An ominous premonition? (Slight spoiler for the Studium quests)

[KageTokage]

If you did the quest line for ARM/GSM/BSM, you repair the Golden Dhyata (A mammet specializing in the translation of languages), which in the wake of the quest repeats these words stated to have been taken from a book detailing the manipulation of the Lifestream using magicks.

"The serpent that sleeps in the deep slowly sheds its skin of old.

Eventually, the serpent devours its own tail, and renders new flesh using its own. The pain felt with cause the earth to quake, the mountains to crumble, and the rivers to run dry. Thus, seven wedges must be driven into its back."


It's also mentioned that there were anomalies in the Lifestream that were under investigation in the same questline.

I can't help but wonder if perhaps Zodiark's destruction and the subsequent return of countless Ancient souls to the Lifestream is going to have some unforeseen effects in the near future.

[Nekaru_Infitima]

...

MY FRIEND I think you might have found the mystery I've been looking for: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-the-new-story (Read the part in the post about the interview text).

This might be it. Especially with what Elidibus says at the end with the raid hint.

[RyuDragnier]

If you did the quest line for ARM/GSM/BSM, you repair the Golden Dhyata (A mammet specializing in the translation of languages), which in the wake of the quest repeats these words stated to have been taken from a book detailing the manipulation of the Lifestream using magicks.

"The serpent that sleeps in the deep slowly sheds its skin of old.

Eventually, the serpent devours its own tail, and renders new flesh using its own. The pain felt with cause the earth to quake, the mountains to crumble, and the rivers to run dry. Thus, seven wedges must be driven into its back."


It's also mentioned that there were anomalies in the Lifestream that were under investigation in the same questline.

I can't help but wonder if perhaps Zodiark's destruction and the subsequent return of countless Ancient souls to the Lifestream is going to have some unforeseen effects in the near future.

Pandaemonium may also fill in the blanks on what we're going to be dealing with. But from that description...I guess the Source's version of The Great Serpent of Ronka is not as benevolent.

[EaraGrace]

Pandaemonium may also fill in the blanks on what we're going to be dealing with. But from that description...I guess the Source's version of The Great Serpent of Ronka is not as benevolent.

In the quest line, it’s confirmed that the Serpent is a metaphor for the lifestream by one of the characters. So hard to say.

[Iscah]

In the quest line, it’s confirmed that the Serpent is a metaphor for the lifestream by one of the characters. So hard to say.

But if the serpent is a metaphor, what "wedges" might need driving into the Lifestream?

[CKNovel]

In the quest line, it’s confirmed that the Serpent is a metaphor for the lifestream by one of the characters. So hard to say.

And what if it still was the same serpent?

"The lifestream that sleeps in the deep slowly sheds its skin of old.

Eventually, the lifestream devours its own tail, and renders new flesh using its own. The pain felt with cause the earth to quake, the mountains to crumble, and the rivers to run dry. Thus, seven wedges must be driven into its back."

EW brought a lot of informations about the Aether current, that "serpent" could be those aether current.
And it would make sense for the earth to quake and rivers to run dry if the aether itself is disturbed.

[KageTokage]

Given Zodiark was reshaping/redirecting the world's aether currents to ward off the Final Days, some manner of negative feedback from everything suddenly snapping back to how it was before seems expected.

The FSH quests bring up how fish all over the world were suffering from bouts of aether sickness due to the aether being shifted back from the heavens to the earth below, which was an immediate symptom, but perhaps something deeper about the world's workings has been disturbed.

I also noticed that the number of "wedges" that need to be driven into the figurative serpent's back also happens to match the number of shards that are remaining...which is stirring up even more thoughts about the potential implications.

safety spoils for EW ending

What if the world was only able to sustain itself to Zodiark and Hydaelyn's presence and now it's due to slowly unravel unless the shards are somehow "linked" to the source to stabilize the flow without destroying them?

[Illmaeran]

But if the serpent is a metaphor, what "wedges" might need driving into the Lifestream?

The seven different Rejoinings?

[EaraGrace]

Spoilers for Studium quests

It should also be noted the writing is from an undetermined period of time predating the Allagans, and was only translated with the aid of another fantastically piece of archeology. So it’s unclear exactly what they were referring to other than it being about the Lifestream in some way.

[KageTokage]

Thinking back on everything that happened in Endwalker more...

Safety spoilers because of non-specific warning in title.

There's another strange disparity between the original Final Days and its modern manifestation; namely, we never witnessed the earth itself turning on us with natural disasters of all sorts.

While we could assume it's simply because we stopped Meteion before the corrupt dynamis had a chance to permeate the world, the mention of the people in Thavnair hearing a "cry from the earth itself" before the skies turned red is a bit worrying to me in conjunction with the words of the prophecy that predicted natural disasters akin to those of the original Final Days.

Perhaps these disasters were not a direct product of the Final Days and rather they agitated something else that was also being held back by Zodiark's tampering with the aetheric flows...but now that he's gone, the "serpent" of the prophecy is awakening once more and has simply yet to manifest its wrath.