarnation.
There's Buddhist imagery there.

I think the problem is that we don't have a confirmation where/how she is now. The animation used is the same as used for Emet, Hythlodaeus and Themis. They did like Nanamo or Zenos "Yep, it's gone, forget about it".
In any case, your interpretation of leaving the cycle of reincarnation seems perfect.

[Cilia]

I think the problem is that we don't have a confirmation where/how she is now. The animation used is the same as used for Emet, Hythlodaeus and Themis. They did like Nanamo or Zenos "Yep, it's gone, forget about it".
In any case, your interpretation of leaving the cycle of reincarnation seems perfect.

It was a question directly answered by the devs at some point. Something about "Why didn't we summon Venat at Ultima Thule?", I think. She used up all of her aether during our fight with her in the Aetherial Sea, and when Hydaelyn disappeared Venat's soul burned away and removed her from the cycle of reincarnation, so we couldn't summon her to help get to Meteion's nest in Ultima Thule.

The Buddhist angle is never stated, but just like Endwalker chronicling humanity's in-universe coming of age (albeit with a disjointed timeline), it's there if you know what you're looking at.

[Magikazam]

The special 10th Anniversary site has blessed us with this image:

So the question is, who is she?

First of all I doubt its Hydaelyn.
Every time we've ever seen Hydaelyn in Amano's style she has had a different colour motif. That of being Blue.

Secondly Hydaelyn is always shown with head-wings which this image lacks.
Next there is a Solar/Sun/Fire motif about its head, as well as seemingly galaxies being spun off from behind her.

Amano key art for each of the expansions has always been important to the plot and characters, and this coming out right as they announce Dawntrail has me believing that its connected.

So here are my top theories of whom this is in no particular order.

1. Cosmos. The overarching Final Fantasy deity that they have shown through the fighting games of which FF14 has also been included with a character crossover.

2. Altana. The Dawn Goddess. She was the deity of the FF11 world Vana'diel, which FF14 gets a lot of its world DNA from.

3. Hydaelyn. Now in yellow! Kind of a boring answer IMO.

4. Krile. What? Tin foil hat time! With Zodiark and Hydaelyn gone, whats left holding the shards apart? Might they naturally start to converge and try to reunite? So perhaps one who was basically possessed by Hydaelyn and so loves the world, may need to seek a new form to hold the convergence at bay.

5. Its someone new! Yay! New unheard of character that makes life complicated! (See also Meteion)

6. Its no one. Its just pretty art that represents the world they built and has no bearing on the story itself.

I'm sure we'll find out (or not) eventually! What's your thoughts on the image?

I would say it probably hydealyn, Amano ain't consistent with colors overall

[Kesey]

Isn't that Azeyma? Furthermore, Azeyma is in the lore from 2.0 so could be shown to new players, they can flat be told it's Azeyma, and without Shadowbringers and Endwalker for context, really not ruin anything tbh.

[Theodric]

I'd be very surprised if it wasn't just Asura, who is already playing a part in marketing and teasers. It fits the golden aesthetics and 'gold' seems to be a key colour theme for the expansion in general. She'll likely be a trial or dungeon boss at a pivotal moment in the story, presumably if and when the player character reaches the fabled 'Golden City'.

[Cleretic]

I'd be very surprised if it wasn't just Asura, who is already playing a part in marketing and teasers. It fits the golden aesthetics and 'gold' seems to be a key colour theme for the expansion in general. She'll likely be a trial or dungeon boss at a pivotal moment in the story, presumably if and when the player character reaches the fabled 'Golden City'.

Again: she's gonna sit out the anniversary events thanks to being a Fanfest-exclusive thing, so it'd be very weird if it was her. Not to mention the fact that I've seen pictures of the Golden Araya arena, and part of it very clearly shows it as adjacent to Radz-at-Han. ...which also knocks out her being an event thing, because they wouldn't tie an anniversary event to an Endwalker zone.

Also it doesn't actually look that much like her, but it doesn't actually look that much like anyone being put in contention, so that's not as much of a breaker as I feel like it should be.

[Lyth]

Again: she's gonna sit out the anniversary events thanks to being a Fanfest-exclusive thing, so it'd be very weird if it was her. Not to mention the fact that I've seen pictures of the Golden Araya arena, and part of it very clearly shows it as adjacent to Radz-at-Han. ...which also knocks out her being an event thing, because they wouldn't tie an anniversary event to an Endwalker zone.

Also it doesn't actually look that much like her, but it doesn't actually look that much like anyone being put in contention, so that's not as much of a breaker as I feel like it should be.

There's pre-existing artwork by Amano of FFIV's Asura, which depicts her as wielding multiple swords and shows her different faces. The event boss' design was based off of that image. If the arena is tied to Radz, as you suggested, then perhaps the fight will serve as explanation around the 'old gods' that Matsya referenced in the Hannish prayer from the 6.0 MSQ.

The image linked in the OP looks completely different to his art of Asura. I'm leaning towards the earlier idea of there being a 'Will of the Star' that predated both Hydaelyn and Zodiark, but we'll see. Perhaps there will be more hints at the next Rising.