#FFXIV Theories and Speculation

[sartelainargret]

Theories and Speculation: The Queen and the Gilded Cage

[This theory includes spoilers for the 7.0 Dawntrail Main Scenario Quests in Final Fantasy XIV. It was written before the release of the 7.1 patch.]

I theorize that the Endless Sphene was a figurehead without most of the powers of a real monarch. This may not have been the case when she was alive, but this was true of the Endless version of Sphene. She may have had some power over her country as an Endless, but her directive to preserve the Endless at any cost reduced her personal agency and robbed her of much of her free will.

I think this version of Sphene is a warped copy of the original because she had to adhere to her directive. This directive was given to her by someone or some group of people. These people asserted their authority over her decision-making process and turned her into a figurehead. Thus, she was unable to make the choices that were in line with what she really wanted—that is, what the living Sphene might have chosen.

“But what’s your favorite food, if you don’t mind me asking?” –Wuk Lamat

“My favorite food… That is a question I may never be able to answer.” –Sphene

It's also possible that the Endless Sphene is a cherry-picked version of her original self. Her inability to choose a favorite food, for example, may be evidence that she did not have this memory at all. Perhaps some memories were culled by her creators because they were deemed useless for a figurehead queen to remember. It may also be possible that some memories were lost over time—it appears she was an Endless for a while. Regardless, the scene where Sphene could not choose a favorite food seems to both foreshadow her difference from a living person and that she may have lost a connection with some of her memories from when she was alive (even before she erased them to serve as the Queen Eternal).

“Unlike me, you still have the power to determine your own fate.” –Sphene

Sphene’s creators may not have meant for the Endless to be prioritized over living beings. However, because the directive was so rigid, this is what occurred in practice. This rigidity may have also been intentional—the people who preserved Sphene may not have wanted her to disobey them. Her creators made her unable to alter her directive. This decision, at the very least, took power from her and made her less true to herself.

I theorize that the people that created the Endless version of Sphene always intended to use her as a public figurehead while they (possibly the group named Preservation) ruled in the shadows. It is also possible that this group still rules Alexandria.

“You’re useless! A queen in naught but name!”–Frantic Man

When Sphene gave the Warrior of Light’s party a tour of Alexandria, a man accused Sphene of being just a figurehead. It’s not certain whether she wanted to oblige this man and could not, or legitimately did not want to give him preferential treatment. Regardless, she placated the man, and this showed her effectiveness as a figurehead. Throughout her tour, she never offered to change the system she was supposed to be the ruler of. Regardless, she was able to offer solace to the people who were disenchanted with Alexandria’s society.

“It seems I’ve no choice but to continue down this path…” -Sphene

In the scene above Sphene lamented that she could not choose a path to a peaceful solution with Wuk Lamat. This closely followed a conversation where she could not speak her mind because there was a mechanical soldier watching her. At first, it seemed like this watchful eye was Zoraal Ja’s, sent to stop her from betraying him. However, at the end of the 7.0 MSQ it seemed more likely that these sentinels were meant to represent some other presence. Perhaps they were meant to be a physical manifestation of the directive, always keeping her in line. Alternatively, they could have been the watchful eyes of Preservation, or whatever group that was really in charge. It’s possible that this unknown group had the capacity to change Sphene’s directive but would not do so because her pursuit of the directive benefited their selfish interests in some way.

Sphene appeared keenly aware that her activities caused suffering for her own people, despite her assertion that she wanted to protect them at any cost. This troubled her when she visited the sick child in Alexandria. She made it clear that it was her fault that levin sickness was on the rise.

“The cause is quite clear, though—the excess lighting in the environment. It’s no coincidence the number of cases has risen dramatically these past thirty years.” –Sphene

“It’s all my fault…” –Sphene

I don’t think the Endless Sphene wanted to take the lives of others to preserve her own people. She recognized that her directive made her dangerously selfish, even when she did not want to be selfish. I also think she didn’t believe Alexandrian society always acted in the best interests of her people. However, the system that preserved her did not give her the freedom to pursue other paths. She may have hoped the Warrior of Light could find a peaceful solution that worked for her people and Wuk Lamat’s, but she also accepted from early on that being shut down might turn out to be the most peaceful solution that benefited everyone. However, she had to be careful that her acceptance of this path was never expressed in a way that would violate her directive.

