Revelations from Patch 5.5 (Part 1)

**YianKutku** · 04-15-2021 02:49 AM

Originally Posted by JeanneOrnitier

Okay, here's my theory with the towers (specifically the big one in Garlemald)

As Urianger pointed out, being tempered to a nation instead of a primal is something we've never seen before. And then, we learned that the towers are summoning primals. My theory is Fandaniel and Zenos are trying to, or already have, use the biggest tower in the capital to summon the concept of Garlemald itself as a primal. A primal embodying the idea of Garlemald and what it stands for, explaining how people could become tempered by a nation. And then the beams coming from the smaller towers are broadcasting its tempering to other locations beyond its immediate vicinity.

I don't know how the Lunar Primals fit in, but that's what I think is going on in the imperial capital.

Honestly I'm still a little wary about that idea.

As in, the narrative is clearly going in that direction, that there will be some sort of "Garlemald Primal", or at least some inherent "Garlemald concept" that the tempered are in thrall to, but the question that immediately rises is what does that even mean. What is "the concept of Garlemald"? What does Garlemald stand for? Imperialism and brutality, as in its incarnation as the Garlean Empire? Survival by subterfuge and diplomacy, as in its incarnation as the group of territories that will eventually become Garlemald? Old faux-nobility and not paying the mercenaries they hired, as in the Garlean Republic? A giant humanoid with three eyes and Elezen rigging?

The various tempered imperial troops we fight in Paglth'an aren't particularly talkative (I checked via Trusts, and they really don't have anything to say other than the usual "Glory to Garlemald"), so I don't know what they actually believe. Is the Garlemald they wish glory for the Garlemald of Zenos, of Varis, of Solus/Emet-Selch, of Gaius van Baelsar, of Maxima, of Nael van Darnus, of Valens van Varro, of Fordola rem Lupus, of someone else entirely? All of these have their own ideas of what Garlemald is (or they did, for the ones who are no longer extant), much less what it should be.

I admit the actual physical form of the hypothetical Garlemald Primal probably isn't important; Primal summonings in the story have generally kind of gone by what looks coolest, so that's probably going to be the case regardless. But like all the nations, there's too many interpretations of what the "concept" of the nation is. The closest Garlemald has right now is the Garlean Emperor, and, well, there's only been three, and two of them are dead. (I'm assuming Zenos is automatically Emperor, even if he doesn't care.)

**catofsnake** · 04-15-2021 03:04 AM

Originally Posted by KageTokage

I also had a theory that there was some kind of "Garlemald" primal that was broadcasting its influence to the towers, but I'm not so sure anymore.

I think there's a possibility that the tower in garlemald is going to be used to summon a super primal and our 89 trial.

I'd think that, if there *was* a garlemald primal, it'd have to be Anima, shown from the 6.0 teasers/info. Maybe Anima could be summoned as a primal that gives death to everyone as salvation, like what Fandaniel wants.

**Fenral** · 04-15-2021 03:17 AM

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

Main Scenario (Live Blog complete. Will compile thoughts upon reflection.)

Uh oh. Newly-crafted lore on how spirit vessels work. That's gotta be a "Please Look Forward to It" if I ever saw one.

Ten characters!

I had been trying not to dwell on how the patch immediately following the events that established G'raha's overall party utility not only wrapped up our last dangling thread on Azys Lla, but also introduced a way said utility could be handed off to pretty much anyone else with no apparent downsides.

Or how he has yet to go against Lunar Ravana like we saw in the patch trailer.

Or how his addition to Trusts feels oddly temporary, what with no fixed role, or time investment required for use.

Or how he's close with a character named "Krile."

It's not working.

**Lauront** · 04-15-2021 03:43 AM

Originally Posted by JeanneOrnitier

Okay, here's my theory with the towers (specifically the big one in Garlemald)

As Urianger pointed out, being tempered to a nation instead of a primal is something we've never seen before. And then, we learned that the towers are summoning primals. My theory is Fandaniel and Zenos are trying to, or already have, use the biggest tower in the capital to summon the concept of Garlemald itself as a primal. A primal embodying the idea of Garlemald and what it stands for, explaining how people could become tempered by a nation. And then the beams coming from the smaller towers are broadcasting its tempering to other locations beyond its immediate vicinity.

I don't know how the Lunar Primals fit in, but that's what I think is going on in the imperial capital.

It's a reasonable inference IMO...

Not least of all because if you put the Garleans under a scenario where their beloved homeland is in danger, a saviour figure begins to make sense (this is not too dissimilar to the return of Xande from the grave, even if the means used for that revival differed.) Many things can serve to give rise to a Primal, even fear as in the case of the High Seraph.

As others have mentioned, they do revere their Emperor, but I wonder if Varis's short tenure will be eclipsed in that regard by the founding father's image - Solus, the same man who elevated Garlemald's status in the world after its harsh past. His clones remain an unresolved matter. Someone they could easily use as an embodiment of the concept, although an abstract design for the primal would work. Zenos would technically have the strongest claim to being Emperor, with the civil war abetted, so it may even serve to empower his image directly in such a scenario. Not too dissimilar to Thordan, drawing on the faith his nation had, with some extrinsic power sources on top of that to form a Primal.

