1. Firstly, and less specific to 5.3 (who knows?), on the topic of the "hear, feel, think" message Hydaelyn emits, someone pointed out some interesting facts to me from the Ivalice side quests, from Mikoto (there's also some sections from Unukalhai which potentially tie in), which are linked
here.
From these, a few interesting facts follow:
1. The auracites are capable of emitting a message
in their own right. ("Hear, feel, think", anyone? As per the 5.2 starshower scene.)
2. They serve as
independent sources of power. It also mentions they have an
appetite for it, though to me this sounds like a battery that seeks to replenish itself.
3. They are
capable of multiplying the incorporeal aether within their confines. Both primals were summoned through sacrifice, yielding incorporeal aether, and they were in the planet itself, a place composed of incorporeal aether. This sounds a lot to me like the way the RDM crystal functions.
4.
As per Unukalhai, they are not good at containing Primals and let their energies bleed out. Given that I believe Zodiark's dark aspect was intended so as to speed up recovery of the planet, my surmisal is that this may be an intentional feature of these auracites.
Both Hydaelyn and Zodiark have crystals associated with them, so I wonder if the auracites are crude re-creations of the very power source that was used for them. It'd explain why they wouldn't drain the Aetherial Sea, instead having some manner of efficient power source of their own.
2. I’ve found the
quest dialogue I had in mind for what Leveva saw when she peered into the star. It makes me think that, when AST draws aether from distant stars, what it is tapping into is their “mothercrystal”, and this is why Leveva encounters difficulty when trying to draw it from Hydaelyn (the star), as Hydaelyn (the primal) sits inside it, within the Aetherial Sea (see my earlier post for the things pointing to that under point 4.) By contrast, GEO/CNJ etc. don’t peer as deeply. I guess it makes sense that they would go for the brightest “bauble” of aether they can see when gazing into the heavens to draw aether from other worlds – the latter of which is something Koji commented on
here.
Koji: That’s supposed to be how it works. You have your mages that draw from the ambient energy from nature, the mages that draw from their own aether from within, the combination of two, and then someone asked about Astrologian, and where are they getting it. The Japanese is vague and says something like, “From… the heavens!” I wanted to be a little more specific to where you could work it out scientifically. I didn’t want it to be like, “It’s magic!” Everything else in the game has a definite reason. Look at it in terms of how even a faraway planet or sun will still have a minute amount of gravitational pull and affect on other planets. It’s kind of the same thing where aether, even though it’s far, still has traces that Astrologians learn to find, pull, and enhance so they can use the energy.
GE: The other planets are like, “What, you’re not pulling enough aether from your own planet? You gotta pull ours too?”
Koji: Maybe there’s this whole thing where all the planets are like, “Goddamn Hydaelyn, your guys keep stealing aether from us!”
3. I’ve had some further thoughts on our friend, “Asahi”. I think Unukalhai is a good candidate for him.
Elidibus is a very deliberate actor, so I think rendering him to the Scions was done for a reason – perhaps the immediate goal of keeping Regula distracted whilst he began working on Varis, but later this entailed keeping tabs on them.
As we know, Unukalhai was a potential WoL, who nonetheless was too weak to fulfil his destiny – something he regrets. He has the Echo. We don’t know, as far as I am aware, if he died (physically) to accompany Elidibus to the Source, but it’s possible that he did and was also taught how to hop bodies. Notably, it gives him a connection to the Ascians, which evidently this “Asahi” has, and fits with this character’s sundered nature – furthermore, although very speculative, if he is the 13th shard of the main character, it may explain Zenos’s apparent interest in him when he scried his soul. The foregoing helps him slot into a number of different roles.
1) Sleeper agent for Elidibus – he’s quietly gathering information on his behalf. Some of the wording he uses does suggest he believes in Elidibus’s commitment to equilibrium and salvation of the star (the Source), and perhaps he was waiting for the signal from Elidibus to handle the matter of Zenos, being passed all the relevant information he needs to better manipulate him, including his affiliation to Asahi.
2) As above, but rather than being truthful in his commitment to Elidibus, Hydaelyn (Venat) has spoken to him (he has the Echo, so he can receive her calling.) Perhaps he sees this as his opportunity to “redeem” himself, and so is acting as her minion. Possible reasons for this below.
3) As 2), but he isn’t acting specifically on Venat’s behalf, but his own, or some other entity’s.
On 2), something that struck me is in the scene where the Overlords
congregate, they mention forging a “final key” by nurturing the gifted. Whilst the direct reference at the time was to all the MC’s Primal-slaying activity, this also sounds awfully similar to the Ascians’ plan on the First and also what Elidibus is doing now. Although we don’t have the exact timings, presumably at this point Loghrif and Mitron were still in action and so this was before they were defeated by the WoLs of the First - whether that was permanent or not.
