Endwalker's Hinted Mystery? What could it be that leads us into the new story?

[Nekaru_Infitima]

Spoilers obviously, ran out of room in the title.

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So I keep seeing the mentioned 'you'll go THAT far..' quote by Yoshida around the forums, in various usages. (Things introduced, added, possible links, people saying that was the time travel and space.)

The issue is there was MORE to that quote than just that part. It was specified

"There is a big mystery that will be revealed within the saga of the "Hydealyn versus Zodiark Arc. For those of you who have come along through the journey of FFXIV up until now, you might think "you'll go THAT far...?"Once this mystery is made clear, it shall then form as the basis of the new chapter of the story. In lieu of that, we have pourer our thoughts from these past 11 years and have also put preparation into the content moving forward for the next 10 years to come."

-- quoted from the article that translated it.

Key points to take away "revealed WITHIN the saga" "big mystery" and much later in the interview that the mystery will lead into the next chapter of the story.

So... to those fellow players who have finished. What mystery was revealed that could possibly play into the next chapter?

Possible Contenders:

Zenos: Yes, I know, groan all you want for those who don't want to see him. But the fact of the matter is, Yoshida goes very mysterious when talking about him or hinting him, he was known as one of the big players for Endwalker despite the small role and HE IS ON THE POSTER WITH 'all of the scions'. It is possible with Alisaie's speech, his last defeat, and question he asked that was never answered before his 'death' (if it was one), that they are setting him up for a smaller redemption arc or lead in to the next part of the story. The mystery being why he is the way he is as he said he doesn't even know.

Universal Races: Side quest and side dungeon leads you into telling an Omicron his next goal in life should be to simulate and archive the various races. So far you have ONE in Nekropolis, with a list that looks like it could grow. It's speculated this will be beast tribe or trials, but it can also be a 'mystery.'

Emet: He told you many places to go, but they're not huge mysteries and not revealed within the whole saga, just thrown in at the end. Except for Corvos, which G'raha mentioned a bunch and many others. Corvos may be a mystery.

Missing Dragon: Vtra's sister who he said was 'silent as always.' His thing with Estinien might be with that, but again this was thrown at the end not really a mystery revealed throughout.

What happened to the Universe?: Not too sure on this one, but other than Meteion helping a few races to keel off, before she went out, what happened to the Universe, not every race of every star for gazillions of eons could have chose nihilism, or been destroyed by the Omicrons, maybe there was a standing cause before. Though I'd hate that as then we'd be going the route of DBZ.

Can anyone think of any other mysteries that were revealed, that would have heavy implication for him to say that? Note it also said saga not just Endwalker, so was there any GLARINGLY giant mysteries that need to still be answered that would make a whole 10 more years? (As much as I want to know the Sabik thing, don't mention it, too small scale.)

[MirronTulaxia]

I can’t see Zenos leading into a new story or qualifying as a mystery, the guy didn’t exactly have anything to do. Best guess would be just broadly “aliens” as the new thing, it certainly feels “you went that far, mystery, and next chapter” tier. Corvos and the missing dragon, along with the southern continent, all feel like things to explore too, so it’s hard to say if the next chapter is big or small for which one is more important.

[Nekaru_Infitima]

I can’t see Zenos leading into a new story or qualifying as a mystery, the guy didn’t exactly have anything to do. Best guess would be just broadly “aliens” as the new thing, it certainly feels “you went that far, mystery, and next chapter” tier. Corvos and the missing dragon, along with the southern continent, all feel like things to explore too, so it’s hard to say if the next chapter is big or small for which one is more important.

I want to agree but others keep pointing out that he had end-days visions,and various other hints he might be important (like his inability to die.)
Then also again Yoshida's hinting that he may be more important in various interviews.
The fact he's in a poster where Yoshida said 'all the scions.'
As much as I don't want it, he may be scion in name only as they're disbanded, but working up to be one.

[MirronTulaxia]

I mean, he didn’t die because he’s an Ascian effectively. Unless you flood them with aether they will just pull themselves back out, it’s the same reason we had to do special stuff to kill off the other Ascians. That’s not exactly a mystery.

More importantly though, none of those came up this expansion. Zenos… didn’t do frankly much of anything. They may be building him to be redeemed or whatever, but it’s not really a mystery or related to the story or any of the other hints.

[Cleretic]

My suspicions are as follows:

The actual hints for the future are in Emet's comments, fleshing out the New World, hinting that stuff's going on in Meracydia, and that the other shards are still A Thing. One or more of those things will be 7.0, I most suspect Meracydia. The still-unaccounted-for First Brood member might be there, too.

The mention of the Twleve is a tease for the alliance raid, we know that.

Corvos will be the backdrop for either the Island Paradise, the still-unknown trial trilogy or relic weapon story, or possibly tied to Pandaemonium or an unmentioned Garlean Restoration. It's been brought up too much to not be a thing, but having no real details means it's probably not going to be something central to much.

One of the beast tribes will probably be the Omicrons, specifically the ones trying to figure out some semblance of a new life after completing Sigma Dreamscape.

Everything else you mentioned is going to be untouched. No universe-level storytelling, no additional aliens, definitely no Zenos. All of those story threads are either done (like Zenos), too big (like the state of the universe), or just don't have any real story to tell (like the Ea).

[Nekaru_Infitima]

no additional aliens

Maybe no planets, but the Sigma Dreamscape completely goes against this as it's literally saying to simulate races of aliens.

My issue with what Emet mentioned is it was thrown in at the end. The quote talks as if it's a revealed mystery that's revealed throughout the saga as a whole and not just Endwalker. Because it speaks of us who have been through the game in journey. Thus what huge mysteries of the world are there we might have ignored or didn't catch to be important before?

[Cleretic]

Maybe no planets, but the Sigma Dreamscape completely goes against this as it's literally saying to simulate races of aliens.

My issue with what Emet mentioned is it was thrown in at the end. The quote talks as if it's a revealed mystery that's revealed throughout the saga as a whole and not just Endwalker. Because it speaks of us who have been through the game in journey. Thus what huge mysteries of the world are there we might have ignored or didn't catch to be important before?

We'll get those in the Omicron beast tribe (if that indeed happens), but the story won't shift focus to them. We'll see them, go 'ooh that's neat', and move on.

[Ashgarth]

I want to agree but others keep pointing out that he had end-days visions,and various other hints he might be important (like his inability to die.)
Then also again Yoshida's hinting that he may be more important in various interviews.
The fact he's in a poster where Yoshida said 'all the scions.'
As much as I don't want it, he may be scion in name only as they're disbanded, but working up to be one.

Zenos is dead.
There is no redemption arc, because Zenos does not need or want a redemption arc.
He finally got what he wanted: A fight with you with absolutely nothing else on your mind. He did not help you out of newfound kindness or camaraderie, he did it so HE would be the only enemy on sight.

As for the new mistery, they've name dropped Corvus so many times that I'd be surprised if we did not go there at least for the relic side story.

[Raikai]

I'd lean in the options that Emet Selch mentioned:

Your character is probably the most famous person in the world at this rate... This could conspire a lot agains a "Fresh start" even if you're kind of depowered now that you don't have the Blessing of Light anymore (and I question if the Echo is still a thing?)... So I'd say that the best way to start weaving a new story, that can even possibly span through the length of a couple of expansions, is having it take place on a different Shard other than the Source. None of the Scions, not even G'raha, can travel through those reflections at will, so they can't follow you, and that opens to a new cast of characters - and I trust that the writing team can make those as engaging as the ones we had.

This also can leave the un-explored parts of the Source available to partake stories that aren't directly tied to the MSQ, such as the raid series or the equivalent of Eureka/Bozja, and even have some of the Scions being the protagonists of those, without worrying about continuity repercussions.

[MirronTulaxia]

I don’t see why we wouldn’t have the Echo or the Blessing. The Echo is pretty much a thing just for being a sundered soul that realizes this, and I never got the impression the Blessing was something Hydaelyn was channeling. It also is questionable if it did much other than protect from tempering.