New Year's Foreshadow 2021

[ItMe]

"We've certainly come closer to the finale of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story arc with Shadowbringers, with the key themes of that being Ascians, Hydaelyn, and Zodiark," Yoshida elaborates. We won't have anything more with Ascians, Hydaelyn, or Zodiark after 6.x.

That quote actually makes me a little nervous.
It's so vague that, who knows, maybe the storyline will wrap up in 7.x?
They didn't say it's ending next expac, they said they're coming closer to ending it.
And either way, just because the storyline is over doesn't mean all of those elements or characters are necessarily going to be removed from the world setting. We don't know HOW they'll end it yet, and I can picture dozens of ways where the story can resolve without Hydaelyn leaving the picture, or with there still being a few ascians around afterwards grappling for purpose in a world beyond Zodiark.

[RicaRuin]

That quote actually makes me a little nervous.
It's so vague that, who knows, maybe the storyline will wrap up in 7.x?
They didn't say it's ending next expac, they said they're coming closer to ending it.
And either way, just because the storyline is over doesn't mean all of those elements or characters are necessarily going to be removed from the world setting. We don't know HOW they'll end it yet, and I can picture dozens of ways where the story can resolve without Hydaelyn leaving the picture, or with there still being a few ascians around afterwards grappling for purpose in a world beyond Zodiark.

They said they would end the whole Hydaelyn/Zodiark Arc in 6.x, so Hydaelyn will most likely be gone as well. But in an interview pre Shadowbringers, Yoshi-P said he had ideas for about 4 more years beyond that.

[Lauront]

My understanding is that the Sound is coming back right now.

In 4.5, you had Matoya's magics shorting out. A few people I've talked to have attributed that to the Light aether from the First, but light aspected aether shorting out magic is not an effect demonstrated in the story. What is? The Sound. at the end of 5.0 we learned that the Sound warped the magics the Ancients used.

Then, in 5.2, Urianger heard a sound which ruined his water walking spell. In 5.3, Alisae and Y'shtola hear the Sound as well. These incidents are distinct from Thancred becoming tired due to his soul being divorced from his body.

In 5.3, the WoL picks up the soul stones of the Ascians, which records the moment of them summoning Zodiark. The dialogue of one of the crystals seems to suggest that one of convocation members apparently got screwed up during the summoning, probably by the Sound. Said convocation member is almost certainly Fandaniel, who seems to be very different from all of the others. Zenos wants to recreate the Final Days, and he's now working with Fandaniel. It seems pretty obvious that 6.0 is going to culminate in us confronting the Source of the Sound.

One of the reported trademark names for the 6.0 FFXIV expansion is "Forspoken", which means to curse or enchant or bewitch something or someone. That'd line up with 6.0 being about the Sound and its effect on the planet. It's even addressed as a sickness by Lahabrea in 2.0 (though obviously I'm skeptical of whether or not the Sound was conceived of at the time 2.0 was written, but Lahabrea's line will probably be retconned into that, just as how the Starshowers were neatly retconned in 5.2).

There is little reason to visit Sharlayan unless we need the best and brightest magicians and their aetheric knowledge to save the world from a metaphysical threat. That threat is the Sound. There are also parallels between the Sharlayans and the Ascians; they are both great magicians from a solitary city-state. The Amaurotines heard of what the Sound was doing to other nations, but refused to get involved until it was affecting them, and by then it was too late, and their solution was halfbaked. I'm guessing the Sharlayans will succeed where the Amaurotines failed by heeding the call of the WoL and the Eorzean Alliance and getting a headstart on working on the problem, and they will be able to use the resources of the Alliance to find and implement their fix.

Light doesn't short out magic, but it is "umbral" by nature, so if more of it was flooding into the Source, then I would think it's logical that it could make its aether less "active" and appear thinner.

As for the Convocation member who was "screwed" up (Altima according to this), I don't think that was the sound. That looks like incorporation into the energy network which tempering creates - the French version of Emet's dialogue (the section on the Ocular after the sin eater invasion) is a little clearer on what tempering meant for them, and the French description of the star fits in with what we learnt of tempering in 5.3 when combined with Emet's comments. It's just that the ancients' souls are so formidable that the effects of it are not as pronounced with them, as they are with regular mortals, so they can evidently maintain quite a bit of autonomy in spite of all of this.

Fandaniel has been identified as corresponding to the first stone, which is the most distant memory of the lot.

Also, although I agree that there's a lot of parallels between Amaurot and Sharlayan, I disagree on the point that Amaurot was not willing to get involved. There were debates in the city as to whether it should, but bear in mind the Convocation was actively involved in safeguarding the star and was actively monitoring the situation abroad to study a way to deal with it, rather than rushing in. It was a particularly thorny problem, because of the way it wrested control over creation magicks, so they had to take a cautious approach. What changed matters was the exponential worsening of the crisis. We don't know that their solution was half-baked as yet, because we don't know the root cause of the issue. It stopped the destruction in its wake and primals, being aetheric constructs, don't seem to have been susceptible to the sound in the same way. All we have to say that it was half-baked, were the comments from Venat's group - but they then go on to summon another Primal. Even Azem's departure is murkier now, because we know Elidibus was chosen ultimately to become Zodiark, and this was upsetting to some members of the Convocation, including no doubt Azem, with whom he was close. Then you have the comments by Elidibus, trying to remember to whom he swore his oath to steer the star, adding further ambiguity.

