6.0 Story Speculations

[symbiote129]

As we get the 5.5 story patch in May, what are your theories of what could happen/we could see in 6.0 from what we saw in the previous entries (2.0-5.45) to what we could see in the Endwalker teaser trailer?

Here is my very short list of what we could potentially see based on previous entries/Endwalker teaser:

• Since Fandaniel mentions of "repeating" the "Final Days", as shown how he practiced it in the teaser trailer with his towers, perhaps we'll see characters we know already about or new characters having the Echo, meaning many "warriors of light"?
  (Elidibus showing an illusion of meteors on the First had the effects of giving some the "gift" of hearing Hydaelyn or experiecing some form of grief as they watched the meteors falling because of their past life)
• We see from the start of the teaser trailer the WoL wearing a robe and is walking on wasteland that is most likely the moon surface. Funny enough his silhouette reminds alot of people of Ascians or more specifically Elidibus who had a talk with Ardbert on the moon. Is this some sort of symbolism of the WoL carrying on Elidibus' and Emet-Selch's will or is it a hint that Azem will have a big role in this expansion, maybe explore what role he/she really played in finals days, in which he/she sided on neither the Zodiark or Hydaelyn faction?

[JeanneOrnitier]

Given the architecture there's obviously some connection between Fandaniel's towers and Mhach, so I bet we'll use the Void Ark as our way to reach the moon. A reference to the Lunar Whale without explicitly using the Lunar Whale.

[Tracewood]

Given the architecture there's obviously some connection between Fandaniel's towers and Mhach, so I bet we'll use the Void Ark as our way to reach the moon. A reference to the Lunar Whale without explicitly using the Lunar Whale.

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. So they'll probably announce the HW 24 mans will be mandatory in a later patch that all but confirms it.

I hope the moon has some psychedelic imagery to go with it. No way they'll make it look like The Burn, but at night and low gravity. Destiny's moon while retains that realistic look, there are catacombs of creepy alien insectoid structures on the surface, but inside is even more gnarly with webbing and obelisks.

Also, I wonder if Lahabrea is truly "not dead" then? More of a whos-side-is-he-really-on character that will end up as the raid story, but in the MSQ he may be a wild card but eventually turns the tide of war in our favor realizing the error of his ways?

[Anonymoose]

You know, I gave up trying to predict stuff around 3.5 because it felt like SE had revealed most of the backed-up pre-written lore, was committing to a set of plot hooks that actually snagged something, and was writing whatever they needed to to tie them together and move forward towards a conclusion that made sense and was satisfying. That's not always conducive to foresight based on knowns and patterns, and it started to feel a little pointless to try to do anything but understand what just happened in its proper context.

But then a lot of the the stuff I was predicting before Shinryu popped out of the Wonder Ball started coming true in 5.1 to 5.3 so ... maybe it is time to be wrong for fun and profit, again, lol.

• Zenos was referred to by Fandaniel as "having it all" in italics in English and being "the possessor" in Japanese in quotes. Fandaniel has figured out what makes him unique; what Emet-Selch "found a way" to do.
• Fandaniel wanting to be Zenos's BFF the instant he decided to gun for Zodiark was not a coincidence.
• Fandaniel's ultimate goal is not simply "kill everyone."
• Fandaniel has an apocalyptic cult that is bigger than it seems. (The Telophoroi)
• Koji Fox will tie the Lambs of Dalamud to this, somehow.
• Hummingways on the Moon.
• Venat and the Twelve will play big roles. (Triple points of Gerun is addressed.)
• I used to believe we'd use Radz-at-Han as a base to march on Garlemald from the south. It gives us an opportunity to see more new stuff along the way rather than do the obvious and pincer the capitol from the bottle-necked land bridge from Aldenard and mountain pass from Othard. If the Garleans had the war without us...is that still going to be our path, but without a war? Are we mopping up? Helping survivors consolidate and turn?
  
  EDIT (04-17-2021) Rambling theory about Venat and the Twelve

[MoofiaBossVal]

During the livestream reveal, they said that old characters would be returning. So maybe Gosetsu might appear?

