Solution 9 - Unfounded Speculation!

[Cleretic]

There's always some missing piece we won't get until the patch actually drops (like Amon in Endwalker).

Still kicking myself for not saying more often that the pre-Endwalker theory of 'Amon is Emet-Selch' doesn't make sense because the personalities and M.O.s don't line up at all, and a far closer match would be Fandaniel.

I didn't say it much because it felt absurd that an alliance raid midboss based on a forgettable FFIII character could possibly be relevant.

[Fenral]

I didn't say it much because it felt absurd that an alliance raid midboss based on a forgettable FFIII character could possibly be relevant.

Not sure if you were around for it, but you'd be amazed at how far people went to debunk "The Crystal Exarch is G'raha Tia" back in the day, so it's probably for the best.

[Cleretic]

Not sure if you were around for it, but you'd be amazed at how far people went to debunk "The Crystal Exarch is G'raha Tia" back in the day, so it's probably for the best.

I was around but not active in the way I am now. Up-to-date and semi-regularly roleplaying, but so distant from the game's community that I had to learn second-hand that we were getting Nier raids. I don't think I had any feelings or theories whatsoever about the Exarch at the time.

I remember that I also heard about the 'Zodiark and Hydaelyn are primals' trailer-reveal second-hand, and my response was essentially 'why am I supposed to care'. Which I just think is funny, because I've kind of wrapped all the way around to hitting that same response from the other direction now; my response to a big reveal isn't 'why should I care' because I don't, my response is 'why should I care' because I want to and think that starting with the intended emotional response, even if I don't have it, is helpful.