@@KeiEnd Late Allagan set+ Crownsblade/ Sophist set+ Tower of Zot gunblade/ a custom set of Tigerskin fending coat (dyed white)+High Mythrite Sabatons (dyed Brass)+Tekko #55+Hyperion (pants are barely visible so irrelevant)
What little we learn about Azem makes them sound like a trickster god that likes to help people instead of screwing them over, and I think that's pretty cool.
I believe this concept of Azem arose from player behavior itself. The playerbase has adopted this interpretation of Azem wholeheartedly because it almost perfectly meshes with how the majority of the playerbase acts. Like the players lining up a wall of Goobbue mounts around Ul'Dah in 1.0 to protect the city, or settng up impromptu queues with line stewards to ensure everybody could kill the mobs for a summer event the devs forgot to make player instanced quest spawns; the players of Final Fantasy XIV are remarkably stalwart, good, and invested in the well-being of Eorzea (despite it just being a game), and equal parts batshit insane. Benevolent Chaos-Gremlins. I think there is still more story there. I like the idea that Azem had foresight, and saw that the Zodiark plan would lead to disaster. Nor could Azem participate in the summoning of Hydaelyn, because they knew their soul would need to be reincarnated endlessly, walk the world endlessly in order to find the answers needed to truly end the Final Days. But I suspect there was more there too. Maybe we'll finally find out what they were up to in the final Pandemonium raid.
I assumed azem was Prometheus so it checks out. Fire god, indirectly assisted in the creation of the second version of humanity, enlightened humanity. It all loosely fits
@@StoutHelm Funny enough, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility for the Ancients to make a concept for polygonal fruit. Hythlodaeus might have seen a concept or two during his tenure as chief of the Bureau of the Architect.
@@StoutHelm the low poly grapes were from Corvos, not an island, nor mentioned as being volcanic. More likely Azem's grapes were from Vylbrant Aleport or the volcano that used to be Sharlyan. There is also the depiction of grapes and fire going together is the Sunken Temple of Quarn dedicated to Azeyma, which is much closer to Vylbrant than Corvos
@@siyrean I think it also serves as a callback to the infamous ARR quest chain leading up to Titan, where you help restore famous Bacchus grapes of Wineport. I do think it's worth noting that the WoL could choose to say they don't like grapes in the Labyrinthos quest with Cookingway.
I think one of the best parts of the character of Azem is that any player is free to interpret their own version of them and they’re not wrong for doing so. We just only have the barest framework of the character so that we can fill it in. Azem was adventurous, a good friend, and always did things their way. Maybe liked their grapes more than most. I will however say is that I do hope eventually the devs will see fit to reveal Azem’s official mask or their glyph. It’s something that bothers me that I don’t know.
I read somewhere somebody having another interpretation about those "liking" grapes. Those lines uttered by Emet-Selch (that Elidibus would be disappointed about those grapes) imply that those grapes was just an excuse to help prevent the volcanic catastrophe that was about to hit the island he saved.
@@RenaShirow Apparently he's also been censured by the Convocation multiple times for their shenanigans. So I've always thought of Azem and his friends like this: Azem comes up with the crazy ideas. Hythlodaeus enables the crazy ideas. Emet Selch is the guy who keeps everyone out of jail, much to his annoyance.
I kinda disagree. I want to learn more about Azem and if it means that their personality will be set in stone and apart from peoples' headcanons, I'm okay with it.
I kind of pondered on the relationship between our character and Azem. I mean, we are a reincarnated piece of their sundered soul, but the concept alone was always interesting to me. The more I've thought about it, I look at it kind of like when someone suffers complete and permanent amnesia. Effectively Azem's soul being split amounts effectively to ego death. While our WoL and the other pieces may certainly still hold mannerisms and quirks reminiscent of Azem, they have manifested into fully self actualized people separate of the original persona. The person Azem was is gone, but the person they became carries on.
It's a form of the Nature vs. Nurture argument. After the sundering, and with every reincarnation, the shards of Azem are left with their inherent Nature, but the way the world Nurtures them defines the kind of person they become. Same with Hermes, and Amon. They are similar, driven to ask similar questions, but while Hermes was raised in a Utopia, Amon was raised in a decadent empire in a state of moral decay. This different upbringing resulted in two separate individuals.
Me too! I love that aspect of the lore. Don’t show me Azem but tell me more about how he pissed off the convocation by solving problems with rule breaking.
Personally? I say we shouldn't learn anymore about Azem UNLESS we manage to rejoin with more fragments like Ardbert. After all it wasn't until we joined with Arbert that Emet-Selch and Elidibus were able to see a hint of Azem in wol and not until defeat that they accepted it. So it's fitting that we the players only see a hint of Azem as well, unless we gain more fragments of our former soul and with it more memories of the past.
@@15doz No spoilers please, I haven't finished 6.0 yet. I just finished up the stuff with Elysium. All I know is the faintest hint that 6.1 and beyond will maybe deal with the 13th and I do have one small fan theory on what little bit I know but that's it.
What I love about XIV is how it integrates us, the player, into the story and make us feel important. As far as knowing more about Azem, I would like to learn more about them through stories and accounts of their adventures. One thing I would love, however, is if we could take on the name of Azem in the future. I always found it silly when ppl call us "Warrior of Light" in conversations. By taking on the title, ppl could refer to us as "Azem", yet we could also retain our created names. Imagine a character meeting us for the first time, and the conversation can be like, "Did you say your name was [ insert name ]?! I'd never thought I'd meet Azem, the great adventurer, in the flesh!" And by taking on the name, characters can refer to us by name in voice acting as well. The writing team has done such an amazing job building this mythos for Azem over the years that every XIV player has accepted that we are a part of them. Owning that title for our own would help us tie us even more into relationships and stories in the future. Great video, and I'm looking forward to more like this one from you!
I'd be interested in a story that suggests that Azem did, indeed, meet with Venat before she did the sundering. And, together they worked out a plan. In Endwalker, Venat/Hydaelyn, admits to Y''shtola that the main purpose of the sundering was not to stop Zodiark. That was, in fact, secondary. The primary purpose was to dilute the aether of man such that they could interact with dynamis and have a fighting chance by learning to persevere. The problem being that it was a balancing act. The champion of Hydaelyn (WOL) had to be strong enough to fill the role, but not so strong as to negate the interaction with dynamis. This threshold was met following the seventh umbral calamity. With the addition of Ardbert to our soul (which I might add was somewhat orchestrated by 'Minfilia" (Word of the Mother)...we became 4/7th of what we had once been. Then, in Endwalker, we found out that Hydaelyn has the ability to separate out a soul of the dead before it returns to the Aetherial Sea. She did this with Emet-Selch (she tells you this in the Tower of Babil...where she says an ally waits for you....the watcher...and one other who might come into play (Emet-Selch). What I'm getting at is the confidante talking to Venat in the recording is stating that Azem didn't respond to him...and Venat says nothing. It could be deliberate and wished to keep their plans private for some reason. I find this theory intriguing because even though it takes place over thousands and thousands of years, the timing of their one chance at winning required intricate timing. And, the WOL had to take the lead as Hydaelyn's strength waned. An 8th Umbral calamity was just one too many. Seven was just right....and Minfilia just barely holding off the flood of light in a temporary fashion was the point in which the WOL surpassed Hydaelyn in effectiveness and the WOL became the lead. There is also the cool irony of Azem passing the torch to Azem once more.
The ally she talked about at the time wasn't Emet, it was Hythlodaeus, who's soul was trapped on the moon. Which he did help us by chasing off the other sacrificed souls. That being said, I would actually love to either see or hear about what they said to each other and how Azem died, it's clear after all that they survived til the Sundering. Otherwise the player and Ardbert wouldn't exist. Did they get killed or did illness/old age take them.
@@witchylealin Could be. Maybe not. Emet-Selch said they screwed up on their first attempt. They turned the 13th into a void in error. I'm not sure that was ever confirmed as a re-joining.
If one stops viewing Azem as a separate character, and instead entertains the possibility that everything we are told about Azem is simply the retelling of our, the player characters exploits, a lot of the things we hear about Azem start making a whole lot more sense. Every time Azem is brough up ingame I become increasingly convinced of the fact that we are, or rather WILL BE Azem. We already hold (depending on if you have done the Dark Knight questline and count that) 8 or 9 thirtheents of a whole Amaurotine soul. And while this part is speculation on my part, I believe that just as the Ascians plan was to tip the scales to merge all remaining shards back into one, Azems soul will eventualy reach critical mass and simply reconstitute in full. We are already timetraveling to the past, so my theory is that the Azem of the past knows future events not because he/she can see them, but because WE are Azem. Azem doesnt see the future, the Warrior of Light simply remembers their past. Perhaps the biggest clue and supporting evidence for this theory, besides Azems gender and appearance changing to match the PC, is the fact that "The grapes are quite delicious, so Im saving the island" is something that would neatly fit both thematicaly as well as mechanicaly as a selectable anwser to a quest in a later expansion. Also summoning a "Deffinitely Not A Primal Fight" Ifrita and then defeating it to solve a problem sounds awfuly familiar. One could almost argue that Ifrita were a "trial" of some kind, one that you would probably need 7 of your bestest adventuring buddies to defeat. If my theory is correct, at some point in a future expansion we regain and reconstitute the remaining shards of our soul into one because we need to get back to the past for "reasons" similar to why we now return to the past to deal with the Pandaemonium raids. Yoshi-P never needs to worry about Azem not matching everyones headcanon if Azem IS the future "past" version of the Warrior of Light. Ordinarily I would argue that introducing timetravel into any story is VERY risky and thats why they wouldnt do it, buuuuuut since that ship has sailed... As far as Im concerned Elpis and Pandaemonium are both proof of concept and player introduction/warmup into this exact concept and idea.
Or just go for broke and make Azem’s special Ancient ability be to exist in all moments simultaneously. The WoL could only see pieces if others’ stories in the past but the original Azem could see everything they have and will deal with.
This is exactly my thoughts on it, an additional reason for why i think this has to do with conservation of previous power gain. If we eventually were to travel back in time as our full azem, then our power is reverted to equal to others on the planet. This means we could start all our adventures as the past azem to learn the story of Azem. And when the final days of the game eventually come. The final days happen and we cannot intervene in the events since that would cause a paradox. And our souls are split into the shards as we know them.
Couldn't of said it any better myself its like you took what I was thinking and articulated it I believe exactly what your thinking here and don't agree with the video
I like that when Elidibus transforms the shape he has is the classic Warrior of Light armour that, in Elidibus' own memories is revealed as being something his idol, Azem, once wore. (shown from the back to hide gender and any features though) It isn't shown whether Azem wore that back when they were still an Ancient or if it was a shard of Azem who reincarnated as likely the first Warrior of Light. Elidibus admired Azem so much that his transformed shape is just him dressed as Azem. Although his version of the look was less bright. The colours were muted and faded likely because Elidibus was fading as a person, gradually losing his memories and personality. When we defeat him, all he had left was his purpose as the heart of Zodiark and his desire to be like Azem.
I feel like we have reached a perfect opportunity to learn more about who Azem was. Especially now that we've reached a point where our WoL is about to start adventuring again. To see what the universe has to offer and provide our aid where we can in lands unknown to us.
I think of the whole “shard of so and so’s” soul as reincarnation. So for me my WoL is Azem reincarnated. They have the same personality quirks. Being a wildcard, mischievous and too kind for their own good. Luckily the Dark Knight quests taught this incarnation self care! 😂
That’s the beauty of Azem’s mostly blank canvas - our own head canons can develop. I envision my Warrior as headstrong, a little reckless, an aura of bravado but also compassionate.
That's how I see it, as well. Azem's soul may have been sundered into 14 shards, but they're still Azem's soul. So, for me, my WoL is the reincarnation of Azem and shares those same personality traits that she had before the sundering.
@@StoutHelm that the warrior of light beeing Azem reborn ist less headcannon and implied by the unique color of the soul and ss Souls go back to the aetherial sea. they rest until they are reborn without memorys of they preveous life. it is also implied that by seiryu and suzaku that tenzen is also a preveous incarnation of the warrior of light
My understanding of why Azem didn’t sign onto summoning Hydaelyn was that Venat told them everything - and knowing the entire situation with how their soul would have to be split, Azem accepted that they couldn’t be spared from the Sundering without ruining the timeline convergence Venat was working so hard to maintain. They knew they had to get sundered so that the WoL could come into being and return to Elpis later on.
