[Theory] Possible WoD return / Inter-shard travel musings (4.5 Spoilers)

[RicaRuin]

To not spoil anything, let's just say I got the idea while playing a certain other game.

So, I kept thinking whether it would be possible for the WoD to return to the source. As I understand it, they left behind their bodies (dying?) and only their souls reached the source. After 3.4, their souls go back to the First, but since their bodies are dead/gone, they're just souls/aether, not unlike the Ascians, right?

And since 4.5, we know of the Replicas that can serve as convenient bodies for the Ascians, so maybe we can snatch one of them for the WoD...?

But then again, how did they have a corporal form in 3.x if only their souls travelled to the Source?

And on that topic, do you think only souls can traverse between the shards? The Ascians can do so, but then again, there is Unukalhai, apparently in possesion of his own body, who travelled from a shard to the source... Or might he have snatched a body, Ascian-Style?

Thoughts?

[Keever]

As far as we currently know, the Warriors of Darkness (that is, Arbert & company) are properly dead and gone. At the close of 3.4, when they return to the First with Minfilia, both they and Alphinaud seem to be under the impression that the WoDs returning to the First in their current state would mean their souls would finally be compelled to return to the Lifestream.

I cannot help but wonder what awaits those wayward souls. If they gave their lives in order to travel to the Source, then in returning to the First, would they not...?

...But mayhap that was their wish.

Now this does seem a little strange, because if Ascians are, as is strongly hinted, former mortals who have transcended their bodies through the Echo and gained great power, why is it that they can continue to exist in their own home worlds, while the Warriors of Darkness will cease to be if they return to theirs? Perhaps Shadowbringers will clear this up. Either way, the WoDs' departure in 3.4 certainly carries a great air of finality.

[Kalise]

Now this does seem a little strange, because if Ascians are, as is strongly hinted, former mortals who have transcended their bodies through the Echo and gained great power, why is it that they can continue to exist in their own home worlds, while the Warriors of Darkness will cease to be if they return to theirs? Perhaps Shadowbringers will clear this up. Either way, the WoDs' departure in 3.4 certainly carries a great air of finality.

Well... At a guess, I would say that it's possible that the WoD return to the lifestream when returning to the First is due to the flood of light that's destroying their world. Given they came to the Source in order to try and prevent that, going back would mean to surrender to the flood and accept that it will happen.

However, if things change so that someone (I.e. Us) ends up going to the First in order to reverse or prevent the flood of light, then there's the possibility of the WoD making an appearance due to not being destroyed by the flood.

Then again, it's also equally possible that the WoDs upon returning to the First would do everything in their power to help prevent the destruction of their world with the aid of Minfillia and then proceed to return to the Lifestream to be at peace, if of course, they aren't able to sacrifice their souls in order to aid their world (Such as using their aether to cause enough darkness in their world to keep the flood at bay)

[RomildaRayne]

Keep in mind that the way the Ascians travel to and from different worlds is different from how the Warriors of Darkness returned to the First. The Ascians, when divested of their bodies, will use their Crystal of Darkness to return to the Chrysalis, a space between worlds, and then move back into the Source or Shards.

This assuming they don't have a nearby body to possess, of course. Black-masked Ascians who find themselves in this situation don't fare as well; lacking a Crystal of Darkness, they lack the ability to return to the Chrysalis upon death and are incapable of possessing living bodies.

[Vanitas]

A good number of people have been speculating that the "voice" that has been calling us and the scions is in fact Arbert (the WAR WoD) in some desperate attempt to get into contact with us so there is a pretty strong possibilty that they'll make a return?

"Throw wide the gates so that we may pass!" Maybe implying Arbert and friends?

If the ShB trailer is anything to go off of with little miss Minfilia, I'd have to wager (just spitballing here) that maybe Minfilia's attempt to "take the flood of light unto herself to empower Hydelaen and save the first" has gone horribly wrong. So wrong that it now threats the source and every shard in some way shape or form that the WoDs are now compelled to return to the source to....stop something? Some impending doom that may or may not originate from the events that are currently transpiring? /think

[ObsidianFire]

Solus is actually going to the 1st Shard to check up on how Minfilia is doing. While this isn't obvious in the English version of the Black Rose plant conversation, it's much more obvious in other languages, especially the German version. That version also makes it sound like the increasing light on the Source has nothing to do with what the WoL is doing and everything to do with there being a Flood of Light on the 1st Shard.

So if anything... I'd say hat Hydaelyn's plan for stopping the Flood of Light on the 1st is going to go wrong not because she messed up, but probably because Solus is going to mess it up for her. At the moment, no one knows that Solus is back and is going around doing Ascian shenanigans. So he's an Out of Context Problem for Hydaelyn and the WoL. And Minfilia being Minfilia and Hydaelyn being Hydaleyn, they both go back to the WoL for help.

[Kalise]

At the moment, no one knows that Solus is back and is going around doing Ascian shenanigans.

I'm 99% sure that the Alliance are aware that Solus is back.

Namely because of the warehouse full of Solus clones they found and the revelation about Solus being an Ascian from Varis during the parley.

Though, you're right that no-one knows what he's doing.