Revelations from Patch 7.3: The Promise of Tomorrow

[Bonoki]

Forgive me for the bluntness hidden under this spoiler tag, but: does it matter?

Blunt answer: Yes, it matters

It's no secret that FFXIV's story is heavily tied to the Ascians and the Ancients. Sure, the "It's always Ascians" meme might get predictable and stale, but that's just how the story is. It always has been Ascians, and honestly, it's hard to imagine it not being about them. If SE were to suddenly pull a 180 and say, "Oh, this guy isn't Azem," just to break the predictability for a select few people, that’d feel pretty forced, wouldn’t it?

When it came to the Thirteenth, people weren’t as upset because we had actual hints and context to work with. Even if they turn out to be wrong later, at least there were clues to follow. Right now, though, we’ve barely been given anything to go on with the Ninth. And on top of that, we've been told the Thirteenth's story isn’t even done yet.

I’m not sure why your post comes across so passive-aggressive. It makes me sound like I’m angry when I’m not. I was asking a valid question that many people are probably wondering about. Every time we deal with a new shard, there’s always that little voice in the back of our heads thinking, “Who’s the reflection going to be this time?” It’s one of the few recurring plot points that keeps us invested. The idea of our Warrior of Light possibly becoming a fully rejoined character one day fits with our ever-growing godlike status, too.

Whether people like it or not, this is the core plot of FFXIV. So yeah, players are curious about these things. SE won’t leave questions like this hanging forever. They’ll give us answers, even if they’re not always as polished as we want.

[Cleretic]

Counter Question: Did it not matter that Ardbert was an Azem shard?

Genuinely? No, I don't think it did. Not putting this in spoiler tags after this, because it's Shadowbringers and we've all finished Dawntrail.

Zeroing in on Ardbert's story, he is a hero who tried his best, only to come up short: he tried to fight evil, and evil won. In Heavensward, we see him first grappling with that, first through lashing out at others: he and his group are readily happy to pull the knives out against someone else, but as we learn, it's not really out of blaming someone else, but just desperately trying to claw out a victory. Hydaelyn offers them one... but even that doesn't truly work in the way he was hoping for. So in Shadowbringers we see him in despair, just glumly watching the world die, blaming himself, and being literally unable to do anything to help it. But over the course of the story he sees us do our level best, against all odds actually managing to claw up some wins, and eventually, he comes to terms with the fact that while he can't bring that victory he fought for... someone else can. That even if he isn't the one that crosses the finish line, he still made an important contribution, and helped save the day. It's a really solid story, and relatable in a lot of ways even if you aren't swinging an axe against voidsent for a living; that's the takeaway from so many political campaigns, so many sports seasons, so many mentorships.

Him being an Azem shard gave the mechanical elements to take that final step... and that's about it. Outside of that one, single cutscene, Ardbert being an Azem shard does not come up, and does not affect his story (in fact I'd argue that it made it worse in retrospect, but that's my general dislike of 'destined heroes' at play). If I wanted another Ardbert from this game's story, that is the literal last part of the equation that I think is relevant, because much more important than some indistinct macguffin specialness is who he was and what his story was. Not 'whether or not I can eat him because of weird soul compatibility', which is apparently important for others.

Cleretic, you are a wealth of knowledge and lore - but it’s clear you simply do not care for Azem theory - but there is plenty of room for us all to spin our fantasies. What favorite theories are you picking up hints for as this expansion winds down/up?

I don't theorize and predict stories; that's just not something I like doing, especially baselessly. The only 'predictions' I have are actually about the Vana'diel, Arcadion and Occult Crescent stories, and that's because I feel very confident that I know where those are going (Promathia, 'punch Vince McMahon in the face', and 'more weird 5AE stuff' respectively); I don't find making that prediction 'fun' so much as I find it a logical conclusion. But even if I did enjoy that enough to do it for fun, I'd have no trains to follow here: any threads I was actively excited in seeing through died in that last cutscene, because that reveal was THAT BIG a black hole of interest to me.

I instead enjoy getting the story as I get it, and exploring it as much as I have the joy to explore. And right now, that part of me is looking forward to finishing out the Vana'diel raids and Occult Crescent (the Arcadion story I have less interest in), learning everything I can about the Pilgrim's Traverse, and going to Meracydia next expansion (because, again: feels like a safe bet).

[Thighland]

Ardbert being an Azem shard does not come up, and does not affect his story (in fact I'd argue that it made it worse in retrospect, but that's my general dislike of 'destined heroes' at play).