What was said was that Azem didn't agree with the convocations plan to summon Zodiark and left the 14. Then Venat came with her plan for Hydaelyn and Azem rejected her too to find an alternate route for themselves. Unfortunately, they didn't find one in time
@@singinghades315 That was only as far as anyone else knew, though - nobody besides Venat and the WoL remembered the whole story, and the idea of Azem walking away in disagreement could have just been cover to avoid suspicion. Given Azem’s eccentricities, nobody would likely have found it too odd that they chose a path nobody else understood.
The WoL completes a self-fulfilling time-paradox by traveling to the past, to Elpis; then meeting Venat and telling her some of the details. It makes a lot of sense that Azem realizes this to a degree, even when Venat didn't seem to realize it. Azem understands what must happen to themselves so that the event of the WoL traveling to Elpis can even happen at all.
@@kde6277 What bothers me is that Venat had no real reason to be in Elpis. She just happened to be there for 'sightseeing' when everyone else there is either working or learning. I think this Venat/Azem conspiracy goes earlier than Endsinger's events. Mayhaps, they already knew of the thing in the center of the universe.
I eat up what little Azem shit we can get. I love it. The kind hearted traveler shit is my jam. I got wanderlust at heart, so I relate on like a personal level. I imagine plenty of enjoyers of the game do, as well, making it brilliant what they did when writing them. They knew exactly what they were tapping into.
Azem is a previous incarnation of the player character. It is meant to be similar to us in more ways than one. Not the same, but so blatantly similar his 2 friends admit there's definetely some of their personality in us. For this reason, they can't show us Azem, or let us meet them. The moment they do, they have to fully decide what type of person Azem is, why they did what they did, what they truly thought, and what they tryed to do during the Final Days. And if they do that, they sever the connection between the player and Azem. They will never do that. We must consider that with the few dialogue choices they give us, they already let us define our WoL in many different ways. They can either be a funny troubleseeker, a serious seeker of justice, a battlethirsty warrios searching for challenges, an empathic person who resorts to violence as a last resort, and a mix of all those things in different amounts. As such, Azem can be a mix of all those things in different amounts. It's not that they are secretive on writing Azem. They CAN'T write Azem. They can be too many different things at once.
Tenzen is heavily implied to be another of Azem’s reincarnations. A traveler who helped people, a trickster and wildcard who did things he thought were right. Suzaku is even having trouble telling us apart from him in her confused state - she might have sensed that the soul was the same.
I think its rather implied that Tenzen was who our soul was before we came to be. Souls are reborn in ff14, it is likely our soul has had many lives and attempted to be an adventurer of sorts in all of them. Its also worth noting that as more and more shards are rejoined, our soul becomes more dense and more alike to the original azem. Whether that means we're more powerful or more adventurous or virtuous idk.
I would disagree. Tenzen bound his soul into the seals he put on the auspice he was fighting. That means that he *could not* have been a shard of Azem. I mean, I see why someone could see that, but it doesn't seem to be possible with the nature of the sacrifice Tenzen made, to tie his very soul into chaining the beast until someone stronger than him could come along and finish the job. This is also why I don't believe that the one Tactics character in the Ivalice raids is an incarnation of Azem. That was his *soul* bound into the auracite.
tenzen was probably one carnation of us. i also believe that each shard has a version of us. as those shards met calamities we rejoined with out reflections becoming more whole.
From the way I interpret the lyrics of "Flow", the song that Venat sings to her "spark", I think she told Azem of her time everything that transpired in Elpis. And just as Venat thought of time traveling as something exciting that she'd do, I can only guess that Azem felt the same way about being split into 14 shards, then reincarnate again and again across millenia, living countless and varied lives, all in the search of adventure and salvation of their world. I say this because at first I thought "Flow" was about the meeting of Venat as Hydaelyn with our character - but upon repeat reads, the lyrics paint a picture of a soul carried to her in the Aetherial sea, recounting its adventures, before being set adrift to be reborn anew: "Hush, love, close your eyes, and in sleep abide As sun's distant light, echoes down to dreams, below Know you will wake, on winds rise again For this journey's end is but one step forward to tomorrow" And so, I think if there was someone who fully believed Venat's tale, it was Azem. And just like her, Azem was prepared for a sacrifice unlike any other - the willing embrace of his fate as a sundered, incomplete person. In fact, what could be more exciting to a Traveler if not the ability to live out countless different lives fourteenfold, until, at last, he and Venat would reunite at their duty's end. This is also why Venat's compatriots express dismay that they could not recruit Azem, but she seems unperturbed about the fact. It is as it should be.
Wasn't the final Azem's crystal created in secret by Emet Selch? I'm pretty sure that the shade of Hythlodaeus in Amaurot says that Azem's decision not to side with the convocation about Zodiark meant that they could never have a crystal bearing their memories. It's suggested in that scene that the summoning magic in the crystal is something that the final Azem could do as one of his/her specialities, and it was contained in the crystal by the person who made it, and that the person who made it had to do so in secret because the convocation would not allow "defectors" to be remembered and honoured. Also, Emet Selch admits to being the bearer of the crystal for a while towards the end of Endwalker, and as the crystal was made during the summoning of Zodiark and the first Final Days, there would have only been one person who carried it - the person who made it.
@@StoutHelm The invocation to summon others to their side is a concept Azem developed. Since Emett-Selch was both Azem's friend and a powerful mage in his own right, no doubt he taught him it do that they could summon each other if either needed assistance. Hytholdaeus actuall mentions that Emett never turns down Azem when he calls upon him for aid. Its likely Azem never submitted thier Time/Space Summoning magic to the Bureau and Azem themselves was sundered so only Emett remained and so he engraved the spell into the soulstone he created. If you think about it, the stone had a second function. If all of the rejoinings had gone to plan, Emett would have been able to use the stone to summon a fully reincarnated Azem back to him, evennif his body was totally different.
The concept of Azem still excites me to this day. Not gonna lie when they handed me the orange stone I was like how is this gonna help me lmao. I was so wrong when I reached the seat of sacrifice, clutching the stone hard close to you heart and they handed you the azem seat the goosebumps is real
I would love to see more of Azem's past and character, as it ties directly to our persona's in FFXIV. But SE cannot play their whole hand. Poker game analogy, they should slightly lift their cards, to give their opponents a taste of what hand they hold, without fully exposing it. We need to know more about the original Azem, But need to be left with a sense of mystery to him/her as well.
I often hear people talking about the black mask of Azem, but honestly... I cant discern the color, so I take you at your word :D I dont think, the Azem was a "maverik" on purpose. Rather, him traveling the world and seeing the dangers there (our world is dangerous already, imagine the scale tuned up by 14 in ancient Ethyris!), he thinks outside the box while his colleges would rarely even venture outside the capital. Emet-Selch even needed Hythlodeus to guide him to Elpis! We got a small exposée about the different Seats and only one has to do with the outside world (husbandry, covered by the Seat of Logrif, I think) while the rest have to do with creations, teaching and theory crafting. I mean, the Seat of Ygeyorm has all to do with how to best phrase your sentences! So, yes, someone like Azem, who is the only one in touch with the myriad of peoples all over Ethyris, can come off as an outlyer. It would be interesting to get to know more about those rural living Ancients. We already know that not all of them were as powerful as Emet-Selch or Lahabrea, so its save to assume, that not all were fond of building theorys about butterflies... 12:16 --- Eeeh... do we "know" that? It seems rather illogical for Venat to call upon Azem to aid in Hydaelyn's summoning (a summoning which would obliterate their soul completely, as stated by Yoshida in an interview), since Venat knew that Azem would have to be among the sundered to be re-incarnated as us thousants of years later... 15:48 --- Yeah, we did :D Save to assume now, that the name for the Seat, "Azem", was inspired by the goddess - and not the other way round :D Also, funfact: in P8N/S, Hephaistos says that his power is like that of a god (paraphrasing here...). Meaning, the gods excisted already back then and were seen by the Ancients as superior beings. And that Athena's plans, whatever they may have been, would have meddled with the god's design, and that it wasnt the place of men to encroach upon their domain. 17:03 --- Amen. Though it would be cool to get a sort of vision from our past life as Azem... voiceless, of course :D
I'm disappointed that we only get the see the summoning from Venat's point of view as it's said in Anyder that Azem flatly refused her group's invitation to be a part of team blue. Now with EW telling us that Azem was the personal protege of Venat, it seems more so than ever that Azem had serious reasons for refusing his/her own mentor. And if Azem wasn't part of either group, what in blazes was Azem DOING during the final days?!
Did it say definitely that Azem refused her group's invitation? All the official material I combed through said Azem simply never answered their summons for help. Which isn't exactly a decline or a hard no.
We aren't told precisely what Azem was doing, but we are told / it's suggested that they felt that the Zodiark plan wouldn't actually fix the problem. My personal theory is that Venat told them the actual cause of the Final Days, and Azem being Azem walked out into the world to try and find a better solution. They either didn't have time to get back before the Sundering, or the solution they came up with required them to BE sundered. Cue Endwalker.... and Azem's sundered fragments are instrumental in the resolution of the true cause of the Final Days.
@@StoutHelm What I remember of the cutscene following Anemnesis Anyder was that Azem declined to join Venat's group. I do not recall this being vague in any way. Maybe I'll go back and rewatch the cutscene though to make sure.
Just rewatched this scene for clarification. Distressed Ancient One: "I had hoped that the defector, at least would side with us, but I regret to report our overtures have gone unanswered." This reads like they sent the message but never heard a response, just assuming it was a no. But I've got to believe Azem had enough respect for Venat not to leave her on read like that unless they had a really good reason.
So much of Azem is tied up in what the player thinks Azem is. And YoshiP has always leaned on the importance our character has to us, the player. Meeting Azem would immediately destroy that 'customization' aspect. I'm glad that all we ever get to hear about them is second hand stories, tinted with a a slight flavoring of core aspects. It really puts it in the players hands to decide who and how Azem was.
I only just now discovered your channel. Been playing for 10 years almost. I instantly subscribed. Looking forward to more videos in the coming months! Ngl, that image at 7:50 got me all choked up... I miss them... We got some interesting stuff on Azem in DT, and I also have a crackpot theory that literally all the areas, the expansion name and most of the job actions have something to do with the sun, has got to mean that we will soon learn more, one way or another.
I remember at the end of SHB all we knew was Emet being vague and that one scene before the trial. Learning more about Azem was such a fun plot thread throughout post-SHB. Good job writers!
I believe the main reason why Azem didn't help with either summoning was because he couldn't agree on the sacrifice that needed to be made. I imagine he was looking for a different solution the whole time that didn't require the majority of Ancients to sacrifice themselves.
I love the way the character is handled, even if the lack of information leaves me starving for more. Every new arc brings a new sense of anticipation for another piece of the story, another facet of the person we once were and the life we once lived. At the same time giving the player the freedom to dictate the personality traits of the current incarnation lends the story a personal touch. We are this other person, this powerful influence on the world of a lost age, while at the same time we live our current life by our own choices unburdened by that past. In effect the exact opposite of the likes of Emmet Selch and Elidibus.
This was an awesomely helpful video. By casually playing the game and watching cutscenes, it can be difficult to sort out/get a clear sense of the characters and their impact on the story. This made me understand and appreciate the Azem-aspect of the story on another level. Damn this game is amazing. Thank you! ❤
I'd like to see Azem in a flashback sense...maybe once we've Rejoined with more of our soul fragments like Ardbert, we'd get a clearer picture of them. The text reads that the WoL is the spitting image of Azem, so - minus the inherent flaws in races like Hrothgar (and Lalafels, which honestly cause more dev issues than they have any business doing) - it would be easy to clone the WoL and make an Azem render in-game. No different than the double we see in the DRK storyline. Characters like Au Ra would only need horns replaced with ears, then stick that head onto the Ancient/Elezen model and throw a robe on it. But, I suppose *because* of Hrothgar and Lalas, we'll never see the real Azem. There are no Hrothgar-like Ancients, and Lalafels are too small and round to adapt.
Given the vague, nebulous nature of both Azem and the WoL, and that both of their backgrounds and who they ultimately are is left open to interpretation outside of their grand adventurous spirits, I cannot help but view them as nearly one and the same. Even if it isn't expressly stated outright, the imagery provided by Shadowbringers as Elidibus and Emet look upon the WoL mistaking them for Azem, or at least a shard of Azem, seems to heavily imply that our player character is the closest thing to the current incarnation of Azem. I really enjoy this aspect because it strengthens the narrative as a whole by bringing everything together, and retroactively makes content prior to Stormblood hit way harder. The Bishop's 'You... what are you?!' was something I was always trying to figure out, and when the Azem/WoL connections started being dropped, my mind was blown that one possible resolution to that question was that we, the Warrior of Light, were a renegade Ascian.
Just wanted to point out that it never stated that Venat specifically asked Azem to join them with Hydaelyn's summoning. It's more likely that that's what her followers were told when they asked about Azem joining and that Venat never expected them to but couldn't tell the others why.
Not sure if this said in the comments here, but the pronouns and description of Azem are based on your character. So if you play a female character, female pronouns, and vice versa for males. And our character is said to be a familiar of Azem. Also, Emet Selch says that we bare a resemblance to Azem.
Well the familiar part is just an excuse for is to be in Elpis without drawing suspicion. Since we have the same color soul as Azem, but way less Aether, it could be *speculated* that Azem made a very weird familiar that was only visiting the area so they could learn about it while they were busy someplace else.
The part that amuses me is that it's stated that we don't just bear a resemblance to Azem; we're damn near identical, potential racial distinctions aside. Just imagine Emet-Selch first noticing us in Elpis and going "oh god that's a tiny translucent Azem. Maybe if I ignore it it won't drag me into god-knows-what ridiculous chaos it's about to get involved in."
@@Blazieth that's exactly how it went lol. He clearly noticed us and pretended otherwise until Hyth started directly talking to us. In his head, he was likely "...why the hell is there a miniature, barely tangible photocopy of Azem with an incomplete soul and cat ears/horns/tail/long ears? Actually nevermind, I don't even want to know what that idiot is up to..."
Azem in Amaurot: "Attend another meeting-that-should've-been-an-email" from now until the world burns and then become the left pinkie finger of a dark god or the eyebrow of a light goddess? Or split into *fourteen* of me? I could get so much more done! Sunder me, first, Venat!"
Azem reminds me a lot of the Doctor. They both use an alias (Azem using the name of the Convocation seat which I believe was the actual name of the first holder of the seat), whereas Time Lords make up their own title. They are both sort of renegades among their races, that don't follow the rules.
@@StoutHelm Endwalker really IS the Doctor Who expansion, then, isn't it?! Because from after beating Zodiark, the whole thing pivoted from FF to something *very, very* Doctor Who-esque.
I would like it if we end up with our exploration of new areas to come upon some challenge left behind by Azem for us, to teach us about something we will experience later on.
I think alot about Azem will always be a mystery since as long as the worlds are all apart his soul isn't fully restored and given how many worlds they broke trying to rebuild things some of the soul shards are gone for good.
It is also interesting that Azem and the player are the same gender, and it is said that the player is more whole than most souls. This even before joining with Ardbert. Perhaps future expansions will show the player actually becoming fully rejoined.
I think this is one of your best vids, and a topic that I have been looking forward to learning more about. I appreciate that you dug into other resources to try to gain a better understanding of the lore. Nice work. Subbed.
Thank you so much my friend. I’m really proud of this one and want to make it the standard for how these topics are covered. I’m happy I earned your sub.
The only thing I'd wish is just a half cut off shot of like... the lower half of Azem's with our own character's model, if only as a slight nod to the player that Azem's aware of what we're going and approves, but keeps to their trickster ways as to not interfere directly. I adore the nebulousness but having a more direct if still subtle nod to the connection would be icing on the cake for me personally.
what I like about Azem is that the little we know about them makes them sound like a typical mmo/trpg _player_ (rather than "character")- constantly on the move and driven by motives that the common might not even be able to even comprehend (from curiosity to the desire to gain EXP to OoC FOMO), to the point they don't bother trying
Knowing what we know about Azem, he was probably too busy fighting Blasphemies around the world while the rest of the Ancients debated without care of the lesser tribes that live in the star. On another topic I think Tenzen deserves a mention as another shard or Azem
You’re technically correct since it’s possible Tenzen was a previous incarnation of the shard on the source. So it’s more like they could be our ancestor in a way. Fun theory though
@@StoutHelm I definitely think the tenzen of FFXIV was a previous incarnation of ourselves Never mind that he appears beside us to seal koryu at the end of the four lords, but each of the lords and suzaku in particular say that our aether matches his to the point that suzaku *thinks we’re him during her fight* Where else have we heard that our aether looks like someone else’s? 👀
@@StoutHelmIf you want a fun thought experiment, Tenzen is from FF11, confirmed to be the same character as his daughter comes to 14 trying to find him in a crossover event.
When I heard that cutscene about Azem rushing headlong into an erupting volcano I drew the connection instantly to the WoL being a sundered Azem because that does sound like something we would do because we did dive into Hells Lid a while back before that.
Azem considers it their duty to protect and preserve all of the diverse forms of life on Etheirys. And despite having their soul sundered into 14 parts and losing all their memories and knowledge of the past, the fragments of Azem are still bound to the same duty. That's why WoL is so driven to protect the planet and save it's people. Ardbert also had the same motivations, to protect his planet at any cost. The original Golbez may have also been a shard of Azem and was similarly driven. I really like the idea that Azem is so dedicated to their duty that even the final days couldn't stop them. They are still present as the unseen force that drives forward the Warriors of Light from each shard and compels them to oppose the Ascian's plans, even if the individual warriors don't fully understand what is happening.
I personally would have liked to meet Azem, but i feel like that time has passed for it, it wouldn't make sense anymore. I feel like it would have made sense for us to get echo visions from them. I'm gonna go into theory mode for no reason in this comment. I think that the reason why is because we are the same Azem. I think that there may be a possibility that even though their soul is in pieces they (we) could cling onto our piece in the source. Being from the source means we are closest to Azem. Everyone goes on about our insane abundance of aether. Azem couldn't respond because they needed to gather as much aether as possible if they were going to make it to the other side. I know it sounds insane but so does most of the canon plot lol.
Thank you for this lovely video! As others have said, I would love to know more about Azem, but not in a very detailed way: just more stories and hints that we can use to weave into our own characters. One thing I've been thinking about for some time, though, is G'raha's possible place in all this. On the First, he's shown as having the same power to summon allies, and Elidibus mentions that his soul is also surprisingly dense. He's also innately drawn to adventure, especially in relation to the WoL, whether first-hand or just even hearing/reading stories about this (the same way Venat asks to hear of our own travels). Granted, his existence is... complicated, to say the least. But the version of him awakened in the future and sent to the First is the one that has these powers of summoning allies, and that future is one where the WoL is no more and only their tales remain. So perhaps that version of G'raha is another shard/reincarnation of Azem, with this power triggered/fueled by the Tower? When his memories/soul are reincorporated into his present-day body, he no longer has the summoning power (that we know of), but that strong pull toward adventure remains (as shown when you approach him at the start of 6.1). Anyway, this might all be nothing, but the hints are intriguing, and I wonder if we'll ever delve more into that aspect of his character.
Something I'd add. The warrior of light that Elidibus fights you as during Seat of Sacrifice is in my opinion him, desperate in his nearly broken state, imitating Azem. He falls back on one who he idolized and saw as able to do anything.
Please allow Azem remain a mystery thru/into the FFXIV expansions. Its good for game play for the players to interpret how they view Azem & the lore. I imagine the grapes, some part of them might have been "champagne grapes."
honestly i like the idea of the warrior of light one day meeting azem either through time travel or us reuniting with our sharded selves and getting like a dream state message like azem left a message in our very souls
I think if we ever meet Azem, they will probably have the same model as our WoL. It will be cool if we actually got the chance to chat about each other’s adventures!
I wouldn't mind if we take up the name of Azem again. Since we are back to being 'just' adventurers again, we are basically back to fulfilling the duties of Azem anyway, and the title Warrior of Light doesn't seem to have a purpose, or even a place, anymore, so perhaps we should call ourselves by our old title. Would be pretty cool, and would certainly sound better than 'adventurer'. 'Adventurer' can refer to anyone, Azem is just us.
It could work since Azem is just a title but it sorta takes away that player agency to put themselves in the story. But I agree, being called adventurer over and over is a little tiresome.
Azem has been on the forefront of my mind ever since I played and beaten Shadowbringers then went on to Endwalker. Azem is essentially the player's past life or rather, their Ascian counterpart that existed as fragments in the other Shards of the Source. Hence why the Warrior of Light and Ardbert were so alike and even managed to 'merge' in a sense because their souls were just parts of Azem. I wanna know when we might be able to meet Azem and if they might possibly share the player's face.
The coolest twist of events ever seen in a game for me. You go through the whole game fighting the Ascians as a nobody, then later as the WoL, seeing them as the enemy and unworthy of any pity. Then you get to the end of Shadowbringers and Endwalker and discover that YOU, the player is a sundered shard of Azem. An Ascian (or ancient if you will). And the people you have been fighting the whole time were former colleages and friends from a lost age.
I’ve often speculated that Azem purposefully sundered his own soul to scatter across the source and thirteen shards, they may have foreseen that if he remained unsundered the other ascians would have prevented him from helping the worlds. So instead he scattered parts of his soul to become adventurers and help stop the ascians.
Azem wasn't a rule breaker. Emet was too stuck up and always trying to do things in a very specific manner. That doesnt make him right. Azem always looked at things from different perspectives and it was their duty to do this. It is also why all Azems weew allowed to get away with doing stuff like this because the convocation recognised Azem was doing what they were elected to do. This is where a lot of people misunderstand how the convocation functioned. Each members were responsible for carrying out their specific duties. But how these duties were carried out were upto the individual members. There were rules but the convocation were given a lot freedom to carry out their said duties.
With the exception of Emet and Elidibus to a degree, I think the main difference between Azem and the rest of the convocation is they follow the word of the law with no exceptions where Azem follows the spirit of the law and understands there are exceptions to every rule.
I still would like to see Azem directly. I needn't even know their words, as they can speak in the warrior's usual silent voice. I can fill the conversation between Saiya, my WoL, and the Azem of old on my own. I'd like to know more about them, because as you said, they are not me either. They have their own life, and I do feel can be given screentime respectfully. They even can share my Wol's face if necessary.
Since the Yoshi P said what Azem did during the original final days was up to me, my story is this: He learned from Venat that the WoL was a shard of his own soul as well as all the truths surrounding the Final Days and Venat's reason for the sundering. He agreed with her, but realized to have a shard of himself be the WoL, he couldn't be an ingredient of Hydaelyn. (I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that Hydaelyn was made in the same way as Zodiark, just less)
Perfect explanation, best I've seen so far... I had precisely the same thoughts when learning more about Amon-etc... In a replay I am trying to imagine that Emet can CLEARLY see the color of my WOL/AZEM soul... and KNOWS it, but is ignoring it, yes... not telling the others of the Ascians but also... a little bit this may be why at this moment in 5.0+ he chooses to test. Also something to explore... Hades may have known (you) before you were Azem, and made the promise to 'come whenever you call' BEFORE he was made into Emet Selch... as the Hades who comes to your rescue is not Emet Selch... but a Shadow-Pre-Emet-Hades, possibly created by Hades in the same way he had created Hytholodaeus in fake-amourot(sp). Or was a spell wrote millennia before, that was sent BY Hades... either way... so amazing. If I had Yoshi-P nail anything down after the full Mystery of the 12 is revealed... I'd be curious about that.
I'm very curious to hear more about Elidibous' connection with Azem because of the little bit of information we've already been given by Themis. Seemingly, the Pandaemonium raids are happening some amount of time before we came to Elpis to meet Hermes. Themis states that the person who predicted our arrival, who we assume to be our progenitor Azem from all the context clues given, works with them as a part of the same organization and the reason why they didn't come themselves is because it would attract too much attention. We were also told directly by Emet-Selch that the only people who wear white robes are the Emissary Elidibous as well as Ancients who step down from their role on the Convocation but choose to not return to the star, serving instead as advisors with trusted judgement. The fact that Themis is wearing a white robe but doesn't seem to be Elidibous yet (and is definitely too young to have stepped down from the Convocation) suggests to me that both he and our progenitor Azem possibly served under the current Elidibous of the time in the same fashion that others serve under Lahabrea as his "Words." Them already being in close proximity to the Convocation would certainly afford them an easier opportunity to meet other Convocation members and eventually join up themselves.
Honestly, I think it might be a bit more straight forward than that. I think Themis is CURRENTLY Elidibus but undercover somewhat. And Azem didn't get involved because two Convocation members showing up would likely cause a panic because it would imply that things had really gone to crap. Think of it in modern day terms. If the police show up, no one's too worried but if you get the police, fire, and ambulance there, you KNOW something went down or is currently in the process of going down.
Well remember there was the holes gap in current Eldibus's memory. He didn't even remember we were there in Elpis until after he was dead and "I promised... someone..." I think he was talking abuot Azem
Honestly I pictured Emet Treating Azem like one might that chaotic little sibling you love them but you really wish they wouldn't run head first into the first bit of trouble they see. Also giving Emet puppy dogs eyes anytime they wanted something because as Hyphy said it always works.
Since I found your channel one of the best parts of FFXIV is watching your videos ♥ thank you for your hard work! I'd love to know a little more about Azem, for me there's not enough history about Etherys and The Convocation!
My opinion is that the more parts of the soul are unified the more like the unsundered soul it becomes. I think what Azem was up to during the Final Days should be explored but otherwise leaving it vague is the best option.
Perhaps we will go to other worlds in future expansions and there are other Warriors of Light like Ardbert who our character will absorb into their soul
I don't know how strong Azem was but it's weird to think that Azem didn't escape the sundering like Emet (since they were so close to each other) Lahabrea and Elidibus. Although I'd like to say least know what Azem was up to before the sundering
Azem is an annagram for "maze" aka labyrinth, representing a journey to center/wholeness.. also, spiritual journies through many earthly incarnations.. a maze has connotations of navigating a path, making choices, reaching turning points, moving with with purpose. The dev team loves plays on words!
@@StoutHelm maybe if it was them with a full faced mask and no modeled head underneath (kinda of like Gaius and Livia in ARR) than maybe it'd be cool to meet Azem.
If they looked similar to the faceless ancient in the thumbnail, some kind of cs where you meet them would be cool to see at least once in the story. Maybe we catch them finishing fighting something like when we met Venat and they share your currently equipped job wielding one of the Hyda Ex weapons. That's just some fan fiction though lol
as we learn from many of the ancients Azem was an aloof character very whimsical and did things at his own discretion much to the disdain of his colleagues. but according to Venat his teacher he was also very gifted and tactical always reading between the lines to see openings. and according to hythlodaeus Azem was also a very good friend and loyal to those he endeared in his heart. while it never stated why Venat named him her successor as well as what she said to convince the convocation he was the right man for the job, we can assume they took Venat's student in because they possessed a very rare trait that being the visions or echos which allowed them to see events of past and future, making them the perfect fit for "councilor of the world" it can then be inferred that these visions is what guided this new Azem towards their destiny because and this is my speculation and understanding of it these visions came from their further future self so they were experiencing essentially a road map created by themself. now thats not to say they followed everything to the letter cause being lead is just not their style but the end result would be the same regardless of how things got done. and for this reason i think that is why Azem turned their back on the convocation cause their future self already saw the damage Zodiark would inflict upon their friends and didn't wish to be someone who aided in their misery. similar to Venat's side who defied the convocation Azem most likely saw what would become of them and didn't wish to sully their hands in the deaths of so many and for those they deeply cared for so Azem resigned themself to walk the difficult path alone so that they could find a different path to take and indeed probably believed that their future self had already found that path and thus elected to become sundered in the hopes their shards would link everything together and bring about a new dawn for those left behind to follow. and little did they know that Venat would be there as well to give them a push if they ever wavered in their conviction because she too chose to believe in the path her student walked and felt remorseful for her actions in the sundering of their people and guided this newly reborn Azem to seek out destiny and put a stop to both Zodiark and Meteion. and tho she failed the world 8 times she never doubted that her Azem would succeed where she had failed and they proved her right everytime for each time Azem was reborn with a shard of themself they grew stronger and more wise til eventually they finally reach her and she can leave the rest in their capable hands.
Venat did not know for certain that we were the reincarnation of Azem until later or better said Hydelin. Hydelin was at the end not 1 to 1 Venat and had kind of similary problem as Elidibus being Zodiarks core.
@@selpharessecret3899 she does know however, she recognizes Azem;s soul cause she's seen it be reborn from the life stream's currents where she abided after her clash with zodiark/elidibus. if you recall she is an ancient just like the others so she can tell its her Azem in very much the same way Elidibus or Hades could. its just that her vision isn't as distinct as Hades' or Hythlodaeus' where they can recognize it just from looking and noticing our souls' hue it exudes off of it. she has always aided Azem but in a sort of indirect way because she knew that in order to defeat the Meteia sisters we'd have to overcome despair on our own merit without much of her guidance not just that tho but because the majority of her strength of hydaelyn was being spent on keeping Zodiark locked up. she trusted in Azem to find the right path or failing in that she would send the survivors across space to flee and inhabit a new star if Azem couldnt prove up to the task set before them.
@@StoutHelm my theory on that particular subject is that Azem most likely knew their teacher well enough to know she wouldn't change course so easily and didn't have luxury of time on their side considering what they may have seen in their visions of the sundering and having no means to stop what is to come for the events have already happened and Azem would soon be sundered across 14 shards of the world. i think the rejoinning of shards also have alot to do with Azem's visions its possible that each rejoinning of their lost shards in the future triggered an occurrence of a vision like we see happen to us the reincarnation of Azem sometimes when a certain occurrence triggers us to see memories of the past.
I was wondering, in EW the Blessing of Light and the Echo was muddied in how and why the work. Can't we just separate them into two categories? Wouldn't the Echo literally be an echo of a soul's past unsundered self and the power they had? For example us as Azem. Wouldn't our ability to understand any language or view the past be the same useful abilities Azem would need to do what they needed to do to fill their seat on the convocation. On the other hand, the Blessing of Light is just what Venat told us it was? A traveler's ward, to protect against one's aether to be corrupted and power/healing during perilous circumstances
I think you’re right. The echo is something a lot of people possess. We’ll maybe not a lot, but it’s more common. The blessing of light is exclusive to us. Different abilities.
The part that confuses me is, from what I can tell of pre-Shadowbringers storytelling, it was the Echo, not the more rare Blessing of Light that confers protection from Tempering. There have only been a scant few characters aside from the Player shown to have a genuine Blessing of Light, though there are several who possess the Echo, such as Krile and Arenvald. Then there's the "Resonant" artificial Echo produced by Garlean research that was also able to protect against Tempering, demonstrated by Zenos and Fordola. I can't help but wonder if the declaration that it's a Blessing of Light that protects against Tempering, and not just the Echo is an oversight, or a deliberate muddying of the waters on the subject? Unless we're intended to take this to mean that all the Echo-blessed characters we've met *all* have a Blessing of Light.
@@Blazieth People with the echo all hear the call from hydaelyn and thereby gets the basic blessing of light. That is explained in 5.3 I believe? When Elidibus creates the fake starshower. The WoL has like bonus blessing, represented by the crystals.
Great video, I wish we had more info on the other WoL's of the shards and their adventures as parts of Azem, I liked how they used Ardbert a lot. Do you think you could do videos diving into like hidden meanings in the lyrics of the songs and such? Or some analysees on characters and story arcs etc.?
That’s what I’m hoping I can continue to provide. Next character will be Emet-Selch and probably Graha. Are there any songs in particular that interest you?
Venat and Hythlodaeus really loved to tease Emet Selch in every chance. Shamed if Hermes didn't wiped their memory, Hydaelyn would loved to tease Emet Selch again and WoL would be glad to befriend Emet Selch.
I have my headcanon/crazy theory that WOL is just literally post-sundering Azem, who was "stored" somewhere by Venat or someone else for 13k+ years, until we are needed to close the time loop and fight Meteion. Azem lost their memories due to sundering and centuries of "cryo sleep". That would explain why everyone in Elpis say we are exact copy of Azem, even though reincarnation does not guarantee to keep the same gender and appearance, and Ardbert is so different from us, because his shard was reincarnated normally.
Most of the ancients have a unique ability. If we look at all the WoL can do...Perhaps his was a very rare one in the form of Precognition? Not a 100% knowledge of the future like the dream bit...but perhaps like we see on the minimap, etc. He knows where he should go and where to be, not necessarily why. A very strong hunch ability. Or, crazier...maybe, just maybe, Azem is a bootstrap paradox and IS us. But we'll only know that when the game finally ends if we go all the way back and make a loop of ourselves :B
Another aspect of Azem is their abilities. Because Venat reveals that her 'Blessing' only protects one from tempering or control from others. Thing is that we've associated a LOT with 'The Echo' and that the Echo is one and the same as the Blessing. Meaning we know Azem has 3 unique abilities. 1) The ability to see and change the future. (Our ability to see aoe lines and markers for stack or spread mechanics are Azem's premonitions.) Unlike Mikoto who can "NOT" change events she sees, we actively 'can'. 2) The ability to see into the past. Which could be how we're using all these soul crystals to such great effect in getting new jobs as they come along. 3) Resurrection. In 'every' battle when we Die we come back 'with the power of the echo' as the game mechanics put it. A little stronger, a little, better, however; the ONLY time we die a permanent 'death' is when we fight the Primal Bahamut. Where Phoenix has to resurrect us, showing there's a limit to how much we can take in damage before we can't just resurrect ourselves. And it takes something on the level of a Terraforming Primal beast to do it. Just a thought.
Good video, but you ignored the possiblity of Azem just NOT approving Venat's sundering, which was actually my impression. Venat's plan had more than a few Moral issues.
It’s unlikely he’d just ignore her, even if he disagreed with her choice. They were very close. He didn’t ignore Emet, he just told him I don’t want to be a sort of this.
Emet Selch seems to take such an interest in us particular that I'm not sure if he knew we were a sundered shard of Azem all along and was shocked at the fleeting mistaken thought that Azem Prime had been restored upon our rejoining with Ardbert, or if he had no idea that we were a shard of Azem at all until that moment.
I think the way he reacted so vehemently in denial meant that he didn't know. Maybe he subconciously favored us since he was looking at whether we could work together, if we had the power, to defend the star. It's possible our way of acting was in line with Azem's character already, and that interested him enough to pay more attention to us without him really realizing why.
Maybe not Azem but I'd love to meet the other shards of Azem. Especially with Y'Shtola trying to find a way to travel to the reflections. Iirc our WoL is 8 times rejoined and with the 13th reflection now the void then by my count there are 4 more reincarnations of Azem from the 4th, 8th, 9th and 11th reflections. Could meet em in our travels :D
I want to know a little more about Azem, mostly some of their adventures. I'd also like there to be a stronger insinuation that you're not the same person to ensure they remain a separate entity without it all getting tangled up.
The funny thing is the shattered/shar'ed hero is a staple in Tokukasu. Its almost as Azem is more of that civilian Hero that populates Japanese Live Action. A few heroes or series, Ultraman being one of them. Another being Kamen rider and a few: Kamen Rider Decade, and Build. Both character's have amnesia and when faced with the truth of who they are...they come to a realization that while they may be that person, they are not that person. Azem is the same way, we may be the multitude of reincarnations of Azem (Tenzen being the only other reincarnation on record we know of in the four lord story quest). His aether may embody the WoL's soul but the Azem that our past friends knew has been dead for some time. Knowingly fracturing himself and leaving enough of his personality, skillls and memories to give his progeny a chance to do good. As who told him, as with any time travel story, Venat is the candidate who told the current Azem of the source of what was to transpire and only up to the point they meet where both the past and future bisect each other. In this case it wouldnt be too far fetch that stories of heroism and the Warrior of Light were made specifically to embellish both Venat and current Azem's exploits but give a secondary blanket of hope to people a beacon of light.
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Is this a video on Azem, or an excuse to show off your A+ GNB glams?
Ah, I see you’re a person of taste as well.
Fellow GNB here. I demand a list of the glam /please
@@KeiEnd Late Allagan set+ Crownsblade/ Sophist set+ Tower of Zot gunblade/ a custom set of Tigerskin fending coat (dyed white)+High Mythrite Sabatons (dyed Brass)+Tekko #55+Hyperion (pants are barely visible so irrelevant)
@@Konpekikaminari this guy is awesome. Sorry I should’ve already posted the glamour. Thank you.
@@StoutHelm just doing my part as a Glamour hunter
What little we learn about Azem makes them sound like a trickster god that likes to help people instead of screwing them over, and I think that's pretty cool.
I'd be on board with this.
Chaotic good
I believe this concept of Azem arose from player behavior itself. The playerbase has adopted this interpretation of Azem wholeheartedly because it almost perfectly meshes with how the majority of the playerbase acts. Like the players lining up a wall of Goobbue mounts around Ul'Dah in 1.0 to protect the city, or settng up impromptu queues with line stewards to ensure everybody could kill the mobs for a summer event the devs forgot to make player instanced quest spawns; the players of Final Fantasy XIV are remarkably stalwart, good, and invested in the well-being of Eorzea (despite it just being a game), and equal parts batshit insane. Benevolent Chaos-Gremlins.
I think there is still more story there. I like the idea that Azem had foresight, and saw that the Zodiark plan would lead to disaster. Nor could Azem participate in the summoning of Hydaelyn, because they knew their soul would need to be reincarnated endlessly, walk the world endlessly in order to find the answers needed to truly end the Final Days. But I suspect there was more there too. Maybe we'll finally find out what they were up to in the final Pandemonium raid.
I assumed azem was Prometheus so it checks out. Fire god, indirectly assisted in the creation of the second version of humanity, enlightened humanity. It all loosely fits
@@StoutHelm😊
A small detail about the vulcano incident is that in labirinthos we see the exact same grapes that azem worked to save, the famous low poli grapes XD
I debated on showing the low poly grapes but decided against it. Might’ve made a mistake haha
@@StoutHelm Funny enough, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility for the Ancients to make a concept for polygonal fruit. Hythlodaeus might have seen a concept or two during his tenure as chief of the Bureau of the Architect.
@@StoutHelm the low poly grapes were from Corvos, not an island, nor mentioned as being volcanic. More likely Azem's grapes were from Vylbrant Aleport or the volcano that used to be Sharlyan. There is also the depiction of grapes and fire going together is the Sunken Temple of Quarn dedicated to Azeyma, which is much closer to Vylbrant than Corvos
@@siyrean I think it also serves as a callback to the infamous ARR quest chain leading up to Titan, where you help restore famous Bacchus grapes of Wineport. I do think it's worth noting that the WoL could choose to say they don't like grapes in the Labyrinthos quest with Cookingway.
aren't these grapes the same that grow at the crystarium? (the ones where you collect grapes for Riqi-tio's quest)
I think one of the best parts of the character of Azem is that any player is free to interpret their own version of them and they’re not wrong for doing so. We just only have the barest framework of the character so that we can fill it in. Azem was adventurous, a good friend, and always did things their way. Maybe liked their grapes more than most.
I will however say is that I do hope eventually the devs will see fit to reveal Azem’s official mask or their glyph. It’s something that bothers me that I don’t know.
I like this too. Our own head canon is part of the experience. And yes, I’ll take the glyph!
I read somewhere somebody having another interpretation about those "liking" grapes. Those lines uttered by Emet-Selch (that Elidibus would be disappointed about those grapes) imply that those grapes was just an excuse to help prevent the volcanic catastrophe that was about to hit the island he saved.
@@RenaShirow Apparently he's also been censured by the Convocation multiple times for their shenanigans. So I've always thought of Azem and his friends like this:
Azem comes up with the crazy ideas.
Hythlodaeus enables the crazy ideas.
Emet Selch is the guy who keeps everyone out of jail, much to his annoyance.
@@kriscubero6778 It general is implied, but it’s fun to make a meme out of it. I mean we have a Grapewalker one. The low poly grapes.
I kinda disagree. I want to learn more about Azem and if it means that their personality will be set in stone and apart from peoples' headcanons, I'm okay with it.
Azem is someone who will ask a lemonade stand "do you have any grapes?"
If Emet runs the stand.
Azem walks up to a lemonade stand, and he says to the man, running the stand..
Hey, rompompom, got any GRAPES? 🥲
Polygonal grapes.
I kind of pondered on the relationship between our character and Azem. I mean, we are a reincarnated piece of their sundered soul, but the concept alone was always interesting to me. The more I've thought about it, I look at it kind of like when someone suffers complete and permanent amnesia. Effectively Azem's soul being split amounts effectively to ego death. While our WoL and the other pieces may certainly still hold mannerisms and quirks reminiscent of Azem, they have manifested into fully self actualized people separate of the original persona. The person Azem was is gone, but the person they became carries on.
Well said.
It's a form of the Nature vs. Nurture argument. After the sundering, and with every reincarnation, the shards of Azem are left with their inherent Nature, but the way the world Nurtures them defines the kind of person they become.
Same with Hermes, and Amon. They are similar, driven to ask similar questions, but while Hermes was raised in a Utopia, Amon was raised in a decadent empire in a state of moral decay. This different upbringing resulted in two separate individuals.
Perhaps we are not the same person, but it could be argued that we certainly seem to rhyme.
"I have a familiar?' - Azem on the phone to Emet
This is the most Azem thing ever.
This is the most Azem thing ever.
This is the most Azem thing ever.
This is the most Azem thing ever.
“He was wearing a boggle eyed Catfish mask.”
“Oh that’s a good idea, I should totally a familiar like that.”
I would love to hear more stories about Azem. Hythlodeus and Hades’s stories about Azem and their adventures - but no more than that.
Me too! I love that aspect of the lore. Don’t show me Azem but tell me more about how he pissed off the convocation by solving problems with rule breaking.
Give me more stories of Azem trying to save an entire island just because they liked its grapes lol
@@jessepinkman6113 How about one with a twist? What if we hear a story about Azem, Hythlodaeus and Hades as children? And Venat was still Azem.
@@StoutHelmI think it's more rules bending lmao
I mean, if anything, Azem seem like a fairly creative person when it comes to problem solving.
@@jessepinkman6113 I bet they were the low poly variety.
Personally? I say we shouldn't learn anymore about Azem UNLESS we manage to rejoin with more fragments like Ardbert. After all it wasn't until we joined with Arbert that Emet-Selch and Elidibus were able to see a hint of Azem in wol and not until defeat that they accepted it. So it's fitting that we the players only see a hint of Azem as well, unless we gain more fragments of our former soul and with it more memories of the past.
Have you finished endwalker 6.1 yet
6.1 leaves the inevitability of a 9th rejoining
@@charlesmillard596 you mean the 13th? maybe Golbez is the 13th Ardbert. Now that would be funny.
@@15doz No spoilers please, I haven't finished 6.0 yet. I just finished up the stuff with Elysium. All I know is the faintest hint that 6.1 and beyond will maybe deal with the 13th and I do have one small fan theory on what little bit I know but that's it.
@@RiveroftheWither that’s why I asked
What I love about XIV is how it integrates us, the player, into the story and make us feel important. As far as knowing more about Azem, I would like to learn more about them through stories and accounts of their adventures. One thing I would love, however, is if we could take on the name of Azem in the future. I always found it silly when ppl call us "Warrior of Light" in conversations. By taking on the title, ppl could refer to us as "Azem", yet we could also retain our created names. Imagine a character meeting us for the first time, and the conversation can be like, "Did you say your name was [ insert name ]?! I'd never thought I'd meet Azem, the great adventurer, in the flesh!" And by taking on the name, characters can refer to us by name in voice acting as well. The writing team has done such an amazing job building this mythos for Azem over the years that every XIV player has accepted that we are a part of them. Owning that title for our own would help us tie us even more into relationships and stories in the future.
Great video, and I'm looking forward to more like this one from you!
Thank you!
Lmao I'm dumb.... I thought we were Azem. Why else would we get the title shepherd to the stars
I'd be interested in a story that suggests that Azem did, indeed, meet with Venat before she did the sundering. And, together they worked out a plan. In Endwalker, Venat/Hydaelyn, admits to Y''shtola that the main purpose of the sundering was not to stop Zodiark. That was, in fact, secondary. The primary purpose was to dilute the aether of man such that they could interact with dynamis and have a fighting chance by learning to persevere. The problem being that it was a balancing act. The champion of Hydaelyn (WOL) had to be strong enough to fill the role, but not so strong as to negate the interaction with dynamis. This threshold was met following the seventh umbral calamity. With the addition of Ardbert to our soul (which I might add was somewhat orchestrated by 'Minfilia" (Word of the Mother)...we became 4/7th of what we had once been. Then, in Endwalker, we found out that Hydaelyn has the ability to separate out a soul of the dead before it returns to the Aetherial Sea. She did this with Emet-Selch (she tells you this in the Tower of Babil...where she says an ally waits for you....the watcher...and one other who might come into play (Emet-Selch). What I'm getting at is the confidante talking to Venat in the recording is stating that Azem didn't respond to him...and Venat says nothing. It could be deliberate and wished to keep their plans private for some reason. I find this theory intriguing because even though it takes place over thousands and thousands of years, the timing of their one chance at winning required intricate timing. And, the WOL had to take the lead as Hydaelyn's strength waned. An 8th Umbral calamity was just one too many. Seven was just right....and Minfilia just barely holding off the flood of light in a temporary fashion was the point in which the WOL surpassed Hydaelyn in effectiveness and the WOL became the lead. There is also the cool irony of Azem passing the torch to Azem once more.
The ally she talked about at the time wasn't Emet, it was Hythlodaeus, who's soul was trapped on the moon. Which he did help us by chasing off the other sacrificed souls.
That being said, I would actually love to either see or hear about what they said to each other and how Azem died, it's clear after all that they survived til the Sundering. Otherwise the player and Ardbert wouldn't exist. Did they get killed or did illness/old age take them.
The WoL is also 8 times rejoin not 4th/7
@@ReaperSigma 8/14 = 4/7 10 and 3 shards and the source.
@@orsonsnow1228 9 times, add adbert and own soul. Sourcxe - 1 soul, 7 calamites - 7 souls and adbert - 1 soul = 9
@@witchylealin Could be. Maybe not. Emet-Selch said they screwed up on their first attempt. They turned the 13th into a void in error. I'm not sure that was ever confirmed as a re-joining.
If one stops viewing Azem as a separate character, and instead entertains the possibility that everything we are told about Azem is simply the retelling of our, the player characters exploits, a lot of the things we hear about Azem start making a whole lot more sense. Every time Azem is brough up ingame I become increasingly convinced of the fact that we are, or rather WILL BE Azem. We already hold (depending on if you have done the Dark Knight questline and count that) 8 or 9 thirtheents of a whole Amaurotine soul. And while this part is speculation on my part, I believe that just as the Ascians plan was to tip the scales to merge all remaining shards back into one, Azems soul will eventualy reach critical mass and simply reconstitute in full. We are already timetraveling to the past, so my theory is that the Azem of the past knows future events not because he/she can see them, but because WE are Azem. Azem doesnt see the future, the Warrior of Light simply remembers their past. Perhaps the biggest clue and supporting evidence for this theory, besides Azems gender and appearance changing to match the PC, is the fact that "The grapes are quite delicious, so Im saving the island" is something that would neatly fit both thematicaly as well as mechanicaly as a selectable anwser to a quest in a later expansion. Also summoning a "Deffinitely Not A Primal Fight" Ifrita and then defeating it to solve a problem sounds awfuly familiar. One could almost argue that Ifrita were a "trial" of some kind, one that you would probably need 7 of your bestest adventuring buddies to defeat. If my theory is correct, at some point in a future expansion we regain and reconstitute the remaining shards of our soul into one because we need to get back to the past for "reasons" similar to why we now return to the past to deal with the Pandaemonium raids. Yoshi-P never needs to worry about Azem not matching everyones headcanon if Azem IS the future "past" version of the Warrior of Light. Ordinarily I would argue that introducing timetravel into any story is VERY risky and thats why they wouldnt do it, buuuuuut since that ship has sailed... As far as Im concerned Elpis and Pandaemonium are both proof of concept and player introduction/warmup into this exact concept and idea.
Or just go for broke and make Azem’s special Ancient ability be to exist in all moments simultaneously. The WoL could only see pieces if others’ stories in the past but the original Azem could see everything they have and will deal with.
Given how they handled the timeloop in the Alexander arc I could actually see this being a thing.
Interesting way to look at things. Very possible you’ve figured out some design decisions.
This is exactly my thoughts on it, an additional reason for why i think this has to do with conservation of previous power gain. If we eventually were to travel back in time as our full azem, then our power is reverted to equal to others on the planet. This means we could start all our adventures as the past azem to learn the story of Azem. And when the final days of the game eventually come. The final days happen and we cannot intervene in the events since that would cause a paradox. And our souls are split into the shards as we know them.
Couldn't of said it any better myself its like you took what I was thinking and articulated it I believe exactly what your thinking here and don't agree with the video
I like that when Elidibus transforms the shape he has is the classic Warrior of Light armour that, in Elidibus' own memories is revealed as being something his idol, Azem, once wore. (shown from the back to hide gender and any features though) It isn't shown whether Azem wore that back when they were still an Ancient or if it was a shard of Azem who reincarnated as likely the first Warrior of Light. Elidibus admired Azem so much that his transformed shape is just him dressed as Azem. Although his version of the look was less bright. The colours were muted and faded likely because Elidibus was fading as a person, gradually losing his memories and personality. When we defeat him, all he had left was his purpose as the heart of Zodiark and his desire to be like Azem.
There’s also some color parallels from the original WoL armor and what Zenos wears. Really interesting stuff.
Just cuz he was an azem, doesn't make him a WoL. Venet does that.
I feel like we have reached a perfect opportunity to learn more about who Azem was. Especially now that we've reached a point where our WoL is about to start adventuring again. To see what the universe has to offer and provide our aid where we can in lands unknown to us.
I hope we keep getting more stories about them. Nothing too detailed, just fun little excursions like the volcano story. I love that stuff.
Kinda reminds me of the random adventure Arenvald proposed to WoL after the whole Stormblood thing lol
I think of the whole “shard of so and so’s” soul as reincarnation. So for me my WoL is Azem reincarnated. They have the same personality quirks. Being a wildcard, mischievous and too kind for their own good. Luckily the Dark Knight quests taught this incarnation self care! 😂
That’s the beauty of Azem’s mostly blank canvas - our own head canons can develop. I envision my Warrior as headstrong, a little reckless, an aura of bravado but also compassionate.
@@StoutHelm Indeed that is the beauty of Azem! I love hearing how other XIV players think of their WoL and Azem.
It’s not uncommon for reincarnations to share similar aspects while remaining entirely their own person.
That's how I see it, as well. Azem's soul may have been sundered into 14 shards, but they're still Azem's soul. So, for me, my WoL is the reincarnation of Azem and shares those same personality traits that she had before the sundering.
@@StoutHelm that the warrior of light beeing Azem reborn ist less headcannon and implied by the unique color of the soul and ss Souls go back to the aetherial sea. they rest until they are reborn without memorys of they preveous life. it is also implied that by seiryu and suzaku that tenzen is also a preveous incarnation of the warrior of light
My understanding of why Azem didn’t sign onto summoning Hydaelyn was that Venat told them everything - and knowing the entire situation with how their soul would have to be split, Azem accepted that they couldn’t be spared from the Sundering without ruining the timeline convergence Venat was working so hard to maintain. They knew they had to get sundered so that the WoL could come into being and return to Elpis later on.
This is likely what happened, though I am skeptical the team will spell the answer out for us so explicitly. Best left up to the imagination probably.
What was said was that Azem didn't agree with the convocations plan to summon Zodiark and left the 14. Then Venat came with her plan for Hydaelyn and Azem rejected her too to find an alternate route for themselves. Unfortunately, they didn't find one in time
@@singinghades315 That was only as far as anyone else knew, though - nobody besides Venat and the WoL remembered the whole story, and the idea of Azem walking away in disagreement could have just been cover to avoid suspicion. Given Azem’s eccentricities, nobody would likely have found it too odd that they chose a path nobody else understood.
The WoL completes a self-fulfilling time-paradox by traveling to the past, to Elpis; then meeting Venat and telling her some of the details. It makes a lot of sense that Azem realizes this to a degree, even when Venat didn't seem to realize it. Azem understands what must happen to themselves so that the event of the WoL traveling to Elpis can even happen at all.
@@kde6277 What bothers me is that Venat had no real reason to be in Elpis. She just happened to be there for 'sightseeing' when everyone else there is either working or learning. I think this Venat/Azem conspiracy goes earlier than Endsinger's events. Mayhaps, they already knew of the thing in the center of the universe.
I eat up what little Azem shit we can get. I love it. The kind hearted traveler shit is my jam. I got wanderlust at heart, so I relate on like a personal level. I imagine plenty of enjoyers of the game do, as well, making it brilliant what they did when writing them. They knew exactly what they were tapping into.
I’m right there with you. The Azem stories are gold.
Azem is a previous incarnation of the player character.
It is meant to be similar to us in more ways than one.
Not the same, but so blatantly similar his 2 friends admit there's definetely some of their personality in us.
For this reason, they can't show us Azem, or let us meet them.
The moment they do, they have to fully decide what type of person Azem is, why they did what they did, what they truly thought, and what they tryed to do during the Final Days.
And if they do that, they sever the connection between the player and Azem.
They will never do that.
We must consider that with the few dialogue choices they give us, they already let us define our WoL in many different ways.
They can either be a funny troubleseeker, a serious seeker of justice, a battlethirsty warrios searching for challenges, an empathic person who resorts to violence as a last resort, and a mix of all those things in different amounts.
As such, Azem can be a mix of all those things in different amounts.
It's not that they are secretive on writing Azem.
They CAN'T write Azem.
They can be too many different things at once.
Tenzen is heavily implied to be another of Azem’s reincarnations. A traveler who helped people, a trickster and wildcard who did things he thought were right. Suzaku is even having trouble telling us apart from him in her confused state - she might have sensed that the soul was the same.
I think its rather implied that Tenzen was who our soul was before we came to be. Souls are reborn in ff14, it is likely our soul has had many lives and attempted to be an adventurer of sorts in all of them. Its also worth noting that as more and more shards are rejoined, our soul becomes more dense and more alike to the original azem. Whether that means we're more powerful or more adventurous or virtuous idk.
I would disagree. Tenzen bound his soul into the seals he put on the auspice he was fighting. That means that he *could not* have been a shard of Azem. I mean, I see why someone could see that, but it doesn't seem to be possible with the nature of the sacrifice Tenzen made, to tie his very soul into chaining the beast until someone stronger than him could come along and finish the job.
This is also why I don't believe that the one Tactics character in the Ivalice raids is an incarnation of Azem. That was his *soul* bound into the auracite.
@@maracaegrizzley8734 fair enough. I didnt remember that part of Tenzens story.
tenzen was probably one carnation of us. i also believe that each shard has a version of us. as those shards met calamities we rejoined with out reflections becoming more whole.
From the way I interpret the lyrics of "Flow", the song that Venat sings to her "spark", I think she told Azem of her time everything that transpired in Elpis. And just as Venat thought of time traveling as something exciting that she'd do, I can only guess that Azem felt the same way about being split into 14 shards, then reincarnate again and again across millenia, living countless and varied lives, all in the search of adventure and salvation of their world. I say this because at first I thought "Flow" was about the meeting of Venat as Hydaelyn with our character - but upon repeat reads, the lyrics paint a picture of a soul carried to her in the Aetherial sea, recounting its adventures, before being set adrift to be reborn anew:
"Hush, love, close your eyes, and in sleep abide
As sun's distant light, echoes down to dreams, below
Know you will wake, on winds rise again
For this journey's end is but one step forward to tomorrow"
And so, I think if there was someone who fully believed Venat's tale, it was Azem. And just like her, Azem was prepared for a sacrifice unlike any other - the willing embrace of his fate as a sundered, incomplete person. In fact, what could be more exciting to a Traveler if not the ability to live out countless different lives fourteenfold, until, at last, he and Venat would reunite at their duty's end. This is also why Venat's compatriots express dismay that they could not recruit Azem, but she seems unperturbed about the fact. It is as it should be.
I love the fact that Azem stop a Volcano Eruption just because he liked the grapes grown on the Isle
I think Emet's reaction to seeing us in Elpis also implies that other incarnations of Azem have been showing up repeatedly.
Wasn't the final Azem's crystal created in secret by Emet Selch? I'm pretty sure that the shade of Hythlodaeus in Amaurot says that Azem's decision not to side with the convocation about Zodiark meant that they could never have a crystal bearing their memories. It's suggested in that scene that the summoning magic in the crystal is something that the final Azem could do as one of his/her specialities, and it was contained in the crystal by the person who made it, and that the person who made it had to do so in secret because the convocation would not allow "defectors" to be remembered and honoured.
Also, Emet Selch admits to being the bearer of the crystal for a while towards the end of Endwalker, and as the crystal was made during the summoning of Zodiark and the first Final Days, there would have only been one person who carried it - the person who made it.
Yes, Emet made the crystal wirhout the other members approval because of their defection pre Zodiark.
@@StoutHelm The invocation to summon others to their side is a concept Azem developed.
Since Emett-Selch was both Azem's friend and a powerful mage in his own right, no doubt he taught him it do that they could summon each other if either needed assistance. Hytholdaeus actuall mentions that Emett never turns down Azem when he calls upon him for aid. Its likely Azem never submitted thier Time/Space Summoning magic to the Bureau and Azem themselves was sundered so only Emett remained and so he engraved the spell into the soulstone he created.
If you think about it, the stone had a second function. If all of the rejoinings had gone to plan, Emett would have been able to use the stone to summon a fully reincarnated Azem back to him, evennif his body was totally different.
The concept of Azem still excites me to this day. Not gonna lie when they handed me the orange stone I was like how is this gonna help me lmao. I was so wrong when I reached the seat of sacrifice, clutching the stone hard close to you heart and they handed you the azem seat the goosebumps is real
The stone is awesome, and I love how it’s a lore tied reason for the duty finder. So smart.
@@StoutHelm It tickles me pink that our super power is duty finder.
I would love to see more of Azem's past and character, as it ties directly to our persona's in FFXIV. But SE cannot play their whole hand. Poker game analogy, they should slightly lift their cards, to give their opponents a taste of what hand they hold, without fully exposing it. We need to know more about the original Azem, But need to be left with a sense of mystery to him/her as well.
You’re right. They need to keep their cards close to their chest.
I often hear people talking about the black mask of Azem, but honestly... I cant discern the color, so I take you at your word :D
I dont think, the Azem was a "maverik" on purpose. Rather, him traveling the world and seeing the dangers there (our world is dangerous already, imagine the scale tuned up by 14 in ancient Ethyris!), he thinks outside the box while his colleges would rarely even venture outside the capital. Emet-Selch even needed Hythlodeus to guide him to Elpis! We got a small exposée about the different Seats and only one has to do with the outside world (husbandry, covered by the Seat of Logrif, I think) while the rest have to do with creations, teaching and theory crafting. I mean, the Seat of Ygeyorm has all to do with how to best phrase your sentences! So, yes, someone like Azem, who is the only one in touch with the myriad of peoples all over Ethyris, can come off as an outlyer. It would be interesting to get to know more about those rural living Ancients. We already know that not all of them were as powerful as Emet-Selch or Lahabrea, so its save to assume, that not all were fond of building theorys about butterflies...
12:16 --- Eeeh... do we "know" that? It seems rather illogical for Venat to call upon Azem to aid in Hydaelyn's summoning (a summoning which would obliterate their soul completely, as stated by Yoshida in an interview), since Venat knew that Azem would have to be among the sundered to be re-incarnated as us thousants of years later...
15:48 --- Yeah, we did :D Save to assume now, that the name for the Seat, "Azem", was inspired by the goddess - and not the other way round :D Also, funfact: in P8N/S, Hephaistos says that his power is like that of a god (paraphrasing here...). Meaning, the gods excisted already back then and were seen by the Ancients as superior beings. And that Athena's plans, whatever they may have been, would have meddled with the god's design, and that it wasnt the place of men to encroach upon their domain.
17:03 --- Amen. Though it would be cool to get a sort of vision from our past life as Azem... voiceless, of course :D
I'm disappointed that we only get the see the summoning from Venat's point of view as it's said in Anyder that Azem flatly refused her group's invitation to be a part of team blue. Now with EW telling us that Azem was the personal protege of Venat, it seems more so than ever that Azem had serious reasons for refusing his/her own mentor. And if Azem wasn't part of either group, what in blazes was Azem DOING during the final days?!
Did it say definitely that Azem refused her group's invitation? All the official material I combed through said Azem simply never answered their summons for help. Which isn't exactly a decline or a hard no.
We aren't told precisely what Azem was doing, but we are told / it's suggested that they felt that the Zodiark plan wouldn't actually fix the problem. My personal theory is that Venat told them the actual cause of the Final Days, and Azem being Azem walked out into the world to try and find a better solution. They either didn't have time to get back before the Sundering, or the solution they came up with required them to BE sundered.
Cue Endwalker.... and Azem's sundered fragments are instrumental in the resolution of the true cause of the Final Days.
@@StoutHelm What I remember of the cutscene following Anemnesis Anyder was that Azem declined to join Venat's group. I do not recall this being vague in any way. Maybe I'll go back and rewatch the cutscene though to make sure.
Just rewatched this scene for clarification.
Distressed Ancient One: "I had hoped that the defector, at least would side with us, but I regret to report our overtures have gone unanswered."
This reads like they sent the message but never heard a response, just assuming it was a no. But I've got to believe Azem had enough respect for Venat not to leave her on read like that unless they had a really good reason.
@@StoutHelm Great to have that cleared up! Now I really do wonder why they didn't respond... and if it's because they *couldn't* respond
So much of Azem is tied up in what the player thinks Azem is. And YoshiP has always leaned on the importance our character has to us, the player. Meeting Azem would immediately destroy that 'customization' aspect. I'm glad that all we ever get to hear about them is second hand stories, tinted with a a slight flavoring of core aspects. It really puts it in the players hands to decide who and how Azem was.
The point about Azeyma is fun to think about now that we know the answer.
She was an Azem fangirl.
These 14 videos always light up my week. Keep doing what your doing my dude.
Thanks man, reading all the comments and support lights up my day. You guys are fantastic. 😃
I only just now discovered your channel. Been playing for 10 years almost. I instantly subscribed.
Looking forward to more videos in the coming months!
Ngl, that image at 7:50 got me all choked up... I miss them...
We got some interesting stuff on Azem in DT, and I also have a crackpot theory that literally all the areas, the expansion name and most of the job actions have something to do with the sun, has got to mean that we will soon learn more, one way or another.
I remember at the end of SHB all we knew was Emet being vague and that one scene before the trial. Learning more about Azem was such a fun plot thread throughout post-SHB. Good job writers!
I agree! Loved that story. Probably my favorite expansion.
I believe the main reason why Azem didn't help with either summoning was because he couldn't agree on the sacrifice that needed to be made. I imagine he was looking for a different solution the whole time that didn't require the majority of Ancients to sacrifice themselves.
I love the way the character is handled, even if the lack of information leaves me starving for more. Every new arc brings a new sense of anticipation for another piece of the story, another facet of the person we once were and the life we once lived. At the same time giving the player the freedom to dictate the personality traits of the current incarnation lends the story a personal touch. We are this other person, this powerful influence on the world of a lost age, while at the same time we live our current life by our own choices unburdened by that past. In effect the exact opposite of the likes of Emmet Selch and Elidibus.
Exactly! You and I are of the same mind on Azem’s handling.
I'd like to hear additional stories of Azem but I think meeting them or witnessing them in action would be jumping the shark.
Right there with you. Stories are fine, but never face to face.
This was an awesomely helpful video. By casually playing the game and watching cutscenes, it can be difficult to sort out/get a clear sense of the characters and their impact on the story. This made me understand and appreciate the Azem-aspect of the story on another level. Damn this game is amazing.
Thank you! ❤
I'd like to see Azem in a flashback sense...maybe once we've Rejoined with more of our soul fragments like Ardbert, we'd get a clearer picture of them. The text reads that the WoL is the spitting image of Azem, so - minus the inherent flaws in races like Hrothgar (and Lalafels, which honestly cause more dev issues than they have any business doing) - it would be easy to clone the WoL and make an Azem render in-game. No different than the double we see in the DRK storyline. Characters like Au Ra would only need horns replaced with ears, then stick that head onto the Ancient/Elezen model and throw a robe on it. But, I suppose *because* of Hrothgar and Lalas, we'll never see the real Azem. There are no Hrothgar-like Ancients, and Lalafels are too small and round to adapt.
Given the vague, nebulous nature of both Azem and the WoL, and that both of their backgrounds and who they ultimately are is left open to interpretation outside of their grand adventurous spirits, I cannot help but view them as nearly one and the same. Even if it isn't expressly stated outright, the imagery provided by Shadowbringers as Elidibus and Emet look upon the WoL mistaking them for Azem, or at least a shard of Azem, seems to heavily imply that our player character is the closest thing to the current incarnation of Azem. I really enjoy this aspect because it strengthens the narrative as a whole by bringing everything together, and retroactively makes content prior to Stormblood hit way harder. The Bishop's 'You... what are you?!' was something I was always trying to figure out, and when the Azem/WoL connections started being dropped, my mind was blown that one possible resolution to that question was that we, the Warrior of Light, were a renegade Ascian.
Just wanted to point out that it never stated that Venat specifically asked Azem to join them with Hydaelyn's summoning. It's more likely that that's what her followers were told when they asked about Azem joining and that Venat never expected them to but couldn't tell the others why.
Correct.
I mean given what Venat knows, Azem couldn't join the summoning as they needed to be sundered to create the WoL.
@@shadenox8164 right but it’s not clear if Azem knew that.
Not sure if this said in the comments here, but the pronouns and description of Azem are based on your character. So if you play a female character, female pronouns, and vice versa for males. And our character is said to be a familiar of Azem. Also, Emet Selch says that we bare a resemblance to Azem.
All true
Well the familiar part is just an excuse for is to be in Elpis without drawing suspicion. Since we have the same color soul as Azem, but way less Aether, it could be *speculated* that Azem made a very weird familiar that was only visiting the area so they could learn about it while they were busy someplace else.
The part that amuses me is that it's stated that we don't just bear a resemblance to Azem; we're damn near identical, potential racial distinctions aside. Just imagine Emet-Selch first noticing us in Elpis and going "oh god that's a tiny translucent Azem. Maybe if I ignore it it won't drag me into god-knows-what ridiculous chaos it's about to get involved in."
@@Blazieth that's exactly how it went lol. He clearly noticed us and pretended otherwise until Hyth started directly talking to us.
In his head, he was likely "...why the hell is there a miniature, barely tangible photocopy of Azem with an incomplete soul and cat ears/horns/tail/long ears? Actually nevermind, I don't even want to know what that idiot is up to..."
@@silvergrove8517 "I don't need all the extra paperwork again"
I love that they went with the name Azem. My in game name since 1.0 has been Azphel so it was a pretty exciting reveal for me
Azem in Amaurot: "Attend another meeting-that-should've-been-an-email" from now until the world burns and then become the left pinkie finger of a dark god or the eyebrow of a light goddess? Or split into *fourteen* of me? I could get so much more done! Sunder me, first, Venat!"
I want the WoL to directly meet Azem in the past. The universe shattering Paradox would be worth it IMO.
You’re an agent of chaos
@@StoutHelm That, I can't deny *smirks*
Azem reminds me a lot of the Doctor. They both use an alias (Azem using the name of the Convocation seat which I believe was the actual name of the first holder of the seat), whereas Time Lords make up their own title. They are both sort of renegades among their races, that don't follow the rules.
Great connection I didn't think of!
@@StoutHelm Endwalker really IS the Doctor Who expansion, then, isn't it?! Because from after beating Zodiark, the whole thing pivoted from FF to something *very, very* Doctor Who-esque.
I would like it if we end up with our exploration of new areas to come upon some challenge left behind by Azem for us, to teach us about something we will experience later on.
I think alot about Azem will always be a mystery since as long as the worlds are all apart his soul isn't fully restored and given how many worlds they broke trying to rebuild things some of the soul shards are gone for good.
Good video. Though the whole "this needs to never be known" angle was a weird shift.
It is also interesting that Azem and the player are the same gender, and it is said that the player is more whole than most souls. This even before joining with Ardbert. Perhaps future expansions will show the player actually becoming fully rejoined.
7:04 🤣 Yeah the GRAPES which grow on that island were indeed rather... REMARKABLE alright... such a peculiar *shape* too... 🤣🤣🤣
Some ugly things taste great. Haha
@@StoutHelm Oh no doubt they taste delicious. After all: They are Cookingway approved.
I think this is one of your best vids, and a topic that I have been looking forward to learning more about. I appreciate that you dug into other resources to try to gain a better understanding of the lore. Nice work. Subbed.
Thank you so much my friend. I’m really proud of this one and want to make it the standard for how these topics are covered. I’m happy I earned your sub.
The only thing I'd wish is just a half cut off shot of like... the lower half of Azem's with our own character's model, if only as a slight nod to the player that Azem's aware of what we're going and approves, but keeps to their trickster ways as to not interfere directly. I adore the nebulousness but having a more direct if still subtle nod to the connection would be icing on the cake for me personally.
what I like about Azem is that the little we know about them makes them sound like a typical mmo/trpg _player_ (rather than "character")- constantly on the move and driven by motives that the common might not even be able to even comprehend (from curiosity to the desire to gain EXP to OoC FOMO), to the point they don't bother trying
Definitely some meta commentary there with Azem and Zenos, which I appreciate.
Knowing what we know about Azem, he was probably too busy fighting Blasphemies around the world while the rest of the Ancients debated without care of the lesser tribes that live in the star.
On another topic I think Tenzen deserves a mention as another shard or Azem
You’re technically correct since it’s possible Tenzen was a previous incarnation of the shard on the source. So it’s more like they could be our ancestor in a way. Fun theory though
@@StoutHelm I definitely think the tenzen of FFXIV was a previous incarnation of ourselves
Never mind that he appears beside us to seal koryu at the end of the four lords, but each of the lords and suzaku in particular say that our aether matches his to the point that suzaku *thinks we’re him during her fight*
Where else have we heard that our aether looks like someone else’s? 👀
@@kuronaialtani *Who Brings Shadow starts*
@@StoutHelmIf you want a fun thought experiment, Tenzen is from FF11, confirmed to be the same character as his daughter comes to 14 trying to find him in a crossover event.
When I heard that cutscene about Azem rushing headlong into an erupting volcano I drew the connection instantly to the WoL being a sundered Azem because that does sound like something we would do because we did dive into Hells Lid a while back before that.
Azem is crazy, and I definitely view my WoL in a similar fashion.
Azem considers it their duty to protect and preserve all of the diverse forms of life on Etheirys. And despite having their soul sundered into 14 parts and losing all their memories and knowledge of the past, the fragments of Azem are still bound to the same duty.
That's why WoL is so driven to protect the planet and save it's people. Ardbert also had the same motivations, to protect his planet at any cost. The original Golbez may have also been a shard of Azem and was similarly driven.
I really like the idea that Azem is so dedicated to their duty that even the final days couldn't stop them. They are still present as the unseen force that drives forward the Warriors of Light from each shard and compels them to oppose the Ascian's plans, even if the individual warriors don't fully understand what is happening.
The one event that I have had a hard time grasping.
Great video!
Thank you, I’m glad it was helpful!
I personally would have liked to meet Azem, but i feel like that time has passed for it, it wouldn't make sense anymore. I feel like it would have made sense for us to get echo visions from them. I'm gonna go into theory mode for no reason in this comment. I think that the reason why is because we are the same Azem. I think that there may be a possibility that even though their soul is in pieces they (we) could cling onto our piece in the source. Being from the source means we are closest to Azem. Everyone goes on about our insane abundance of aether. Azem couldn't respond because they needed to gather as much aether as possible if they were going to make it to the other side. I know it sounds insane but so does most of the canon plot lol.
I had no idea about the Grapes!
I chose that dialogue option because Grapes are my favorite fruit. lmao You have good taste Azem!
Azem and Knuckles both have great taste
Thank you for this lovely video! As others have said, I would love to know more about Azem, but not in a very detailed way: just more stories and hints that we can use to weave into our own characters.
One thing I've been thinking about for some time, though, is G'raha's possible place in all this. On the First, he's shown as having the same power to summon allies, and Elidibus mentions that his soul is also surprisingly dense. He's also innately drawn to adventure, especially in relation to the WoL, whether first-hand or just even hearing/reading stories about this (the same way Venat asks to hear of our own travels).
Granted, his existence is... complicated, to say the least. But the version of him awakened in the future and sent to the First is the one that has these powers of summoning allies, and that future is one where the WoL is no more and only their tales remain. So perhaps that version of G'raha is another shard/reincarnation of Azem, with this power triggered/fueled by the Tower? When his memories/soul are reincorporated into his present-day body, he no longer has the summoning power (that we know of), but that strong pull toward adventure remains (as shown when you approach him at the start of 6.1).
Anyway, this might all be nothing, but the hints are intriguing, and I wonder if we'll ever delve more into that aspect of his character.
Something I'd add. The warrior of light that Elidibus fights you as during Seat of Sacrifice is in my opinion him, desperate in his nearly broken state, imitating Azem. He falls back on one who he idolized and saw as able to do anything.
Please allow Azem remain a mystery thru/into the FFXIV expansions. Its good for game play for the players to interpret how they view Azem & the lore. I imagine the grapes, some part of them might have been "champagne grapes."
Agreed. Too much information would be a bad thing. Our interpretation is an important part of what makes the mystery so interesting.
honestly i like the idea of the warrior of light one day meeting azem either through time travel or us reuniting with our sharded selves and getting like a dream state message like azem left a message in our very souls
I’d be alright with this as long as it’s not too heavy handed.
@@StoutHelm aye true i just want to learn more about him hell maybe one day he comes to our timeline by accident knowing adventurers
I think if we ever meet Azem, they will probably have the same model as our WoL. It will be cool if we actually got the chance to chat about each other’s adventures!
Time will tell!
@@StoutHelm Even though the Hyde/Zod story is over, do you still think we are gonna more information/story on Azem?
I wouldn't mind if we take up the name of Azem again. Since we are back to being 'just' adventurers again, we are basically back to fulfilling the duties of Azem anyway, and the title Warrior of Light doesn't seem to have a purpose, or even a place, anymore, so perhaps we should call ourselves by our old title. Would be pretty cool, and would certainly sound better than 'adventurer'. 'Adventurer' can refer to anyone, Azem is just us.
It could work since Azem is just a title but it sorta takes away that player agency to put themselves in the story. But I agree, being called adventurer over and over is a little tiresome.
