1.23b/c Speculation

[Akujin]

..I actually like the idea of Darnus becoming Odin, in some form or another. The one guy who is hell-bent on destroying Primals, becoming one, or having his essence transferred into what was once Odin, sealed up inside Dalamud.

His own words said, though not quote for quote, that what good is a world bereft of the crystal's light, when talking about how the empire is bent on destroying all primals and the rest of eozrea in general.

Which, may just be a typo of some sort, or another meaning in it.. if Darnus is so focused on destroying the Primals and life in general "purfication' as it were, but is still embracing 'the crystal' in whatever form its taking in this game.. does that mean that the Primals, or the Dieities themselves, are not of the Crystal but a different source?

The 'Crystal' as it were, has always been the origin source for everything, well typyically, in the FF universe. But it almost seems as though in this case the Crystal and the 12/primals arent actually connected, but remain separate idenities..

[Aistalia]

Well, during the cutscene you see after defeating Darnus you clearly see:

[Spoilers ahead, but I guess anybody's reading this thread won the fight already]

Before "dying" he extends his arm towards Dalamud.
His body dissolving into some steamy energy aura/aether, and it slowly flies to Dalamud. There's a scene just for that:


Now the moon/meteor/machina and the sinister thing that lives inside it has probably Darnus' will. They are finally one thing, he sacrificed his own "flesh" for Dalamud.
When you get back to Gridania and talk to Cid, he says he believes Dalamud is not going to fall and that Louisoux doesn't need to use the "last resort he kept muttering about...".
We clearly see he's going to use "it" in the trailer, sending the adventurers into a safe place at the end of time, and making them come back in 2.0 world, after a (long?) timeskip. Probably sacrificing himself. Something is going to happen in the next patches.
Although I believe the Darnus "hard" fight is going to be just to give us an extra challenge and probably unrelated to the storyline.

[Jinrya-Geki]

The time skip can't be that long if Gaius Van Baelsar is still around, when we get back.

[Churchill]

It'll be long enough so that people vaguely remember us, the adventurers who fought Nael van Darnus, but the resistance will be on its last legs, desperately requiring assistance. Our return will be met with both joy and scorn, as we were unable to assist this entire time while people died and the Garleans gained control of everything.

[Velhart]

The time skip can't be that long if Gaius Van Baelsar is still around, when we get back.

Its funny and I don't know how SE will approach this. I was originally assuming that the world would reincarnate itself and Baelsar (not the original one) would be a character again. Like that episode of Futurama where they went so far ahead in time another Big Bang happened and the world progression process went right back to where it was.

One other theory is that Baelsar himself also gets sent through the Aether along with us. I do believe also that Odin uses Darnus as a host to roam Eorzea again in physical form, most likely sealed within Dalamud. He could also become Omega Weapon....both look very similar, so it is a toss up for me.

But my best prediction is that it will be something I don't expect most likely.

[Alkar]

Nael Van Darnus resembles Ultima more than Odin, just look at the art and tell me they aren't the same thing.

[Rannie]

What if we haven't seen the absolute last of Nael Van Darnus? I understand a Hard Mode of To Kill a Raven is coming, but that's not exactly what I mean.

1.23 doesn't feel like "The End". Rather, because Yoshida said that "1.23 would mark the beginning of the events of the 7th Umbral Era", combined with the fact that Cid speaks of a plan Louisoux had come up with.

I know many of us were expecting Darnus to turn into Ultima/Omega, and while that may not have happened here, perhaps we could be looking at an ascended Darnus as a final boss for 1.23c?

It's not my intention to beat a dead horse, but I have this ominous feeling we haven't seen the end of Dalamud or Darnus as Cid claims.

You know even in the journal it makes mention to you having a feeling that it isn't over yet... I suggest everyone go read that entry in the journal if they've fought the white raven.

[Velhart]

Other theory: