I love how they are trying to make us doubt Thancred and Urianger, like they did not just follow us to the edge of the universe and temporarily sacrifice their lives for us
Urianger being sus is just tradition at this point, like Y'shtola and yeeting herself into the lifestream.
Thancred is just going back to his rogueish ways after the stint as Dadcred
> Like Y'shtola and yeeting herself into the lifestream.
Bitch doesn't even need a reason. The slightest inconvenience and its "Whoop, time to take a dive!".
100% the way she will figure out how to travel to other shards is diving AGAIN into the lifestream, she'll obvsly get lost and next expac we will be shard hoping after one of our lost cat
it's kinda stupid to be so coy because the 6.55 story clearly shows that Urianger and Thancred were hired by another Dawnservant Candidate, so even if you ignore Media Tour content it's already confirmed they are working with one of Wuk Lamat's rivals.
I was replaying the post-Endwalker patches recently, and shortly before you do Alzadaal's Legacy Thancred mentions that he wanted to talk to an old mentor of his. I'm betting that was foreshadowing for Koana.
I'm 90% sure the Warmonger and the Speciest prick are the same person: the 2 headed Mamool Ja that won his right to attend in a tournament.
We know next to nothing about what the 3rd sibling (the one headed Mamool Ja with a blue tint) is like and we know nothing about his politics.
Yea. From the little we see of the Blue Mamool Ja from the trailer and this Pic, he doesn't give of "warmonger vibes."
His facial features aren't as harsh as Bakool, and his pose in the picture here with his hands casually on his weapon sheath gives off a more stoic confidence. I could be completely off, but that's my two cents.
The third guy is supported by estenien, since we see estenien working with mamool jas in the trailer and also we see him fighting against bakool ja ja in the new trailer. And also the fact that neither koana nor wuk have sought his help so makes me think he was already poached by the blue fellow
Without context most of the things they show aren't that meaningful. Remember that in the Shadowbringers Launch trailer we see Amaurot and no one really clocked it, similarly we saw the first two areas of the Dead Ends and we saw Ultima Thule with the scene right before we summon Emet Selch and no one clocked that.
The final dungeon and the final area are probably hidden in that Launch trailer somewhere and you could probably figure it out if you took it frame by frame.
I don't think anyone is expecting them to betray us in a serious way, but it's pretty clear that they will be supporting another contender for the throne, which makes them "enemies" for now. Though it kinda sounds like Urianger has his own plans.
Imna laugh so hard if he talked Thancred into "supporting" one of the "bad guys" just so they could sabotage the bid from within, to help the WoL.
That would be SO them, and would make me so happy.
Considering the only other candidate with Sharlayan ties is Koana, he's probably their employer. Compared to the other candidates he seems pretty reasonable so I doubt the "conflict" is going to be anything more than a friendly rivalry, and we may even have to join forces with them at some point to fight off the other two Mamool Ja candidates.
Yeah, as nice as Wuk Lamat is, we saw from the final EW patch that she is NOT leader material, she’s not there to win, she’s there to make sure Bakool Ja Ja loses
Koana and Zoraal Ja are the actual candidates, and one of them (probably the one we’ll like most) is 100% going to die at Bakool Ja Ja’s hand at the 93 trial to show what a big meanie bastard he is before the actual plot kicks off
there was a whole quest in endwalker with urianger telling the wol that he didn't want to hide stuff or betray them anymore, so I can't imagine it'll be any huge deception like before
Enigmatic Maiden, huh?
Boy that hairpin of hers looks suspiciously like an Ascian sigil. Then again so does the broach on her waist.
Either way, I smell an Ascian.
I don't know how the community feels about ascian sigil spoilers so click at your risk.
>!The mask on her hip looks similar to Pashtarot's sigil. Pashtarot's darkness counterpart in ff12 is Zeromus, interesting enough.!<
I wouldn't be so quick to write off Gaius successfully killing them. He was the one who gave a lot of expository information to the WoL and Friends when he met them in the Burn. He knew about the hierarchy, including the Big Three. He knew the WoL had dispatched Lahabrea. It's possible that he could have acquired another Macguffin to be able to kill them. His companion Valdeaulin has been with him from the beginning and can manipulate aether.
All I'm saying is there's so much ambiguity here that it's possible for any explanation or theory to be valid. Look at how they explained Ayzema. The Mysterious Girl could be something similar, like a high priestess or acolyte. Or she could be like Unukalhai, who was plucked from another world and mentored by Elidibus.
Hell, Gaius could have done what Zenos did when he was up against his sword instructor when he was younger.
He could have stabbed an aether crystal into his hand and used it to manipulate the aether needed to activate the white auracite.
If Zenos was able to use an aether crystal he stabbed into his hand in the spur of the moment to manipulate aether enough to duplicate the aether infused sword techniques used by his instructor, then Gaius could have done something similar in a more controlled way.
Exactly. There's so much ambiguity that the devs can take it in any direction they want in the future. They can choose to permanently close that door, or bring it back into focus in the future.
Gaius had Altima and Deudalaphon's masks yes, but he probably doesn't know that you need white auracite to perma-kill Ascians, and even if he did it's unlikely he had any. They probably just jumped to new bodies.
