Season 2 Storyline (another 10 years) [discussion]

[Vyrerus]

Maybe the pressing mystery will be, "Why hasn't Noah given back Koh Rabntah's body yet?"

uhh... or perhaps....

"Who are Rowena's clients that keep buying all our tomestones?"

"Who's responsible for the Easter Island head under the Ruby Sea?"

"Who raised the WoL?"

"Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?"

[Alyssa5]

I hear a lot of talk about the Dragon Star and the Omega star and honestly these do not really interest me at the moment, we just had a shard hoping expansion and i would rather focus on the source for two or three more expansions, especially after the literal end of the world it will be interesting to see and deal with some of the aftermath. I have also seen some people mention they want to explore more of Eorzea and honestly I would like to move more away from it in the next expansions and explore more of the locations on the source we have heard about but not gone to. especially since most major archs there seem to be wrapping up with Endwalker. I also think it is heavily implied at this point that the Silver tear lake storyline will factor into the Mysteries of the Twelve raid series.

As mentioned on this thread part of the reason the zones in Endwalker are so hyped is because we have heard about Sharlyan, Garlemald, Thravnir, and even the moon for years now, it certainly makes me more hyped for them than zones I have never heard about before. At the top of my Wishlist and what I honestly think 7.0 should focus on is Ilsabard. Those clouds are still covering the world map and I honestly feel Ilsabard will suffer the most damage on the Three continents after the end of days as it was already devastated by the Garlean War of succession and now is disorganized compared to Eorzea which has formed the Grand Company and even Orthard which still has the budding Eastern Alliance. The fall of the Garlean Empire also leaves a power vacuum that could be filled by various new powers. I also want Landis to be a Hub city since I really want there to be at least one magiteck city in the game that is not destroyed. There are also various locations in Orthard that we still haven't gone to like the rest of Hingashi. Also as people have mentioned there is Meracydia which I would like to see explored more in the future since again, it has been mentioned for years.

Ilsabard is also what I'm really hoping for. So many people seem to forget about a lot of the things you mentioned and Ilsabard has so much potential especially for a more grounded story after the high stakes of the Zodiark and Hydaelyn story. There could be potential conflicts between former imperial provinces and there's I think 7 unnamed legati that have never been mentioned. Lots of potential interesting areas and themes that could be explored in Ilsabard like Corvos and Landis. It's probably likely that everything in Ilsabard will be wrapped up neatly and perfectly entirely off-screen though since we're skipping the entire continent to get to Garlemald.

[RyuDragnier]

I would consider that the absolute polar opposite of 'pressing', actually. I feel like I've described this so often that I should just keep it in a notepad file at this point, but:

'What's under Silvertear Lake' was exclusively a 1.0 mystery. And when I say 'exclusively', I mean literally 'the question has never once come up in the live game'. It would be phenomenally shoddy writing to make that The Big Reveal when there hasn't been an ounce of buildup for it for so long that players can't actually find the buildup that was there anymore without really particular Youtube dives. It would actually be even more of an overly-narrow-cast flop than 'surprise, Gelmorra' would be, because at the very least everyone's been to Tam-Tara and Toto-Rak, and while Duskwight are a tiny sliver of the playerbase, they are one that's actively growing, while the amount of 1.0 fans in the playerbase is... well, not.

That's not to say that it's a mystery nobody should care about, it's that so little has been done about said mystery that it can't just suddenly be super important, and it's extremely unlikely that the current writing team actually cares. If an answer is ever given, it won't be important, and probably can't actually handle that sort of story load given how much work hasn't gone into it.

I still suspect that, if we ever get an answer, the truth of 'what was under Silvertear' will just be 'the Crystal Tower'. That's why it hasn't been talked about through all of the live game; it hasn't been the Thing Under Silvertear for years now, because it's been the Thing Over Silvertear.

I would argue that you're incorrect about this. Because if that's the case...why did Midgardsormr's try so hard to keep whatever is in the lake, in the lake? And why does he mention a deal with Hydaelyn during 2.5, a deal we've never gotten the full information about? Either we're going to find out what's under the lake by the end of 6.0 (with it being the final dungeon/area), inside the new Alliance Raid since it's about the mystery of the 12, or what's under there is going to be the next big storyline.

[KageTokage]

Midgarsormr had been keeping a vigil over the lake from even before the time of the Allagans, so the Crystal Tower cannot be the reason why he was there. It's implied that him being there was part of the pact he formed with Hydaelyn upon first arriving on the star..

Considering that they suddenly made the horn from Seal Rock relevant again in the Alexander storyline despite the thing only getting a single passing mention from Nabriales prior, I don't think it's safe to assume that Silvertear is irrelevant at this point, particularly when it's specifically been hinted as being of importance in some of the lore panels.

It might not be part of the MSQ necessarily but I'd be really surprised if it wasn't at least involved in one of the post-MSQ trial/raid storylines.

[Enkidoh]

"Who's responsible for the Easter Island head under the Ruby Sea?"