“I am, in the end, a pitiful, selfish creature. One that should never have been created.” –Sphene

“If only I had met you when I was still alive, then perhaps…” –Sphene

I also theorize there is a second copy of Sphene’s memories in her crown. At some point it was mentioned that Sphene had a special regulator, and there was a small scene at the end of 7.0 that showed her crown glowing. It seems likely that a new copy of her will be created from these memories. I suspect that this version of Sphene will be devoid of any memories of her experiences with Wuk Lamat’s party.

[capriccio-ffxiv]

/pulls up a chair

what if the real "rejoining" is building bridges between all the shards and opening up trade

and instead of killing these split souls, opening a path for a way that the natural process of a reconnected Lifestream allows for a slow, gentle rejoining, with no sacrifice involved on the part of any of the newly born souls

what if we mend the broken world after all, but instead by building the pieces into something new, rather than trying to force the shape back to how it was

what if we fill our wounds with gold

and become transformed?

[monarchetype]

Okay this is a question I've had since the Savage tier dropped and no one else has brought it up to my knowledge: Eutrope begins her giga-electrope-transformation as being her "surrendering herself to the electrope," and the announcer describes it as her "unleashing a new feral soul." But for electrope to count as a 'feral soul', doesn't that mean... y'know... it has a soul? Is electrope alive? The tentacle thingies on Wicked Thunder's second phase definitely aren't coming from the Ixion feral soul or a Miqo'te soul, so is the body plan for those coming from the electrope? Is all electrope just tentacles of some eldritch electric Cthulhu???

[mizunosuzuka]

Okay, so I've been having some brain worms/thoughts about Shadowbringers/Endwalker Emet-Selch, Warrior of Light, and lastly, Azem that keep me up at night and I'd like to just theory-craft/spew these thoughts before they take over my brain.

BEAR IN MIND THERE WILL BE SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!!

Alrighty so, during Endwalker's Elpis questline, the WoL is initially teleported into the hub/entrance to Elpis, and is transparent , unable to be seen by those around them, nor are they able to interact with anything in their environment, and all seems pretty hopeless until a pleasantly familiar voice reaches their auditory sensors and lo and behold, the younger, far less theatrical Emet-Selch and their old-new friend Hythlodaeus have arrived to Elpis to conduct their business, and who is the first one to glance in their direction, obviously noticing the WoL despite how small and transparent they seem to be?

Emet-Selch. The WoL is perceived in these cutscenes, at least from my perspective, as being both shocked and very aware of the presence of this man, who, by all accounts, looks identical face wise to the Emet-Selch they are familiar with. Younger, less jaded and maniacal, sure.

And he notices the WoL almost immediately.

Now where the brain worms begin... Or continue. Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus can "see" the color of the soul, perceiving it in a way that allows them to uniquely pick out different people based off their soul alone, rather than their physical appearance, something that the people of present day Eitherys are unable to do.

Because of Amaurot's policy against individualism whilst about in public spaces, most Amaurotian are regarded by their job or station, with little that defines them from the next, save from the Convocation, all of whom are recommended for their office by a prior seat., Thusly, their people avoid conflict, as they are all found to be essential, and on equal footing.

Except... For those that have the soul sight.

It's considered a valuable gift even in Ancient times, and while Hades imparts that his is inferior to Hythlodaeus, whom he feels should have taken the seat of Emet-Selch, he yet still is able even while focused on other tasking and conversation, to immediately take note of the thin speck of a soul that is, by all accounts, identical to Azem's. (Because they are, in fact, an 8 times rejoined Azem)

This sets up for the inevitable question of, exactly how close is Emet-Selch to Azem? How intimate a relationship must they have (and not necessarily in a sexual way, this can be kindred spirits, familial, platonic, or romantic, however you feel to justify it) that his peripheral senses caught onto the Warrior of Light before Hythlodaeus had a moment to push Emet-Selch into slipping them some aether. Because I don't know about you, but when I'm out and about I don't always take full stock of everything, unless something or someone feels or looks familiar to me, in which I might do a double take, but this man straight up ZEROEs in on the WoL and you have to think... Was he expecting Azem? Was he hoping for Azem?

Now, let's dissect this from another standpoint.

When first it's spoken about the WoL's soul on the first Emet-Selch has just finished observing them just after Ryne's (then Minfilia) rescue and subsequent escape from Ranjit and from Eulmore. He notes its curious quality from afar and states that it may be of use after all. At this point in Emet-Selch's very extensive life, he's already experienced the Final Days, then the destruction of Amaurot, lost one of his best friends, as well as was [betrayed/left] by his other best friend, who was then sundered before they could even attempt to reconcile. Additionally, he has witnessed the fall of man and been tempered by a God beyond that of which we have any understanding of to this point, because it's a creation of and manifestation of the very "Will of the Star", whose heart is literally his youngest, and most innocent(to a degree that we understand) coworkers.

