Tales From the Shadows Updated (SPOILERS ABOUND)

[Alleluia]

Also there is the "side stories" button at the bottom of the Tales from the Shadows page.

[Rannie]

Also there is the "side stories" button at the bottom of the Tales from the Shadows page.

Thats how I got that link lol

[MrThinker]

Newest Tale is now available:https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes.../#sidestory_07

Oooh boy, this one is juicy. So the headcanon of Elidibus admiring Azem before the Final Days was true to an extent.... and he was a literal child who sacrificed himself to become Zodiark. It says that the remaining Convocation members hesitated to choose him, but they did in the end. Azem would want no part in sacrificing a literal child to become a god. Also the 'new life' appears to be specifically referring to "new souls" rather than new types of life, which doesn't clarify much on that situation to be honest. And again we have the people divided on whether to sacrifice the new lives to bring back the recently deceased or to let the new lives flourish. Personally, I'm going to headcanon the 'new life' to be a bunch of baby-toddler Ancients running around, and the Hydaelyn side of the argument is literally the Concerned Parents Association.

Lahabrea had an affinity for creating fire-based creatures and Ifrita appears to be the basis of Ifrit if the name is any indication. Makes you wonder how many of the 'primals' are actually based on the Ancient's old creations. Nice to know that Hythlodaeus was down with Azem's "unorthodox" methods of solutions. In any case, I see more parallels with Sharlayan, with Azem being the Louisoix and the Convocation being the Forum of the situation.

On the flip side to all of this, it makes Elidibus' end all the more sad, because he couldn't remember the one person he admired the most. Oh yes, I think Moose might have pointed out, but more Elidibus-Unulkalhai parallels as well.

What do people make of Emet-Selch's dying soliloquy (if that is the right term)? To me it just reinforces the idea that he loves theatrics, but if anyone can provide a deeper meaning, I'd love to read it.

[Rannie]

Lol the first part had me laughing..

Yeah it was very interesting to see that Lahabrea was the one who created basically Ifrit or Ifrita at least. Also, seems like our little Azem was more as Mr Thinker said ... Unorthodox. But they did atleast have an appreciation for fine grapes or maybe it was the wine they liked .. gave me a giggle with that. Hytholodaeus has always seemed to be like one of those friends who liked to egg people on if not by trolling then by having them push themselves.... definitely liked this story

Also...

deciding to save it just because of the grapes being delicious lol silly Azem

[Anonymoose]

Ohoho, SE working double time to tidy up hanging strands of plot and history with this one.


Ere Our Curtain Falls

Confirmation that Elidibus was a youth. Surely this will not devour my Twitter timeline for days. Again. Though I do appreciate the complexity it adds to Unukalhai. Considering the facts on the ground, it's clear that Elidibus manipulated and selectively informed a child that looked up to him, but the idea that sentimentality played a role in saving him in the first place is nice. Probably a retcon if true, but nice. Just throwing it in the "something to think about" jar.

Lahabrea as the original inventor of the seed of faith that would become Ifrit, though, wow.
And considering the resemblance Quetzalcoatl bears to Garuda-Egi, we might have the seeds of faith for the primal pantheon before it was twisted.

"Azem could be censured again" got a laugh out of me. I see my Warrior of Light as a bit of a wandering, restless type - he just goes with his gut and lets the "do-gooder" and "troublemaker" labels fall where they may. So this resonates. Azem with a fondness for volcanoes and grapes though, huh? Yet more evidence that Limsa Lominsa remains the canon starter city. /trollface

"Fear...not... You will make...the right choice. And I will see it through." Not ominous at all coming from the Word of the Father...

I also appreciate the lampshade on the difference between Elidibus in Heavensward and Elidibus in Shadowbringers - the stoic vs the sentimental. And the contextual time window of Emet's nap leaves open his ability to plausibly attend the All Staff Meeting in 2.3, I think, lol.

[Mieck]

So much to unpack with this one. Probably my favourite story they've had in any of these Tales from the... series.

I especially liked the veiled references to Hythlodaeus - how they as Chief of the Bureau of the Architect had enabled Azem's plan on the sly.
But the best bit is how Emet-Selch can see the hints of Elidibus's flaw when he is summoned back. He doesn't look at his crystal. He doesn't need to. ...but really, he should.

[Enkidoh]

An interesting story, particularly the

insinuation that Ifrit had a genderswapped parallel in ancient times (created by Lahabrea too no less, confirming the specific identity of the 'Paragon' who first taught the amal'jaa how to summon Ifrit 12000-something years later in the Sixth Astral Era). And it also confirms that Amaurot's society was not representative of the Ancient Star in general - the island Azem was sent to being stated as agricultural in land use (particularly wine-growing), suggesting there were still societies pre-Terminus that were more 'primitive' (in a manner of speaking), thus also kind of contradicting something I recall being mentioned during ShB's story about Emet's cultural posturing of how 'perfect' the Ancients were, that their creation magic made anything and everything available to them, including food and drink so that there was no such thing as food shortages. But it's clear from this story food was still being produced naturally on farms, which kind of throws a spanner in that idea (although I guess creation magic could be used to produce hearty, resilent crops resistant to drought and pests).

And given the statement that Azem mentioned that island grew "grapes that were particularly sweet", there must have been some kind of trade going on between various places, including Amaurot. Either way, this was a very minor snippet into the Ancient world that I am increasingly intrigued by.

Also, irony of ironies, Azem asks to summon a version of Ifrit to quell a volcano. Azem. Think about it.

[ObsidianFire]

This one was so good. Really great at conveying how the Convocaiton would prefer to run things and how off the wall Azem was compared to them. Hythlodaeus is a great friend for letting Azem at the Concepts in the Bureau of the Architecture. I find it hilarious that Azem is doing favors for vintners (wine producers) again...

The ending poem is clearly inspired by the ending monologue of the Tempest, which is just awesome.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

[MrThinker]

This one was so good. Really great at conveying how the Convocaiton would prefer to run things and how off the wall Azem was compared to them. Hythlodaeus is a great friend for letting Azem at the Concepts in the Bureau of the Architecture.

The ending poem is clearly inspired by the ending monologue of the Tempest, which is just awesome.

Thanks for catching that, I only read the tempest once many years ago, so i completely missed the reference.

[Mieck]

...thus also kind of contradicting something I recall being mentioned during ShB's story about Emet's cultural posturing of how 'perfect' the Ancients were, that their creation magic made anything and everything available to them, including food and drink so that there was no such thing as food shortages. But it's clear from this story food was still being produced naturally on farms, which kind of throws a spanner in that idea (although I guess creation magic could be used to produce hearty, resilent crops resistant to drought and pests).

I feel it is a little bit like the Replicators in Star Trek - sure, they are wonderfully convenient, but the Picard family still made wine because it was good and the satisfaction of creation the hard way could not be merely circumvented by technology.