Patch 6.55 - Growing Light Part II - Story Discussion

**EdwinLi** · 01-18-2024 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by Denishia

that letter

the signature looks genuine to Wuk, which could be a forgery or they got him to sign a blank. But it smells of palace intrigue, and I'd be looking closely at advisors, ministers, and the traveling companions of 80 years ago. Ketenramm is all but guaranteed to be involved in the 80 year flashback plot (probably not flashbacks involved beyond some Echo stills). Erenville doesn't read to be as a royal sibling would-be claimant as much as a son of a high ranking official - he's running away from royal vizier, not crown. The letter is old enough, presumably, that it's not a plant from Koana the miq'ote brother, but I would look closely at who suggested to send or helped arrange his Sharlayan overseas studies.

Personally, I suspect the letter is a fake but the signature is real or that it is real but due to the whole secrets of the Golden City, they could not go public with what happened during their investigation with the Golden City.

If the letter is fake, I am guessing someone close to the king made this letter. The children of the King would be too young at the time to even do something like this so I am guessing it is someone else we have not met yet but we will meet once we get to Tural and meet the more influencial people in Tural.

If it is real then Gulool Ja Ja and Krile's grandfather may have found something they consider must never be known to the public at that time.

**YianKutku** · 01-19-2024 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by EdwinLi

Personally, I suspect the letter is a fake but the signature is real or that it is real but due to the whole secrets of the Golden City, they could not go public with what happened during their investigation with the Golden City.

If the letter is fake, I am guessing someone close to the king made this letter. The children of the King would be too young at the time to even do something like this so I am guessing it is someone else we have not met yet but we will meet once we get to Tural and meet the more influencial people in Tural.

If it is real then Gulool Ja Ja and Krile's grandfather may have found something they consider must never be known to the public at that time.

Yeah, the letter is very suspicious, and I'm looking forward to learning the circumstances behind it. (I am aware I might be over-hyping myself, but it's fun to speculate anyway.)

It's suspicious because it's deliberately suspicious. Wuk Lamat, and probably anyone from Tural (or at least Tuliyollal), would be able to identify it as "fake" from the language used and the wax seal. But the signature is genuine, which means it's not just an obvious prank. So Gulool Ja Ja would have known about this letter, and implicitly consented to its sending, but presented it in a way that makes it look fake. And seeking the answer to why he would do such a thing is probably at least part of why Krile is following us to Tural.

**Chasingstars** · 01-18-2024 12:04 PM

Blue mage observation

There was an interesting passage where the writer was taught the magic in exchange for teaching them the eorezan spoken language. In addition was permitted to live with them.

It is possible its Martyn or Whastrach wrote this. I personally doubt Whastrach as they did not view the magic as worthwhile, and the writing contained in "Principles of Blue Magic and Spell Acquisition" is more of praise and in honoring the tribe by calling it a "noble magic".

I doubt it would be an unknown third person as that would only mean they came to the same conclusions and also choosing to name the magic "blue magic" that as the text states "no name existed for it in the common tongue".

I could entirely be wrong but this is the first time any mention of a "shaman" has been mentioned in regards to the whalaqee. Potentially the actual name of the job? Also this would mean that to some extent that Martyn was serving as basically a substitute-shaman, for better and for worse.

The text gives a bit more insight into the Whalaqee and their traditions, which gives it a druid-like feel. with phrases like:

"the tribe holds nature in the highest, and in seeking to cultivate a spiritual connection with it, they have learned to harness the power of the wildlife around them"
"make the animals' power my own"

Though I will admit there isn't much spiritualism in the actual blue mage quests. As aside from the learning-aspect such as with ~~the totems or of~~ battling monsters, it gives the practice of the magic a divorced feeling from its more spiritual roots. Which is probably by the intention as its been commercialized and used for entertainment.

Crossed out a bit of text, as a little physical book provided information that made even that not have any spiritualism to it. This tidbit from the following:

Though Martyn did reference Whalaqee carvings in the creation of these totems, they are his own handiwork—their name lending perhaps undeserved air of authenticity. Infused with the aether of creatures from the New World, said totems enable trained blue mage practitioners to learn new spells without journeying across the Indigo Deep.

-Encyclopedia Eoreza, Volume III pg. 239

**Vallavia** · 01-18-2024 04:29 PM

Whilst we're on the subject of Erenville...

The reveal that Erenville is a Turali native genuinely took me by surprise, especially considering he has the standard Viera accent. I have to wonder if there's a separate Viera culture in Tural like the Xbr'aal for Hrothgar, although the trailer clearly shows a good amount of Hrothgar in Tuliyollal and zero Viera. A decently sized population in Tural could explain why there are so many Viera in Sharlayan and nowhere else outside Golmore due to the geographical proximity (yes, all the races are pretty equally represented in Sharlayan but I want to dream about Viera being plot-relevant). Or, maybe he's just a complete outlier and ended up there as a child for completely arbitrary reasons.