It'd imply that their plan isn't so much to use Zodiark as the Primal of choice but as a fuel source for this other Primal, and it also makes sense of Zenos's words about the Empire. They wouldn't need to be so cryptic about Zodiark, I believe, because he is already widely expected to be the Primal whom Zenos takes hold over. This newly revealed approach to deal with "tempering" would also sidestep a lot of the risk that trying to control Zodiark would entail. All this would also be doubly anathema to Emet-Selch, our narrator for 6.0's trailer, so it ties in nicely there too... throw in his dark scion equivalent, Zalera the Death Seraph, and you have a way to tie One Winged Angel to Zenos, for however long he can keep it up...

I am also of the view, as some others, that they're saving Nerva as the "inside" contact for Garlemald, especially as his family had ties to the Populares. Gaius has been put to other uses, and Maxima seems to be more of a bridge character.

**Fenral** · 04-15-2021 03:52 AM

Originally Posted by Lauront

It's a reasonable inference IMO...

I am also of the view, as some others, that they're saving Nerva as the "inside" contact for Garlemald, especially as his family had ties to the Populares. Gaius has been put to other uses, and Maxima seems to be more of a bridge character.

Thirded! If only because...

Nerva is Legatus of the IIIrd, and Larsa's oldest in-series prototype was Alus, from Final Fantasy III. Even Zenos, who was a subversion of the numerical parallels at first, is now following in the footsteps of Vayne Solidor as an unrepentant evil with an immortal puppeteer.

We had literally no reason to care there even was a IIIrd legion specifically, so if Nerva wasn't important, they could have saved us the trouble by not mentioning them at all.

**JeanneOrnitier** · 04-15-2021 04:16 AM

Sorrow of Werylt

That was a very good ending, and I really really like Allie. I hope when Gaius comes back to the MSQ (which feels inevitable at some point) Allie shows up too.

**Veloran** · 04-15-2021 06:28 AM

I am also of the view, as some others, that they're saving Nerva as the "inside" contact for Garlemald, especially as his family had ties to the Populares. Gaius has been put to other uses, and Maxima seems to be more of a bridge character.

I would have to guess that the bridge character won't be Nerva himself, but rather his kid Titus. If Nerva is either dead, tempered, or just uncooperative, Titus would be the last remaining heir to the Garlean throne.

**Zohar_Lahar** · 04-15-2021 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by catofsnake

I think there's a possibility that the tower in garlemald is going to be used to summon a super primal and our 89 trial.

I'd think that, if there *was* a garlemald primal, it'd have to be Anima, shown from the 6.0 teasers/info. Maybe Anima could be summoned as a primal that gives death to everyone as salvation, like what Fandaniel wants.

On Towers and Lunar Primals:

This does seem likely, given Fandaniel's desire for a "paroxysm of pain and suffering". The Lunar Primals somewhat resemble the Dark Aeons from X/X-2. Lunar Bahamut being confronted first parallels with the dark Bahamut in X-2 being the first one fought in the story at the end of Chapter 2. And in that game, the last one encountered was dark Anima on the way to the final battle in the Farplane.

Not to mention, when comes to a "Garlemald" primal, Anima makes sense in a way: the Garlean Empire's entire existence has meant inflicting pain to the other people of the Source.

**EdwinLi** · 04-15-2021 07:03 AM

Originally Posted by MoofiaBossVal

Being tempered ≠ being a murderhobo.

Ramuh reluctantly tempered his followers only when they asked him to do so, and even then, he never ordered them to kill anybody. The tempered sylphs who are hostile towards you in the sylphlands aren't attacking you because they are brainwashed and crazy; they're attacking you out of their own volition because they are scared and think you are coming to kill them.

If Hydaelyn has tempered the WoL, I can't see Hydaelyn giving the WoL any sinister orders. It'd probably be something cute along the lines of when Lelouch geassed Suzaku and ordered him to "live" or something. Hydaleyn could have also tempered the WoL to protect the WoL from being tempered by malevolent Primals who would, in fact, order the WoL to go on a murder spree, like when Ifrit tried to temper the WoL in ARR 2.0 but said "hm... I can't temper you because you already belong to another..."

I know that. I was just making a point WoL had not shown any signs of being concerned about so it never crossed their minds. You know like how people say "We never see this person do suspicious things, so we never considered investigating it"

Don't forget it is only recently they discovered Hydaelyn is a Primal and since there are no negative effects that would show anything of concern, there was never need to consider WoL being Tempered before during Shadowbringer MSQ (5.0 to 5.3) until recently due to now investigating the true purpose of Hydaelyn and Zodiark.

**Theodric** · 04-15-2021 07:31 AM

Regarding Anima:

Based on the design, Anima looks to be a creature that has been bound against its will. It also appears to be holding something that is presumably very valuable, since the same stone slab is visible on the artwork for the expansion itself. Since we learned that the mysterious towers are inhabited by beings bound within fleshy structures...I do find myself wondering if Anima is what remains of Hydaelyn, Zodiark or Venat. Such may not be the case, of course...but we'll see in Autumn!

Thread: Revelations from Patch 5.5 (Part 1)

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