In other words, he is in the full throes of trauma, depression, and the hopeless burden of a life led too long.

Now, I believe somewhere in the questline, Emet-Selch reveals that once his duty is complete, his plan was to return to the star. This insinuates that, upon reviving all those lost and sundered, bringing everyone back that had been sacrificed etc, he would seek to end his life, despite finally having those he loved returned to him. The true burden of grief indeed. But I think, that he realizes that the man he has become, what he has done to bring back his people, the ones he cared about? No longer has a place in ancient society. A peaceful society, that by all accounts abhorred crass terminology such as death and disapproved of violence and hurtfulness, instead focusing on healthy debate and being "stewards of the Star". But Emet-Selch here, he has been warped by millennia of despair, by the aching of his heart, of Zodiark, who has been a voice in his ear so long it may as well be an extension of himself. He's endured so much loss, so many horrors, that he cannot conceive of that peaceful place anymore where he can peacefully coexist. He cannot resolve a place in his perfect society for himself any longer, and I think deep in his heart, it may even be shame for the deeds he had to commit. Despite his repeated attempts at degrading the Scions for their existence, calling the residents of this first "half-men" and denoting that he doesn't see any of them as "truly alive", this comes into question when the Scions and the WoL arrive in Amaurot, and the shades do not call them familiars, or wonder what type of creatures they are.

No, they are called children. They are the precious lifeblood of Amaurot. They are the innocent, the curious, the lives that must be taught and protected.

And who made this version of Amaurot?

Emet-Selch.

Now by this point you might be wondering, Suzuka, what do you mean, that's super irrelevant, Emet-Selch merely created Amaurot to be as it was in the final days, the only distinction being Hythlodaeus. And I would offer you this.

So why would this not present the same in Emet-Selch's recreation of Amaurot? Unless... Unless he knew. Unless he felt it, deep down in his own soul, after so very long, that they were his people. Broken they may be, small, and far thinner in the aether than before, but they were trying, and actively pursuing the strengths that his people once embodied.

When the WoL is in Elpis, what is everyone's immediate assumption? That they are a familiar. A non-human entity, something of the arcane, not alive, not truly, and merely a representation of their creator's imagination, knowledge, and creativity.

Which brings me to my final point, and I thank you for even reading this far because my brain has been so warped by this it runs around in my brain rent free.

Emet-Selch of ShB timeline would not have been able to allow himself to try and be with a restored Azem of his time. Azem's innocence and attachment to the people, their care, their mischievousness, their tenacity, Emet-Selch himself was too broken to reconcile with the though of that. If you are an EmetWoL shipper like myself, then you've probably approached their dynamic like this once or twice before, even if you never wrote it down, or drew it up; that only the WoL in their only seven/right times rejoined self, could possibly understand or even think to care for him with all that he has done. Because they have done things too, no? Killed hundreds, or perhaps thousands in war for freedom, watched their loved ones perish before them. Lost friends, family, perhaps even tasted death themselves. Yet, they are not alone, as he feels he is. As in reality, he is, before WoL strikes him through the chest with the axe of Light. And the only one who might even have the most basic of understanding as to why he is the way he is, is the Warrior of Light. The same soul that he saw that day in Elpis and thought was his friend, his love.

Even for just a moment.

TL;DR Emet-Selch of ShB and the WoL are meant for each other and there's a reason that crotchety old man loves them see essay above lol

[voidsentprinces]

I said it once and I'll say it again, Shadowbringers was the lightning in the bottle for FFXIV. We were going to a new shard with new possibilities, we just didn't know it yet. The trailer showed of Thancred with one of the series most ICONIC weapons and MINFILIA was somehow fucking back!? Y'shtola was suddenly called Master Matoya which ignited the theory crafting train to wonder if their souls would somehow merge (this proved to be wrong obviously but at the time we didn't know what the fuck was happening), the Crystal Tower was a main focus but we didn't know how yet, the Crystal Exarch was mysterious and still took a couple months before anyone even began to speculate he was actually G'raha, there was a long period where Healers were about to start a Riot because they were down right CERTAIN Dancer was going to be a healing job, Dark Knight the community regarded best written job was a central figure, the War with Garlemald was still firing up as Ghimlyt Dark didn't hit juuust yet, Gaius had just been re-revealed, and the Scions were being dragged away by the mysterious Calling, Elidibus hijacked Zenos's body and Varis had gone stircrazy, Solus was revealed to be an Ascian and up to no good, naturally. And lastly it felt like, for the first time, the story was going to make the Warrior of Light and company the BAD GUYS!?! How!? Are we working WITH the Ascians to fight the light here!? Hydaelyn and Zodiark were PRIMALS!? We had no goddamn clue but MOST importantly of all...Urianger was practically naked so the thirst train that started in Heavensward derailed and drove straight through the fandom taking many of them with it as it just went fucking hard. The fact that it ended up having the best story in theme, atmosphere, and the biggest knee to the gut from level 78 - 80 was SPECTACULAR.

I don't think anything will hit like Shadowbringers did ever again.

[thefinalwitness]

i think i already made this post but i'm in the brain space and i want to be super clear about my intentions re: dawntrail spoilers, so this is the rundown of how i'll handle them, and how i handle all expansion spoilers!

for the first month following the full release (not the pre-order release), i won't be posting anything at all about dawntrail—no story spoilers, no non-story spoilers, nothing at all until august 2nd 2024.

after that, i usually start posting small spoilers, but not major ones, for anywhere from 6-12 months after release. all these posts WILL be tagged with "7.0 spoilers" (and "7.1/7.2/etc spoilers" when it becomes relevant), and since i've seen it's popular, i'll TRY to tag them as "dawntrail spoilers" for as long as possible too, but full disclosure that isn't how i naturally categorize ffxiv spoilers and that tag may be missed even on early posts, and may disappear much sooner than its patch number counterparts. "7.0 spoilers" is by far the most reliable way to block dawntrail spoilers fro me!

whenever i DO start posting major spoilers, these will be put under a readmore and both tagged as stated above, as well as prefaced before the readmore with a warning that it contains spoilers (and probably some details about what kind of spoilers, ie story/non-story, what level any related quests/zones are, etc).

furthermore, i personally take spoilers REALLY seriously, and will be blacklisting any and all words related to the expansion until i complete the MSQ. because this account is just a sideblog to my main blog, the dashboards are combined, so there's also a chance i will be temporarily blacklisting usernames and/or unfollowing people to avoid spoilers, as i would otherwise have to stay off tumblr as a whole, which would be very boring for me LMAO.

this isn't personal at all! i'm just REALLY allergic to even very small spoilers, and especially because i will likely not be playing dawntrail when its pre-order release goes live, i want to make absolutely sure i avoid spoilers as much as possible. again, once i finish the MSQ, i'll unblacklist and refollow any blogs. :)

i also want to touch on something i feel a lot of regret for regarding how i handled endwalker spoilers with friends: specifically, i had a tendency to debunk friends' theories with pre-endwalker information. at the time i didn't think this was a problem because i also didn't know the answer, just that xyz theory wasn't it because of pre-endwalker info, but in hindsight i think this has a lot of potential to ruin the fun of others who really enjoy speculating on the story as it unfolds, so i'm going to aim to not do that this time around! specifically, i'm not going to debunk other people's theories, EVEN if the info i'd be using comes from pre-dawntrail sources. i just think this was an unfun mistake on my part that i don't want to repeat without explicit permission, and i'm sorry to friends i did this to whose fun i soured in doing so. spoilers are really important to me, and while i know these aren't technically spoilers, i think they still have the potential to hit the same, and i don't want to make anyone feel the way i do when it happens to me.

i think that's everything! i hope everyone has fun in the new expansion, and i look forward to joining you whenever i get my own stuff sorted so i can play too! <3

[fierce-in-the-forest]

FFXIV Write 2024, Day 25: Perpetuity

CW: Major character death

Saoirse landed her bird on the top of the highest point of the great red gate, a place that had a view of the sea, and dismounted not ungracefully. At 40 years young, she was still down in years from the few viera leaders she had known. She had not yet married, had no viable romantic interest, and thus no heirs of her own. She had not yet seen much of the world outside of the East, nor had she thought she needed to. She regretted that choice now, aa everything she surveyed from the top of the kingdom was hers now. Hien was gone.

Her father was dead.

It had been sudden, his loss. There one moment, gone the next. Her mother, Alannah, was devastated. Unable to run their kingdom. But the kingdom wasn’t hers. Doma passed down to the heir. That was Saoirse.

Okay, well, technically, that was Char, the male child. But Saoirse was the one who remained, and Saoirse had been born to lead—though she hadn’t expected to do so for many, many more years. She wished she had paid more attention to the intricacies of, well, everything. But it was too late now.

Conceptually, Saoirse understood death. She understood that the viera lived a great deal longer than the Hyur. She pondered as she stared across the gray sky which she would be, when her eternity would come to be. Would she be more Hyur, or more viera? She had her mother’s ears, after all.

A viera. Running Doma, leading the people into the future.

Alone.

There was a scuffle, a light footfall, and then her brother appeared over the lip of the gate and settled in beside her. Not alone after all.

“You came.”

“I knew I’d find you here. We always did have our favorite spots.” Char had grown into a fine man. Broad and strong from many years of hunting—the wood had been kind to him. He had recently gotten married and spoke in his letters of starting a family. Somehow, he was so much farther along in his life than , or so it felt. She did not know when they had swapped positions.

“Father is gone.” It was the only thing she could think to say.

“I know. I knew immediately, I think. I felt you.”

Their twin sense was eternal, no matter how far apart they were or how long it had been since they spoke. “The rite of succession is today. They cannot leave the kingdom unmoored.”

Char nodded. He had known this too.

“Thank you. For coming.”

Char patted her on the knee. “As if I’d miss my big sister getting her crown.”

Big sister by mere minutes. “Well maybe it would be better suited for my little brother.” She had never said anything like that out loud, never hinted that she could be anything but the best leader. But there it was, her words and greatest fear hanging in the air.

“This kingdom was born to be yours, Saoirse. They will be safe in your hands.”

“I have never led anything before. Not really. Not like this.”

“Well….” Char thought for a moment before replying. “Leadership is….You don’t need a heavy hand. You need a willing spirit, a good heart. Your people will follow.”

Saoirse had known this, in theory. She had watched her father for many years. But they’d all thought they would have more time. Time itself had felt like eternity. He had taught everything about their kingdom but also taught her nothing at all. “I miss him.” She was Alannah’s daughter. The idea of grappling with her emotions was a challenge.

Char, however, cried freely. “I miss him too.” And then-“I didn’t get to say goodbye. I wish….I wish I’d had that. I loved him so much.”

Saoirse nodded, unsure what to say, where to go from here. “I am certain he knew your love. Our love.”

They sat together and watched as the sun moved across the Doman sea and cast sparkling golden waves in every possible direction. Saoirse let herself cry too, let herself feel the loss of the greatest man she had ever and would ever know. In such a short time, she would have to move forward and take the reins. The kingdom would not drive itself.

Char took her hand. “Perhaps,” he speculated, “the crown will sparkle.” He always knew exactly what she needed to feel better.

“But can I wear the sparkles all the time?” Saoirse quipped through her tears.

“You are the leader now. You can make it so. If you want to wear that crown every single day, you do that.”

They held hands, Saoirse’s right in Char’s left. Saoirse’s brain filled with so many things, sadness and budgets and who was assigned to the kingdom stables and how and where was her mother, but with her twin at her side it felt more….quiet in her brain.

“Father would be proud.”

Char turned to looked at her and stroked his beard—which had grown similar to their fathers. “Of both of us.”

That night, Saoirse would take the kingdom. And the next, they would say goodbye to their father. Together.

[eveninglark]

04. Reticent

✦ singing in the caverns of my limbs

The Warrior of Light preferred to be silent. There was no common consensus on what this meant for Harvey Moon’s character. So came the speculation and the discourse in the realm of the public forum.

A short character study on why a hero would be a silent protagonist and what it says about them.

Rated T ⟡ WoL & Scions ⟡ EW ⟡ 352

FFXIV Write 2024 ⟡ Master Post ⟡ AO3 Link

The Warrior of Light preferred to be silent.

There was no common consensus on what this meant for Harvey Moon’s character. So came the speculation and the discourse in the realm of the public forum.

It was a virtue, some declared. 

It was wisdom. But they did not know how Harvey was so small, so adrift, so lost that they could not find their voice to speak.

It was courage. But they did not know how Harvey trembled when they were precarious and a whisper would send everything crashing down, and they were too afraid to breathe.

It was justice. But they did not know how Harvey had no language for the blood on their hands that stained something so much deeper within them than the skin.

It was temperance. But they did not know how Harvey did not need sound to carve out the pieces of themself that held them back from necessity.

Nay, some differed. It was a sin.

Was it pride, when Harvey felt their opinion had no worth?

Was it deception, when Harvey feared the truth?

Was it melancholy, when Harvey could not show their gratitude?

