Halmarut's True Intention

[Garruss]

wouldn't it make more sense for her to become the new zodiark rather then the new Hydaelyn?

Zodiark was not the one holding the world in statsis it was Hydaelyn, Zodiark was blanketing the world in aether to stop the end singer song from getting to the star

[Divinemights]

Halmarut didn't have to come out and say anything to us, but she did. She said "Hey, here's what's happening, and here's what we're doing about it. If you don't like it, find a better way" She actually invites us to figure out a solution that will preserve the most life, because that's her endgoal. She strikes me as being very pragmatic. Where the unsundered were causing rejoinings to make things as they were, she wants to cause them to save lives, even as it costs them. So she comes to us with the problem, because she knows we've got a track record for beating impossible odds, and she thinks we might be able to do something about it.

By looking at how FF14 usually tells its story, the writers (old and new) love bringing past events back into current arcs.
That’s why 8.0 is a continuation of the whole Hydaelyn vs. Zodiark storyline rather than something completely new.

Honestly, the setup for a new Hydaelyn might already be there.
The Twelves gave back their aether, but the game never clearly said what it would be used for and that feels intentional.
I also think there’s room for some kind of connection between the Twelve, the Watcher on the moon, and Halmarut.
What really stands out to me is how weird it is that the Twelve didn’t seem to react to the risk of the world collapsing, and still went ahead with returning their aether anyway. That feels like they knew something we don’t.
And then there’s still Oschon left behind… that just feels like it’s going to matter later.

[VeyaAkemi]

Even if Halmarut is trying to become a new Hydaelyn, the WoL might see that's still just a temporary solution and the same end could happen in the future if someone removed Halmarut.

That's the thing, creating a new Hydaelyn, even if they were no one in specific and just an automated system, wouldn't be fixing the problem, it would be kicking the can down the path and making it a future generation's problem.

[AnotherPerson]

Logos, Pathos, and Ethos (Azem's third path using the key).

My guess is that Shantotto from XI (DT Alliance Raids) and Oschon / The Twelve (EW Alliance Raids) will be relevant to figuring out the interdimensional travel and a strategy to avoid the Solstice in a future expansion, or work together to circumvent the end of life by opening the pathways to each world more thoroughly, thereby making the world believe it has been connected and 'a new whole'. This conclusion will also allow everyone can travel to each shard and world freely. That sounds like the most reasonable 'third path' I could think of from Azem.


Cosmic Exploration already goes into detail about finding other planets that can support life, so if worst comes to worst, there's still a fallback plan if the Winterer's path requires us to save people from the Source.

[Divinemights]

That's the thing, creating a new Hydaelyn, even if they were no one in specific and just an automated system, wouldn't be fixing the problem, it would be kicking the can down the path and making it a future generation's problem.

You have to realize that the Solstice isn’t something to “fix” like the Final Days.
It feels more like a natural phenomenon where Etheirys returning to its original state.
Winterer isn’t meant to stop it, either.
If anything, it seems more like a way to preserve humanity through it, not prevent it from happening at all.

[Jeeqbit]

Even if Halmarut is trying to become a new Hydaelyn, the WoL might see that's still just a temporary solution and the same end could happen in the future if someone removed Halmarut. I got a lot of a XIII feel from things I saw in Evercold and I'm wondering if we somehow "rebirth" the Source and the reflections into forms that are connected and nature sees as one whole so they would not need to consolidate down into a single star.

This might be the theory that I see no conflicts with:

There is a tree featured in the trailer, the Yggdrasil, that connects all the worlds. So if it is connecting, say, all the islands, maybe it could be adjusted to connect all the shards, and essentially replace Hydaelyn's role. The difference being that a tree doesn't have quite as much independence as, say, a humanoid primal, and the aether for it already exists because the tree is, well, there already.

Only thing is it would make the "Unite all the stars. Let none bar your path" and the depiction of them rolling into one a total red herring in the trailer. But as it stands, there just isn't clear evidence that we're gonna merge them all, and if we did, are we gonna slip the worlds in like a file in a folder, as a slice? Is it gonna replace the ocean and explain why oceans exist? Is it gonna merge next to the respective area in the source ie. Mor Dhona and Lakeland being near eachother? Are we just gonna pick a conveniently empty area on the source to merge them into, like The Burn, the sky and the ocean?

[Evermomo]

You have to realize that the Solstice isn’t something to “fix” like the Final Days.
It feels more like a natural phenomenon where Etheirys returning to its original state.
Winterer isn’t meant to stop it, either.
If anything, it seems more like a way to preserve humanity through it, not prevent it from happening at all.