[Theodric]

My speculation:

- The Thavnairian and Garlean Consulates within Kugane will finally be accessible and put to use.
- We'll be using Radz-at-Han as a way to gain access to Ilsabard. Though we'll have to deal with some local problems first once we get to the city itself.
- There will be more than one new zone located within Ilsabard.
- 'Garlemald Reconstruction' will play a part throughout the expansion. We won't necessarily fix the capital itself, though. Instead we'll help the displaced Garleans create a new home for themselves somewhere warmer and more hospitable.
- Garlean magitek will be key in turning the tide of battle when confronting Zenos and Fandaniel.
- Things will end badly for both Hydaelyn and Zodiark. They will both be revealed as victims of a much larger threat in the form of whatever being caused the destruction of the original Star.
- The Warrior of Darkness will become the Warrior of Balance.
- The MSQ's will be longer than usual for a base expansion.
- We'll be exploring the interior of the Moon rather than just the surface.

[JeanneOrnitier]

Definitely agree we'll be going underground on the moon. Not only because that was in FF4, but also because that's an easy way to make the moon interesting to look at and move around in instead of being a blank gray emptiness.

Down on the planet, given the Scions just got a brand new airship I wouldn't be surprised if the zones we go to are actually rather far apart and we travel by that.

[GoldStarz]

I don't think we're really going into Ilsabard that much. At most I think we might get like one non-Garlemald area that's adjacent to either Garlemald or Eorzea. No reason to keep the fog in the trailer if we're actually going to enter the area.

I think our areas will be

Thavnair
Sharlayan
Garlemald
Moon
O'Ghomoro (that seems to be where we're fighting in the trailer, but it is still close to the border, so it might just be Outer La Noscea)

And one other area would make 6. Would be cool if they added more than 6 this time so that we have more to work off of starting with 6.1, but I'm not holding my breath for it.

[Cilia]

Well I've gotten to the Delubrum Reginae stage of the relic quest (7/15) but I can only take it in pretty small doses (merry-go-wheel of disappointment is fun), so...

Zenos' monstrous strength will be revealed to be a consequence of Emet-Selch's experimentation affording him a fully merged soul. He just needed the Resonance procedure to "wake it up," so to speak.

Other than that, I will address only the questions brought up in the Announcement Showcase:

1. What brought about the Final Days?
-The star had a will before the Ancients created Zodiark to act in their interests, a genuine deity that presided over the planet. However, in their hubris they believed themselves to be the absolute masters of the star and this entity punished them with the Final Days.

2. What became of Hydaelyn and Zodiark?
-Ahh... I was led to believe Hydaelyn was only present in the aetherial sea, while Zodiark's fragmented being was split apart and bound in the various shards. This is why the Rejoinings are necessary, yes? Perhaps that's not the case. Interesting.

3. What will be the Garlean Empire's fate?
-Some provinces will regain their independence (suggested Bozja and Werlyt), while those that don't will be turned into fiefdoms ruled by warlord ex-legatuses. Garlemald itself will return to its republican roots, though it will need to construct a new capital.

4. What is Zenos and Fandaniel's aim?
-Zenos is just raising hell because he knows it's the easiest and quickest way to get the PC's attention for the rematch he's made into his raison d'etre. Fandaniel's aim remains a mystery, as it was said there's more to him than a murderous, nihilistic madman. Zenos taking what's been liberated of Zodiark's power, forcing the PC to entreat Hydaelyn to even the scale, may be part of it.

5. What is to be found on the moon?
-Hydaelyn said it was Zodiark's prison, so I imagine Zodiark himself. Eagle-eyed players may notice a dilapidated statue of Zodiark when Elidibus is first shown up there... which raises many many questions...

[RyuDragnier]

Speaking of the moon...did anybody else notice that from this picture both of their hands are focusing on the moon? And if you notice, what looks like a small amount of energy is going to it from Hydaelyn and Zodiark. I wonder...maybe what the Unsundered Ascians thought happened isn't the entirety of the truth.

There are two sides to every story, and with Zodiark and Hydaelyn both being the "will of the star" and wanting what's best for the planet from the will of their summoners, I feel that they would have been able to find a compromise that left both sides happy. But we're missing information here, namely the circumstances and reasoning behind the action of the Sundering itself from Hydaelyn. Since Elidibus is not Sundered, we can go under the assumption that "the heart of Zodiark" was not at Ground Zero when the Sundering occurred, meaning that info is something not even the Unsundered know.

Did something else enter into Zodiark while Elidibus was gone from the body and try to take it over, forcing Hydaelyn to Sunder Zodiark and everything else as a last resort to protect the world? Is Zodiark's "mind" different from his "heart", and have a conversation with Hydaelyn to where it willingly took the Sound into itself and had Hydaelyn Sunder it so the Sound could never return?

Whatever is going on, we're going to discover the real truth by the end of 6.0, and most likely from Venat herself.