The clones of Emet.

[SannaR]

Do we know if Varis, Fancy Dan or Zenos got rid of those after Emet left for the 1st? Or are they still in their tubes? If they're still intact and Fandaniel and Zenos aren't using them as part of their plan do you think they could be popped out and activated? I'm not entirely sure how the clones work.

[Anonymoose]

The clones were, according to Emet-Selch, just to save him the time and energy of molding a physical body to his preferred image. Estinien and Gaius claimed to have destroyed them along with the plant they were in, but I know of a not-insignificant number of people who think it'll come up again because it's such a large, specific thing to add to the story if all they wanted to was to explain something so small about how Ascians function.

[SannaR]

Aww man I must have forgotten that part. I only remembered about them due to an FC mate who said a thing about clones and my brain went wait a second. There goes any hope of us stumbling them on, popping one out and giving one the run down in hopes of having an "just like old times" joke.

[JeanneOrnitier]

I don't know if Emet's clones themselves will come up again but I feel like adding that the Garleans have cloning at all will come up again. It felt too big of a deal to basically be a throwaway line. Maybe Varis was cloned before he died or something.

[Vyrerus]

Emet-selch in his introduction makes the remark that Varis had dabbled in Allagan cloning technology.

"I really must thank you for this surplus of vessels! I can mold any host into my own image, but having bodies tailor-made for me in this fashion is so much less tiresome! You dabbled in Allagan cloning techniques, yes? It certainly is a compelling - not too mention entertaining - field of research. And of all the options available to you, you chose the founding father on whom to experiment! You have a twisted streak to you, Varis. Like grandsire, like grandson, eyy?!"

It leaves a lot of room open, as they don't nail down just how many cloning facilities there were, nor if there were more experiments after the Solus clones were successfully vat grown(and clothed).

[Hainiryun]

My extremely wild and unlikely theory about the clones is that they'll actually tie into Anima.

I think Anima could be the "Garlemald primal" (or at least the core of the Garlemald tempering process) that the Telophoroi are using to temper people, and possibly the "dreamer" refered to at the end of 5.55. If you need a single point of devotion for your empire the founding emperor seems like a good choice, even if it's just a clone.

It'd also sort of fit in with X's incarnation of Anima being Seymour's mother to have XIV's Anima be a member of Zenos's family.

This is of course just wild speculation but it's fun to come up with long shot theories sometimes.

[kaynide]

There is a good saying from D&D semi related:

If you felt it was easy to kill a lich, you didn’t kill him.

In that regard, with the power and influence Emet had, I can’t imagine he didn’t have a secret backup facility in the same way a powerful mage in dnd might hide a clone or philactory. Nothing is ever stored in one place.

[Cleretic]

My angle is that we'll see this come up, but not for Emet. He seemed... pretty willing to not come back even if he could.

So the other question we have to review: who else in play would jump at the opportunity to have a battery of clone bodies to rely on? Given the palace is currently owned and dominated by Zenos and Fandaniel Back At It Again With The White Robes... well, our list of suspects is short and terrifying.

[Rosenstrauch]

Honestly, I struggle to imagine who would even need a collection of Solus clones at this point. Or what the point of the clones was to begin with, other than for the out of universe benefit of showing us Solus's younger appearance before he made his reentry into the story as Emet-Selch. It feels like a plot hook that was abandoned immediately after it was introduced.

[RyuDragnier]

Honestly, I struggle to imagine who would even need a collection of Solus clones at this point. Or what the point of the clones was to begin with, other than for the out of universe benefit of showing us Solus's younger appearance before he made his reentry into the story as Emet-Selch. It feels like a plot hook that was abandoned immediately after it was introduced.

Not necessarily. I'm wondering...what if Solus DID use a clone for something else? There's one individual constantly being named that hasn't shown up yet, one Nerva Yae Galvus. What if his father Titus had actually lost his son to the same disease that Solus lost one of his children to, and Solus, in a moment of compassion, gave the clone to Titus and transferred Nerva's soul to the body? It'd keep the plot point relevant, especially if Hades possessed Nerva briefly to help us before finally leaving permanently. Speculation I know, but I refuse to believe they just dropped a plot point like that so easily.