Regarding the conclusion of the Doman Enclave's reconstruction. [Spoilers]

[Theodric]

So, as of the time of this post anybody who has been donating every week to the reconstruction efforts will have reached the conclusion of the story arc. The final scene involves reestablishing a Doman tradition involving setting loose lanterns in honour of the fallen.

It's a pretty major festival and the first of its kind since Garlemald's occupation forbid such practices. Given how much Hien has been shown to care for his people his appearance seemed certain.

Yet he doesn't show up. Instead, the NPC leading the event refers to the 'unfortunate absence' of Lord Hien. I forget the exact wording used, though it was along those lines.

To me, it seems a little ominous. Could this be a sign that Hien is going to be killed off in the future? The reconstruction efforts can be done at any time, technically, so they're by no means mandatory. The story itself is also outlined in advance.

It just strikes me as very odd that Hien didn't show up for the scene in question. Even if he were 'busy' it wouldn't exactly be a huge burden for him to show up and say a few words. He wouldn't, realistically, be unaware of such an event taking place nor does he seem the type to ignore the opportunity to thank the Warrior of Light yet again for their generosity towards Doma.

It's going to rub me the wrong way if he ends up being axed, especially if someone as bland as Lyse ends up surviving indefinitely.

[Iscah]

Given things currently happening in the MSQ, it's also possible that Hien might just be... temporarily unavailable in future.

Of course, that hasn't stopped them before - you get things like Nanamo turning up in the Lv50 CUL quest even if she's apparently dead at the time - but then again that still arguably happens in a different segment of the time bubble (ARR bubble vs post-ARR bubble), so even if she actually died during post-ARR, then it's still acceptable for her to appear when we play a story from ARR.

Likewise I've just finally played the Binding Coil storyline this week, and Urianger was perfectly fine, despite being unavailable due to current MSQ - and currently not present at the Waking Sands if you're caught up on all quests.

Interestingly, while the first and second chapters of the Binding Coils ended with scenes at the Waking Sands, the very final quest puts Urianger out in Northern Thanalan - so the timeline can snap back into place and he's absent the next time you enter the Waking Sands, if that was the last quest you had to fulfil. Meanwhile the EX primals wrap up with a quest where he gives you some items to take to Rowena - I had previously picked up this quest and was carrying the items, he didn't have anything further to do with it, but he was still present until I handed them in and completed the quest at Mor Dhona. Then he was gone the next time I checked.

So whether they had planned for this MSQ event specifically, or just had a general plan for "sometime we might need him to be absent, so how will we handle his quests?", it was designed so he is not present at the completion of any of the quest lines he gives out, so he can quietly vanish.

But I think I've gotten too far off-topic.

Back to Hien, and comparing to these other instances - I think perhaps if they were planning to kill him off at some point in the next patch(es? before 5.0), then that might fit with a vague "not available today" that can be substituted for other dialogue later, as both are happening within the same 'post-Stormblood time bubble'.

But if it's going to happen any later, then that would most likely not affect his presence in the story here and now.

I'm several weeks behind on my Doma quests so I will have to wait and see exactly how it plays out when I get there.


(Could it possibly be due to something going on that will be revealed in the next chapter of the Doma questline itself? Or maybe those Buduga finally manged to make off with him. Is he still standing around in the town the rest of the time?)

[Remedi]

Still salty that I couldn't put a statue of Hien on the Tower.
I don't really care about the statue, but the possibility of having a different enclave than someone else was enticing.

Anyway I don't think for now that is showing us anything, perhaps he was just busy, though it would've been more galvanizing for a closure for this story but who knows

[Cybylt]

Because of Time Bubble-ing of side content and their showing of how hey can change world status of NPCs to fit current events should the bubble no longer be needed to cover them; I'm not feeling a need to put stock into his absence here meaning a removal in the future. Regardless of whether you do the enclave in 4.4 or 5.0 and beyond, this phase of it still takes place in the time period of 4.4, and as of 4.4 he is rather busy organizing the establishment of the Othard Alliance and overseeing the search of the Burn and its outlying areas.

[ObsidianFire]

They also made it sound like if Hein was there, he'd be the one leading the entire ceremony/festival instead of Kozakura. Given that she's the one that got the ball rolling on the reconstruction, she should be the one doing the honors.

[Cybylt]

Looking back over the scene I now understand why Hien couldn't make it. The Buduga were invited and we couldn't risk a kidnapping spoiling the festivities.

[LineageRazor]

I was bemused by this, as well - especially since Hien is currently, at this time, an NPC you can interact with and standing outside of his residence, doing exactly nothing. As far as time bubbles go - even if they WERE trying to prepare for Hien's absence in the near future, the guy IS available now, and time bubbles SHOULD reflect events occurring in the patch they appear.

Looking back over the scene I now understand why Hien couldn't make it. The Buduga were invited and we couldn't risk a kidnapping spoiling the festivities.

This is a possibility!

[Alleo]

I really hope its not the case and would be a bit strange imo. They always told us that the time bubble is there and thus everything that happens there no matter when you do it still theoretically happens at a certain time. Which means that its at a part in the story where Hien is still there.

I hope that Cybylts answer is more true than the fear that he might die in the future.

[Torquil]

I think they wanted the lady to give the speech and it t may have just been their way of addressing why Hien isn't doing it despite being 5 feet away.

[DrWho2010]

i think they want to avoid another situation much like the CUL 50 quest if you do it when for story reasons Nanamo is inaccessible.