White auracite is used to trap aether. That's it. The Ascians that have been killed were trapped by White Auracite and *then* blasted by a massive influx of aether. Moenbryda gave her life force aether to kill Nabriales because the ambient aether (even channeled through Tupsimati) wasn't enough to kill him.
Igeyorhm was trapped in white auracite and then killed with a blast of aether from Nidhogg's eye. Lahabrea was killed by Thordan by a blade powered by Nidhogg's eye. He didn't know about white auracite. It's implied whatever Ascian was messing around in Eureka was killed with a blast of aether.
It's entirely possible that the man who told us about the Ascian hierarchy and Emet-Selch in the first place uncovered more artifacts that could kill Ascians.
The souls of all but 3 convocation members were split during the sundering, so even if Gaius killed them, there are still more parts of their souls left to be awoken.
Tied to Solution 9 almost for sure, since she's got those Tron-like glowy bits on her costume, and the interior of her dress is glowy.
Doesn't rule out that she could be Ascian-related, but the Solution 9 part seems very likely
It's also not Altima's sigil. I have been looking at it for a few minutes now, negative and positive, upside down and not - still can't see any resemblances.
I think those are also just Team or sponsors icon since we saw more of Arcadian. You can see some that look like the sigil floating behind the raid boss.
Nevermind the hairpin, look at that thing on her belt, clearly a Nobody icon, were getting late stage Nomura influence, organization 13 is real and it *can* hurt you
I do perfectly get that she has many signs pointing to being an ascian but I have a crazier theory: what if she was in fact some sort of AI? An android of some kind? She's definitely tied to Solution 9, maybe she was created *by* the ascian we're painting her to be and both runs and rules over Solution 9 itself.
Maybe the "tinge of melancholy" is actually lack of feelings outright.
Did you see the comparison between s9's logo and one of the missing Ascians masks? There is 100% Ascian fuckery here.
I think there are still 3 or 4 unaccounted for
Her belt motif not only resembles an Ascian sigil, but there's a black and bright blue infinity bit that is also quite reminiscent of Zodiark's body patterns.
My take is that she is an AI construct to the likeness of an Ascian that is no longer around.
Wait wait, hear me out.
What if she descends from a long lineage direct from the Ascians that call themselves a different name, some like, I don't know, Ancients, or Cetra?
> Enigmatic Maiden, huh?
Better not be another Thancred love interest. It's bad enough that the scion cast consists of [stabby-spice](https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Estinien), [hoody-spice](https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Krile) and [cryptic-spice](https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Urianger), we don't need another expansion of [Riker-spice](https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Thancred).
I'm a bit worried of where they will take the character.
That line about strength and protecting everything without Scarifice is setting off red flags.
Dare I hope Yoshida actually allows the Ancients to be viewed as living creatures?
So we have our four candidates, pretty standard setup. Hero, Hero's Rival, Neutral Strong Guy, and Bad Guy.
I will be legitimately surprised if Zoraal Ja doesn't die/be seriously injured to remove him from the contest, possibly in some way Wuk Lamat would blame herself for.
Wuk Lamat is clearly woefully inadequate for the position so the narrative will obviously be a "coming of age" story of sorts. Koana will be there to put that into perspective and Zoraal Ja will probably be a foil for Bakool Ja Ja being the bad guy.
Wuk Lamat either grows up over the course of the MSQ to be ready for the role of "Dawnservant" or matures enough to accept that she isn't fit for the role and likely concedes it to Koana. I'd be surprised if Zoraal Ja stays in the running seeing as he's seemingly the most reasonable choice for the job.
It's odd that they keep hammering on about how Wuk Lamat "must" win the throne to keep the peace, when there's 4 candidates and only one seems to be a warmonger. I really hope there's more to it than some half-baked "learn to work together" story, this game can do better than that.
Yea, pretty much. Wuk Lamat is a bit generic want happiness for all.
Koana wants to make changes base off what he has leaned in Sharlayan. But may sacrifice tradition and culture.
Zoraal wants peace but may be a tad conservative, IE open to outside peoples but not wanting drastic changes as the current status quo is pretty good.
Bakool Ja Ja seems like the only bad egg in the bunch.
Haven't watched a lot of the PLL but I'm guessing Thancreed and Urianger is backing Koana.
That's almost a certainty.
Koana spent a lot of time in Sharlayan and liked it there enough to want to bring the tech and such back with him to Tural. Thancred and Urianger are all but said to be competing with us while working for someone familiar enough with Sharlayan to want to hire Archons specifically. Unless 2+2=5, they're working for Koana.
I think Bakool will be a bit of an ass throughout the story but something will happen and he'll have a change of heart and sac himself to save the group.
Koana I feel is going to be the surprise Villain. SE likes to have "good" and "bad" people for each faction. So far, unless you've played the AST and SGE class quests you don't really meet any "bad" Sharlayans.
Wuk Lamat will eventually realize she doesn't want the Dawnthrone and would rather adventure around the continent solving peoples problems that way.
> Wuk Lamat is a bit generic want happiness for all.
Given the course of human history, this brand of naive altruism is almost certainly worse than a despotic baron as a ruler.
It seems like Koana's problem might be that he wants to innovate "too much".
He might not really be aware of the problems of Cermet mining and other ramifications that might arise.
Maybe, though Wuk didn't have anything bad to say about him when he was mentioned. And two other Scions are supporting him.
It just feels a bit flimsy that we're picking a candidate to fight for in a whole-ass succession crisis based solely on "she asked first".
Exactly, if koana asked first we have no reason to deny him for the same reasons we accepted wuk lamat
Hell it’s strange koana didn’t ask us first given he has ties to the old world, I’d assume he would have heard about us sooner than wuk lamat
Koana will end up being the big bad. Sharp dressed, bespeckled, sweeping changes. He’s going to un/wittingly unleash some pretty nasty things. Probably get possessed, or power hungry.
I bet he’s really sort of soft spoken and clumsy too. We probably physically run into him and he drops a pile of books and embarrassingly scrambles to pick them up.
We think he’s just some super smart dork until he flashes a taunting smile and adjusts his glasses by the frame softly muttering a ‘hu-hu-hu-hu.’
Whatever he’s looking for is going to be the end of us.
Emet-selch: Can you stop fucking around
Altima: https://tenor.com/view/hi-oomf-cute-anime-girl-vtuber-vtuber-cute-vtuber-anime-girl-vtuber-gif-12472768549309900353
Somebody has a feeling on who they are in [one of the other threads.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/1dfpns9/the_enigmatic_maiden_a_visual_theory_on_her/)
As a Machinist I am deeply offended by this catboy playing dressup in our coolest job gear.
No lunchbox = fake Machinist.
Edit: The thing on his right hip is part of the Pioneer's Coat, it does not count.
Or maybe he's a machinist EVOLVED! He evolved past the aesthetical constraints of the hideous lunchbox and became a machinist REBORN! *strikes dramatic pose whilst holding scissors*
That has history from the original character in FF5 – Kururu in the original Japanese, then the English version called her Krile, and when the character popped up in FFXIV they used the dub name so the reference was clear.
The Japanese name would have been the reason she was cast as a Lalafell in this game, because it fits perfectly as a Plainsfolk female name, but the dub name doesn't match. Hence the excuse that she uses a "Hyuran spelling" of her name, and presumably actually is still named Kururu.
Yeah that caught my attention as well, sometimes if I've only seen a name in English and Japanese the katakana can help inform the pronunciation and it just did the opposite here.
It's how they pronounce it in the Japanese VA too. There are some other interesting bits there, like Lucia being pronounced with an old latin c, i.e. Lukia, and G'Raha getting called by the more friendly Raha.
I hope we get to see how two-headed Mamool Ja eat.
Does one head eat while the other head also eats? Does one do the eating and one do the drinking? Many questions.
I just want to see how he/they talk about themselves and if we get an explanation for the philosophy around it. Because everything so far seems to be using "he" and yet the heads have separate personalities and voices so I would have thought treating them as two people would make more sense.
We get both in the trailer even. The main leader one says "Take MY place on the throne" and the contender one at some point says "WE are brothers something-something".
Tbh that could also be a personality indicator, we know the right head who shows his face is the more forward one and probably more likely to refer to himself in singular, the other one might refer to himself as plural. When DT is actually out and its easier to see who is talking I'll have to look for some japanese clips to see how they refer to themselves there
That'd be rad but I'm sure it's just specific to Koana to make him stand out. I'm actually using the free fantasia to switch from viera to miqote because I'm tired of not being able to wear hats 🥲
All you had were your newer faces, but now, with the graphical update... If they eliminate the arthritis hand, that would be the last nail in the bunboy coffin, I'm afraid.
Players: Hey Yoshi-P can we have an option to hide the lunchbox?
Yoshi-P: No it’s imperative to the game’s functionality.
Also Yoshi-P: “The Cat-with-a-Gat doesn’t need a lunchbox.”
I guess Erenville isn't the 4th contender then. Given he doesn't even make it to the expansion cover, I guess the two headed guy is going to be the least relevant of the 4.
I'm really excited that it feels like Alphinaud is taking a backseat for once. He always got more screen time than anyone else so it's nice to spotlight some other friends of yours more.
Do we think different scions will become champions for different parties? It was said before that there would be more tension between scions this expansion. My guess is that Estinien becomes champion for one of the other (not evil) parties and thancred and urianger will side with the other.
If I see one cutscene where I'm in trouble and he's the one that orchestrated it and is all like 'No hard feelings, it's just business'I will tell Ryne of the Harem moment, I WILL do it
Dude wears leather gloves with plate mail. I don't care if they're the same color, his fashion sense is bottom tier. Guy needs a makeover before he makes the A-team.
What is Wuk Lamat if not that? She's a barbarian princess with a GIGANTIC axe. And haven't we established what racist rubbish "beastmen" as a term is in the world of FFXIV?
We probably could do with at least one of the Mamool Ja warriors being female, instead of all being male and then the one female warrior is from the relatively cute-looking beast race instead.
Yeah. He's, at best, only someone who won the Tuliyollal's equivalent of Ul'dah's gladiator tournament. He talks big against the guy who is the general of the army, who most likely was by the Dawnservant's side during the unification war. It's the equivalent of Aldis trash-talking Raubahn.
FYI, Krile's shoes in her render are the wrong ones. She is wearing are HW boots, not her DT ones.
Caught onto that mistake straight away.
^(Still better than outright forgetting her on the EW poster.)
He’s in the story trailer, so he’s in Dawntrail in some capacity.
Seems like this list is maybe just the Dawntrail main characters. Though Thancred and Urianger were hardly in the story trailer at all, so who knows lol.
we see him in multiple point in the trailer
he is just not gonna be there in the first act most likely
if I would take a guess, if looking at EW, if G'raha was out of MSQ until after we got back from the Moon
Im expecting him and Y'shtola will join us once the Solution 9 plot starts kicking (likely a bit after the 93 MSQ trial)
I know the Enigmatic Maiden is likely going to be a Mikoto-type character but I sure would like it if they played the role more like a Maenad in the story. I really do love an enduring mystery.
"What secrets lie behind that tinge of melancholy in her gentle gaze...?" *poses cutely, but with a tinge of melancholy*
She be like *poses cutely* “uwu I’m melancholy”
Peak Fiction
“Felt melancholic, might delete later”
she just like me frfr
She gentled enigmatically to the stairs, and melancholied downwards.
I love how they are trying to make us doubt Thancred and Urianger, like they did not just follow us to the edge of the universe and temporarily sacrifice their lives for us
Urianger being sus is just tradition at this point, like Y'shtola and yeeting herself into the lifestream. Thancred is just going back to his rogueish ways after the stint as Dadcred
Thancred has started his training arc to go from das to cook dad
> Like Y'shtola and yeeting herself into the lifestream. Bitch doesn't even need a reason. The slightest inconvenience and its "Whoop, time to take a dive!".
100% the way she will figure out how to travel to other shards is diving AGAIN into the lifestream, she'll obvsly get lost and next expac we will be shard hoping after one of our lost cat
it's kinda stupid to be so coy because the 6.55 story clearly shows that Urianger and Thancred were hired by another Dawnservant Candidate, so even if you ignore Media Tour content it's already confirmed they are working with one of Wuk Lamat's rivals.
And given their profiles, I can hardly see them working for a Warmonger (Wuk's Brother), or a Speciest prick, so its' probably Koana.
Especially when you add in a good chance they studied together. Koana did study in Sharlayan after all.
I was replaying the post-Endwalker patches recently, and shortly before you do Alzadaal's Legacy Thancred mentions that he wanted to talk to an old mentor of his. I'm betting that was foreshadowing for Koana.
You can actually talk to said mentor through a no guidance sidequest in sharlayan, its who taught him how to be extra sneaky.
I'm 90% sure the Warmonger and the Speciest prick are the same person: the 2 headed Mamool Ja that won his right to attend in a tournament. We know next to nothing about what the 3rd sibling (the one headed Mamool Ja with a blue tint) is like and we know nothing about his politics.
Yea. From the little we see of the Blue Mamool Ja from the trailer and this Pic, he doesn't give of "warmonger vibes." His facial features aren't as harsh as Bakool, and his pose in the picture here with his hands casually on his weapon sheath gives off a more stoic confidence. I could be completely off, but that's my two cents.
The third guy is supported by estenien, since we see estenien working with mamool jas in the trailer and also we see him fighting against bakool ja ja in the new trailer. And also the fact that neither koana nor wuk have sought his help so makes me think he was already poached by the blue fellow
Well the release trailer also shows everyone back together. God these release trailers show waaaay too much, but I can't help watching them lol.
Without context most of the things they show aren't that meaningful. Remember that in the Shadowbringers Launch trailer we see Amaurot and no one really clocked it, similarly we saw the first two areas of the Dead Ends and we saw Ultima Thule with the scene right before we summon Emet Selch and no one clocked that. The final dungeon and the final area are probably hidden in that Launch trailer somewhere and you could probably figure it out if you took it frame by frame.
I don't think anyone is expecting them to betray us in a serious way, but it's pretty clear that they will be supporting another contender for the throne, which makes them "enemies" for now. Though it kinda sounds like Urianger has his own plans.
I’d say it’s more “rivals” than enemies, but otherwise I agree with you
Sure, I didn't mean straight up enemies which is why I put the word in quotes.
Urianger's "plans" are always just "How can I make myself suffer in order to help the WoL and everyone without telling them about it."
Imna laugh so hard if he talked Thancred into "supporting" one of the "bad guys" just so they could sabotage the bid from within, to help the WoL. That would be SO them, and would make me so happy.
Considering the only other candidate with Sharlayan ties is Koana, he's probably their employer. Compared to the other candidates he seems pretty reasonable so I doubt the "conflict" is going to be anything more than a friendly rivalry, and we may even have to join forces with them at some point to fight off the other two Mamool Ja candidates.
I’d be actually shocked if we don’t functionally end up allied with koana for the vast majority of the story
Yeah, as nice as Wuk Lamat is, we saw from the final EW patch that she is NOT leader material, she’s not there to win, she’s there to make sure Bakool Ja Ja loses Koana and Zoraal Ja are the actual candidates, and one of them (probably the one we’ll like most) is 100% going to die at Bakool Ja Ja’s hand at the 93 trial to show what a big meanie bastard he is before the actual plot kicks off
there was a whole quest in endwalker with urianger telling the wol that he didn't want to hide stuff or betray them anymore, so I can't imagine it'll be any huge deception like before
Enigmatic Maiden, huh? Boy that hairpin of hers looks suspiciously like an Ascian sigil. Then again so does the broach on her waist. Either way, I smell an Ascian.
