Quote Originally Posted by filkry View Post
Sorry if this has already been discussed, but - Elidibus isn't dead, right? Usually when we finish off an Ascian, we first trap them in auracite, then destroy the auracite with a huge burst of aether. In Elidibus case, it seems his soul is trapped in the Crystal Tower on the First, but he was never destroyed.

I keep seeing people say that Elidibus has been destroyed, so I wonder if I'm missing something.
This is a pretty important thing to keep in mind, isn't it? There's also the matter of why that is: Auracite alone isn't enough to permanently deal with an Ascian even in the context of trapping them. And then there's the matter of Elidibus being a primal... to quote Unukalhai from the quest The Fate of Stars:

Unukalhai
...What I am about to divulge concerns the fate of another star entirely. On this other world, a magick was devised that allowed the realm's champions to use a stone known as “auracite” to contain the power of primals.

So armed, these heroic souls conquered god after god, oblivious to their weapon's fatal imperfection: its propensity to bleed primal energies. And with each victory, the heroes changed, transforming at last into fiends of endless appetite. Insatiable in their hunger for aether, they ultimately went to war over the star's ever-dwindling life force...

...And fought until there was nothing left. Thus, as Urianger so astutely observed, when I am faced with those who rush to embrace power unchecked, I lose all semblance of rationality.

Know that my master, too, cares deeply about the fate of this star. I am his servant─his instrument─sent here to ensure that the same tragedy does not consume another world.
There, he's describing what happened to the Thirteenth that led to its transformation into the World of Darkness. In hindsight, "killing" Elidibus by trapping him inside Syrcus Tower seems a little... odd, yeah. I'm inclined to believe it really did kill him, if only because of the emotional weight of his last moments, but for all we know he really could still be around. Not quite living or dead, but in a state of suspended animation, bleeding his energies out into Norvrandt. And not only that, but given the unique attributes Elidibus has as a primal—both in his usual form and as the "Warrior of Light"—I can't help but wonder what that'd do to Norvrandt.

On the other hand, Syrcus Tower isn't exactly auracite, as far as I know. The Exarch only compares it to the aforementioned material. Maybe Syrcus Tower really is the "no strings attached"* solution it was presented as.

*The Exarch dying notwithstanding, and even then...