**Turnintino** · 01-31-2024 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by Vallavia

Whilst we're on the subject of Erenville...

The reveal that Erenville is a Turali native genuinely took me by surprise, especially considering he has the standard Viera accent.

I mean, remember that Lyna was in the same boat, despite being raised by G'raha. Or Runar's accent despite his (presumed) upbringing among the Night's Blessed. Accents are apparently genetic lol. The English dub just doesn't seem to give these things deeper consideration -- or at least not since Stormblood.

**Cleretic** · 01-31-2024 10:25 AM

I think that someone hiding where he's coming from, and evidently doing so very well, probably has trained away from his native accent.

EDIT: I should clarify, I don't have an explanation for any of the others (although I could probably devise one), but for Erenville specifically? Yeah, him not having a Turalian accent makes sense.

**Iscah** · 01-31-2024 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by Turnintino

The English dub just doesn't seem to give these things deeper consideration -- or at least not since Stormblood.

I would say since before then – I'm not sure about accents (I still to this day have not played much of ARR/HW with voices turned on) but the persistence of naming conventions being entirely race-based and not cultural always seemed odd. Some races might be a bit more insular and sticking to particular traditions, but it didn't seem right to have things like Midlanders all having the same types of names from Ul'dah to Ishgard and yet Mid- and Highlander names stay distinct from each other.

Later expansions have been better about this and having culture-based rather than strictly racial names.

**Cilia** · 02-01-2024 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by Iscah

I would say since before then – I'm not sure about accents (I still to this day have not played much of ARR/HW with voices turned on) but the persistence of naming conventions being entirely race-based and not cultural always seemed odd. Some races might be a bit more insular and sticking to particular traditions, but it didn't seem right to have things like Midlanders all having the same types of names from Ul'dah to Ishgard and yet Mid- and Highlander names stay distinct from each other.

Later expansions have been better about this and having culture-based rather than strictly racial names.

It makes enough sense if you consider that in places not governed by one of the three Eorzean Alliance city-states people tend to stick to insular communities of their race; the U miqo'te tribe in Southern Thanalan, f'ex. We just don't see most of them in-game on account of the limited world; Duskwight Elezen, Plainsfolk Lalafell, Roegadyn of both tribes, and Keepers of the Moon Miqo'te have their ancestral homes so far removed from the game world we just don't get to interact with their settlements.

As far as voices go, with only a few notable exceptions everyone speaks with a British accent of some sort from 2.0 onwards. 2.0-2.X had an NA cast, but after 2.X wrapped they shifted the voice studio to London... to be fair it's very good in general (especially compared to the piss poor quality of 2.0; 2.X is much better), but hearing everyone from every corner of the globe and beyond speak with a British accent is just a tiny bit strange. (They do pronounce foreign words correctly, so that's nice.) I chalk it up to Ascian influence from a Watsonian perspective.

The only exceptions are Viera characters (who speak with an Icelandic accent in homage to Fran) and Wuk Lamat. I'm assuming other Turali characters will also not speak with a British accent once we get there; s'ppose they finally listened to my criticism on this point? (Who am I kidding, of course they didn't.)

**MikkoAkure** · 01-31-2024 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by Iscah

I would say since before then – I'm not sure about accents (I still to this day have not played much of ARR/HW with voices turned on) but the persistence of naming conventions being entirely race-based and not cultural always seemed odd. Some races might be a bit more insular and sticking to particular traditions, but it didn't seem right to have things like Midlanders all having the same types of names from Ul'dah to Ishgard and yet Mid- and Highlander names stay distinct from each other.

Later expansions have been better about this and having culture-based rather than strictly racial names.

Considering the fact that they’re all grouped under “Midlander” and all share the same historical origins, I would argue that Midlander Hyur are all 1 culture and it makes sense for them to share the same names. They all speak the same language, live in just a handful of cities, and make up half of the population of the whole continent.

Meanwhile the separate races of Eorzea are proudly defensive of their heritage and do not mix with each other so it makes sense that they’d all maintain their naming conventions even after Midlander Hyur (re)incursions into the region from Ilsabard in the early Sixth Era. Highlander Hyur came from Amdapor and Mhach so it still makes sense for those two populations to have different naming conventions from the Midlanders who originated from Ilsabard as well.

The reason everyone in the Far-East has the same naming conventions is because the local Roegadyn and Au Ra fell completely under the sway of the Hyur culture there.

**Turnintino** · 02-01-2024 12:22 PM

Runar and Magnus (honestly can't remember if there've been other voiced Hrothgar) both spoke with Norwegian accents as well, which seems more than coincidence, especially considering the Ronso naming conventions on the First, in contrast to the more Slavic inspiration for the Hrothgar of the Source. But it's clear that rule wasn't extended to Wuk Lamat the same way it was extended to Viera like Lyna and Erenville -- and with good reason. But point being that reason hasn't always been enough lol.

Thread: Patch 6.55 - Growing Light Part II - Story Discussion

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