Thread: 7.3 and that mysterious ________ (spoilers obviously)

I suppose it's not impossible that the other Azem shards could have been an Ascian, but I think Emet would probably have mentioned that and that they'd normally try to get the one on the Source given the importance of the Source and how it wouldn't be destroyed like the other shards.

The most key thing though is what the scions say. I vaguely recall they spelled out to us that only Ascians had all this knowledge and SE usually only makes them spell things out to us if it's correct.

There were no Azem shards involved with the Ascians, Emet-Selch would have recognized them. He knows who you are the first time he sees you and spends the rest of Shadowbringers coping about it. I don't think there are any unknown unsundered, either. But there are many interesting possibilities. I think there are ways an Ascian, or someone with their powers and knowledge, could become stronger, now that there is no one to stop them.

Azem also couldn't even be raised up. Their crystal, the one we carry, is something Emet-Selch made on his own and isn't imbued with unsundered Azem's memories. What it has, like the summoning spell, is just what Emet put in it himself. Because he's a sentimental old bastard that misses his best friend.

That said, we don't know if more than one shard is raised up at once, and the black masks and who they were wasn't fully resolved as they were treated like Ascian mooks in ARR and HW, but I don't think showed up from SB onwards.

But there is nothing stopping the writers from making another shard of Azem a villain. Or perhaps just another person with the Echo ends up against us.

Also, if the Ascians found a shard of Azem, well Emet Selch would be the first to know about that

Originally Posted by Garruss

Also, if the Ascians found a shard of Azem, well Emet Selch would be the first to know about that

Emet journeyed with us how long and talked to us how often before he realized we were a shard of Azem? Literally the entirety of ShB.

Originally Posted by FuturePastNow

There were no Azem shards involved with the Ascians, Emet-Selch would have recognized them. He knows who you are the first time he sees you and spends the rest of Shadowbringers coping about it.

He didn't. In the final confrontation with him he did a shocked Pikachu face then was all like "NO IT CAN'T BE! Bah a trick of the light!" when he finally saw us in our ascian form and realized who we were.

Anyway Emet aside, if SE got some good writers this time through I think a false Azem manipulating Calyx for their own mysterious purposes would be a fantastic story arc if they are bent on brining Ascians back at all.

Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

Emet journeyed with us how long and talked to us how often before he realized we were a shard of Azem? Literally the entirety of ShB.

If you talk to him between quests, he makes multiple comments about things you "wouldn't remember" from the ancient world. Whether he's already aware of the WoL being a shard of Azem or is just generally being salty about us being sundered is ambiguous, but it can certainly be read either way.

He didn't. In the final confrontation with him he did a shocked Pikachu face then was all like "NO IT CAN'T BE! Bah a trick of the light!" when he finally saw us in our ascian form and realized who we were.

He could've also been in denial about it. This is well after we failed to meet his expectations by containing the Lightwardens' light, so he's clearly given up on us actually awakening as Azem. That we now suddenly (if briefly) manifest an Ancient form is shocking, but he's a stubborn old bastard and refuses to back down, so he denies it.

Anyway Emet aside, if SE got some good writers this time through I think a false Azem manipulating Calyx for their own mysterious purposes would be a fantastic story arc if they are bent on brining Ascians back at all.

We also still have at least two Ascians unaccounted for. Pashtarot appeared once in a cutscene and never again, and Halmarut was mentioned in Akademia Anyder and nowhere else. Altima and Deudalaphon were apparently defeated by Gaius sometime between the Praetorium and his return pre-Shadowbringers, but whether he has the actual power to kill them for good or just slay their hosts is unknown. (Emmerololth is also somewhat ambiguous; she appeared in the same cutscene as Pashtarot, but Eureka later established that she was killed by Galuf and his group long before. Either another Emmerololth was raised up, or there's a retcon in there somewhere.) Maybe one of them could've raised up an Azem shard as a pawn, the same way the Unsundered raised all of them.

Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

Emet journeyed with us how long and talked to us how often before he realized we were a shard of Azem? Literally the entirety of ShB.



He didn't. In the final confrontation with him he did a shocked Pikachu face then was all like "NO IT CAN'T BE! Bah a trick of the light!" when he finally saw us in our ascian form and realized who we were.

Anyway Emet aside, if SE got some good writers this time through I think a false Azem manipulating Calyx for their own mysterious purposes would be a fantastic story arc if they are bent on brining Ascians back at all.

No, Emet knew we were a shard the whole time. That's the actual reason he opted to play nice most of SHB. The seat of Emet-Selch required the ability to recognize souls individually by sight, and as soon as he came back to work, he came right to us. The whole point was he wanted to see if we were anything like the Azem of his time. The entire game has all sorts of little moments he's attempting to spark us to remember or act like his Azem. I've seen some other players even catch that he acts like we were his former lover with a few lines.
The reveal when Ardbert merged was because we suddenly did look like his Azem and right at the moment when we were determined to put him down. He even states to us right before that moment that becoming a sin-eater would help hurry the rejoining for the world "that is rightfully ours." Foreshadowing more about the relationship they had.

'that is rightfully ours'

ours as in 'us the ascians'. when you talk about an organisation or faction you are part of its normal to use 'us' even if you are the only one from that faction present