Was it indifference, when Harvey was rendered speechless by the beauty of all that was?

The Warrior of Light was whatever they all wanted to hear, but there was no pleasure in theory. Who was the star’s hero, really? Did they not have a right to know? They wanted a declaration that would never rise. They wanted an answer that had no satisfaction.

Only those who could listen without sound could know.

Alphinaud heard Harvey when they held his shoulder.

Alisaie heard Harvey when they pulled her into a hug.

Thancred heard Harvey when their backs pressed together.

Urianger heard Harvey when they sat beside him.

Y’shtola heard Harvey when they set down her teacup.

Estinien heard Harvey when they matched his stride.

G’raha heard Harvey when they looked at him.

Krile heard Harvey when they walked together.

The star heard Harvey when they touched them.

The Warrior of Light preferred to be silent, but they could be learned in other ways.

[senah3dot0]

Seen a lot of speculation that the enigmatic maiden is an Ascian, but here's my wild theory: she's the FFXIV equivalent of Cortana (from the Halo series).

[eemamminy-art]

🔥give it to me, queen

Without a prompt I'm struggling to think of one ahaha... I wrote and rewrote this with several different ideas and then changed my mind 💀

Well, I don't know how unpopular this is or not but I think trying to avoid preconceived expectations for a new media would make things a lot more enjoyable for people. Instead of going into a show or movie or game expecting it to be bad or amazing or problematic or profound, just going into it with as little information as possible.

One example I always think of for myself is that I'd managed to avoid most of the press about the last of us and preordered the game just because I liked other naughty dog games. Much to my shock it was a survival horror zombie game?! If I had known that before I bought it I know how I am, I would have had so much trepidation and worry because I would have been like "oh it will be scary, you will get scared, you need to be careful" and I would have dragged my feet playing it if I even bought it at all. But I was already hooked after the prologue and I just went with it, and ended up becoming really attached to the game! I do like horror games, I am just such a chicken that I usually watch a full play of them before I play them myself! There are some others that I played blind and had a better time for it too, but in general I get so scared I get choked up knowing it's going to be scary ahead of time.

Another example on the opposite end was that I jumped hard on the speculation train for Shadowbringers. I watched all the press about it, I read all the theories, I speculated so much. I loved the stormblood patches and thought garlemald had to be somewhere in the story, surely, and also I loved the idea of this parallel universe having different versions of known NPCs on the first. Well, they did sort of touch on the garlean conflict but it was in like 3-4 cutscenes without the WoL even being there.. and yes some NPCs have counterparts on the first but it's not nearly as rampant as some had expected it to be. My own expectations greatly dampened my enjoyment of the expansion, and then the pacing and behavior of certain NPCs (mainly I'm thinking of Thancred and the Exarch here) made me so so angry. I have since come to really appreciate and love ShB (as well as those NPCs), but it took me a long time to get there, and I feel like I set myself up for failure by trying to know as much as I could and setting my own expectations to something they shouldn't have been. It was also the first expansion I'd really done that for... the most I overanalyzed about HW before it came out was the xaela lore haha.

And I mean not to mention all the people getting into FFXIV for the first time who are told ARR is boring, HW is decent, SB is awful in every way, and the story finally picks up in ShB and EW, and don't get to just experience it for themselves and decide what they think about it. I played ARR and its patches when they were new and I'm always baffled why people think it's so bad, and even replaying stormblood recently I don't think it deserves nearly the bad rep that it has among so many players.

I think in general we live in an age where so much information is readily available, it's so much easier to learn and discuss and overthink and overanalyze everything that it's hard to just stop and let something surprise us. At least, I know for me it's something that becomes increasingly more difficult.

[ihaveatypeanditstrickstergods]

I posted 425 times in 2022

110 posts created (26%)

315 posts reblogged (74%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@phoenixyfriend

@consultingcriminalatyourservice

@shenanigans-and-imagines

@occidentalavian

@wrenhyperfixates

I tagged 326 of my posts in 2022

Only 23% of my posts had no tags

#i need a queue tag - 141 posts

#exu calamity - 55 posts

#critical role - 41 posts

#final fantasy xiv - 26 posts

#kitty! - 26 posts

#exandria unlimited - 19 posts

#exandria unlimited calamity - 19 posts

#ffxiv - 16 posts

#ruins of avalir - 15 posts

#acofaf - 14 posts

Longest Tag: 125 characters

#or unsleeping city but that's the only dimension 20 i've watched a significant amount of so don't expect anything beyond that

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

246 notes - Posted December 6, 2022

#4

Y'all talking about Caleb being lonely is introvert erasure

351 notes - Posted November 18, 2022

#3

Dumb Theory: Wanessa is actually named Vanessa. She just remembered that you're not supposed to tell fey your name and panicked.

