The Dark Forest Theory (SPOILERS)

[Lium]

Though Endwalker's plot differs, I thought the principle was similar to The Dark Forest Theory.

In a nutshell, this theory was first introduced in the science fiction novel The Dark Forest. It posits that the reason humanity has not made contact with any other civilizations in the cosmos is because:

• All life desires to stay alive.
• There is no way to know if other lifeforms can or will destroy you if given a chance.
• Lacking assurances, the safest option for any species is to annihilate other life forms before they have a chance to do the same.

In Endwalker, other civilizations aren't necessarily attacking everyone else, outside of the Omicrons, but in the end they all came to the same conclusion: there is only death. There is only despair and unfulfillment.

These emotions are what Meteion discovers during her travels through the expanse. It's a sobering and terrifying thought. I've posted this elsewhere, but despite its uplifting moments and themes of staying the course, I found Endwalker to be profoundly sad. The universe they find themselves in is a graveyard. And this breaks Hermes' heart. And thus, the Final Days are brought into being.

I don't know if the writer of Endwalker was familiar with the Dark Forest or not, but some of the parallels are striking. And as an aside, this could potentially open up some great stories for the game in the future.

[Elladie]

In complete contrast, I found the message of Endwalker to be very uplifting. For me, it was the opposite of what you have stated. Yes, the world is full of emptiness and despair and death, but if you give in to it - if you let it defeat you - you lose the fight. You have to keep fighting, you have to reach out to other people and form bonds with them because if you do stumble, they will help you get up again.

It's embodied beautifully thematically in the WoL versus Zenos. The WoL keeps getting up because she knows she can do it if she keeps going. Zenos doesn't want to get up at all because he's so depressed the only thing he can feel is bored

[Hayden]

I absoutly loved the Dark turn Endwalker took, we are alone, utterly alone. To live is to suffer, but the moments inbetween, the connections we make and the simple act of moving forward is enough. It was both depressing and uplifting.

*garlean Radio theme playing*

It taught us we need eachother, there's little point in strife, conflict or war because in the end we are, or could be all there is. Zodiark, Hydalin all man made, no promise of an afterlife, just there here and now.

[Caesius]

Spoilery references to EW patch content and Dawntrail Fanfest info

Necro'ing this thread since the Dark Forest hypothesis just came to my mind, and in fact it seems to be reinforced by the events of the Endwalker patch content.

After all, if even a shard of Etheirys can attempt to invade and destroy the world, then the potential existential threats are quite close to home. We also now know that extraterrestrial life exists and has made its way to Etheirys repeatedly, with perhaps yet another such civilization making its appearance in Dawntrail.

Imagine that an alien civilization became aware of and somehow avoided the Final Days, likely without fully understanding the mechanism behind it. Now imagine that they learn the Warrior of Light and Etheirys defeated the entity behind the Final Days. Would they then consider the WoL to be an even greater existential threat?

Inversely, should the population of Etheirys come to know what all transpired during the Final Days and the invasion from the Thirteenth, it's plausible that a xenophobic faction would arise that would demand and attempt to enforce the following:

• Etheirys conceals itself from the universe.
• The Scions and the Warrior of Light cease proactively engaging extraterrestrial life and instead destroy them, i.e. "if you're not with us, you're against us."

This faction would be one that is advanced enough to take such action as well as one which has not grown to trust the Scions+WoL. Perhaps whatever civilization inhabits Solution Nine would form this faction and be the next major threat the WoL must face.

[Lium]

Spoilery references to EW patch content and Dawntrail Fanfest info

Necro'ing this thread since the Dark Forest hypothesis just came to my mind, and in fact it seems to be reinforced by the events of the Endwalker patch content.

After all, if even a shard of Etheirys can attempt to invade and destroy the world, then the potential existential threats are quite close to home. We also now know that extraterrestrial life exists and has made its way to Etheirys repeatedly, with perhaps yet another such civilization making its appearance in Dawntrail.

Imagine that an alien civilization became aware of and somehow avoided the Final Days, likely without fully understanding the mechanism behind it. Now imagine that they learn the Warrior of Light and Etheirys defeated the entity behind the Final Days. Would they then consider the WoL to be an even greater existential threat?

Inversely, should the population of Etheirys come to know what all transpired during the Final Days and the invasion from the Thirteenth, it's plausible that a xenophobic faction would arise that would demand and attempt to enforce the following:

• Etheirys conceals itself from the universe.
• The Scions and the Warrior of Light cease proactively engaging extraterrestrial life and instead destroy them, i.e. "if you're not with us, you're against us."

This faction would be one that is advanced enough to take such action as well as one which has not grown to trust the Scions+WoL. Perhaps whatever civilization inhabits Solution Nine would form this faction and be the next major threat the WoL must face.

That's a super interesting concept that I hadn't thought of. The notion that at some point, the WoL could be seen as a threat since they were the ones who permanently stopped the Final Days.

One thing that I did think about while playing through the latest Hildibrand quests were the two aliens at the end.

***SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THROUGH THE HILDI QUESTS YET***

It is revealed that the two aliens lost their homeworld when the Final Days hit their planet, and the only reason they were spared was because they were out exploring the cosmos when it struck. I wondered if these two visitors will ever discover that their new adopted home was actually the source (no pun intended) of the Final Days. And that the WoL was the one who stopped it.

That could be grounds for a really interesting story, or side story at some point in the future. Especially since one of the aliens was quick to anger when it thought they wouldn't be able to settle on the Source.