The Masked Mage

[Hestern_Nestern]

I was under the impression that the guy who's supposed to be long dead is Xandes. Supposedly, he's a dead Allag emperor that was entombed underneath Silvertear Lake... but look at Xande for inspiration. He's not dead, he's just in "cryostasis." It would also explain the concept art of Cloud of Darkness.

"The slumbering Allag emperors are surely turning in their graves." - Nael van Darnus

Subtle reference?

Couldn't Xandes and the Masked Mage be one and the same? Maybe even Xandes, the Masked Mage, and Cloud of Darkness, but all different forms of the same entity? *tilts head*

Like maybe Ascians aren't born, but made, sort of thing, and Xandes was made into one of them, thus becoming Masked Mage, and maybe at some point in the game he morphs into Cloud of Darkness, or something.

*scratches head* I am more imaginative than I am practical. He he.

[Bigpurpleharness]

****Spoilers***** Highlight the text below to read. :P

He mentions seeing Bahamut prior to the most recent summoning of Dalamud, does anyone know when that was? I believe the exact quote was, "To think I would live to see Bahamut again...."

[Agrotc]

****Spoilers***** Highlight the text below to read. :P

I would think that'd be around the same time he was imprisoned in Dalamud, so presumably at the height of the Allagan civilization.

[Anonymoose]

The longer this game goes on, the more I realize that this is all about aetherial balance. Aether is the fabric from which all life is woven, it is the basic unit of reality. When the six elements are in balance, life thrives, and when it is imbalanced, life is threatened and the world is in danger of being torn asunder. Think of it like a canoe shaken to capsizing.

Allow me to propose a new theory:

The prophecies foretold an era of chaotic imbalance representing each of the six elements, but some predicted a seventh as well, later confirmed by the discovery of the Seventh Verse of the Divine Chronicles and then the arrival of the era itself. This cognates exactly with the Seven Hells. Eorzeans believe that the first six hells are each dominated by a single element, but in the seventh resides the lord of the underworld, the Black Warden. This is the force that drives eternal oblivion, which is arguably the exact opposite of the life bestowed by aether.

Now, beyond the light of the crystal (itself composed of aether) lies what is known as the void. Some believe that the voidsent monsters we see in Eorzea are sent by an outside force that seeks to imbalance the realm. This force is likely the Ascians, who we know want to see the realm destroyed and the crystal dark. Posing as Paragons, the saints of the beast tribes, these shadowless entities from beyond the crystal's light encouraged the summoning of primals, which consume the realm's aether and drive the aetherial balance offcenter (thus into an umbral era).

Now, look again at the masked mage. Using the knowledge and power of the Paragons, he drives the beasts of the realm mad by destabilizing the aether and later requests the aid of some greater dark force and uses it to summon voidsent. Now, look back to Urianger Augurelt. When he first came to Eorzea, he lied his cryptic ass off about who he was and what he was doing there so he could act as a diversion while his comrades established the Grand Companies. One of the lies he told was that he was a member of a group of mages that were aligned with the seven demon lords of the seven hells who sought only to plunge the world into chaos.

Starting to add up?

I used to joke about how the Seventh Umbral Era seemed like when we would finally be forced to clean up the mess that every other era has been putting band aids on for thousands of years, but I think that's actually more correct that I anticipated.

This is the umbral era of oblivion and our last stand against the Ascians to save the source of all life, and that masked bastard was the first casualty to the Adversary.

[Alaltus]

This force is likely the Ascians, who we know want to see the realm destroyed and the crystal dark.

Kind of like when a crystal is bereft of it's light no? Like what was said would happen should the Garleans achieve their Godslaying motives.

Nael Van Darnus: "Oh how I grieve for this world! This world beset by fools! And that the worst of them should hail from mine own land! Gaius van Baelsar, the Emperor, his beloved subjects -- fools, one and all! Blindly, they struggle to exterminate the primals in the name of conquest. Yet what worth is there in a realm bereft of the crystals' light? What has become of Garlean pride, that we must scavenge the leavings of false gods!?"

[Catapult]

Kind of like when a crystal is bereft of it's light no? Like what was said would happen should the Garleans achieve their Godslaying motives.

Nael Van Darnus: "Oh how I grieve for this world! This world beset by fools! And that the worst of them should hail from mine own land! Gaius van Baelsar, the Emperor, his beloved subjects -- fools, one and all! Blindly, they struggle to exterminate the primals in the name of conquest. Yet what worth is there in a realm bereft of the crystals' light? What has become of Garlean pride, that we must scavenge the leavings of false gods!?"

Careful, buddy. Nael was being drip-fed influence by one of the most powerful dragons on Hydaelyn. His view of the world was somewhat warped to put it lightly.

[Anonymoose]

Like what was said would happen should the Garleans achieve their Godslaying motives.

I think you're slightly misinterpreting what he was saying. Darnus' wasn't implying that slaying primals would cause the crystal to go dark; he calls them false gods in the same breath (and if Darnus and Louisoix agree on something, it's probably true).

