tenebraequeene: people are so mad about this expac. but this is literally a "let them cook" moment! people were so mad about the little things that they ignored the story! I'm hoping the patch content leans into more of the later half stuff!
johndipietro9301: Interesting, but there's a couple potential snags. First, the implication is that the "primal" Ultima IS the true Ultima. In the encyclopedia text you show, it mentions how the reference and fear of the people turned her into a "living Primal." That is, similar to Elidibus' Warrior of Light or Louisoix as the Phoenix, she became an entity like a primal, instead of giving rise to a separate entity. In that case, there's nothing left to act as the big bad, since we slew her already.

Second, this still doesn't explain the connection to Azem - but something else does. In one of the Tales of the Dawn shorts, Hythlodaeus sees Azem off, only to discover a concept crystal they left behind - one of a "series of fourteen" concepts they developed to aid in travel. This seems like a throwaway concept to allow Hythlodaeus to go after Azem and interact with other characters (including a post-Pandaemonium Elidibus, Hermes/Fandaniel, Mitron, Logrif, and Emet-Selch, and witnessing the aftermath of a discussion between Lahabrea and Igeyorhm), but the short stories have been used to hint at plot points later on. And, the crystal itself resembles an aetheryte more than auracite - it looks like the same silhouette that an Ancient Aetheryte might have. This also would explain how prayer and wishes could trigger it - the Ondo we fight on the way to Anyder used shards of concept crystals from that place to cast spells in much the same way.
tyrannostradamus2785: Something that's missed in this synopsis is the Key's resonation with Azem's crystal(denoted by Azem's symbol appearing on top of the Key when the WoL summons their companion shades). This is poignant because MY theory is that the Key was created by Azem and recognizes the residual aetherial signature left by the crystal. MY belief is that there will be more Azem origin lore and that, potentially a grave threat sealed by Azem's use of the Key will become the main antagonist of this story arc.
biomechan6269: As much as I like Ultima and the lore surrounding her, I'm like 90% sure she's been relegated to mostly side content unfortunately. But, should she ever make an appearance in the msq, I will be very pleasantly surprised!
magnainsomnia: The only problem with Ultima being the next villain is that they might need to make Ivalice Raids and Pandemonium required? Like what they did with Crystal Tower. Otherwise, its a lot to explain for people who stuck with the MSQ only.
LarkyLuna: Ultima got a will of her own via prayer, the Ultima we got in Ivalice was the Ultima that invaded from space, but the lore makes it seem she was an unthinking husk before the aether from prayer interacted with her

We have another calamity from the sky that has her will mixed up with the will of her son. I expect Jenova to show up any moment now
nephilima3956: Glad I found this video. I recall not too long ago, I believe it was a reddit post where someone had drawn a pretty great fanart of The High Seraph and it sparked some few converstions in the comments. I had just beaten the Pandæmonium raids and I remember how at that moment it clicked for me that the version of Ultima we fought was a severly weakened shard of Ultima. Not only that, but with the callback to the heart of Sabik, which in that raid was revealed to be auracite, it was basically stated that a pre-sundered High Seraph and its pretty pebbles was a complete enigma to even the, by all rights, (in comparison to now) already nigh god-like Ancients. Not even mentioning the assumingly full use of the heart enabled Athena to create her constructs and ascend into godhood, which in turn was likely just a fragment of Ultima's powers. Scary stuff.

Although obviously I can't be sure whether that hits the nail on the head, I'm not as versed in the lore as I'd like to be and I'm not even sure what half the comment section is referencing, all I know is that it would probably be really awsome to fight that thing.
elafacwen8176: In 5-10 years the song we memed so hard on is going to hit different when this comes to a head. "Big fat tacos!"...I mean "Beat, the Heart of Sabik, the Heart of Sabik!"
somemadao: Wild crack theory: a shard of Azem will have been taken over by the Ultima shard on the Unlost World. They're the driving force behind Preservation and have been launching "keys" to all the other shards and the Source as a backup plan if the Ascians failed.
Lyn685: If the original Ultima can create Auracite that can open portals between shards, wouldn't it be easier to assume that she wants to rejoin her counterparts directly instead of rejoining the worlds?
DesignDoc: I am curious if at some point in this post-endwalker saga, the writers will eventually go down the line of making a major villain a reflection of Azem that's evil or some other twisted take on WoL. Zenos had a little
Nenacu: Interesting theory, but this probably isn't it. Putting aside the fact that Ultima is more than likely relegated to side content and raid series with how the game lore has been written, you have to keep a simple fact in mind. None of the other games have or will have happened in FFXIV. Just like the shards are reflections of the source, different yet familiar, so too is XIV content referencing other games simply reflections of the other games. Different, yet familiar. Also heavily glossing over the history of the key and what it suggests in how it's tied to Azem.

