At the time of your journey to the past, the one whose essence I embody would have been a scholar at Anyder. A shame. Had you reason to go there, perhaps you might have met...
...I “remember” joining her faction as the Final Days bore down upon us...
-The Watcher, “Omega: Beyond the Rift” quests, Endwalker 6.1.
On the original trip to Mare Lamentorum, the Warrior of Light meets The Watcher, a creation of Hydaelyn patterned off Her memories of an old friend, set to watch over Zodiark’s imprisonment. During the Omega chain in “Newfound Adventures” we learn more of the Watcher and the ancient man he is a memory of, and why he is still here. Like so much else of Shadowbringers and Endwalker, it is a story of friendship and love.
Brief transcripts from Shadowbringers “Beneath the Surface” and Endwalker “Goodbye, ε̆│̆│Δ“ below the cut.
Diplomatic Ancient One: Venat, please... Why must it be you?
Diplomatic Ancient One: If I may speak plainly, I would sooner it were another─any other. You are our leader. None can take your place.
Venat: You know as well as I that but few support our cause. Far fewer than they who place their faith in Zodiark.
Venat: If Hydaelyn is to stand a chance of opposing Him, I am the only one who might suffice as Her heart.
Venat: Rest assured, however: I shall not vanish from this world. The form I take shall ever remain my choice.
Diplomatic Ancient One: ...Then I will press you no more. Only know this...you will be sorely missed.
Diplomatic Ancient One: I wonder...is this how the Convocation felt about Elidibus?
-Beneath the Surface, Shadowbringers 5.2, post-Anyder.
The Watcher: At the time of your journey to the past, the one whose essence I embody would have been a scholar at Anyder. A shame. Had you reason to go there, perhaps you might have met.
The Watcher: As a man of learning, he was firm friends with Venat. They spent long hours trading theories, or debating the laws of the universe.
The Watcher: I “remember” joining her faction as the Final Days bore down upon us. Yet of the events surrounding that tragedy, I recall precious little.
The Watcher: Hydaelyn wished for the people of your age to decide their own path, thus I suspect my recollection was limited by design.
The Watcher: Yet even She could not cut away one persistent memory...
The Watcher: I feel most distinctly his sadness at what was to come to pass. That in becoming Hydaelyn's heart, Venat would forever stand apart from the people she so loved.
The Watcher: If she were so resolved in her convictions, then he, too, would share her sleepless vigil over the future yet to unfold. Thus was the vow he made to Venat as her transformation took hold.
The Watcher: His fervent wish must have reached her in some fashion... For though his life was drained away by the summoning, he was reborn with new form and new purpose when I awoke as the watcher of the moon.
The Watcher: And you heard, [WoL]. You felt. You thought. And in seizing the future for yourselves have you brought full circle the saga which Venat began.
The Watcher: What you accomplished was no divine miracle. It was but the beacon of hope, passed down from one generation to the next; a succession of wishes and prayers reshaping the star into the world we knew you deserved.
The Watcher: You have our deepest gratitude. I thank you not only as myself, but as the man I once was, and on behalf of those who devoted themselves to Venat's vision.
Excuse me, I did not expect to be emotionally compromised over our favorite murderbot who beat up several of our friends, put Dadsormr to sleep, held our homes hostage, threatened the star itself, tried to murder us multiple times...
...Actually, y’know, this is about par for the course with WoL’s relationships with their antagonists at this point. And the bot tried so hard to understand, asking difficult questions and discussing philosophy and they really dug into the music cues...
So yeah. The Omega quests were great and highly recommended.
Noodling with the idea that Aeryn’s still in recovery from the end of 6.0, tho it’s been a few months with plenty of magical, alchemical, and mundane healing. But she’s still not 100% so Dark Autumn goes along on the treasure hunt, with Aeryn and whichever Scion isn’t in the forward party bringing up the rear (and getting surprised by Varshahn first).
Also, depending on what’s next for our favorite bard-rogue-gunbreaker, maybe Aeryn’s with him instead? But I like her being part of the voidgate investigations, it’s right up her alley--especially since a goal of hers is to reunite Thancred and Ryne, so working with Y’shtola on this project is a high priority, even if she can’t fight yet and people are (annoyingly) treating her with kid gloves.
And while I’ve got silly screenshots of Aeryn in the Aglaia caster dress, I dunno yet when that falls into her canon; I tend to shuffle the raid and trial content around a bit, depending on the story. Chronology is handwavey.
New favorite character development is the killer robot who went through a catastrophic physical change, which has made them a disability advocate demanding reasonable accommodations and proper accessibility for all.
(I’m only kinda joking)
Imagine them writing a report to the Satrap about all those stairs in Radz-at-Han.
“If I can not battle a dragon in combat <beep> then we shall battle in legal legislation!”
Anyway, more specific (not) silliness with transcripts below the cut.
[A series of FF14 chat balloon boxes from the character Omega:
Omega: Warning. Please avoid stairs whenever possible. My projections indicate high-risk probability for accidental slippage leading to catastrophic structural damage.
Omega: Stepped inclines also increase my energy consumption by sixty-three percent. In mortal terms, they “tire me out.”
Omega: Taking into account the difference in individual limb length, the design is inherently flawed. A convenient step height for one is an exhausting trial for another.
Omega: Were I to oversee the civic design of this settlement, I would construct a sloped conveyor belt which enabled automatic traversal. Zero personal energy expenditure.
Omega: <blip> Input overload. I must have time and distance from the subjects to process this data.]
