6.0 Story Speculations

[WhiteArchmage]

Something that occured to me and I DEARLY hope I'm wrong: considering we've still got 4 Ascians unaccounted for, and 6.0 is supposed to be the end of the Zodiark/Hydaelin arc... I'm somewhat afarid the remaining 4 (discounting Danny Boy, who seems closer to final boss material, so far) end up relegated to dungeon bosses. The Lightwardens were hyped as being these terrifying, insanely powerful, beasts; who held control of each area of Norvrandt (Lakeland, Il Mheg, Rak'Tika, Ahm Araeng, and Kholusia; five in total, like our Ascians); yet, excepting the Lightwardens of Il Mheg and Kholusia, they were glorified dungeon bosses.

As much as I'd like to get the Ascian plot wrapped up by 6.0, it'd feel kind of... rushed. Especially if Anima is confirmed as one of the Trials (although, Anima herself could be the "ultimate form" of one of the Ascians).

[Cilia]

In the showcase presentation Yoshi-P flat out stated Danny Boy would not be the final boss.

The lingering four Ascians who have yet to have an impact are issues that should be addressed, and I agree it would be super disappointing for them to just be dungeon endbosses. That said, the PC's power likely eclipses anything the remaining Ascians can throw at them; Loghrif and Mitron had to fuse into an Ascian Prime and then take it a step further into Eden's Promise to pose a threat, and still ended up getting chumped. Danny Boy so far has hidden behind his "Lunar Bahamut" attack dog. Plus, while Endwalker is said to be the end of the Hydaelyn / Zodiark saga, the Pandaemonium story will canonically take place after it - and Lahabrea is front and center there, so even if the MSQ finishes the Hydaelyn / Zodiark story that doesn't mean we're going to be quite finished with the Ascians (apparently).

Anima... yeah, my bet is that she's going to be a trial boss, but given how much story is behind her I'll be rather disappointed if she's just put in there for the sake of having a reference and a boss fight. Dunno what to expect, but I do hope there's more to her than most of the Lightwardens (who, bar Innocence, were there pretty much for the sake of having a boss fight).

[Hank_Hotspur]

I think Pandaemonium will be about Lahabrea's backstory and lingering plots, not him coming back to life to menace us again after 6.0 being the capstone to the Ascian story. Lahabrea is interesting because when we face him in ARR he's sort of a boilerplate maniacal and enigmatic dark sorcerer boss character and by the time he gets iced by King Thordan in HW its apparent the plot had moved past his kind of character, but with the backfill we had from Elidibus, Emet-Selch, and the knowledge of Amaurot and the Convocation, Lahabrea was given much more pathos post-demise than his earlier appearance would lead us to believe.

Pandaemonium might just be their attempt to reconcile the "maniacal evil sorcerer" with the more nuanced characterization we've had in the recent expansions to give a clearer idea how this man was held in such high esteem by these figures.

[RyuDragnier]

Pandaemonium might just be their attempt to reconcile the "maniacal evil sorcerer" with the more nuanced characterization we've had in the recent expansions to give a clearer idea how this man was held in such high esteem by these figures.

Possibly with some hints on how Azem saw him in the past, and how he went so insane outside of the body hopping. It could be that he discovered something that could have thrown him off the deep end, like finding out that their reviving the dead could not work, and that their summoning Zodiark may in fact have doomed the world worse than the Terminus. Such a thing WOULD have led to him going insane and denying reality, especially considering summoning Zodiark was his idea to begin with.

[symbiote129]

From what we got from the official sources Azem is said to have not sided with either of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark faction. Azem with his maverick-style of solving things he might have went straight to investigate the source of all the craziness that happened in his time: The sound that gave rise to Amaurotians' out-of-control nightmarish imaginations called Teminus come to life. Since this is technically a third option there might have a been third secret faction who was responsible for the sound and even Fandaniel might be involved with this.

In short: A secret conspiracy behind a secret conspiracy has been brewed behind the Unsundered for a long time. The expansion will finally reveal who was responsible for all that chaos from millenia ago.

[poptarts12]

From what we got from the official sources Azem is said to have not sided with either of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark faction. Azem with his maverick-style of solving things he might have went straight to investigate the source of all the craziness that happened in his time: The sound that gave rise to Amaurotians' out-of-control nightmarish imaginations called Teminus come to life. Since this is technically a third option there might have a been third secret faction who was responsible for the sound and even Fandaniel might be involved with this.

In short: A secret conspiracy behind a secret conspiracy has been brewed behind the Unsundered for a long time. The expansion will finally reveal who was responsible for all that chaos from millenia ago.

I have this same exact theory. A cult (kind of like the lambs of Dalamud during 1.0) in Amaurot, likely with some members of the convocation like Fandaniel, conspired to bring about the final days. Considering the fact that Amaurot was the last city to be affected by the doom makes me suspect that the cult were testing out their doomsday scheme on other cities and villages throughout the planet, sort of like how Ascians have been bringing about the rejoining slowly on other shards. When they finally perfected whatever it is they were doing, they finally unleashed it on Amaurot. Likewise, if a cult is really behind the final days and if they were operating out of Amaurot it would have been difficult to avoid drawing the eyes of the convocation or other Ancients, which makes me suspect that at least one member of the convocation was in on it, if not the mastermind behind it.

All in all, I think Ehmet's characterization of Amuarot as a utopia was just nostalgia, the reality likely was that there were at least some Ancients that wanted to watch the world burn, and Danny-boy being one of them.

[Rosenstrauch]

I'm disinclined to believe Fandaniel was some secret death cultist all along, for one particular reason. Specifically, the rest of the Convocation had access to his memory stone for 12,000 years. Given the abilities Mitron had on display during Eden's Promise, I can't imagine it would be difficult for the likes of Emet-Selch to sort through Fandaniel's memories in a similar fashion. He wouldn't even have to suspect Fandaniel of being a traitor to do so—simply peering through them to make sure they're actually his memories would be a decent enough reason. It'd be nearly impossible for Fandaniel to actually hide his affiliations if that were the case, and that in turn would leave me wondering why they bothered to ascend him to begin with.

I mean, there's hubris and then there's "we knowingly raised up a man who had been plotting the downfall of our entire world because we thought a stern lecture or two would keep him from doing it again".

[Erendis]

Given the abilities Mitron had on display during Eden's Promise, I can't imagine it would be difficult for the likes of Emet-Selch to sort through Fandaniel's memories in a similar fashion. He wouldn't even have to suspect Fandaniel of being a traitor to do so—simply peering through them to make sure they're actually his memories would be a decent enough reason.

Memory stones do not contain memories of ascians they represent. They were made after sundering by unsundered from memories of unsundered.

[Rosenstrauch]

Memory stones do not contain memories of ascians they represent. They were made after sundering by unsundered from memories of unsundered.

"Fandaniel wants to bring about the Final Days because he was a secret death cultist all along" would make even less sense if that's the case.

[Erendis]

I guess it depends if you believe what Hythlodaeus said: