Quote Originally Posted by Lauront View Post
I'd say Zenos would count as surprising at this juncture, but yes my main guess would be the Exarch. Possibly one of the newly minted WoLs. He's holding what looks like a WoL crystal - I wonder if we're coming full circle on this from the New Year's greetings:
I also noticed that he appears to be holding a Crystal of Light, though I wonder if might happen not as part of Elidibus's scheme but as a contrast in the two possible meanings of the New Year's poem: the reckless (acting without considering the consequence) and the noble (doing the right thing regardless of personal cost). We discussed this as the time the poem came out, but we have another possible application of it in light of 5.2 - the "new Warriors of Light" fitting that reckless interpretation by running off to play the hero without considering the impact of abandoning their original mundane-but-important positions. Meanwhile the Exarch is willing (perhaps too willing) to sacrifice himself if it will get the Scions home... which is more noble, if also reckless for the potential impact on the Crystarium too.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I'm nearing the end of Shadowbringers main game on my alt, and something Ardbert says in our conversation at the lookout during 'In His Garden' struck me as relevant to the question of what Elidibus is trying to achieve with his "creating heroes" scheme:

ARDBERT
But seeing that giant Talos stir to life cured me of any doubts I still had.
Always. Always we took the burden of fighting upon ourselves. That's what heroes do, isn't it?
So we never had the chance to see anything like that - our people, coming together as one.
Proclaiming individuals to be Warriors of Light, calling them to be heroes, encouraging them to stand apart from the rest and take all the responsibility of defending the world alone instead of coming together and supporting each other to achieve something greater... that seems to be what Elidibus is after.