440 notes - Posted August 26, 2022

#2

Nasty Ends I want to see the Exandria Unlimited: Calamity cast come to:

- Zerxus is clearly a Fallen Paladin waiting to happen, so I really want him to get yoinked by a Betrayer God (Asmodeus seems likely, given the dream at the beginning) and be responsible for the death of at least one of the party members

- Loquacious and Laerryn are clearly not over each other, so I want them to reconcile just before the end (or one to die when the other is just about to confess that they still love them)

- I want Nydas to go out in an ultimately futile blaze of glory, ideally protecting some children (if, for example, he goes out trying to keep a corrupted Zerxus away from his (Zerxus's) son, I will weep in the best way possible)

- Cerrit has big "discovered an awful truth that could change everything but gets killed on the way to reveal it" energy. I really can't imagine him going out any other way.

- As for Patia, I just really want her to die at the foot of her grandfather's statue.

442 notes - Posted May 27, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

There is an old folk song that is sung in Exandria.  It goes by a lot of titles--In Marquet it’s commonly known as The Liar’s Love, while natives of Xhorhas would know it as The Fey Groom, and the elves of Syngorn’s version has a title that translates to “The Sacrifice of Truth for Love.”

It is a story ballad that tells the story of a fey who journeyed to the Material Plane in search of stories (interestingly, the Dwarvish version here uses a word that translates closer to “truth” than “story” and shares a root with their word for “news”).  While there, the fey meets and falls in love with a brilliant woman from a city in the clouds.  The two are happy together, until a day that the woman’s brilliance backfires, and the fey, who had left his home out of admiration for the stories created by mortals living their lives, chooses to forge false stories of his own to protect her.  The two are driven apart by this deception, until one day the city in the clouds begins to fall.  In her brilliance, the woman is able to save it, but nearly falls in the process--until the fey speaks one last truth to inspire her to finish (the version from the Dwendalian Empire has an extra verse where while the fey is able to help the brilliant woman save the city, the two still die shortly after).

The origin of the song is unknown--there are variations from all over the world, and no one has ever been able to determine which version came first.  The lyrics’ reference to a city in the clouds has led some scholars to speculate that the song may be referencing events of the Age of Arcanum, but most consider that unlikely.  After all, there are many stories in Exandria of a mortal stumbling into the Feywild and falling in love with some enchanting faerie they met there, but there are almost no stories of a fey who came to the Material Plane and fell in love.

1,935 notes - Posted September 16, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[delta-chan]

Psst... hey, kid, wanna see a cool skeb? This one's from @/a_kar_te, and is meant to be used for my replay for 13 Sentinels. As you can see, it kicks ass.

Renya's there (and has a booty suddenly) because we're kindred spirits when it comes to hoarding information. If you know me, then you know this to be true. I have a problem with hoarding every single FFXIV screenshot that I feel may be significant and it's stacked up to 50 gigs of screenshots. They're not even pretty Gposes, they're all of things that I find significant lorewise.

The only thing that kept 13 Sentinels (and let's be real, Death Stranding) safe from this absolutely unhinged conspiracy theory board behavior is the fact that they are contained narratives with dedicated lore repositories. I did not need to be taking notes like a maniac because the game did it for me. Doesn't stop me from speculating, though! Things get open ended at the end and I can go ahead and run with that shit

[gnbrkrs]

I wonder if the Elpis ruins are still intact out there somewhere... While their original inhabitants may have died long ago, the structure itself technically could withstand all the cataclysms that happened between the Sundering and the present time due to it being high up in the air, as well as presumably other protection measures...

Makes me wonder if the realm the Twelve reside in is actually Elpis that has been "renovated" over millenia by the Twelve, or at least originally was an Ancient structure. The spatial distortion thing it uses is not unlike the mechanism Pandaemonium used to keep itself secure and away from the rest of the world, which means it could potentially be utilized by other Ancient-made places.

The Twelve being created by the Ancients would still support their claim of being not summoned too, as summoning was a post-Sundering offshoot of creation magic. And given that Meteion, a much smaller creation, was still capable of sentience and independent thought, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for the Ancients to create bigger sentient creatures that were made with a specific purpose in mind, similarly to how Meteion was made to find out the secrets of the universe. The question is, what would their purpose be?

