[EW Spoilers] Serious flaw in the "contingency plan"?

[Feronar]

Players who have progressed significantly in the main story (mid-to-late game) should know what "contingency plan" I am talking about.

I am referring to Hydaelyn's plan to evacuate Etheirys via the Moon in the event the Final Days could not be stopped. Zodiark's presence was stimulating the aetheric activity needed to suppress the dynamis, and by extension the Final Days. When we killed Zodiark, the aether started to decay, so when soneone has a bad day, the dynamis could come in and transform them into blasphemies.

Unless I am missing something, the flaw in Hydaelyn's contingency plan is this: What would stop people from transforming into blasphemies while on the Moon? When it exits Etheirys's orbit and travels the sea of stars, it would still be bereft of Zodiark's presence and aetheric shield, so wouldn't the people there still be vulnerable to the effects of dynamis? And why does no one seem to address this during the story?

[KageTokage]

That's also something I was thinking about.

Unless the moon itself had some manner of aetheric shielding to ward off the flows of dynamis, it wouldn't have accomplished much in the long run.

[sidurgu-12]

my guess is its only affecting the planet so until its destroyed and meteion can redirect her attention the evacuees are safe. but since its a hail mary with 3 seconds left failure was high.

[KariTheFox]

My understanding was that metieon's song and the flow of dynamis was something targeted specifically at Etheirys by meteion, rather than a fundamental aspect of the universe outside of zodiark's bubble.

So presumably, if the moon filled with people were able to flee, maybe they would be able to travel to a more aether-dense part of the universe, find a planet to hide from meteion from, and eke out some kind of existance. Assuming of course, meteion doesn't find them and start singing her final days song at them all over again.

And yes, there are a lot of "maybes" and "presumably's" there. It's a plan with a lot of flaws. That's why escape on the moon was the plan b - a longshot that might not even work, but better than sitting around waiting to die to the final days.

[Shookbeast]

To be honest - this plan had so many red flags for me - and the moon rabbits had huge whiffs of “we’re actually evil” that I thought the moon was a trap.

I was waiting for Fourchenault to depart to the moon with a huge swath of citizens from the planet (but not all). He has a chilly goodbye with the twins, who decide to stay on the planet to continue the fight. Maybe their mom accompanies Fourchenault reluctantly.

Once Fourchenault‘s on the moon, the rabbits continue to be cagey about the “unfinished living quarters” and he gets suspicious. Things get real dark when his fellow forum members report they were only able to rescue “about half” of the planet’s population.

Then - BAM! The moon turns on - and Fourchenault has a mere few seconds to look at his wife - before realizing half the planet - once again - is being sacrificed to Zodiark. This time, by Hydaelyn herself - to preserve the balance needed to fight Meteion.

Everyone on the moon - who left everyone else to die - gets zapped. Their aether used to reconstitute Zodiark.

(I figured the Twins would reconcile with their parents later on in some kind of underworld dungeon).

I was sure this was going to be the turning point of the story - with our heroes dealt an unexpected blow - and possibly a new ally in Zodiark.

Things played out rather more straight forward - I suppose.

[Cleretic]

My reading of this is that the moon is safe because it's out of the scope that Meteion is aiming. We heard from the Watcher that the End of Days was happening where the aether flow of the planet was weakest, but with the moon not being on the planet, it's effectively out of range.

Hell, if we're going with the assumption that the End of Days is essentially happening because of Meteion forcing corrupt dynamis onto the planet, it makes total sense that she missed the moon. The last time she was on that planet, there wasn't a moon, so why would she extend the range to hit something she didn't even know was there?

[Denishia]

My guesses are that part of the localized terraforming to give that portion of the moon breathable air and aether to support life is also enough aether to shield from dynamis, added to Meteion's directed attack and the plan to run away as soon as the life boats are loaded.

But to be honest- I didn't think the escape plan was ever Plan A. It was always Plan B- and more importantly, it was something to tell the people of Etheirys so that they had an escape route to stave off the desperation of being trapped in a no-win corner. The problem of the Final Days was psychological, so even a flawed plan is still the reassurance that somebody is doing something and you can join in to do this task - which is all some people need to stave off the fear, irrational though it be.

[Theozilla]

My reading of this is that the moon is safe because it's out of the scope that Meteion is aiming. We heard from the Watcher that the End of Days was happening where the aether flow of the planet was weakest, but with the moon not being on the planet, it's effectively out of range.

Hell, if we're going with the assumption that the End of Days is essentially happening because of Meteion forcing corrupt dynamis onto the planet, it makes total sense that she missed the moon. The last time she was on that planet, there wasn't a moon, so why would she extend the range to hit something she didn't even know was there?

I also agree it’s probably due to Meteion’s Song of Oblivion only being “aimed” so-to-say at Etheirys and not the Moon (and/or other planets, at least during the present).


Funny thing though, is unless this was a mistake in making the skybox of Elpis, Etheirys also had a moon even before Zodiark was sundered/sealed. So, if it wasn’t a mistake, does that mean Hydaelyn didn’t create the moon in its entirety and more just used the pre-existing celestial body to seal Zodiark in it and Terra-form into a ship?

The Sun and Moon are visible in Elpis