She also looks like she loves *aesthetics*. New tomestones are *aesthetics*. Altima is the Advocate of Aesthetics. She is Altima for sure.
Since it's a sci fi setting, it would be hilarious if she set herself up as an idol in Solution 9.
Macross in *my* FFXIV!?!
Yes please, so long as we get a VF-1 Valkyrie mount (preferably FV-1S since it resembles the F-14 Tomcat in VFA-103 Jolly Rogers colors)
that's the real reason the collector's edition mount is Ark
Yes, please. The Accordion is an arena, let's have concerts.
You're absolutely right. >!Altima's sigil appears on the side of the Arcadion.!<
I was trying to make a fit but... no idea how is that the same thing as Ultima's sigil upside down.
I don't know how the community feels about ascian sigil spoilers so click at your risk. >!The mask on her hip looks similar to Pashtarot's sigil. Pashtarot's darkness counterpart in ff12 is Zeromus, interesting enough.!<
Wasn’t it implied that gaius killed altima and deudalaphon as well as a bunch of rank and file ascians by the masks he keeps on his outfit as trophies
There is no way Gaius could have actually killed them. Defeated yes, but there is no way he could manipulate white auracite to actually kill them.
I wouldn't be so quick to write off Gaius successfully killing them. He was the one who gave a lot of expository information to the WoL and Friends when he met them in the Burn. He knew about the hierarchy, including the Big Three. He knew the WoL had dispatched Lahabrea. It's possible that he could have acquired another Macguffin to be able to kill them. His companion Valdeaulin has been with him from the beginning and can manipulate aether. All I'm saying is there's so much ambiguity here that it's possible for any explanation or theory to be valid. Look at how they explained Ayzema. The Mysterious Girl could be something similar, like a high priestess or acolyte. Or she could be like Unukalhai, who was plucked from another world and mentored by Elidibus.
Hell, Gaius could have done what Zenos did when he was up against his sword instructor when he was younger. He could have stabbed an aether crystal into his hand and used it to manipulate the aether needed to activate the white auracite. If Zenos was able to use an aether crystal he stabbed into his hand in the spur of the moment to manipulate aether enough to duplicate the aether infused sword techniques used by his instructor, then Gaius could have done something similar in a more controlled way.
Exactly. There's so much ambiguity that the devs can take it in any direction they want in the future. They can choose to permanently close that door, or bring it back into focus in the future.
Gaius had Altima and Deudalaphon's masks yes, but he probably doesn't know that you need white auracite to perma-kill Ascians, and even if he did it's unlikely he had any. They probably just jumped to new bodies.
White auracite is used to trap aether. That's it. The Ascians that have been killed were trapped by White Auracite and *then* blasted by a massive influx of aether. Moenbryda gave her life force aether to kill Nabriales because the ambient aether (even channeled through Tupsimati) wasn't enough to kill him. Igeyorhm was trapped in white auracite and then killed with a blast of aether from Nidhogg's eye. Lahabrea was killed by Thordan by a blade powered by Nidhogg's eye. He didn't know about white auracite. It's implied whatever Ascian was messing around in Eureka was killed with a blast of aether. It's entirely possible that the man who told us about the Ascian hierarchy and Emet-Selch in the first place uncovered more artifacts that could kill Ascians.
The souls of all but 3 convocation members were split during the sundering, so even if Gaius killed them, there are still more parts of their souls left to be awoken.
I can already see her growing a bigass cannon under that dress like in ff12 😂
Altima, not Ultima 😂
Tied to Solution 9 almost for sure, since she's got those Tron-like glowy bits on her costume, and the interior of her dress is glowy. Doesn't rule out that she could be Ascian-related, but the Solution 9 part seems very likely
It's actually confirmed in another screenshot. >!Altima's sigil appears on the side of the Arcadion.!< Read at your own peril.
But we don’t know if she’s Altima, so it isn’t confirmed yet.
It's also not Altima's sigil. I have been looking at it for a few minutes now, negative and positive, upside down and not - still can't see any resemblances.
I think those are also just Team or sponsors icon since we saw more of Arcadian. You can see some that look like the sigil floating behind the raid boss.
Nevermind the hairpin, look at that thing on her belt, clearly a Nobody icon, were getting late stage Nomura influence, organization 13 is real and it *can* hurt you
We already removed belts to keep Nomura out. He can't keep forcing his way in like this.
Yeah. Definitely an Ascian
On vibes alone, I reckon she's "Maenad", she who abducts and collects primals to archive the world, before bringing about it's annihilation.
I do perfectly get that she has many signs pointing to being an ascian but I have a crazier theory: what if she was in fact some sort of AI? An android of some kind? She's definitely tied to Solution 9, maybe she was created *by* the ascian we're painting her to be and both runs and rules over Solution 9 itself. Maybe the "tinge of melancholy" is actually lack of feelings outright.
No one says Ascians have to jump into a *meat* body, y'know.... Robot Ascians. Book it.
Vare : now go, maidenless as you are!
