Lyn685: When Halmarut says "our hero", she definitely means the WoL.

I've checked the german localization, and she uses the term "Warrior of Light" instead of "our hero".

Spronger: I think it's as simple as: She is talking about us, the WoL. The 9th is ready for the rejoining but the source is stable therefore the rejoining can't happen and the 9th is doomed to become a void world like the 13th. They want the key to force a rejoining because so far they've only managed to do it partially.

Arupaca128: I wonder if they'll have the balls to do another 2.55 style rug pull on us.

MegaDEDSbr: In my opinion, there's going to be a great collapse of all remaining reflections due to the lack of a "will of the star" and causing a gigantic Calamity. Of course Zodiark was the first one to fill this role, but I think Hydaelyn played a part in maintaining the reflections stabilized to some degree. That said, the Winterers could be a faction that is somehow trying to preserve all of the reflection's peoples by turning them in Endless, which would make them have a noble purpose but acting through evil actions to achieve this, in the future they might even end up being our allies when we finally manage to talk things through.

Now, there are two things I can't really find a good answer yet: the first one is why would a high-ranking Ascian such as Halmurot strive to preserve the reflection's peoples now? Maybe being from a reflection herself (such as the Ninth itself, as Calyx points out that she dresses like someone from centuries ago - perhaps an outdated Alexandrain fashion?) and having no need to actually destroy them anymore, she sets out to protect the people from her world? And the second one is who would be the main antagonist in this scenario. If the reflections would inevitably return to the Source, then it's not someone's doing, but perhaps someone is willing to accelerate the process for some unknown reason.

Completely disconnected to that, one main villain I would absolutely love to face is... the other Azem shards united (five, if I'm not mistaken?). We are so used to seeing Azem being the good guy that it would be very interesting to see a bad one that managed to force their other reflections to join them, and ultimately seeks us to become more powerful. Of course, in the end we would end up beating them and becoming this powerful entity, which would go against the game's mechanics and lore of interacting with Dynamis, but who knows? Maybe a single one of Azem's shards could be a powerful enough enemy in the future.

sydniusalminia5364: Theres no way an entire world's aether could be depleted by beating a primal before the WoL runs out of gas

futurepastnow: My guess is that, with Hydaelyn and Zodiark both gone, some force naturally draws the aether of the Shards back to the Source. Obviously this is terminal for the Shards, and I believe the Winterers are a handful of people from different Shards who are aware of this and want to stop it. Some of them may have their own objectives, like Calyx and Preservation, but still in service of the goal to prevent Shards from withering away. Was Preservation's plan possibly more sophisticated than simply stealing aether to power Living Memory? Could they have instead wanted to intercept the aether that was already "withering" away and keep it out of the Source's lifestream?

tehzerp: So here's where I think things are going as it stands right now. In Seat of Sacrifice we are sworn in as Azem which means we are a convocation member now. We also know before Meteion that aether was thinning. Then the catastrophe caused even more aether to be lost. Zodiark was a dam trapping the planets aether in and Hydalen shattered that world I to the reflections. New life/souls came to be on all those worlds replenishing the aether.

Without elders to prop up the world every is rubber banding and the rejoining is happening in an unbalanced and uncontrollable state which will just as likely destroy all life and the world especially when the 13 is so broken.

Halmarut is referencing that by us not working with them or on our current path we are currently unknowingly still doing the convocation path of rejoining the shards. Winterer has given up preventing that and seems to weather the coming storm and survive. The 9th would have been a good place to do so as electrope makes its calamity much easier to deal with than some others.

The biggest plot hole I see right now how if they simply asked for us to help and explain things we'd totally try to save everything.

FuyuYuki92: The way I understand it is that she means us whenever she mentions the word "hero". They were trying to create endless so they could save at least a portion of the people living on the ninth from the great withering, but since we've stopped their plans and got hold of the key, they have no more options. I wonder how much they tie into preservation and possibly even the founding of the organization, since preservation's goal might ultimately have been to preserve whatever possible in the face of said withering.

ArisAxel94: Hey there, I just wanted to say that I've recently discovered your channel, and your content is amazing :) thank you so much for creating it and putting your time into it. It has become one of my favorite FFXIV channels.

Draylin41: I am wondering if this disaster they seem to be afraid of was the reason they wanted to save the 9th. If they could stabilize the Shard by draining all the lightening Aether it could make it a safe haven they could hide in till the danger has passed. Who know how long that could be when you're dealing with immortal beings though. The "Winter" they're referring to could last centuries and they'd probably be fine with it.