I just took that as the FFXIV example of the reoccuring Moai heads that shows up in multiple FF games and yes, is meant to be a reference to Easter Island, with no real further lore connotations or explanation, it's just... there.

I guess though it could just be handwaved as... "pre Sixth-Astral Era/Sixth Calamity".. or if or else fails.. "Allagans".

"Who raised the WoL?"

I don't think there will ever be any explanation for this, it's left up to the player to fill in their character's backstory and history, as the WoL after all is very much a cypher, a blank slate which the question of their past is entirelly up to the player to fill the blanks in. At least though Ardbert got past of a sort.

[Cleretic]

I would argue that you're incorrect about this. Because if that's the case...why did Midgardsormr's try so hard to keep whatever is in the lake, in the lake? And why does he mention a deal with Hydaelyn during 2.5, a deal we've never gotten the full information about? Either we're going to find out what's under the lake by the end of 6.0 (with it being the final dungeon/area), inside the new Alliance Raid since it's about the mystery of the 12, or what's under there is going to be the next big storyline.

I think it was just to prevent a Calamity. Which, for Hydaelyn, is way harder than it looks.

Remember that the real way a Calamity works is that a big blast of aether on the Source is amplified even further by the aether of a shard aetherically collapsing at the same time. So Midgardsormr would've been absolutely worthless at stopping Dalamud, for example, because it's not that they need a specific bomb to go off; they just need any bomb to go off. Midgardsormr would cause it in an attempt to stop it. Which is why Hydaelyn works in small ways most of the time; if she scaled up, she'd blow up the planet.

But the Battle of Silvertear? Perfect time to get Midgardsormr to go big. The Garlean Empire were very plainly controlled by the Ascians, and were being used to cause a Calamity--but crucially, the situation wasn't prime for one yet. Perfect chance to tap Midgardsormr for a big play, because he could bring his power to bear without causing a Calamity himself. And if you're trying to stop Ascian puppets from seizing the tools to cause a Calamity, it seems pretty smart to fend them off from the one thing remaining on the planet that's already caused one, the Crystal Tower.

It might not be part of the MSQ necessarily but I'd be really surprised if it wasn't at least involved in one of the post-MSQ trial/raid storylines.

Again, my best theory... it already was.

[Vyrerus]

I just took that as the FFXIV example of the reoccuring Moai heads that shows up in multiple FF games and yes, is meant to be a reference to Easter Island, with no real further lore connotations or explanation, it's just... there.

I guess though it could just be handwaved as... "pre Sixth-Astral Era/Sixth Calamity".. or if or else fails.. "Allagans".



I don't think there will ever be any explanation for this, it's left up to the player to fill in their character's backstory and history, as the WoL after all is very much a cypher, a blank slate which the question of their past is entirelly up to the player to fill the blanks in. At least though Ardbert got past of a sort.

So I should be ready for another one on the moon in Endwalkers? Lmao!

Also I didn't know about Proto-Babil :O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in the DS remake of IV. Wow! TIL!

[Iscah]

I just took that as the FFXIV example of the reoccuring Moai heads that shows up in multiple FF games and yes, is meant to be a reference to Easter Island, with no real further lore connotations or explanation, it's just... there.

Some of those examples are really stretching the definition of a moai – some are clearly references to the "face on Mars" rock formation; others are generic stone heads with no specific resemblance to the moai shape.

[Rosenstrauch]

Final Fantasy VIII = Sorcereresses are hella powerful. They control civilization. Everywhere is advanced up to semi-modern tech with fantasy sci-fi vehicles. Then there's the futuristic place hidden by a cloaking device that Laguna runs or whatever. Spaceship Ragnarok etc.

A thing I've been learning about this one in particular is that it also checks off the "ancient civilization with surprisingly advanced tech wiped out by a calamity" thing. The Centra ruins on the southern continent appear to be the skeletal ruins of something similar to the Gardens, though with architecture more closely aligned with the Ronka ruins seen in FFV and FFXIV. Meanwhile, the Deep Sea Research Station's bottommost floors are the ruins of some lost civilization, and have big similarities to Greek architecture. Also those ruins are the home to the Guardian Force Eden, guarded by the Ultima Weapon. Oh, and the Centra civilization were wiped out by the Lunar Cry, a meteor/flood of monsters tearing itself off the moon and crashing into the planet.

FF8 is wild and weird and I kind of love it.

[feyii]

Regarding Silvertear Falls and its potential importance for Endwalker - I'm currently leveling a new character and have just recently completed the level 50 monk quest again, which for the most part plays out on the shores of Silvertear Falls. Professor Erik's dialog in that quest is interesting. He mentions (quoting Cid) that Silvertear Falls is the center of the world, as in the aetheric center and thus the center of all live on Hydaelin. With that in mind I would assume we will actually go there in Endwalker rather than later (or not at all), since it seems to be the perfect place or thing to mess around with, if you want to bring about the Final Days. And with Midgardsormr sleeping at the moment, he might not have been able to keep out trespassers.