Thread: The Road to 5.0

Originally Posted by Theodric

Given that we were told that we'd have no reason to sympathise with Zenos, I'm inclined to believe that he's simply a bad apple. Garlemald values might, certainly, though to a large degree that is out of necessity - Hydaelyn isn't the greatest place to live to begin with and Garlemald's inner territory is a frigid wasteland. Zenos was afforded a life of relative luxury - and it doesn't appear that Varis deliberately went out of his way to nurture Zenos' monstrous nature. In fact, he outright opposed it - just as he opposed Aulus and sent him packing. There's also the possibility that Zenos was compromised by Elidibus and/or Solus and that Zenos being used as a host for Elidibus was planned from the very start of his conception - and that is the sort of thing I do not see Varis approving of at all.

The snippets of the lore book imply that Varis has multiple heirs. If they're still alive or we get further elaboration then how they turned out will be a good way to judge Varis' capabilities as a father figure. He's not exactly emotionless - and the fact that his friendship with Regula spanned decades without wavering suggests that he is capable of long term affection.

I'm going to have to offer a bit of dissent here.

While we were told Zenos wasn't meant to be sympathetic, his last line before his (intended) death can garner the tiniest bit. As someone who grew up without many friends and who excelled at what he was told to (academics), I can kind of understand Zenos a bit - of course, I still don't agree with how he chose to relieve his boredom, but the bit of sympathy is there, intended or not.

Zenos' exact upbringing isn't touched on, but the fact he was given the finest combat instructors suggests that he was, at least in part, shaped into what he was by Imperial society. Varis may have had a direct hand in it or may not have, but it's not certain he was opposed to Zenos becoming what he was. (His only comment on his son, thus far, is that he was an inadequate inheritor due to overindulgence in his particular "hobbies," such as they were.)

We can't say for certain that Aulus was sent out of court on moral or ethical grounds. He simply says that his theories were met with "consternation" - confusion and/or dismay. I would posit that he was rejected not on ethical grounds, but simply because nobody else thought his research worth pursing - why go to the trouble of genetic modification for magicks when you can just build more / better magitek? Furthermore, when informing Varis of Zenos' "death" Elidibus calls him an "irreplaceable test subject" who was "sacrificed on the operating table," depending on the language, suggesting Varis was fully aware of the experiments being performed in Ala Mhigo and did nothing to stop them (or covertly encouraged them). (Elidibus trying to emotionally attack Varis is duly noted, especially in light of whose face was beneath the mask, but the plausibility remains.) Solus' comment that Varis "by his own hands" has "ample means" to deal with the threat posed by the Eorzeans suggests Varis himself may have become Resonant.

Other children from Varis turning out better doesn't preclude him failing Zenos as a father, nor does his friendship with Regula.

I was making a grumpy face at the 50th cycle of "What are the metaphysics of Solus?" -> "We can't yet be sure of the metaphysics of Solus in spite of several convincing theories." and yet somehow the return of the Garlean Larsa Hypothesis makes me smile, lol.

I think the narrative could go either way when it comes to introducing a Larsa-like Galvus (personally, I'd welcome it). In regards to Zenos' past, I don't argue that the basic gist of things is probably very simple. I don't expect some tragic backstory or anything silly like that. But I do wonder just how much involvement Solus had in particular when it came to throwing kindling onto Zenos' brutally passionate nature, especially given that Varis had no desire to nurture it himself. The line about Zenos "playing the part of a fool" and "playing it to perfection" does lead me to wonder if he had, in fact, been in contact with Solus at some point during (possibly even before) the events of 4.0, assuming Solus returned almost immediately after Lahabrea's demise. Perhaps the reason Zenos was so lax in allowing both Doma and Ala Mhigo to slip from the Empire's grasp was because he was instructed to do so.

After all, it's implied that despite his particular "quirks", such as they are, Zenos is overall supposed to be an intelligent man. One could attribute him allowing such losses was due to him simply not caring, and perhaps to a degree that might still be true. But given what we now know of the Empire, what if perhaps the two nations were allowed to be taken back so easily? What if their people were allowed that sense of hope, so that it would be all the more crushing once that hope was crushed by tremendous force? Certainly sounds like the kind of plan an Ascian would surmise. Not to mention we know Elidibus is jumping at the bit to get Varis to take action. He deliberately set things up to make it look like the Empire might negotiate peace with Doma, only to crush that hope using Asahi and Yotsuyu. The one thing the Ascians might not have considered there may be using the Allagan tech in the Burn to undermine the Empire's advantage of aerial supremacy to prevent an efficient strike on Doma, but they were probably somewhat aware of the possibility I'm sure, and may not even be of much consequence to them in the long-run. Completely obliterating most of Ala Mhigo and razing it to the ground like the Empire did in Dalmasca would also be a good way to crush hope. Imagine the despair of the surviving Ala Mhigans, after having their home taken away by the Garleans for over twenty years, and then after finally taking back their home it's just gone in an instant, along with most of their countrymen... Despair that could be used in service of the Ascian's plans.