MuseClues3: Calyx using Necron to absorb the lightning aspected aether went over my head the first time, woah. So when he meant syphoning aether, did he mean elemental aether instead of soul aether for the Endless? And the whole Neo-Regulator thing was JUST to fuel primal summoning?

jimearp9273: What if she talks about "our hero" being the ninth's warrior of light. we've met Ardbert being the hero of the 1st, so what if the hero of the ninth is still around and trying to repair the realm. then next expansion is us going to dimensional travel to each shard to stop the re-joining and in toe meeting the other warriors of light or becoming the hero that shard needs. as they did want to shift the focus of the story back to the player being the main character.

mellentlevianth1705: I think the withering and the winterers could be directly literal. So the end singer targeted weak points in the aether of the world. Zodiark was summoned to shore these weakpoint and essentially created an endless summer. Without zodiark or hydalyn to control the flow we might be looking at a very long very bad winter of aether.

azaelthereon4141: I’m going to guess that the remaining ascians are still striving to maintain the original goal rejoining the shards to the source and they’re trying to re-summon Zodiark back. So they’re manipulating Calyx and taking different approaches to achieve their goals again. I want an enemy we don’t have to feel bad for, but we can’t beat.

ReidusQuitzed: To end this expac, they should introduce Kuja, and new Humanoid-Ape race. and Zidane hair also confirmed. So next expac new race is Zidane's race.

How they'll integrate it to the canon like earlier expac like a realm reborn is they're a mysterious race, rarely makes appearances. Like Zidane on FF9 i don't know why he never questioned his origin or why he's the only person with a tail in their crew.

WolfmanXD: I swear to god, if I see Zenos again, I'm rage quitting the game. I love Zenos as a villain as much as anyone, but that doesn't mean we need to keep coming back to him every expansion. Dawntrail is the first expansion since STORMBLOOD that hasn't had Zenos as a major part of it. Let that sink in. That means that Zenos was a major part of the game for four years, over 3 expansions. We don't need more. At least with the Asians they're not the same person, and a lot of them have different goals than just blindly bringing back Zodiark.

PrincessofKeys: All I know is it sounded like with both Zodiark and Hydaelyn gone the shards are going to rejoin anyways that's all I got.

1Mrstephen: The dome showing up on the source I think is the start of a rejoining in disguise. Parts of each world have to die if the rejoining is successful especially if it’s actually a physical one yeah?

gaspardguillemette561: I have checked in multiple dialogue the key is described like a primordial. I think the calamity and all will not be due to the wol but the key as an entity a primordial. It might even be the soul of zordiarque as zordiarque is all as one.

anderson47247: Emet memory copy or perhaps garland ?

ciboria1: Hell, if you proposed to the gang that; "Hey, we found a method of ethically creating endless, and also saving multiple reflections from succumbing to the aetherical imbalances they are suffering from; by being able to create a Concept that we summon, which you get to defeat, and have the rest of the gang turn it into stabilised aether, to which we both could use for our projects. Ours would go towards the cretion of the endless, albeit in a smaller but sustainable numbers, at least for now. While you guys get a veritable mountain of jethically sourced aether, on top of saving multiple reflections.

Choice is up to you."

There aren't too many arguments against it, as we both get to stabilise the other relfections, (avoiding a new rejoining), but also get to make the forces of natures benefit us, as well as the Warrior of Light/Darkness getting to fix things the way they know best - directly!

willowkaiser4036: I don't think it is a smiple has that i believe just has the ascians had good reason we going find out it later on elidibus seems to hint a something like this has well. Pretty sure we going to deal with the 3 in some form again at some point

NotTheWheel: I mean doomed to die, this dome, it's partially "Rejoined" when you think about it and generally that means a dispersal of aspected Aether back to the source. Which would, in a sense, kill everyone in the 9th.

But if that were the case that be like deleting a whole city from the game. So it could be that interdimensional fusion can spare the people of those shards from this fate.

MrLeo6986: The opposite of lightning would be water right? A counter measure I would assume. Think back to how the first (light) and the void (dark) the light used from the first used to help save another world via the crystal tower. Using an opposite force to counteract destruction.

What if this thinking is where we are heading to save the 9th? And lightning has an opposite. With the hints given around new years, we know we are going somewhere where water is very prominent. Water can be the opposite of lightning. But water can also be affected by ice. The coming winter can stop water by freezing it. If in the next expansion we somehow have to fight a winter mentioned in msq.

dacienvegas2712: Can a rejoining still happen if not orchestrated by Ascians? They are not just random events, it involves micromanaging both the source and the reflection... is that going on? I don't think so.

I think the withering refers to a world where Hydaelyn and Zodiark are no more. I think their absence will make all reflections just fade away.... not a calamity or rejoining, just ceasing to exist.

Will the Oracles of Light and Darkness take this role? The aether buffer system role?

incognisance4293: My theory is that without Zodiark and Hydaelyn, the source is no longer stable and the other shards cannot remain separate from it indefinitely. The winterers plan was to ensure the 9th could survive in some form or fashion using the key and the endless, but with our current path, they’re doomed to fail and the shard will collapse back into the source. Halmarut might be an enemy at this stage, but she clearly has a reason for this rejoining to not take place. Why that is, we don’t know. But clearly the 9th is valuable to her, and her peers, so there must some larger purpose that we don’t yet understand.

Miingno: Can we not all just sit down, with a nice cup of tea or coffee and talk this thing through? D:

I know, I know.. it'd make for a boring story... But maybe we could get to a satisfying conclusion a bit sooner XD

Patch 7.5 and beyond will be great, I can feel it :3

Jan 20 2026

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