Thread: State of the Ascians after 4.5

Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Whether Travenchet was the same as the nameless 'bestial' Ascian that appeared briefly in 1.0 is unclear (the bestial Ascian had the same form as the 'Ascian Prime' combined form of Lahabrea and Igeyorhm many years later as the final boss of the Aetherochemical Research Facility in HW).

I would doubt the first half of that because of the second half of that. Ascian Prime was called such because its form was closer to that of a "true" Ascian, whereas Travanchet was by all accounts thus far a random black-mask possessing a dead Elezen. While it may be an (addition-)retcon (NEW REVELATION) to suggest such, I've been assuming it was Lahabrea seen performing part of his false flag operation to convince the beast tribes the "unclean" city-states had "invited" the creatures of the Dark having his minions come to them as messengers of the primals with the methods to call them in defense.

Likewise, I can't help but see Emet-selch as another "new revelation" that wasn't necessarily intended before now. We had 14 overlords and 14 dimensions, and Nabriales failed to mention a third Source-born "Original" when he first dropped the hint in 2.5, and it never came up at any of the meetings. Lahabrea's place was "unique." Perhaps the power of a transmigrationist Ascian can be elevated by Zodiark's will and Emet-selch was "promoted" after his successful rejoining of another shard, idk. It feels like an attempt to break the mold with Solus while not undoing Thordan's character-defining technical victory over Lahabrea. (Which, if so, kudos to the writers for considering the big picture.)