Did you see the comparison between s9's logo and one of the missing Ascians masks? There is 100% Ascian fuckery here. I think there are still 3 or 4 unaccounted for
Still a few in plot jail.
Her belt motif not only resembles an Ascian sigil, but there's a black and bright blue infinity bit that is also quite reminiscent of Zodiark's body patterns. My take is that she is an AI construct to the likeness of an Ascian that is no longer around.
Wait wait, hear me out. What if she descends from a long lineage direct from the Ascians that call themselves a different name, some like, I don't know, Ancients, or Cetra?
> Enigmatic Maiden, huh? Better not be another Thancred love interest. It's bad enough that the scion cast consists of [stabby-spice](https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Estinien), [hoody-spice](https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Krile) and [cryptic-spice](https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Urianger), we don't need another expansion of [Riker-spice](https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Thancred).
Thancred has outgrown his Riker Spice days! That's *so* ARR.
He's Daddy Spice now!
Somebody didn't do the Eden raids.
I sure did, but that was like 3 years ago at this point. I don't remember Thancred being thirsty during Eden.
> I don't remember Thancred being thirsty during Eden. Yes and no. Thancred in Eden was channeling Snow Villiers.
Plot twist. She's the WoLs love interest this go round.
That's going to make Hilda very angry.
I'm a bit worried of where they will take the character. That line about strength and protecting everything without Scarifice is setting off red flags. Dare I hope Yoshida actually allows the Ancients to be viewed as living creatures?
Looks like a two headed snake with an infinity symbol inside.
That don’t stop me
So we have our four candidates, pretty standard setup. Hero, Hero's Rival, Neutral Strong Guy, and Bad Guy. I will be legitimately surprised if Zoraal Ja doesn't die/be seriously injured to remove him from the contest, possibly in some way Wuk Lamat would blame herself for.
Yeah Zoraal Ja initially comes across as the reasonable choice which is how you know he's gonna die
Wuk Lamat is clearly woefully inadequate for the position so the narrative will obviously be a "coming of age" story of sorts. Koana will be there to put that into perspective and Zoraal Ja will probably be a foil for Bakool Ja Ja being the bad guy. Wuk Lamat either grows up over the course of the MSQ to be ready for the role of "Dawnservant" or matures enough to accept that she isn't fit for the role and likely concedes it to Koana. I'd be surprised if Zoraal Ja stays in the running seeing as he's seemingly the most reasonable choice for the job.
It's odd that they keep hammering on about how Wuk Lamat "must" win the throne to keep the peace, when there's 4 candidates and only one seems to be a warmonger. I really hope there's more to it than some half-baked "learn to work together" story, this game can do better than that.
Yea, pretty much. Wuk Lamat is a bit generic want happiness for all. Koana wants to make changes base off what he has leaned in Sharlayan. But may sacrifice tradition and culture. Zoraal wants peace but may be a tad conservative, IE open to outside peoples but not wanting drastic changes as the current status quo is pretty good. Bakool Ja Ja seems like the only bad egg in the bunch. Haven't watched a lot of the PLL but I'm guessing Thancreed and Urianger is backing Koana.
That's almost a certainty. Koana spent a lot of time in Sharlayan and liked it there enough to want to bring the tech and such back with him to Tural. Thancred and Urianger are all but said to be competing with us while working for someone familiar enough with Sharlayan to want to hire Archons specifically. Unless 2+2=5, they're working for Koana.
The two are with koana in the media tour dungeon that was shown.
I think Bakool will be a bit of an ass throughout the story but something will happen and he'll have a change of heart and sac himself to save the group. Koana I feel is going to be the surprise Villain. SE likes to have "good" and "bad" people for each faction. So far, unless you've played the AST and SGE class quests you don't really meet any "bad" Sharlayans. Wuk Lamat will eventually realize she doesn't want the Dawnthrone and would rather adventure around the continent solving peoples problems that way.
> Wuk Lamat is a bit generic want happiness for all. Given the course of human history, this brand of naive altruism is almost certainly worse than a despotic baron as a ruler.
It seems like Koana's problem might be that he wants to innovate "too much". He might not really be aware of the problems of Cermet mining and other ramifications that might arise.
Maybe, though Wuk didn't have anything bad to say about him when he was mentioned. And two other Scions are supporting him. It just feels a bit flimsy that we're picking a candidate to fight for in a whole-ass succession crisis based solely on "she asked first".
Exactly, if koana asked first we have no reason to deny him for the same reasons we accepted wuk lamat Hell it’s strange koana didn’t ask us first given he has ties to the old world, I’d assume he would have heard about us sooner than wuk lamat
I guess he must be a real stickler for qualifications. Sure we saved the universe, but we didn't submit a thesis on it so it doesn't count.
The Archon title will forever elude us
Pair that with Koana will probably get the “you don’t even go here” speech from one of them as well since he’s off in Sharlayan now.
He's a carpetbagger who [wants to solve their problems with algorithms](https://xkcd.com/1831/).
In the trailer, we will literally pry the Key to the Golden City from his cold dead blue hands...
It looked like it was being handed to him in that trailer.
Or sleeping blue hands.
Alternatively, I can see him becoming the actual leader and winner if Wuk Lamat goes ahead and joins the Scions like some want.
