Who is the Distressed Ancient One?

[SannaR]

I think it would be funny if it had been Byregot. He would certainly would have been close enough to fit. And I would agree to a spoiler if this was in the general section. The lore section is more like a discord's spoiler section. That and these forums are trick some beasts when it comes to titles. Where they don't offer a way to change said thread title.

[Veritas-Ancora]

It's probably Azeyma, it feels like her personality. It's fiery.

Thaliak is possible but I don't think he ever referred to people as fools, despite him being the knowledge guy. I agree that his position would have him close at Akademia and therefore the Convocation.

But Azeyma aspired to train under Venat, and her creator was a judicial officer for the Bureau of the Administrator, which makes even more sense if she was willing to follow Venat to the ends.

I'm not sure we're ever going to find out unless an Encyclopedia Eorzea comes out with the gods being clarified on their positions and who they were prior to the Sundering.

[Cleretic]

It's probably Azeyma, it feels like her personality. It's fiery.

Thaliak is possible but I don't think he ever referred to people as fools, despite him being the knowledge guy. I agree that his position would have him close at Akademia and therefore the Convocation.

But Azeyma aspired to train under Venat, and her creator was a judicial officer for the Bureau of the Administrator, which makes even more sense if she was willing to follow Venat to the ends.

I'm not sure we're ever going to find out unless an Encyclopedia Eorzea comes out with the gods being clarified on their positions and who they were prior to the Sundering.

Unfortunately, the EE3 hasn't gotten to me yet, so I can't check if they did there! (I suspect they didn't, though, or I would've heard by now.)

And on thinking about it, the thing that gives me hesitance about the call that this is Azeyma--even if I still largely think it fits here, it's more a yellow flag than a red one--is the use of the term 'the defector'. Azeyma idolized the seat of Azem; would she be so impersonal as to just call Azem 'the defector'? I don't think that's impossible, but it would certainly imply an interesting relationship and internal thought process.

[Lilah_Raeforza]

This is pretty much just going off of vibes, but my bet's on the Distressed Ancient One being Halone. Their dialogue in that scene gives off the air of someone who is used to dealing with problems head-on, as we know Halone to have done in her role as a warrior eliminating dangerous creations. The words used in this dialogue are just sharp enough while still being restrained, to feel like they're said by a fighter rather than a scholar or judicial officer - including the line about "the defector". From what I recall, while Halone and Azem were likely known to each other, I don't think they were necessarily well acquainted, which makes the impersonal wording seem to fit well. Like I said, very vibes-based, but that's my take. Hope to see you make a video about this if we find out for sure