Spoilers: Zenos' comment in the last cutscene.

[Khalithar]

MINOR SPOILER

So this is a thought I had related to what happens when we Zenos standing before the moon and he says (paraphrasing here) "I will feast on a river of souls."

Now since it's Zenos I immediately thought that this was a metaphor, his way of seeing "until we see each other again I'll keep killing and getting stronger." But then as the camera fades out I swear there's some sort of inhuman roar which emanates from him which leads me to think that, if he is a Reaper, he'll have some sort of void sent bonded with him.

Normally my belief was that he couldn't use aether but I remember when his body was taken, the body could use aether despite being in a Garlean body and Zenos has an Ascian buddy who seems perfectly content to use tons of dark evil power because he's an omnicidal maniac.

So I'm wondering if Zenos is going to gain some sort of dark power and is literally feasting on souls or if it was just my initial suspicion, a metaphor.

[KageTokage]

I don't think the roar was from him.

It was mentioned that everyone who was tempered by the towers only recalls a single thing which was a deafening roar, so I'd assume that the towers are part of a primal (Most likely Anima) that's being manipulated by Zenos and Fandaniel to suit their ends; the "dreamer" that they mentioned.

Assuming it's also the "you-know-what", Zenos is probably using his Echo to control the thing whenever necessary and I think he'd be able to absorb some of the aether it's draining from the land and its captives.

[Anonymoose]

My darksteelfoil hat brain just keeps going back to

Lahabrea
Come, mortals! Render up your souls, that Lord Zodiark might be reborn!

[Naria]

Garlean's can't normally use aether, but Zenos has been since he became a resonant, even before his temporary body displacement at the end of Stormblood. We don't know why Garleans can't normally use aether but maybe having the echo/resonant can overcome whatever reason. Emet-Selch could use aether as well even when he was in a cloned garlean body on the Source.

I did wonder as well if the "feeding on souls" bit was literal, but I jumped to "is he trying to become a primal?" not "reaper". Considering that reaper is going to be a player job if he is feeding on souls because of his job its probably an aberration and not how reaper normally functions (like Lambard in the rdm quests).

[Elecrom]

My darksteelfoil hat brain just keeps going back to

Yes that's my theory as well.
I also think that the 'dreamer' they speak off is also Zodiark and they are making preparations for Zenos to absorb him.
I also think that Fandaniel does not really want to wake Zodiark, since he wants to destroy the world and not rejoin it, so this is the reason he did not really try that hard to get more aether in Cartheneau.

[EaraGrace]

I couldn’t help but think of the Tales from the Shadows: Ere our Curtain Falls story with all the speculation over the roar at the end and it’s possible origins. It’s the last time Elidibus and Emet Selch speak, as well as the moment when they learn of Lahabreas end.

This passage in particular (which I bold parts of for emphasis) strikes me as interesting in hindsight.

And thus the aether beckons me
To depths of black eternity,
To dream of things long lost and gone,
And futures which might yet be won─
Though not by me, lest you mistake,
For others wait, the stage to take,
And while their worth is far from sure,
I bid the falling curtain─pause.
Let "encore" be my final word,
Their epilogue to death preferred.

The general thrust is a bitter acceptance of the changing of the guard, but the wordplay as well as the desire for an “encore” in some form is... well interesting given the current speculation.

Another story that’s kind of interesting in this is the Through his Eyes story, which features a soul that fights against the pull of the “underworld” and finds itself merged with a concept, with Emet being called to put it down.

Witnessing the excruciating display, his thoughts poured forth unbidden from his lips. "Consumed by the fear of death, it thrashes blindly about. It will know only pain and suffering and inflict the same upon others. A pitiful existence."
"Such moving empathy. It's as if you wore the feathers yourself."

Another passage which is clearly metaphorical, meant to represent Emets inability to see that he has become the bird in all but appearance. Yet I still can’t help but dream that it might have more than one purpose, to be allegorical and foreshadowing!

All speculative of course and most likely off the mark, but it’s fun to ponder!

[KageTokage]

My darksteelfoil hat brain just keeps going back to

I am rather curious to see how much of Lahabrea's rambling will turn out to actually be true by the end of 6.0 and not simply the raving of a fanatic.

