8.0 speculation

[Iscah]

I also think associating the Winterers with winter is, while an understandable mistake to make, undoubtedly a mistake.

I agree with this and have been saying it from the beginning, but...

in fact given 'winterers' as a term are for things like hummingbirds that specifically aren't around for cold weather, we should just assume no coldness is related to the Winterers in turn.

The term "Winterers" hasn't been well explained yet, but the term refers to a group that goes to a more hospitable environment for a period while waiting for conditions in their normal range to improve (e.g. birds migrate southward to winter during the cold season a.k.a. winter).

This definition keeps getting passed around the fandom and I don't agree with it either.

While it is one potential meaning for the term, it is an incomplete picture and I think it is choosing the wrong implication.

winterer

Any person or animal (but especially a bird) that visits or resides in a specified location during the winter

Verb winter

1. To spend the winter (in a particular place).
Example 1: When they retired, they hoped to winter in Florida.
Example 2: 2022 December 27, “Ukraine war: Five ways conflict could go in 2023”, in BBC News‎[2]:
Those who seek to invade another country anywhere across the great Eurasian steppes are condemned eventually to winter in it.

2. To store something (for instance animals) somewhere over winter to protect it from cold.

overwinter

1. To keep or preserve for the winter.
It is best to overwinter tender plants indoors.

2. To spend the winter (in a particular place).
Insects may overwinter in fallen fruit if it is not removed.

None of these define that the location for spending the winter has to be a warm place, or far away from their usual location, or a pleasant place to be. It can mean bunkering down and surviving in a relatively safe spot within the inhospitable landscape, and it can mean keeping something safe and cared for during that period.

I think it's very likely the Winterers' implied "winter" is metaphorical in this case, but it doesn't have to mean they have fled from elsewhere or planning to flee elsewhere.

[Pimsan20]

Also I just thought I of something. Yoshi-P said that something is happening in garlemald, right? So I just got reminded about Titus Galvus. And we don’t know what happen to him, right? (You can correct me if I’m wrong.) but what if he’s the reason why trouble came to Garlemald?

[Layte_Aeon]

Ah... we do. It's part of the Endwalker Role Quest story.

[Zero-ELEC]

Ah... we do. It's part of the Endwalker Role Quest story.

That's Nerva.

[Cilia]

While we have no official word on his status, Varis was only able to seize the throne by defeating Titus in a civil war, he wasn't mentioned at all during the civil war Zenos kickstarted, and he would have had more than ample time by now to lay claim to the throne if he so chose; all of the other Garlean royals are in the same boat for the second and third points.

It's not outside the realm of possibility, but make of that what you will.

[Pimsan20]

While we have no official word on his status, Varis was only able to seize the throne by defeating Titus in a civil war, he wasn't mentioned at all during the civil war Zenos kickstarted, and he would have had more than ample time by now to lay claim to the throne if he so chose; all of the other Garlean royals are in the same boat for the second and third points.

It's not outside the realm of possibility, but make of that what you will.

I mean Yoshi-p did say in the latest live letter that something is happening in garlemald. And I’ll admit that anything could be happening there, with the void and the withering and all. But when I remember Titus and that he was nowhere to be seen and have no confirmation that he and other royalties survived. It’s possible that the Clyteum might be their home base or something.

[Layte_Aeon]

That's Nerva.

So it is. Egg on my face then. Though I'm not sure if, even should Titus make an appearance it would be as an antagonist. If memory serves he numbered among the Populares, the faction that was rather against the more expansionist aims of the Empire.

[Pimsan20]

So it is. Egg on my face then. Though I'm not sure if, even should Titus make an appearance it would be as an antagonist. If memory serves he numbered among the Populares, the faction that was rather against the more expansionist aims of the Empire.

probably for his own gain. Don't forget he is/was hellbent to rule Garlemald and is probably support the Populares to get more influence to become the new empire. That being said, we have no idea what kind of person he really his. Only bits and pieces.

[Tracewood]

Starting to wonder if 8.0 takes us way off course. Lopporits are involved with us in 7.5 and now that they have a grip on interstellar travel, I wonder if they'll write in a whole new planet (or shard travel so the scions can go). Yet us going back to Garlemald tells me we may be getting the Corvos/Blindfrost expansion that ties in to whatever overarching plot that involves Halmarut. Would nice to see Gaius again, if he's not locked in sidequest stasis to come along with us as a guide and if we're hunting down an ascian he thought he killed way back in Stormblood.