The key is likely an artifact carried by Azem as they were off saving that volcanic island the convocation was unwilling to help. Whether it was part of their solution or a byproduct of it, only the power of Azem has been shown to be able to easily open clean rifts as the relic does, as we do every time we use our Duty Finder power. The island that was saved became the South Sea Isles after the sundering and the people there the precursors to the Lalafel tribe that inhabited those islands, who escaped the Source to flee the calamity of ice using the key. That's why we see the volcano in living memory when even the people who supplied the lore for that section could hardly remember why there was a volcano in the first place.

I believe the upcoming threats are hinted to us by both the key and by Emet-Selch's parting words to us. Likely, the places pointed out are one of two types, a place where the machinations of the remaining or fallen asciens are still at work, providing the groundwork for yet another calamity, or irons Azem left in the fire that are too dangerous to be left alone.
shig5803: This is an extremely great video!!! I'm so glad this came onto my recommended. I have truly been thinking as well that It's pretty much time for a FF7-themed expansion, with sephiroth and JENOVA as key villains for an expansion with alien and body horror themed villains, which can hopefully lead onto ultima thereafter. Thanks again!
Eisenight: Remember, Meteion was introduced during the middle of EW. The reinterpretation of the Mothercrystal was also done around the same time.

So yeah, for your arguement probably. But I think it's gonna be something new. Related, but new.

Also, we haven't met all the sundered Ascians yet. And with Gaia and Fandaniel existing , prolly something gonna happen along those lines.
BaghNakh1: iirc, during the last media tour right before DT, one of the FF14 content creators asked Yoshi P for clues regarding DT and, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Yoshi P said to pay attention to one of the Alliance Raids and to the names of the seats of the Convocation and the only possible relevant Alliance Raids are either Ivalice or the Myths of the Realm, but then some people forget that one of the names of the Convocation is Altima, the patron of the arts, some people speculating that they're meant to be same word as Ultima but "Altima" was just an old mistranslation, so maybe Yoshi P's clue was indeed related to Ultima?

On the other hand, it's undeniable that Ultima and the Auracite are key in FF14 lore. To this day, I'm convinced that the reason Venat was present in Elpis that day "at the request of a friend", was because she was there at the request of Elidibus and she was meant to be the one helping him investigate what was going on in Pandaemonium, but because of the whole thing with the Final Days, it's possible that the whole deal with Ultima flew under her radar until way later.

Finally, on the last 7.0 trial, the Auracite in the Key reacted to us when we invoked Azem's power to summon our allies, and Azem's symbol shined on top of the key, something they showed at the start of the trial and then proceeded to never speak of it again, which is extremely suspicious, while at the same time, they showed to us other instances of the key being used but Azem's symbol didn't appeared, which makes the reaction the key made to Azem's power very specific and for a reason.

Some people might say that Ultima is just a side character meant to be side content stuff, but lets not forget that Ultima and the Auracite have been key figures not only in a raid and an alliance raid, but also the MSQ itself, so I want to see what CBU3 is cooking here, but you can be sure that there is a link between the key, Azem and the WoL, otherwise the key wouldn't have reacted in such a specific and particular way to Azem's magic.
RinjiRenee: In the last Tales of the Dawn short story entry:
"Oh my, how careless of our Azem."

Thus spoke Hythlodaeus, having ambled into his office at the Bureau of the Architect to find a crystal sitting rather conspicuously on a chair reserved for guests. Slipped from a singularly adventurous pocket, no doubt. He marveled at the way the light played on its facets, like the surface of a tranquil lake, and recalled the first visitor he had received that morning.

Azem had sought the chief's assistance with the refinement of the fourteenth in his series of concepts to help ease the burdens of travel, which was contained within the palm-sized crystal. But as was so often the case, the conversation concerning the escapades that inspired said concept's creation had spiraled into a full-blown recounting, leaving Hythlodaeus insufficient time to evaluate it before Azem had to hasten to a meeting with the Convocation. Hythlodaeus was not without his own pressing obligations─the formal evaluation of a massive living-being concept, for one─and had only just returned to the bureau a moment before.

"And absent such comforts, how unbearable your wanderings will surely be," he mused aloud as he collected his friend's crystal."

Azem had been creating crystals to enable travel. There's no real indication of where this crystal ended up. Also the story is called: Days Gone By, and Days Yet to Come.
xXlizamaXx: o i shouldn't have watched without playing ff16, oops.
jkranites: It was a key that Azem was working on for interdimensional travel. if you read the stories on the website.

Aug 14 2024

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