Vrtra Really Said "Even Here Have We Heard Of The Scions Of The Seventh Dawn" Like He Wasn't Having Thavnair

another thing about Garlemald in EW: the irony of the Empire being destroyed not by an external enemy but from within, first by civil conflict and then by the Teleophoroi.

Many of the Garlean leaders, inlucing Varis and Gaius, were what we might call "principled villains", who thought they were doing the right thing - if only for their own people at the expense of literally everyone else. But then the works of these people who did terrible things believing they were justified get brutally dismantled by Zenos and Fandaniel, who proudly claim not to believe in anything.

It's this that makes what Zenos says to Jullus in that one cutscene make sense. No "good reason" would have made the violence the Empire inflicted on others right, just like no good reason would justify Zenos destroying the Empire and it's people in such a terrible way.

everything post-Endwalker hinges on the idea that even after saving the world and being released from their duty as Warrior of Light the WoL will seek adventure for it's own sake. They're still doing the same things they always do but this time purely because they want to.

And I don't think that change would have been possible without Zenos.

The final confrontation with him at the end of Endwalker, his questions spurring the WoL to think about why they do what they do, or the duel that serves to show them how fun it can be to fight without the weight of the world on your back. It's crazy to think that for all of the harm he caused the positive consequence of Zenos's actions was inspiring his friend to live freely.

wol fumbles . and hilda

Thinking of G'raha Tia, only 24 years old and simultaneously beyond and behind his peers because of how the archon accepted the fate of locking himself away in the Crystal Tower. Thinking of him, with the optimism of a 24yo and the attention span of a 24yo and the life goals of a 24yo who just realized that the world is a lot bigger than all the books he studied and slept on could ever describe. Thinking of him, telling his new friends and his old friends and his scared inner self that he's not going to die, that he's just going to sleep, knowing full well that he will likely never wake up.

Thinking of G'raha Tia, only 124 waking years old and carrying the memories of people that never lived because of what he did after waking in the Crystal Tower. Thinking of him, with a heart shattered by experiences and with the careful plotting that comes from experiences and with a pure self-destructive goal forged by those experiences who just realized that he is going to have to live in a world that never was but is now and is greater than all his hopes and fears ever conspired to put together. Thinking of him, telling his old friends and his new friends and the one person that he is scared of losing that he is going to be okay, that he is going to not sleep on life, knowing that this is the world he was ready to die for, knowing that he will likely never discover everything about it but is ready to die trying.

Thinking of that moment when G'raha Tia the 24yo meets G'raha Tia the 124yo in the landscape of their unifying mind. Thinking of them, when the life goals of a 24yo collides with the life goals of a 124yo and how the century of experiences between them makes them completely separate people. Thinking of them, telling his younger self that the ambition was fulfilled and it's time to wake up, telling his older self that there is still ambition more and the dream has just begun, telling each other that this is not a type of death but just a change and both of them knowing full well that they are going to die to each other so that G'raha Tia may yet live for one more adventure with their friend.

Thinking of G'raha Tia and that moment of ultimate surrender of self to self.

Thinking.

“Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” 💫

doom arc

Seeing it postulated that Zenos' dying wish, his strongest final emotion that shaped the dynamis around him to manifest WoLs transporter- was born of genuine wanting that WoL may yet live on.

Because he showed in his final challenge speech that he finally understood that WoL doesn't want to burn their life for the sake of it, that they still have so much to live for. So in gifting him the end he sought, he gifts us a new beginning in return.

Day 8: Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Let me see the world through your eyes