So it's not really that Ardbert being an Azem shard doesn't matter, it's just that you don't like the trope of the 'destined hero', and you don't want to look at Ardbert that way.
I can understand why someone would dislike it, but if one is looking for a story without this trope, then ffxiv would definitely and 100% be the wrong place for it; and it always has been.

I don't theorize and predict stories; that's just not something I like doing, especially baselessly.

That is fine.
But if you don't like theorizing and predicting, then why are you engaging with people who enjoy doing it?
It feels like you're trying to convince others to conform to your way of engaging with the story, or you're looking down on theorizers in general.

[Cleretic]

and it always has been.

Actually, it hasn't. I'm not gonna go beyond one post on this one, because it's a derail for a fight I can tell I'm not gonna win, but:

For most of the game's life, the only thing making us a 'destined hero' was the Echo and/or the Blessing of Light (depending on which of those was more important that day). ...except that wasn't really anything all that special; even from the point we learned what those things were, we knew plenty of other people who had them, and are aware of plenty more, because it's the level of special-ness required to be a player character in an MMO, essentially. Much more important is having the gumption to go out there and Do The Thing, and that's the thing that the story holds to be more important: the WoL is not celebrated as The Warrior of Light because some divine deity declared that they are, but because they keep sticking their neck out and saving people from the horrors that are out there.

...except that then Shadowbringers, or more specifically 5.3, stepped in and said 'no it's actually because you specifically are Super Special'. That we were always going to do these things, because we have the soul of someone destined to do these things. There was no exaltation of the WoL like this before this point, no declaration that they're inherently better. ...and interestingly, there also isn't much of that after Shadowbringers, either; Endwalker is an array of contrived circumstances that we end up in simply because we and the rest of the Scions are highly capable and the world is desperate, and in Dawntrail we're largely there on reputation, and our ability to prove we earned said reputation.

You can call us a 'destined hero', and I can't tell you you're wrong. But I much prefer the reading that we are simply very good at this, and I think that sometimes people expect the former so much that they neglect the narrative strengths of the latter. That maybe, the next Ardbert isn't that way because he's got a special soul, but because he's a guy out doing his best.

[Chasingstars]

I think with context 7.0 to 7.3 makes more sense at least in terms of Heritage Found and Solution Nine. As they played with a lot of themes, which many got caught beforehand. 7.3 is the bow the neatly ties the themes together.

What themes? Well, to elaborate

1. It was very early on noticed by users in 7.0 that the Queen Sphene is basically a ghost that body hops from robot bodies that are basically her personal undead soul-sucking army.
2. The whole thing revolving around souls and how souls were treated as expendable regardless of who the soul belonged to in life and that in turn the citizens were willingly acting as if they are soul-eating liches in order to preserve their own existences.
3. How the arcadion's main form of entertainment is through combatant's using beast souls to become more powerful yet in the process each usage effectielly shortens their lifespan.
4. That of the real sphene, after her data self is gone, is released, effectivelly a resurrection of her yet with none of the memories that her body-hopping self accumulated over centuries.
5. How Calyx and like-minded researchers sought to become endless, basically digital ghosts so as to live forever, and that Data Sphene and Calyx's plans is to create endless ghosts that seeked to harvest aether across the stars and shards.
6. How from 7.1 to 7.3 the ramp up of a cult that is obsessed with death and wanting to live forever thanks to the data ghost that is Calyx.
7. That the deaths the citizens experienced from 7.0 to 7.3 was only meant to sow fear but specificially the fear of death, to reinforce belief for Calyx's cult to work.
8. Necron itself, its name, the arena being called the ageless necropolis, how they get stronger from experiencing death as the primal fears it, how they fight in a very necromancy sort of way. Its all basically the writers yelling to the people in the back that haven't noticed.
9. Especially when they intentionally have the robots moving around like one of the various undead enemies in how they lurch and stand, of the backwards head turning.

All of that is to say, beneath the dressing of technology and science-fiction, its just effectively a necromancy-centric civilization. The reason the writers do it this way? To obfuscate and to turn into a slowburn as they probably didn't just want to do a complete copy-paste of Mhach again.

I wouldn't be surprised if the writers had at one point saw one of those video essays that went over how undead might fuction as a labor force. Especially with the plot point revealed that the robots couldn't simply be shut off as they handle much of the labor required to keep the city running.

Especially given how this will make the second time Duskwights, when given more of a spotlight, are associated with a society that has necromancy themes. The first being Palace of the Dead, aka Gelmorra. A shame this still advances nothing about Duskwights of the source and only those of Solution Nine.