Halmarut's rejoinings are supposed to prevent the Solstice. If we rejoin the shards one at a time, the zero-survivors Solstice event does not happen. Calyx explicitly tells us this is their goal.

[Urianger: If a natural rejoining doth lead unto the Solstice, then thine intent is to preemptively rejoin the worlds.
Calyx: Correct. It was for this very purpose that Halmarut recruited suitable collaborators from the reflections.]

The rest of what the Winterers have going on are contingency plans for if plan A doesn't work.

[Divinemights]

Halmarut's rejoinings are supposed to prevent the Solstice. If we rejoin the shards one at a time, the zero-survivors Solstice event does not happen. Calyx explicitly tells us this is their goal.

[Urianger: If a natural rejoining doth lead unto the Solstice, then thine intent is to preemptively rejoin the worlds.
Calyx: Correct. It was for this very purpose that Halmarut recruited suitable collaborators from the reflections.]
The rest of what the Winterers have going on are contingency plans for if plan A doesn't work.

Solstice cannot be prevented, as it is a natural phenomenon that occurs in Hydaelyn’s absence.
It is also somewhat unusual that Calyx responds to Urianger in that moment rather than Halmarut.

One possible direction the FF14 writers could take is to use Calyx’s failure as a turning point.
In this scenario, Halmarut may have originally intended to use Calyx’s “Endless” project to convert all life on the Fourth Shard into Endless beings, then transport them to the Source using Azem’s key.
This could serve as a potential solution to minimize loss of life during a premature Rejoining
Assuming such a process could even occur without the involvement of the Unsundered Ascians.

Calyx’s project did, in fact, manage to transport a number of lifeforms from the Ninth to the Source, although unintentionally.
After witnessing this result, Halmarut may have attempted to replicate the same process on the Fourth.
This could explain why Calyx pursued the Warrior of Light for Azem’s key in patch 7.3.

However, the Warrior of Light reacts negatively to the concept of the Endless, despite everything Calyx has done.
As a result, she may have no choice but to abandon the original plan and shift to a secondary approach: passively recruiting the Warrior of Light as one of the Winterers in patch 7.5.
This scenario could work, though it may conflict with what has been shown so far in the (admittedly incomplete) 8.0 trailer

[Supersnow845]

Solstice cannot be prevented, as it is a natural phenomenon that occurs in Hydaelyn’s absence.
It is also somewhat unusual that Calyx responds to Urianger in that moment rather than Halmarut.

One possible direction the FF14 writers could take is to use Calyx’s failure as a turning point.
In this scenario, Halmarut may have originally intended to use Calyx’s “Endless” project to convert all life on the Fourth Shard into Endless beings, then transport them to the First using Azem’s key.
This could serve as a potential solution to minimize loss of life during a premature Rejoining
Assuming such a process could even occur without the involvement of the Unsundered Ascians.

Calyx’s project did, in fact, manage to transport a number of lifeforms from the Ninth to the First, although unintentionally.
After witnessing this result, Halmarut may have attempted to replicate the same process on the Fourth.
This could explain why Calyx pursued the Warrior of Light for Azem’s key in patch 7.3.

However, the Warrior of Light reacts negatively to the concept of the Endless, despite everything Calyx has done.
As a result, she may have no choice but to abandon the original plan and shift to a secondary approach: passively recruiting the Warrior of Light as one of the Winterers in patch 7.5.
This scenario could work, though it may conflict with what has been shown so far in the (admittedly incomplete) 8.0 trailer

I think you mean the source

The first has no relation to the endless project

[Divinemights]

I think you mean the source

The first has no relation to the endless project

Yes, I have corrected it
Another point I want to clarify is why I believe she may be a collaborator of Azem.
Overall, she does not appear to be like the other Ascians.
In fact, she may be something of a wild card within the Convocation, much like Azem was.
Unlike typical Ascians, she rejects the traditional Convocation robes and instead chooses to appear as an Au Ra rather than a Garlean.

If you look back to Endwalker, the dungeon Akademia Anyder (also referred to as Halmarut’s World) includes a visitor’s guide that describes Halmarut using male pronouns.
However, the Halmarut we encountered is a girl
Since Ascian identities are generally consistent and not meant to change in that way, this raises an important question: is this the same Halmarut, or a new individual who has inherited the seat of Halmarut?
Whoever she is, she clearly differs significantly from the Ascians we have encountered before.