Thread: Revelations from Patch 5.3

Originally Posted by KageTokage

There was a civil war going on with people fighting for the throne and we already know there were factions who were opposed to him taking it.

Varis also had to put down his competition before he was able to become the undisputed ruler in the previous succession war.

While it's true that he ultimately only cares about his hunt, he's not above using others as tools to further that purpose. I couldn't see any reason why he'd even bother returning to the palace unless Fandaniel suggested that ascending the throne would offer the means to set the perfect stage for his rematch with us.

Ture on that but not even the Garlear are that dumb to not quesiton such i assume and would split them even more, if they not support they simply abandon all instead i assume, it will still make the round of how the throne room looks right now, spy exists still i guess, Estinien and Gaius als o were able to get in without trouble.

Fandaniel i doubt Zenos even listens to him at all, if any Fandaniel takes control in some way, using another body maybe but Zenos itself, it not seems at all he has any allys at all or ever had, always a lonewolf. Maybe he has siblings we not know of tho that can take the throne aswell, hidden heritage and all.

Assuming he's actually dead and not just in hiding after Zenos tried to kill him, I don't think I'd mind if they decided Varis has the Echo as a means of bringing him back. Though I can't help but imagine they'd stick him in one of those Solus clones he apparently had stashed away.

It would be really unsettling to have Varis in Emet's body... and more than a touch ironic, given their exchange in Tales from the Shadows.

I'd rather him turn up as himself, whether cloned or just not quite dead yet when Gaius and Estinien made their exit.

(Confirming character deaths is so much harder when the game actively shows characters on-screen without the massive injuries that they are intended to have - Zenos after his death for instance - and not even keeping to artistic "not showing this so you can imagine the gore off-screen" shots.)

Theoretically, the Garleans could just let Zenos have the palace. He's not giving any orders, so they could ignore him. I mean, if he gets it in his head that he wants to stab the local townsfolk, they also couldn't *stop* him. But still.

The Garlemald cloning facility definitely feels like it's going to come up in a major way somewhere down the road, Varis or not. Otherwise saying that Emet had a whole bunch of spare bodies instead of just the one spare wouldn't have really had a point, I feel.

Originally Posted by Cilia

I might be a little slow on the uptake, but...

While it was previously believed Emet-Selch's "Solus" persona was based on Hythlodaeus, with the confirmation of Azem / the PC as his (reincarnated) dear friend it's more likely based on them.

Kind of puts interactions with him in a new light.

Since when was it "believed" (implying broad acceptance of the fact) that the Solus persona was based on anyone? I don't recall it ever being raised and I don't see a need to attribute it to a particular inspiration.

We've seen little to nothing of him in the guise of Solus and the closest would be his early interactions with Varis, which gave me the impression he was a thoroughly unpleasant person. I'm not sure how you could draw a comparison to either of his friends from that.

Originally Posted by Rokke

...

"Purposely playing a part" doesn't mean that part was inspired by anyone specific, and again I don't see how you'd want to compare our short glimpse of Solus to either of his good friends. He's awful to Varis.

He's theatrical but not in the way a real person would be theatrical. He's approaching it like an actor's role on the stage.

Originally Posted by Iscah

"Purposely playing a part" doesn't mean that part was inspired by anyone specific, and again I don't see how you'd want to compare our short glimpse of Solus to either of his good friends. He's awful to Varis.

He's theatrical but not in the way a real person would be theatrical. He's approaching it like an actor's role on the stage.

Actually Emet was inspired by someone specific. That would be Prospero, the wizard that controls a mysterious and unknown world in Shakespeare's The Tempest. This is why the under water area that has the Amarout ruins is called the Tempest. This allusion is pretty heavy handed when you notice that all the locations in The Tempest (the area) also reference The Tempest (the play).

To further drive home the point, the theatrics and the actor's role on stage where a major conceit in Shakespeare's work. Prospero's famous speech from The Tempest is considered Shakespeare's real life retirement speech (because The Tempest was the last play Shakespeare wrote by himself). So in this way, we can see Emet as a person playing their role in events, who really just wants to be remembered for who he was and what he has done.

Moreover, Emet's treatment of Varis and his disdain for current fractured soul life is mirrored in the interaction and interpretation of Caliban and Ariel. The savagery of Caliban has become a horrible metaphor for European enslavement of native peoples; just like Emet uses all the non-ancients like pawns. Ariel, without a life changing event (and in Emet's case it was his defeat by the player character) is unable to be set free (like Emet's attachment to the past).

This is why everyone loves Emet--whether you realize it or not, he is the Shakespearean villain of depth and a masterpiece of character development and plot advancement. His character like all things of Final Fantasy, are a fantastical retelling of real world culture, history, and literature. What you said above is true, but honestly, you didn't do him enough justice.