oh, awesome! I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought the goddess lady in the background was Hydaelyn--that was my first thought when i saw her there. i had to squint a bit to see Gaius, too, but there he was! i'm liking the theory someone mentioned where the adventurers are leaving the mother crystal to go out into hydaelyn/the world again.

it'd be very cool if it were Nymeia (she's my patron goddess so it'd be cool to see what she actually looked like!) but i don't think it matches her official description...i think in the old character creation screen where it described each of the Twelve, it says Nymeia's usually pictured with a spinning wheel/loom and a white veil or something.

also where in the hells did you guys get the idea of it being siren?! like...am i missing something? was it just because she was singing or something in the openings? or is there an actual giant theory post about it like there usually is? (because if so i'd like to read it!) ...if you really wanted to stretch it i guess maaaayybe they could make it so Hydaelyn and Siren are the same entity in some weird twist of fate...but still. :P

as for the scholar issue i don't care either way, but i am leaning to it being another name for ACN...the similarities to the official art of arcanist was uncanny. although with the new dev blog it's difficult to say for sure, since according to Ferne, all of the armor the characters are wearing in that one picture is in the game, so I think he's implying it to be another AF, in which case...yeah.