[MerleSirlos]

That roar at the end got me surprised, and then I had a thought, what if it's Azdaja?

Vritra clearly seems to live in Thavnair, he appears there i the trailer and Vritra being a mythological creature in hunduism, it would match with the vibe that Thavnair gives.
So then where would Azdaja be? Clearly not in Othard. He could be in Thavnair with Vritra but Ilsabard could be a good option.
Azdaja is also reference as a mythical slavic, so him being in Ilsabard could make sense (Garlen empire giving heavy imerial europe vibes with particulars to Russia due to huge size and almost always depicted as snowy).

Fandaniel also mentions that the goal was to siphon the Aether from cartenau to Garlemad, with that not working, they have to get it from the dreamer. A creature with huge amounts of Aether screams dragon to me.

Finally, with Endwalker being the end of Hydaelin and Zodiark arc, I would expect to know the situation of all the first brood too as they have a close link to Hydaelin.

So yeah, my theory would be that Fandaniel has Azdaja trapped under the Garlemald tower, using it's Aether to create a primal to temper everything (possibly Anima based on other theories) and they have to use more of it's Aether for that Gateway to the gods thing instead of using the Aether from Cartenau.

[KageTokage]

That roar at the end got me surprised, and then I had a thought, what if it's Azdaja?

Vritra clearly seems to live in Thavnair, he appears there i the trailer and Vritra being a mythological creature in hunduism, it would match with the vibe that Thavnair gives.
So then where would Azdaja be? Clearly not in Othard. He could be in Thavnair with Vritra but Ilsabard could be a good option.
Azdaja is also reference as a mythical slavic, so him being in Ilsabard could make sense (Garlen empire giving heavy imerial europe vibes with particulars to Russia due to huge size and almost always depicted as snowy).

Fandaniel also mentions that the goal was to siphon the Aether from cartenau to Garlemad, with that not working, they have to get it from the dreamer. A creature with huge amounts of Aether screams dragon to me.

Finally, with Endwalker being the end of Hydaelin and Zodiark arc, I would expect to know the situation of all the first brood too as they have a close link to Hydaelin.

So yeah, my theory would be that Fandaniel has Azdaja trapped under the Garlemald tower, using it's Aether to create a primal to temper everything (possibly Anima based on other theories) and they have to use more of it's Aether for that Gateway to the gods thing instead of using the Aether from Cartenau.

An interesting theory, though the fact that they've mentioned basically nothing about Anima other then that it exists in some capacity makes me feel like it's in a role that's too important to be elaborated on since they gave Innocence similar treatment pre-ShB.

However, it could be possible both are involved and Azdaja was used to summon Anima somehow, as a primal of a seemingly world-spanning scale (Assuming the towers are all just extensions of its being) would need a phenomenally powerful catalyst both to be created and continue existing.

Having three of his children directly affected by Fandaniel's scheming also might end up getting Midgarsormr involved in some capacity, and they did mention we should look to the Omega storyline for hints on how we'll be getting to the moon...

[DamianFatale]

An interesting theory, though the fact that they've mentioned basically nothing about Anima other then that it exists in some capacity makes me feel like it's in a role that's too important to be elaborated on since they gave Innocence similar treatment pre-ShB.

However, it could be possible both are involved and Azdaja was used to summon Anima somehow, as a primal of a seemingly world-spanning scale (Assuming the towers are all just extensions of its being) would need a phenomenally powerful catalyst both to be created and continue existing.

Having three of his children directly affected by Fandaniel's scheming also might end up getting Midgarsormr involved in some capacity, and they did mention we should look to the Omega storyline for hints on how we'll be getting to the moon...

I wonder if it means that we will be using the inter-dimensional rift to get to the moon. In order to walk completely from the Source to the First we have to use the chamber underneath the crystal tower. I wonder if it means that we will get something similar in order to be able to "walk" to the moon. Such forms of travel seem to be to prevent someone from leaving a zone and forgetting to attune to an aetherite. Without quests to get to it, you would effectively be locked away from the zone. Hence why they will need some form of travel to "walk" to the moon in a sense.