(I do find the idea of them being post-memory wipe Hermes's creations pretty funny though)

[astralartefact]

i filled out one of those bingo cards for endwalker... (you can find the original here)

If you want some explanations/theories they are under the cut~~

For the most part the ones on the left are the good ones and the ones on the right are the bad ones...

Most of the middle ones are explained here (another thing regarding the nautilus = heart of sabik theory, the flag of sharlayan's nautilus are actually two whirls intertwined - which makes it kind of look like an anatomical heart...) (which I only noticed bc the one I drew above kind of reminded me of one)

I feel like I have to explain the Fourchenault one, because I have yet to see anyone mention that. Let me tell you the story of German!Fourchenault, the only good Fourchenault:

Before his patch dropped I was pretty scared that the twins dad was going to be this strict, stubborn, conservative dad character, you know, the type where you don't even really get why he had children in the first place, you have them in media all the time - and then I got to his part in the msq and...

...he wasn't! I genuinely felt like Fourchenault was happy to meet his children again, but simply frustrated that they weren't following his approach of "No war." He wasn't mean or condescending or anything like that, he was... kind of nice! A nice person that just disagreed with his children's methods!

So I finish the msq and go online to see what other people thought about the patch and was bombarded with "Fourchenault is the worst dad in existence", "I will punch this dude", "I will adopt the children" kind of stuff and I was genuinely confused, like... Why does everybody want to specifically adopt them so bad, is that an idiom I never learned or something? did we experience the same person?

And as it turned out, we didn't. I fully agree that the English Fourchenault is a travesty of a person, he even said something along the lines of "How dare you talk to me like that?" like exactly the type of character I was dreading. Most notably though, German Fourchenault didn't disown his children. (What he says is pretty literally "If you want to go to war, then you don't deserve the name Leveilleur.", which you could read as disowning them, but I certainly didn't read it as that at first.)

The problem with all of this is that all other languages explicitly disown the children (as far as I could tell at least) so I have this sneaking suspicion that German Fourchenault will probably have undergone a few changes when we see him again... and I'm devastated because German Fourchenault was so nice :/ I will genuinely miss him...

Other things:

I already know that there are a lot of mammets in old sharlayan, so I hope they use that to tease us about a possible Puppetmaster (limited?) job... because I want it...

With Zoo Dungeon I mean the one with the different biomes that are seperated with force fields... and it has a stable... and walk ways... you know... like a Zoo! I just haven't seen people point that out yet

With Anogg Konogg Cameo, I just mean like... they show up somewhere in the background or something, but since I do think that stuff was setup for them to appear in a nier game, i don't think that's going to happen

Also if they have the audacity to kill Krile and not even put her on the Endwalker artwork... I don't even know what I would do.

[smallest-turtle]

do the scions know that deirdre was azem or it it like. they find out papa levellieur is an ascian and deirdre is like 'oh me too kind of' and alphinaud is like WHAT. WHAT.

She keeps quiet about it until Pashtarot (or Fanniel perhaps) uses the Azem stone to trigger her ascention as well because sudden glyph on the WoL and Extended Flashback Period is a hell of a distraction for the Scions.

But Then she ABSOLUTELY IS an Ascian.

She did look at the memories catalogued in the stone, but they weren't her's to recall fully. Still she didn't really think she should bring up the fact that not only was she part of the Convocation, but Hades was her father.

[miqojak]

Zodiark & Hades; More Speculation

After Akadaemia Anyder, this academic has this to say:

“By combining the aether of many individuals, we can theoretically create entities of ever greater complexity and grandeur - the methodology of which is the focus of our current experiments.”

What does this say about Zodiark? They use the aether of half the population to summon/create Zodiark - is he even a traditional primal? 

Does this...explain why Hades has faces all over his wings, and argues with himself/speaks as a collective?

“What will become of our triumphs? Our hopes? Our...our despair?”

I’ve wondered about this manifestation of the ‘will of the people’, and what that means about Emet-Selch, and his power. Is he that strong because he’s imbued with the aether of his kinsmen? Why would he have that power? Imparted to him by Zodiark, as one of his last (reliable) tempered minions?

Hythlodaeus tells us that “Emet-selch has ever been a champion for the will of Zodiark,” after all - and if the will of Zodiark is the will of the dead used to fuel him...well, that explains the Hades thing, and all the dead people speaking through him.

Side note, this also gives me hella Envy vibes from Full Metal Alchemist about Emet’s final form.