My belief is that if someone wanted to destroy the world, by whatever means (let's say conspiring with some monstrosity capable of moving inside the "Underworld") and they then saw Zodiark halt this, the next step would be to remove him as an obstacle, wouldn't it? Feeding the fears of an already sceptical group, knowing the chaos that the two clashing would cause. Another potentially calamitous incident.

Sharlayan, being the home of astromancy, no doubt has already turned its eyes to study the heavens, and since that's where the moon is, it would probably fall within the scope of such studies, as would any aetheric "tissue" connecting the worlds.

I do agree that this may be how they ultimately put some flesh and bones on Lahabrea's statement in 2.0. It's been brushed off as him being "crazy" or "lying", but they've said he wasn't so much crazy as he was a workaholic (consistent with Emet's remarks on him in the Elidibus short story, especially in the French version), and I don't really buy that as a reason to dismiss the dialogue, in all honesty. I'm sure they're going to incorporate it somehow.

Although you could interpret the sound the Scions hear as being due to soul separation fatigue, I'll admit I hadn't thought of it that way, as relating to the sound.

And with all that said, the sound is obviously a huge mystery, being the precipitating event that led to the loss of control over the creation magicks, and thus the Final Days on a grander scale. I believe there's an unresolved plot thread from when Gaius was stopped in his tracks in his march on Lake Silvertear, which they may tie to this in the event that they don't just say "oh, that's Hydaelyn he sensed."

GE: Speaking of stuff we talked about before that may have fallen through the cracks… Do you have any updates on the so-called mysterious primal? There was the idea that right after Gaius took Ala Mhigo, he was going to keep going, but a primal halted his advance. It could have happened in ’57; could have happened in ’62.

Koji: That was related to the whole, “What lies deep beneath Silvertear!?” Yes, something stopped his advance. And then there was the trailer beam, tons of primals shooting out. And then there was the seal. What is it sealing? What was going on in there? A lot of this is where the 1.0 story was supposed to go, and there’s a lore reason for that.

When the Calamity happened, it caused a lot of changes to Hydaelyn. Whether that was enough to seal off something that was already sealed, but the seal was getting weak, or… That I don’t know. There could be something like that. The hint was that Gaius was stopped for a reason, and that it was a powerful force. There’s a presence. It wasn’t just Midgardsormr there, it was more of a force, and I can’t say anything more, for now.

[Sekundessounet]

What are the odds the "The Resolute Man" is Louisoix?

I was more thinking about the twin's father. Since it talks about children, and seems to point to Sharlayan. Louisoix they're usually more open about it, since he was the author of previous NY messages.

[Sekundessounet]

That quote actually makes me a little nervous.
It's so vague that, who knows, maybe the storyline will wrap up in 7.x?
They didn't say it's ending next expac, they said they're coming closer to ending it.
And either way, just because the storyline is over doesn't mean all of those elements or characters are necessarily going to be removed from the world setting. We don't know HOW they'll end it yet, and I can picture dozens of ways where the story can resolve without Hydaelyn leaving the picture, or with there still being a few ascians around afterwards grappling for purpose in a world beyond Zodiark.

When Stormblood came out, they said we were 60% through the arc. When Shadowbringers came out, they said we were at 80% (which checks out since it means ARR is 20% and HW is 40%). So it stands to reason that 6.0 will close the arc. Or 6.3 at least.

[Anonymoose]

Guesses as to Meaning
...Moon's haunted? Idk, wait until I get more languages.

EDIT:
This time around, the WHAT feels very clear. It's the WHO we need to figure out. In terms of what we already know, Sharlayan is a good fit. They dig in pursuit of knowledge (Antitower). They look to the sky to determine the future (Astrology). They stay out of everyone's business and give no explanation for it. So perhaps it's Sharlayan and the reasons behind their choices. I also feel like the window for interest in Sharlayan peaked already, so it'd take some work to bring our focus and excitement back to it.

In a more fantastic vein, this could be the year all of our Allagan jokes come true. They tore up the world and built spaceships and pretty much everything they've done has cheesed us off. An earthquake sure as hells doesn't kill off the entirety of a civilization with spaceships, especially considering the interstellar downconverter. The question is why any of that exists when it would never have benefitted Emet-Selch to go off-world. But are The People ready yet to give Allag more screen time? Has their break been long enough?

If we don't go somewhere new, but continue with the story as we see it, the Ancients fit. Their downfall came from beneath the earth, their salvation ended up creating and/or trapped as the moon. We're certainly not happy about most of where that went. And we have yet to meet Venat or her twelve companions.

Then again, if they worked silently, they could always just be as of yet unknown to us.

Source

[Kesey]

This poem mentions the underground. Thavnair has a volcano on its island, which could be the way into the underground, like they did in Final Fantasy IV.

[Cilia]

Posted it in the showcase thread, but idea:

Pandemonium is appearing in XIV as the 8-man raids set after Endwalker's MSQ. In II, after dying Emperor Mateus Palamecia returns from Hell as the Dark Emperor, dragging Pandemonium with him... from under the ground.

While Endwalker is said to conclude the Zodiark / Hydaelyn saga, the idea there could be some lingering fallout from Danny Boy's plan isn't off the table... and given Lahabrea, one of Zodiark's most fervent (not) supporters is making a comeback there, I can't help but wonder if there's a connection there.