Revelations from EU Fan Fest (October 2023)

[Cleretic]

They said that the Eliminator was not a 'raid', but they also called Valigarmanda a 'raid' in that same sentence when that was previously stated to be (and pretty self-evidently) a trial, so we can therefore reason that the Eliminator isn't a trial. Or at the very least, that the Eliminator isn't the same sort of content as Valigarmanda.

My immediate read is that it's the boss of the Gamer PC Dungeon. It matches its aesthetic, after all. But I have heard another suggestion that's also fairly compelling: that it is the Gamer PC Dungeon, and we're doing a Giant of Babil thing.

[Denishia]

My general overarching plot prediction is that the nation of Tural is facing an internal political divide on new industrial innovations (that are at least in part re-adaptations of the Purple Not-Allagan Not-Incas who may or may not be the Golden Cities) personified by the two rival throne candidates, which also ties into some regional/tribal divisions. The Eliminator screams Final Leveling Dungeon Boss a la Amina, and could be the one from Urqopacha or Shaaloani.

What is now drawing my eyes are the random purple bits on beast which could be just natural feathers/scales, corrupted aether, or something more. You see it in the trailer on the Gowrow-esque beast that Estinien kills in the trailer but also if you look at new key art, you clearly see the purple crystals on the eagle-like birds. And then there's purple aether-like formations in the mountain ruins of Urqopacha. All this is either the remnants of their own local Calamity from a thousand years ago, and/or a current emerging threat.

[KageTokage]

That reminds me that we've already seen a beast that was inexplicably covered in purple crystals...namely, the second boss of the Aetherfont.

I'd like to hope it's suggestive of some wider reaching phenomena we're going to have to worry about going forward.

[Denishia]

That reminds me that we've already seen a beast that was inexplicably covered in purple crystals...namely, the second boss of the Aetherfont.

I'd like to hope it's suggestive of some wider reaching phenomena we're going to have to worry about going forward.

Yep! Aetherfont’s second boss, particularly because it’s the same purple, is why I’m thinking the story is going to strongly link “overwhelming cerulean/aether to corrupted overworld mobs” as a strong beat. But it could be as simple as Tural’s geologists searching for new oil -I mean cerulean- wells aren’t looking for anticlines and other shale domes but for those specific purple crystals on local wildlife. ….but there’s a lot of purple in Dawntrail.

(And hmm, glowing purple also shows up in Void Ark. what if there’s a misdirect and the fallen/hidden Tural civilization was more like Mhach than Allag and we need our friend Zero back to help us before 8.0 is done…)

[Tehmon]

Could the Golden Dhyata have anything to do with the Golden City?

Regardless, the industrial bits and the purple aether stuff is really giving me like, super secret experiment that was abandoned and locked away leaking out because of reasons. Or perhaps it's not so secret and industrialization is being fueled by nasty corrupted either that is either dangerous by itself, or obtaining it has severe consequences for Etheirys, thus we need to put a stop to it. Either way, could be that whatever is going on, is going out of control. In some ways I could see some callbacks to X: machinas are bad, tradition and religion is good. And perhaps Eliminator is a callback to Vegnagun.

Yet what does the Golden City have to do with all of this? Perhaps an advanced alien or ancient civilization we don't know of, who are spearheading these super secret experiments regarding aether?

[Yuella]

They showed Magus Sisters and Anima for Endwalker and they turned out to be dungeon bosses. Eliminator could be the boss for that factory looking dungeon.

[KageTokage]

I think they did that mostly because they didn't want to just blurt out who the trials for that expansion were and set story expectations.

We can't attach any particularly meaningful context to Valigarmanda or the Eliminator comparatively.

[stenovrain]

I'm curious that why Alphinaud never showed his face in the trailer. Will he have a massive appearance change in 7.0?
Hairstyle change? Or is he going to GROW INTO AN ADULT ELEZEN?????

[Iscah]

I'm curious that why Alphinaud never showed his face in the trailer.

Could be just that he's standing next to Krile, rather than a spoiler himself.

(Really though, if either twin was going to have a hairstyle change, I would have sooner expected Alisaie to get bored with her current look. It's kind of odd that they've stuck with the matching for so long after they switched to different outfits.)

[Cleretic]

I think the general bet around ALphinaud's absence isn't that he's doing/has something spoiler-y, but that he's with something spoiler-y. Possibly Krile with the new magic job, but I'd also suggest that he might be with the trailer-end narrator, who's probably also the Mystery Legs-Haver from 6.5.

...incidentally, what comes first: 6.55, or the Japanese Fanfest?