[Spoiler] Alliance Raid: Deryk...

[Loggos]

I was wondering whether Deryk might be

Thaliak.

As I don't think they'd just throw a random NPC at us and there is certainly more going on with Deryk than merely being a godly tourist guide I started to wonder who he might really be.

I may be totally off but the reasons why I think

Thaliak

could be his real identity are:

• His looks. He kind of reminds me of the Thaliak Statue in Sharlayan. He has a somewhat soft appearance that is reminiscent of the statue and his long(ish) hair could fit, too. I noticed that Deryk also wears a hair accessory that looks like two leaves or feathers and stand out against his hair. The Thaliak statue also has a "feathery" looking element on its head. It's probably hair and not an accessory but maybe Deryk's hair clip is a reference to it.
  
  All in all Deryk gives me "elf-ish" vibes and so does the Thaliak statue.
  
  You can take a look at Thalia's hair and features here: https://youtu.be/cMWXxvyulY4?t=55

• His job. He is a researcher/scholar and evidently Thaliak is the god of wisdom. He is also referred to as the scholar. If you go to the place right below his statue in Sharlayan the place is called "The Researcher" in German (I don't know what it says in English but I assume it's just The Scholar?) which I think fits Deryk as someone who travels the world to research phenomena.

• His Personality. They really underline how Deryk usually works alone (and until the last cutscene he seems to like it that way). He even appears to be quite displeased with the thought of having to travel with us, with him suggesting to travel to Ul'dah separately because our company doesn't seem to excite him too much. So, he is pretty much a reserved scholar.
  Thaliak is often depicted as a reserved scholar himself.

• How he's involved. The story starts in Sharlayan with a request at Baldesion's HQ.
  My Idea is that for some reasons the gods need help and Thaliak is the one tasked with guiding us into their realm. As he is the deity worshipped in Sharlayan and a scholar himself it makes sense to me that he would try to set this in motion at a place and with people that are closest to him and he understands best.
  Given his strong focus on knowledge (and perhaps also Baldesion's connection to the WoL and Sharlayan scholars' role in creating a spaceship and new habitat to save living beings from the apocalypse) he might also believe that such a serious matter is best entrusted to highly skilled scientists and scholars.

These are rather wild guesses and maybe Deryk

is just a regular guy who has been studying the realm of the gods all his life, wants be a god himself, needs us to get deeper into their realm, does *something* to take power from the Twelve/their realm and is the true endboss.
I kinda prefer him to be Thaliak though.

[MercuryD]

I very much doubt he's Thaliak. Thaliak is a scholar and bringer of knowledge but he's not (supposed to be) solitary. At least, not as obsessed with being alone as Deryk seems to be. There's also the whole thing about the small animals being the 12's forms when they don't fully reveal themselves and it looks like his may be a fish which you can see in Omphalos swimming.

I hope Deryk doesn't have a god complex but... We shall see

[KageTokage]

I'm half-expecting that the opo-opo he's carrying around is one of the Twelve going incognito as opposed to Deryk himself being one of them, though I still expect he has some secrets to share.

[Alleo]

I'm half-expecting that the opo-opo he's carrying around is one of the Twelve going incognito as opposed to Deryk himself being one of them, though I still expect he has some secrets to share.

Yeah I too think that the opo-opo is one of the gods and Deryk just a red hering. Maybe the god even gave him access to their realm because Deryk helped him.

Honestly it would also fit with how the WoL somehow thought that the little ape was the scholar. We might have noticed something without fully understanding it.

[MikkoAkure]

I was thinking more along the lines of Oschon because of his green color theming and the fact that he's an explorer.

The opo-opo is obviously a thing, unless either it or Deryk are red herrings but funnily enough ever since 1.0 I thought that Llymlaen's symbol looked more like a monkey than waves/wind and both Oschon and Llymlaen are wind.

Coincidence?!

[SannaR]

There's more to him I'm sure of it. He comes off too suspicious. He says he's traipsed to the phantom realm and around it a bunch of times. Yet some how none of the gods went "hey could you stop?" Then there's the whole thing with the Opo opo and that he won't give it a name.

[Anvaire]

I was thinking more along the lines of Oschon because of his green color theming and the fact that he's an explorer.

The opo-opo is obviously a thing, unless either it or Deryk are red herrings but funnily enough ever since 1.0 I thought that Llymlaen's symbol looked more like a monkey than waves/wind and both Oschon and Llymlaen are wind.

Coincidence?!

im with you on this one, he also refers to "his wanderings" and Oschon is know as Oschon the wanderer. Then again this could also be a red herring given the rules the "gods" state they adhere to. But the even in Hyur form hes still incognito.

[Alleluia]

His hair piece looks like it’s made of laurel leaves. I dunno if that is a Greek connection (Apollo and laurel leaves, laurels given to heroes, etc) or to do with the twelve somehow or what, but it’s an observation.

[WrenElessedil]

im with you on this one, he also refers to "his wanderings" and Oschon is know as Oschon the wanderer. Then again this could also be a red herring given the rules the "gods" state they adhere to. But the even in Hyur form hes still incognito.

I'm thinking Deryk could be a simulacrum and the opo-opo Oschon. Not just the wanderings, but if you look at the raid so far:

We went Byregot -> Rhalgr -> Azeyma -> Nald'thal, which follows the lunar cycle starting with the 7th month. Oschon would then be the last of the twelve we fight, which makes sense if he's our companion.

[TaleraRistain]

If either he or that opo-opo doesn't turn out to be Oschon I'll eat my hat

Deryk acts WAY too suspiciously to be a normal Eorzean explorer

Plus the hair piece and the way they keep making sure we notice it