Crystal Tower theories

[Fenral]

Its overall capabilities are so ill-defined it could do basically anything and we wouldn't have a basis to believe otherwise. That's definitely the real reason we sealed it away and forgot about it after 2.5, but that's also why introducing it to begin with was an irresponsible writing decision. There's disregarding conservation of detail, and then there's hog-tying it and tossing it down a ravine. I'm still trying to figure out if Yoshida knew from the beginning how and when he wanted to use it, or just had this idea that he wanted to do something with it at some point and had Ishikawa leave it vague.

[Anonymoose]

Amazingly enough my knee-jerk shot from the hip guess is similar to this insanity for once:

The First's Crystal Tower is the same entity as the one from our dimension, but sent from our future to the First's past (somehow), causing them to both exist relative to one another at this point in time. The idea that there are two is an illusion resulting from this phenomenon. "Our" G'raha is still slumbering in "now" Crystal Tower, whereas the Voice is "future" G'raha, having woken up in the future.

Why do I like this theory all of a sudden? Because instead of ignoring Alexander it fits RIGHT in with the mechanics of timespace it established. It would also allow G'raha to spend a few years of Crystal Tower's future teleported to this period of time in different places. He could create the illusion that one is in every shard if he wanted to.

But, cannot stress this enough, wild guess here. Almost surely wrong.

[Fenral]

The only issue with comparisons to Alexander is that it was a perfectly stable time loop. Mide's attempt to change the past is what actually caused Alexander to seemingly respond to her original summons, trapping Dayan and setting her on the path to re-summon Alexander. So where does that leave G'raha? He presumably wouldn't have had access to the historical records of the First, so it's possible that his intervention could be what led to our impending downfall in the first place. Otherwise, after stopping the Scions' plans the first time, he wouldn't know where to intervene when pulling the rest. It'd be ironically fitting for him to become a slave to destiny after finally deciding to choose for himself.

Given the overall statistics, I think there's a high chance Future G'raha is going to end up dead, but will somehow pass on to us the means to open the present-day Tower, short-circuiting the loop and leaving us with a less-powerful incarnation to take with us into 6.0 as we confront Allag's other legacy. Even failing that, I've been emotionally preparing myself for the best and inevitable worst for years now, so as long as he goes out at least as well as Tsuyu I probably won't be able to complain too much. Just cry a lot. For now I'm glad he (appears to be) getting an actual developed arc.

[Anonymoose]

So where does that leave G'raha?

In this hypothetical scenario? Assuming that he would have to act to change then future when in reality he already did and always had and it never reached that final breaking point but he couldn't have known because he couldn't see time from a 4-dimensional perspective. And we don't know that Hydaelyn and Zodiark can't. Any accusation that Hydaelyn is vague or reckless goes out the window if all along She was saying exactly what She needed to set up the dominoes exactly how She wanted them.

(Again, almost ASSUREDLY wrong, lol.)

[Nalien]

So err... The hooded guy doesn't have a tail, nor apparent cat ears, as one would expect from G'raha Tia. Then again, nor does Y'shtola in the trailer... Could just be obscured by the robe I guess, not like these trailers usually make glaring mistakes... *cough*Nidhogg*cough*

Naturally, I want it to be Lahabrea, filling a Unukalhai style role in the First... More so since Gaius muttered something about missing his chance for revenge against Lahabrea...

I could actually see it being Unukalhai, come to think of it... Just because he is maybe going to need a new room to stand in if Minfilia is returning... From the features we do see of the hooded figure, he does seem fairly young? That's also my assumption though, just since I figured they'd want a shota Ascian to mirror the new look Minfilia is rocking... Unukalhai also has a track record of surviving world ending calamities, only to move to a different world after... Heck, he was the first Warrior of Light to flip sides too, and the only surviving one... Makes sense for him to mentor us in that process...

EDIT: Oh, also Unukalhai is currently chilling in the Rising Stones, which is right next door to Crystal Tower, so he is in a prime location to teleport the whole thing if needs be. G'raha is even closer of course, but also apparently in stasis. Given I believe it was stated we'd need to open the Tower to end that stasis, I imagine a "Worst Future" scenario wouldn't result in the Tower being opened, meaning he is probably powerless to really do much... Unukalhai taking a page from Galufs playbook and teleporting the it away, mixing in some Elidibus tricks to take it to the First as well? Then Crystarium is built up on the First specifically to open up the Tower and get access to G'raha and his Royal Blood... All in order to do... Whatever it is...

If nothing else, it's a nice explanation to why Crystarium isn't a mess like Bizarro-Limsa. For a world on the brink, it looks oddly like a utopia... Although I guess if you had access to Crystal Tower, that'd probably just be a given, heck it was basically a glorified solar panel, and they live in a world of perpetual light... It should be producing twice as much power as it was at the Allags peak...

[AmemeAmeklin]

I'll just drop these speedy comparison images here...

Trailer dude:


Trailer dude compared to G'raha Tia in profile:


Unukalhai:


I will fight anyone who says it's not G'raha and even if I lose I'll still be right

[KylePearlsand]

I'll just drop these speedy comparison images here...

Trailer dude:


Trailer dude compared to G'raha Tia in profile:


Unukalhai:


I will fight anyone who says it's not G'raha and even if I lose I'll still be right

The only real difference I can see is that the G'raha we see in the game has a more pointed chin. The figure in the trailer has a shorter and rounded one.

[Yuyuka3]

The only real difference I can see is that the G'raha we see in the game has a more pointed chin. The figure in the trailer has a shorter and rounded one.

Could just be engine limitations or something, really. Thancred, for example, has some differences as well between trailers and ingame model iirc. Helps that the trailers got pretty high rendering quality.

[AmemeAmeklin]

Yeah everyone's a bit softer and more rounded in the trailer due to more polygons. Oh, and also way more detailed.

Ignoring the chin's roundness, the proportions are the same and the nose is basically identical.

[Fenral]

His in-game nose is actually unique. I checked. He was one of the first NPCs to get a face that couldn't quite be done in character creation.