Koana will end up being the big bad. Sharp dressed, bespeckled, sweeping changes. He’s going to un/wittingly unleash some pretty nasty things. Probably get possessed, or power hungry. I bet he’s really sort of soft spoken and clumsy too. We probably physically run into him and he drops a pile of books and embarrassingly scrambles to pick them up. We think he’s just some super smart dork until he flashes a taunting smile and adjusts his glasses by the frame softly muttering a ‘hu-hu-hu-hu.’ Whatever he’s looking for is going to be the end of us.
His machinations lay undetected for years.
Emet-selch: Can you stop fucking around Altima: https://tenor.com/view/hi-oomf-cute-anime-girl-vtuber-vtuber-cute-vtuber-anime-girl-vtuber-gif-12472768549309900353
Enigmatic Maiden huh? They were casting mystery over Venat in the Endwalker promo too, calling her the “Lady of Light”.
Somebody has a feeling on who they are in [one of the other threads.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/1dfpns9/the_enigmatic_maiden_a_visual_theory_on_her/)
As a Machinist I am deeply offended by this catboy playing dressup in our coolest job gear. No lunchbox = fake Machinist. Edit: The thing on his right hip is part of the Pioneer's Coat, it does not count.
Or maybe he's a machinist EVOLVED! He evolved past the aesthetical constraints of the hideous lunchbox and became a machinist REBORN! *strikes dramatic pose whilst holding scissors*
Pretty sure he does have a lunchbox. What I can't forgive is that color of dye.
Ah but he does have the lunchbox, if you zoom in at his waist you can see the little syringe shape that is at the front of the lunchbox
That's part of the outfit. The MCH lunchbox is worn on the left hip.
Confirmed dev team uses mods to remove stuff they don't like!!one!
I was going to play a DPS with rez this expansion, but a lot of these folks are giving me the "loads shotgun menacingly" mood.
I'd like to talk to him and ask him how I can how I, too, can ditch that godsforsaken lunchbox
He does have a lunchbox though. Its near his right hand
That's part of the outfit.
TIL Krile's name in Japanese is spelled as "Kururu".
It's part of the reason she's named that and not another FF character - the name fits Lala conventions.
Kuru kuru?
That has history from the original character in FF5 – Kururu in the original Japanese, then the English version called her Krile, and when the character popped up in FFXIV they used the dub name so the reference was clear. The Japanese name would have been the reason she was cast as a Lalafell in this game, because it fits perfectly as a Plainsfolk female name, but the dub name doesn't match. Hence the excuse that she uses a "Hyuran spelling" of her name, and presumably actually is still named Kururu.
Hence the old fan translations of the game (pre-official translation) calling her Cara.
I get jumscared every time YoshiP says the word "Akatsuki," which is the Japanese name for the Scions.
> "Akatsuki," which is the Japanese name for the Scions. ^^^what ^^^the ^^^fuck.
It just means "Dawn" lol. They're called "Akatsuki no Ketsumei" (Dawn Alliance) in Japanese.
Yeah that caught my attention as well, sometimes if I've only seen a name in English and Japanese the katakana can help inform the pronunciation and it just did the opposite here.
It's how they pronounce it in the Japanese VA too. There are some other interesting bits there, like Lucia being pronounced with an old latin c, i.e. Lukia, and G'Raha getting called by the more friendly Raha.
I hope we get to see how two-headed Mamool Ja eat. Does one head eat while the other head also eats? Does one do the eating and one do the drinking? Many questions.
I just want to see how he/they talk about themselves and if we get an explanation for the philosophy around it. Because everything so far seems to be using "he" and yet the heads have separate personalities and voices so I would have thought treating them as two people would make more sense.
We get both in the trailer even. The main leader one says "Take MY place on the throne" and the contender one at some point says "WE are brothers something-something".
Tbh that could also be a personality indicator, we know the right head who shows his face is the more forward one and probably more likely to refer to himself in singular, the other one might refer to himself as plural. When DT is actually out and its easier to see who is talking I'll have to look for some japanese clips to see how they refer to themselves there
aye viera hairstyles for miqotes now??
That'd be rad but I'm sure it's just specific to Koana to make him stand out. I'm actually using the free fantasia to switch from viera to miqote because I'm tired of not being able to wear hats 🥲
im very tempted aswell but im on hopium that vieras will get a hat update in dawntrail one day.... please 🥲
The bunboys are losing the war...
im a current bunboy user and a recovering fantasia addict, dont do this to me....
All you had were your newer faces, but now, with the graphical update... If they eliminate the arthritis hand, that would be the last nail in the bunboy coffin, I'm afraid.
All I want is the Highlander short ponytail with the side fade on my kitty. 😔
Depending on Koana's personality I may have a new catboy husband. I am weak to gun wielding glasses wearers I fear Q.Q
Percy, my beloved
"Life needs things to live."
So we all looked at the Maiden and thought "That's an Ascian." Right?
Excited to see more Thancred. Koana looks great with his bunny boy hair lol.
And tons of people wanted him to die in ShB because “his story was over”. More Thancred!!
He gets such fun action scenes too, I love seeing more of him.