Come 3.2, Hydaelyn communes with the WoL through Minfilia, but suddenly she goes quiet – we don’t know exactly what happened, but later on, in 3.4, ceding a crystal brings her to manifest again and send Voice of the Mother to deal with the matter. I wonder if this event (the silencing of the crystal) coincides with Ardbert getting his crystal and thus the inception of the Flood on the First. If so, the effect of nurturing so many with the Blessing could have both been to weaken her (as Elidibus notes that the main character prospers at a great cost to her), and that may be his plan again, only on a wider scale.
Sensing this, the reason for her involvement may be to forestall this eventuality and use Zenos to this end.
I still think 1) is a stronger possibility, as I don’t think Elidibus would want to leave Zenos as a loose end, but at least the above presents a reasonable hypothesis as to why Venat may be reprising another part of her XII namesake, where she influences Zenos (Legatus of the 12th Legion); in spite of his superficial similarities to Sephiroth, there are some with Vayne too, especially with the patricide and collusion with some puppeteering entity. I believe her overriding imperative is to see the “darkness”, Zodiark, banished for good, at any cost.
4. Also, a friend of mine pointed out the similarities between
this form of Zodiark, and the middle two wings, with Elidibus’s symbol (the esper's form being embedded in the XII sigils.) Interestingly, Zodiark in XII is described thus:
“Strongest of the scions created by the gods, they feared his growth, and so kept him a child. So indomitable is his strength that all things are by him twisted and pressed into oblivion. He alone fashions the laws governing all things, and administers punishment in place of the gods.”
We see the aspect of him re-writing the aetherophysical laws of the world, to get it back up and running, and we also see fear of his power motivating Venat’s faction to try limit it. Although the Convocation bears the stronger similarities with the Occuria, in this respect, it seems Venat’s faction took on the stance of limiting his reach out of fear of what it might result in.
5. Lastly, it seems from the trailers at least, that they're holding to their promise of fleshing out Elidibus and his motives more. Here's some interesting segments from some interviews (translated
here) they did in the lead up to 5.2:
Famitsu: The patch artwork has a man in a white robe and a man who looks like a warrior. Are they the key characters of the story?
Yoshida: Just like the patch artwork suggests, they express light, darkness and the arbitrator. Maybe the crystal in the background will be important later.
[...]
Famitsu: How much will we find out about the warrior-like man and the man in the white robe?
Yoshida: Not all, but you should expect to step into a lot of their lore. Elidibus is the last one of the remaining "original ascians". Thanks to ShB, Emet-selch took away the spot light, but, Elidibus will prepare himself for the worst and make a fuss. He's also voice again after so many years. What are his intentions and ambitions? How did he feel about the other members of the convocation of the fourteen, who were the representatives of mankind. You'll see all these sides of him.
Famitsu: I'd like to see his skills as the arbitrator/emissary.
Yoshida: Yes. By the way, if you finish the quest revolving around the "shadow lord", which you get to unlock after clearing all the other role quests, you'll find more enjoyment out of the 5.2 MSQ.
[...]
Dengeki: Is that so. How was the order placed for patch 5.2's artwork? Elidibus in the middle draws my attention.
Yoshida: To be honest,it's particularly hard to discuss that question right now, because we asked for this artwork with the plot of 5.3 in mind (bitter smile).
If you experience all the way up to the end of patch 5.3's story and look back at this artwork, you would probably think "Oh, i see now" and be satisfied.(edited)
If i explain what's going on right now, Elidibus calls himself the arbitrator right? If you look at the artwork, he is standing between the warrior of light and the warrior of darkness, with his Ascian emblem showing in front of his mask. Which allows you to assume he is trying, at least now, to play his role as the arbitrator. Why is it written on top of the crystal is a question that won't be truly answered until you reach patch 5.3 and i would be happy if players imagined the meaning after 5.2.
There was also
these for 5.3, which unfortunately were not translated (although Chrome can translate them, albeit shoddily), but the gist of them appears to be that they will focus more on the summoners of the two Primals and their motives, than the two primals themselves, because essentially they derive from the goals of their summoners.
I hope they do Elidibus justice, and go for a nuanced portrayal of him, as he is by far one of the most intriguing characters in the story, in my view. I am keen to see whether they will follow up on some specific dialogue he had in the Japanese version (worded differently in the NA), such as referring to the Ascians as playing Hydaelyn's game in inciting the calamities (with the souls becoming less "human", rather than weaker, in the process), or the part where, during his introduction, he states he would like to speak alone one day (something that pops up in the trailer.)
He appears shortly after you see the vision of the dark crystal - mayhap that was his first attempt to reach out at the main character.
Originally Posted by Lauront
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