He's saying that it's disgusting that the Empire would want to claim a land contaminated with lesser beings who have already bled it dry of the Crystal's light. The only thing it's fit for now is annihilation.

When you look at what every language has to say, you get a much clearer image of what he meant. I'll try my best to translate:

JP: この世は、愚か者であふれている！ 愚かなる、ガイウス・ヴァン・バエサル。 愚かなる、ガレマール帝国ッ。 「救済」と称して蛮神を浄化し、「クリスタルの力」なき地を支配し、蛮神どもの残飯をあさって、富を得たとは… なんッと、愚かで滑稽なッ！ 我が望みは、一切の浄化そのもの！
JP: This world is full of fools! Gaius van Baelsar is a fool. The Emperor is a fool. To purify the primals under the pretense of "salvation," to rule this land without the "power of the crystal"... left to us as scraps by false gods! It's so stupid it's comical! My wish is purification itself!

DE: Auf dieser Welt wimmelt es nur so von Dummköpfen! Gaius van Baelsar ... ein Trottel. Der garleische Kaiser ... ein Kretin! Wozu die Götzen der wilden Stämme auslöschen? Wer will über ein Reich herrschen, das des Lichts der Kristalle beraubt wurde ...? Das Kaiserreich ist nur noch ein Schatten seiner selbst! Wir kämpfen um das, was falsche Götter übrig ließen?! Wo ist unser Stolz geblieben?! Was ist aus unseren erhabenen Zielen geworden?! Ich werde alles tun, um dieses verpestete Land auszulöschen!
DE: This world is teeming with idiots! Gaius van Baelsar ... a sucker. The Emperor ... a cretin! What of obliterating the idols of the beast tribes? Who wants to rule over a land deprived of the crystal's light ...? The Empire is a shadow of its former self! We fight for what false gods leave behind? Where is our pride?! What has become of our ambition ...? I would do anything to eradicate this polluted land!

FR: Rempli de sots! Cet idiot de Gaius van Baelsar... Cet Empire idiot... Prétextant leur salut, ils annexent des terres sans énergie éthérée... Se repaissant des restes des eikons pour en faire leur festin... Minable! Risible! Mon seul espoir n'est plus que la purification totale de cette terre souillée!
FR: Surrounded by fools! That idiot Gaius van Baelsar... That idiot Emperor... Claiming it salvation, they annexed land without atherial energy... feeding on what the eikons have already made their feast. Pathetic! Ridiculous! My only hope is the complete purification of this polluted land!

We could go very in-depth on that matter, but that's the skinny of it; the part that matters right now, anyway. I've been working on something larger, but I don't want to get ahead of myself before it's all straightened out. Catapult's been running consultant, considering he'd be the first person to realize it if I said anything stupid, so hopefully he can attest that it's worth the wait XD

Sigh you guys, nothing SE does will be a surprise because you're writing the game for them! lol.

To be fair, the title of this forum can be expressed as "This is a place to talk about the story of the game." If that doesn't imply a certain level of *SPOILER ALERT*, I don't know what will. Besides, for every once we're right we're wrong thrice. Which angle we were right from might still be a surprise! lol

[Pwnagraphic]

****Spoilers***** Highlight the text below to read. :P

He mentions seeing Bahamut prior to the most recent summoning of Dalamud, does anyone know when that was? I believe the exact quote was, "To think I would live to see Bahamut again...."

The giant statue bye Highbridge also looks like the Mage(s)

[Mjollnir]

The end of your tale is just the beginning of another... The tale of the crystal's demise!

Ahahahaha. Hahahaha. Aha. Ah.

Gosh, wouldn't it be terrible if our heroic but repeated deaths were draining that poor crystal dry? On the one hand, it needs us alive and well-trained to stand against the Ascian threat, on the other, by keeping us alive, it's slowly weakening. Dilemma!

Can't make sense of that quote otherwise. Unless...

The end of your tail is just the beginning of some others... The tails of the crippled old mice!

Ahahahaha. Hahahaha. Aha. Ah.

Secret of Nym. I saw it in an Echo.

[Hestern_Nestern]

Okay so because I want to be crazy and propose weird theories about who Masked Mage is, I will give you these two images:



OR



And yes, neither one of these makes sense, which is PRECISELY why I suspect it the most! Yes, Derplander has been hiding secrets from us!!!! Nevermind the fact that Derplander is a representation of us...and doesn't appear in the game itself...or...well all those logical incongruities ASIDE!

Ahem.

OR IT IS ALFINO/ALPHINAUD! Come on, people. He looks way too innocent! And look at his lips! THEY ARE TOTALLY THE SAME LIPS as this dude:



Did anyone else notice that there are two Alfino/Alphinauds?? I think one of them is a female, though. Sister? An evil sister, clearly, equally fond of creepy masks! YES! I have uncovered it all!!!

MAKE WAY, Anonymoose and Catapult (and those other loremongers I can never remember), I am moving in on ya territory, ya awful ahrimans, ya!!! DESTROYING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT DA SAME TIME, TU! YO! BETTA RECOGNIZE!