Tales from the Dawn #4: "A Question of Death" (Jullus)

[Vyrerus]

A Question of Death

Sobering. Most interesting to me were the Garlean wives' names.

I also found that the writing piece inspires resolve. It seems pretty clear cut.

Your thoughts?

[Theodric]

Hah, I won a bet with a friend! I had a hunch that at least one of the stories would revolve around Garlemald and specifically Jullus. I'm glad we finally learned more names of prominent Garlean lore figures.

I enjoyed the story. Garlemald's always been one of the more interesting aspects of the setting to me for various reasons.

It's great to see the story end on a bittersweet but hopeful note - the surviving Garleans will carve a place for themselves within Etheirys one way or another. It'll be interesting to see where the dangling plot thread of Jullus working with Alisae and Alphinaud leads when the MSQ's pick that up again.

[Lurina]

Pretty good! I feel like I find the way EW advocates coping with loss to be just a little immature - showing disinterest in what the actual feelings of the now-dead were in favor of conceptualizing them as having died for and living on though you feels like a decent coping mechanism, but might be be so great in terms of further developing empathy and learning to look the complex tragedies of the world in the eye. Still, it's a sweet story all the same that'll probably touch a lot of people.

Sounds like a lot of the Garlean government is still intact in the provinces, as you'd expect with just the capital getting blown up. Even if the Empire is finished, it doesn't seem like we're done dealing with its legacy.

[Cleretic]

Ooh, a story about an event we didn't already know about! I love it, and the Garleans were honestly the most compelling part of Endwalker's writing, so I'm always happy to see us go there. (Followed by sad at 'oh right, the entire civilization was ground into dust by a selfish fight idiot and a suicidal wizard-scientist').

That glimpse of the photo says a whole lot without being definite about any of it; seems like none of the Royal Family was very happy at all even in their best days. And hey, a mention of the women of the royal family, that's vanishingly rare.

Even with the dour tone of the story, there was a single point I had to laugh at, though.

Why hello there, person we took the key from during In From the Cold. Didn't expect to see you here!

EDIT: Something largely unrelated to the story, but struck me when thinking about events related to it and I'm stunned I didn't realize it before:

The Garlean Empire named their main class of magitek walkers after their original vanguard of defenders.

[Lurina]

The Garlean Empire named their main class of magitek walkers after their original vanguard of defenders.

...oh, wow. That's really cute, actually.

I kinda wonder if the writers did that on purpose or if they just used a cool name twice without making the connection, though.

[KageTokage]

This story just makes me hope they'll delve into the political mess left in the wake of the empire's fall sooner then later with an issue in Ilsabard warranting our attention.

Between the remaining Garlean legions and some manner of "great change" looming on the horizon, I can imagine all kinds of ways for things to go sideways.

[Rannie]

I think hmm honestly I don't know what to think. It wasn't a bad story by any means at all. I did like it better than the indifference I had for the previous story. I am glad someone found that soldier. Maybe we will be able to help them fix up Garlemald.

[JeanneOrnitier]

Man I really hope some patch content focuses on Garlemald, it's the only one of Endwalker's story hooks that isn't getting anything in the patches so far.

Also, is Lucius being the name of Varis's father new? I know all the wives' names are.

...oh, wow. That's really cute, actually.

I kinda wonder if the writers did that on purpose or if they just used a cool name twice without making the connection, though.

It was probably on accident since the reaper magitek model was named ages ago, but I really really like the implications of it. I was just replaying the part of MSQ where you steal one from Castrum Centri last night and giggling at them saying "they stole a reaper!" while playing RPR. Now I wish I had caught on to the implications of that yesterday.

[Cleretic]

Man I really hope some patch content focuses on Garlemald, it's the only one of Endwalker's story hooks that isn't getting anything in the patches so far.

Also, is Lucius being the name of Varis's father new? I know all the wives' names are.

I suspect there is a plan to go there for more, because they've made noticeably little out of the fact that Alphinaud and Alisaie are there. They haven't turned up in this story or the all-roles capstone. (My guess is that they're the crafting tribe.)

And yes, Lucius' name is new to us!

...oh, wow. That's really cute, actually.

I kinda wonder if the writers did that on purpose or if they just used a cool name twice without making the connection, though.

My guess is 'a little from column A, a little from column B'; they probably had most of the idea for Reaper before then, and then the common name helped them connect it to Garlemald.

[Denishia]

Nice to have the imperial family tree fleshed out, in particular the female members. Hypatia is an interesting choice to namedrop. The most famous Hypatia was the Alexandrian mathematician and philosopher murdered by Christians, so I wonder if the name was picked for us to imagine this Imperial Princess a key figure in the invention and advancement of Garlean tech or something more cultural.

Perhaps I'm just hypersensitive to the Imperial Roman parallels, but I saw a vague hint when Jullus was fumbling for whom to pray to, since the native Garlean theology had been replaced by veneration of the Imperial House, and settles on the ancestors, because ancestor worship along with the minor household gods was central to Ancient Roman religious practices.

Glad that his fellows were supportive of the one choosing to immigrate to Sharleyan and I agree that they're saving the twins and the Garleans for a later patch.

On that, I am also not surprised that provinces are reclaiming their independence and autonomy but at the same time the short story isn't giving us any details or names of the places or that any substantive political movement is being made i.e recognizing the new nations on the world stage or a freed province invading another a la Landros, Bojza, and Dalmasca. Got to leave the board blank so that later patches and expansions have some freedom to create. Though I do find some dark humor in that 'Independence from the Garlean Empire' will soon be probably the most wildly and commonly celebrated holiday in Etheirys.