I know I left out some aspects but they just kind of reinforce what they were going for, like the dungeon for 7.3.

[eloralora]

Every time we deal with a new shard, there’s always that little voice in the back of our heads thinking, “Who’s the reflection going to be this time?” It’s one of the few recurring plot points that keeps us invested. The idea of our Warrior of Light possibly becoming a fully rejoined character one day fits with our ever-growing godlike status, too.

Just adding to this as someone who very much does have this question at the back of my mind when we explore a new reflection: I do actively look for these clues, but at the same time, I'm super picky when it comes to the idea of introducing more Azem shards, because I feel like many of the Azem implementations players want are incompatible with the spirit of the story (in my opinion), like those who want the WoL to become fully rejoined and then go back in time to become that specific Azem, as if we were the same person all along... There's a difference between honoring a legacy and constantly looking backwards instead of forwards (and everyone's going to have their own idea of where to draw that line). There were plenty of crumbs on the Thirteenth, which may or may not turn into anything in the future, but honestly I think there are even more crumbs on the Ninth if you're looking for them.

[Grimr]

Well here is what i thought

right so going in i knew this wasn't going to be the end of it. We still have a shard on the brink. But to bring in it back to the ascians come on. All that's left of them is severed. There are like us but we have one more shard than they do. They can no longer go between shards like lahabrea themis or emet selch did. Their god is only a shard strength. There is no way for them to bring about a calamity. And yet we go back to old foes whom aren't even that relevant anymore. And these past few expansion have bread crumbs pointing to the thirteeth and you golbez and zero wandering around the thirteenth hoping to bump into someone..... overall calx is pretty lame not surprised the lack of dev time went into yawntrail. Necron was nice but i couldn't help notice the trail was a lot simpler than 4mans which is bs. 4 mans should NOT be harder that trials. Nor should four mans have more mechs than trials. This is no turning point it is more of the same of yawntrail.

[Cilia]

Just adding to this as someone who very much does have this question at the back of my mind when we explore a new reflection: I do actively look for these clues, but at the same time, I'm super picky when it comes to the idea of introducing more Azem shards, because I feel like many of the Azem implementations players want are incompatible with the spirit of the story (in my opinion), like those who want the WoL to become fully rejoined and then go back in time to become that specific Azem, as if we were the same person all along... There's a difference between honoring a legacy and constantly looking backwards instead of forwards (and everyone's going to have their own idea of where to draw that line). There were plenty of crumbs on the Thirteenth, which may or may not turn into anything in the future, but honestly I think there are even more crumbs on the Ninth if you're looking for them.

The issue with the idea, in my mind, is that it goes contrary to the ideas put forth in Endwalker. Shadowbringers tries to sell the idea that the Warrior of Light is special because they're an incarnation of Azem, and maybe that's part of it, but ultimately the WoL is not strong because we're chosen (or destined or whatever), the WoL is chosen because they're strong. It's our will to live on in spite of our relative weakness that convinces Venat sundered humanity is worth betting on. Besides which, more (or fully) rejoined beings are not necessarily more powerful, and such a process would not make a character an Ancient. (Step 2: Kill off current humanity so Zodiark can necromance their souls back into Ancients.)

Regardless, the WoL will never become a "fully rejoined" being because whichever direction you tilt towards their Thirteenth incarnation can't be rejoined. Ardbert was a special case because it was the conclusion of his character arc; while it's possible to do a repeat, introducing other incarnations of the WoL for the purpose of having them be a shonen-style power-up in the end is both predictable and poor writing after it's already been done.

There's no narrative need to be fully rejoined. It does nothing in terms of story or gameplay. It doesn't explain the WoL's strength (nor does their "Azem"-ness). The idea of seeking out other incarnations of "ourselves" for a power boost is contrary to any notion of being heroic (ever seen Jet Li's The One?). If it comes up, cool... but it's not worth obsessing over.

[mallleable]

Something something the Warrior of Light should not become a shard hopping devourer of souls. I'm honestly kind of weary of how popular the idea is, and how many players are licking their lips, hoping for the next Azem shard to show up.

Maybe the key really is Auracite, considering how many of us see it as a way to gobble up more Azem soul shards, and become more godlike. lol

[Thighland]

As someone who is interested in other Azem shards being revealed, gobbling them up without good reason would be a terrible thing.
I'm sure there are other things they can do. My prediction is that they can use things like the Azem Crystal or the Key, since the signature of their souls is the same as ours.