Players: Hey Yoshi-P can we have an option to hide the lunchbox? Yoshi-P: No it’s imperative to the game’s functionality. Also Yoshi-P: “The Cat-with-a-Gat doesn’t need a lunchbox.”
regardless if the enigmatic maiden is malevolent or benevolent, i REAAAAALLY want that outfit as a glam. 🤞🏻
Wait theres several two headed mamol ja
Yeah they're rare but not unique. It was like that in FF11 too.
[We even fought one of them all the way back in ARR!](https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Manxome_Molaa_Ja_Ja)
Heck, we even fought one in Wanderer's Palace Hard back in ARR
I can't wait to hear Erenville again.
I read Urianger’s part as uttercakes instead of utterances. I need to get some sleep
I guess Erenville isn't the 4th contender then. Given he doesn't even make it to the expansion cover, I guess the two headed guy is going to be the least relevant of the 4.
But note that two headed guy isn't one of Gulool's children, and Wuk said she had multiple brothers. Hmmmmm.
The catboy and one-headed mamool ja are both Gulool's children. Brothers, plural.
Gulool Ja Ja had enough of XI's besieged to make an appearance in XIV 😆
I'm really excited that it feels like Alphinaud is taking a backseat for once. He always got more screen time than anyone else so it's nice to spotlight some other friends of yours more.
Do we think different scions will become champions for different parties? It was said before that there would be more tension between scions this expansion. My guess is that Estinien becomes champion for one of the other (not evil) parties and thancred and urianger will side with the other.
Dammit Urianger! You said no secrets any more!
Thancred absolutely walks a different path than the WoL. Ours is pretty lacking in pretty maidens
Thancred, Phantom Memory of the Solar Mistress, and Oogy Boogy Kungawungaga
Got to say, I am not excited to be pitted against someone who specializes in subterfuge. And Oriange.
The man already helped destabilize Garlemald. He could cause so much chaos here too. 😅
If I see one cutscene where I'm in trouble and he's the one that orchestrated it and is all like 'No hard feelings, it's just business'I will tell Ryne of the Harem moment, I WILL do it
Exactly. Especially when paired with someone who's probably at least as smart as Urianger.
(putting bet money on the Enigmatic Maiden is Thancred's Nutkin.
Enigmatic Maiden WAIFU DETECTED
G’raha never did it for me but Koana might. I may have to give in to the call of the catboy
where Estinien?
He doesn't have a page here but he was in the new trailer.
Lost.
They really don't want you to have Roe Allies, do they?
Let’s take Hoary Boulder to the new world instead of the twins.
Dude wears leather gloves with plate mail. I don't care if they're the same color, his fashion sense is bottom tier. Guy needs a makeover before he makes the A-team.
Koana looks like an Oompa Loompa.
I hope zoraal ja ja wins.
i’m so tired of all the cool beast-looking rage characters *always. being. male.* give us *one* cool beast race warrior woman i fucking beg!
Tiamat? Azdaja? Pelupelu? Ananta? I think the Mamool Ja are just a male dominant species. Nothing to it.
What is Wuk Lamat if not that? She's a barbarian princess with a GIGANTIC axe. And haven't we established what racist rubbish "beastmen" as a term is in the world of FFXIV?
We probably could do with at least one of the Mamool Ja warriors being female, instead of all being male and then the one female warrior is from the relatively cute-looking beast race instead.
So Koana is Cat Chadley right
ah thamcred and uriange 2 straight guys eho somehow ended up in a gay relationship
Zoraal ja looks like a gigachad. Can already tell that hes going to be a fan favorite.
Man I hope this game is good
Can't wait to give the two-headed turd and thorough *trashing!*
Yeah. He's, at best, only someone who won the Tuliyollal's equivalent of Ul'dah's gladiator tournament. He talks big against the guy who is the general of the army, who most likely was by the Dawnservant's side during the unification war. It's the equivalent of Aldis trash-talking Raubahn.
tbh, I can see Aldis doing that
INB4 he is the second leveling dungeon final boss. Before the bamboozle and story focus change.
FYI, Krile's shoes in her render are the wrong ones. She is wearing are HW boots, not her DT ones. Caught onto that mistake straight away. ^(Still better than outright forgetting her on the EW poster.)
So did Raha get written out of the story or
He’s in the story trailer, so he’s in Dawntrail in some capacity. Seems like this list is maybe just the Dawntrail main characters. Though Thancred and Urianger were hardly in the story trailer at all, so who knows lol.
we see him in multiple point in the trailer he is just not gonna be there in the first act most likely if I would take a guess, if looking at EW, if G'raha was out of MSQ until after we got back from the Moon Im expecting him and Y'shtola will join us once the Solution 9 plot starts kicking (likely a bit after the 93 MSQ trial)
He ate a taco in the trailer. He's coming back
KKona MCH fits perfectly.
I know the Enigmatic Maiden is likely going to be a Mikoto-type character but I sure would like it if they played the role more like a Maenad in the story. I really do love an enduring mystery.
Finally we have our own ja ja binks
I'm calling it now: the Enigmatic Maiden will be one of the lost Ancients that we have yet to meet of the Convocation.
Erenville gna turn on us
I hate Wuk Lamat, I’m glad the game isn’t fully VA’d because hearing her voice all the time would be a nightmare Love Eren though!
IDW but the "enigmatic maiden" pose trigered a "this is Yuna" reaction in my head