Azem has been on the forefront of my mind ever since I played and beaten Shadowbringers then went on to Endwalker. Azem is essentially the player's past life or rather, their Ascian counterpart that existed as fragments in the other Shards of the Source. Hence why the Warrior of Light and Ardbert were so alike and even managed to 'merge' in a sense because their souls were just parts of Azem. I wanna know when we might be able to meet Azem and if they might possibly share the player's face.
The coolest twist of events ever seen in a game for me. You go through the whole game fighting the Ascians as a nobody, then later as the WoL, seeing them as the enemy and unworthy of any pity. Then you get to the end of Shadowbringers and Endwalker and discover that YOU, the player is a sundered shard of Azem. An Ascian (or ancient if you will). And the people you have been fighting the whole time were former colleages and friends from a lost age.
I’ve often speculated that Azem purposefully sundered his own soul to scatter across the source and thirteen shards, they may have foreseen that if he remained unsundered the other ascians would have prevented him from helping the worlds. So instead he scattered parts of his soul to become adventurers and help stop the ascians.
FINALLY my answers about Amon and Hermes got answered! Thank you soooo much! 🥰 My head literally broke thinking about that.
Azem wasn't a rule breaker. Emet was too stuck up and always trying to do things in a very specific manner. That doesnt make him right.
Azem always looked at things from different perspectives and it was their duty to do this. It is also why all Azems weew allowed to get away with doing stuff like this because the convocation recognised Azem was doing what they were elected to do.
This is where a lot of people misunderstand how the convocation functioned. Each members were responsible for carrying out their specific duties. But how these duties were carried out were upto the individual members. There were rules but the convocation were given a lot freedom to carry out their said duties.
With the exception of Emet and Elidibus to a degree, I think the main difference between Azem and the rest of the convocation is they follow the word of the law with no exceptions where Azem follows the spirit of the law and understands there are exceptions to every rule.
I still would like to see Azem directly. I needn't even know their words, as they can speak in the warrior's usual silent voice. I can fill the conversation between Saiya, my WoL, and the Azem of old on my own. I'd like to know more about them, because as you said, they are not me either. They have their own life, and I do feel can be given screentime respectfully. They even can share my Wol's face if necessary.
It would have to be silent acknowledgement. Anything more would be too heavy handed if we met Azem.
Since the Yoshi P said what Azem did during the original final days was up to me, my story is this:
He learned from Venat that the WoL was a shard of his own soul as well as all the truths surrounding the Final Days and Venat's reason for the sundering.
He agreed with her, but realized to have a shard of himself be the WoL, he couldn't be an ingredient of Hydaelyn.
(I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that Hydaelyn was made in the same way as Zodiark, just less)
They haven’t explicitly stated that about becoming a shard but that’s the way I think of it too.
He also said it was a secret where Azem was while all this was happening.
Correct. And they weren't just trapped in Hydaelyn, they had to give everything they had to make her, so those souls no longer exist.
They deserve 2 things
A main theme with a recurring leitmotif
And a defined ascian glyph
If that is filled they need no more
This video is so good, awesome work!
Thank you so much!!!
Very nice presentation. Thanks for enlightening me with the lodestone story stuff. Totally in agreeance with retaining the mystery of Azem.
Perfect explanation, best I've seen so far... I had precisely the same thoughts when learning more about Amon-etc... In a replay I am trying to imagine that Emet can CLEARLY see the color of my WOL/AZEM soul... and KNOWS it, but is ignoring it, yes... not telling the others of the Ascians but also... a little bit this may be why at this moment in 5.0+ he chooses to test.
Also something to explore...
Hades may have known (you) before you were Azem,
and made the promise to 'come whenever you call' BEFORE he was made into Emet Selch... as the Hades who comes to your rescue is not Emet Selch... but a Shadow-Pre-Emet-Hades, possibly created by Hades in the same way he had created Hytholodaeus in fake-amourot(sp).
Or was a spell wrote millennia before, that was sent BY Hades... either way... so amazing.
If I had Yoshi-P nail anything down after the full Mystery of the 12 is revealed... I'd be curious about that.
I'm very curious to hear more about Elidibous' connection with Azem because of the little bit of information we've already been given by Themis. Seemingly, the Pandaemonium raids are happening some amount of time before we came to Elpis to meet Hermes. Themis states that the person who predicted our arrival, who we assume to be our progenitor Azem from all the context clues given, works with them as a part of the same organization and the reason why they didn't come themselves is because it would attract too much attention. We were also told directly by Emet-Selch that the only people who wear white robes are the Emissary Elidibous as well as Ancients who step down from their role on the Convocation but choose to not return to the star, serving instead as advisors with trusted judgement. The fact that Themis is wearing a white robe but doesn't seem to be Elidibous yet (and is definitely too young to have stepped down from the Convocation) suggests to me that both he and our progenitor Azem possibly served under the current Elidibous of the time in the same fashion that others serve under Lahabrea as his "Words." Them already being in close proximity to the Convocation would certainly afford them an easier opportunity to meet other Convocation members and eventually join up themselves.
Honestly, I think it might be a bit more straight forward than that. I think Themis is CURRENTLY Elidibus but undercover somewhat. And Azem didn't get involved because two Convocation members showing up would likely cause a panic because it would imply that things had really gone to crap.
Think of it in modern day terms. If the police show up, no one's too worried but if you get the police, fire, and ambulance there, you KNOW something went down or is currently in the process of going down.
Well remember there was the holes gap in current Eldibus's memory. He didn't even remember we were there in Elpis until after he was dead and "I promised... someone..." I think he was talking abuot Azem
Honestly I pictured Emet Treating Azem like one might that chaotic little sibling you love them but you really wish they wouldn't run head first into the first bit of trouble they see. Also giving Emet puppy dogs eyes anytime they wanted something because as Hyphy said it always works.
Since I found your channel one of the best parts of FFXIV is watching your videos ♥ thank you for your hard work!
I'd love to know a little more about Azem, for me there's not enough history about Etherys and The Convocation!
My opinion is that the more parts of the soul are unified the more like the unsundered soul it becomes.
I think what Azem was up to during the Final Days should be explored but otherwise leaving it vague is the best option.
Agreed
Perhaps we will go to other worlds in future expansions and there are other Warriors of Light like Ardbert who our character will absorb into their soul
I don't know how strong Azem was but it's weird to think that Azem didn't escape the sundering like Emet (since they were so close to each other) Lahabrea and Elidibus.
Although I'd like to say least know what Azem was up to before the sundering
Azem is an annagram for "maze" aka labyrinth, representing a journey to center/wholeness.. also, spiritual journies through many earthly incarnations.. a maze has connotations of navigating a path, making choices, reaching turning points, moving with with purpose. The dev team loves plays on words!
i know we won't but i would love to meet Azem someday ☀️
I’m okay with us learning more about them but I don’t think I’d enjoy coming face to face.
@@StoutHelm maybe if it was them with a full faced mask and no modeled head underneath (kinda of like Gaius and Livia in ARR) than maybe it'd be cool to meet Azem.
We could and I wish we do
If they looked similar to the faceless ancient in the thumbnail, some kind of cs where you meet them would be cool to see at least once in the story.
Maybe we catch them finishing fighting something like when we met Venat and they share your currently equipped job wielding one of the Hyda Ex weapons. That's just some fan fiction though lol
@@MonoNako depending on how they'd doo it, they could be holding the weapon based on our job class at the time or something lol
as we learn from many of the ancients Azem was an aloof character very whimsical and did things at his own discretion much to the disdain of his colleagues. but according to Venat his teacher he was also very gifted and tactical always reading between the lines to see openings.
and according to hythlodaeus Azem was also a very good friend and loyal to those he endeared in his heart.
while it never stated why Venat named him her successor as well as what she said to convince the convocation he was the right man for the job, we can assume they took Venat's student in because they possessed a very rare trait that being the visions or echos which allowed them to see events of past and future, making them the perfect fit for "councilor of the world"
it can then be inferred that these visions is what guided this new Azem towards their destiny because and this is my speculation and understanding of it these visions came from their further future self so they were experiencing essentially a road map created by themself.
now thats not to say they followed everything to the letter cause being lead is just not their style but the end result would be the same regardless of how things got done.
and for this reason i think that is why Azem turned their back on the convocation cause their future self already saw the damage Zodiark would inflict upon their friends and didn't wish to be someone who aided in their misery. similar to Venat's side who defied the convocation Azem most likely saw what would become of them and didn't wish to sully their hands in the deaths of so many and for those they deeply cared for so Azem resigned themself to walk the difficult path alone so that they could find a different path to take and indeed probably believed that their future self had already found that path and thus elected to become sundered in the hopes their shards would link everything together and bring about a new dawn for those left behind to follow.
and little did they know that Venat would be there as well to give them a push if they ever wavered in their conviction because she too chose to believe in the path her student walked and felt remorseful for her actions in the sundering of their people and guided this newly reborn Azem to seek out destiny and put a stop to both Zodiark and Meteion.
and tho she failed the world 8 times she never doubted that her Azem would succeed where she had failed and they proved her right everytime for each time Azem was reborn with a shard of themself they grew stronger and more wise til eventually they finally reach her and she can leave the rest in their capable hands.
Venat did not know for certain that we were the reincarnation of Azem until later or better said Hydelin. Hydelin was at the end not 1 to 1 Venat and had kind of similary problem as Elidibus being Zodiarks core.
@@selpharessecret3899 she does know however, she recognizes Azem;s soul cause she's seen it be reborn from the life stream's currents where she abided after her clash with zodiark/elidibus.
if you recall she is an ancient just like the others so she can tell its her Azem in very much the same way Elidibus or Hades could. its just that her vision isn't as distinct as Hades' or Hythlodaeus' where they can recognize it just from looking and noticing our souls' hue it exudes off of it.
she has always aided Azem but in a sort of indirect way because she knew that in order to defeat the Meteia sisters we'd have to overcome despair on our own merit without much of her guidance not just that tho but because the majority of her strength of hydaelyn was being spent on keeping Zodiark locked up.
she trusted in Azem to find the right path or failing in that she would send the survivors across space to flee and inhabit a new star if Azem couldnt prove up to the task set before them.
i too suspect that Azem may have had a gift similar to Mikoto's but everything else is wild speculation.
It’s possible, but I have to believe Azem had a reason for not at least telling Venat why he couldn’t be there. Hopefully we will find outz
@@StoutHelm my theory on that particular subject is that Azem most likely knew their teacher well enough to know she wouldn't change course so easily and didn't have luxury of time on their side considering what they may have seen in their visions of the sundering and having no means to stop what is to come for the events have already happened and Azem would soon be sundered across 14 shards of the world.
i think the rejoinning of shards also have alot to do with Azem's visions its possible that each rejoinning of their lost shards in the future triggered an occurrence of a vision like we see happen to us the reincarnation of Azem sometimes when a certain occurrence triggers us to see memories of the past.
damn your vids are high quality, really deserve more subs
Thank you so much friend, this comment made my day.
I was wondering, in EW the Blessing of Light and the Echo was muddied in how and why the work. Can't we just separate them into two categories? Wouldn't the Echo literally be an echo of a soul's past unsundered self and the power they had? For example us as Azem. Wouldn't our ability to understand any language or view the past be the same useful abilities Azem would need to do what they needed to do to fill their seat on the convocation. On the other hand, the Blessing of Light is just what Venat told us it was? A traveler's ward, to protect against one's aether to be corrupted and power/healing during perilous circumstances
I think you’re right. The echo is something a lot of people possess. We’ll maybe not a lot, but it’s more common. The blessing of light is exclusive to us. Different abilities.
The part that confuses me is, from what I can tell of pre-Shadowbringers storytelling, it was the Echo, not the more rare Blessing of Light that confers protection from Tempering. There have only been a scant few characters aside from the Player shown to have a genuine Blessing of Light, though there are several who possess the Echo, such as Krile and Arenvald. Then there's the "Resonant" artificial Echo produced by Garlean research that was also able to protect against Tempering, demonstrated by Zenos and Fordola.
I can't help but wonder if the declaration that it's a Blessing of Light that protects against Tempering, and not just the Echo is an oversight, or a deliberate muddying of the waters on the subject? Unless we're intended to take this to mean that all the Echo-blessed characters we've met *all* have a Blessing of Light.
@@Blazieth People with the echo all hear the call from hydaelyn and thereby gets the basic blessing of light. That is explained in 5.3 I believe? When Elidibus creates the fake starshower. The WoL has like bonus blessing, represented by the crystals.
Great video, I wish we had more info on the other WoL's of the shards and their adventures as parts of Azem, I liked how they used Ardbert a lot.
Do you think you could do videos diving into like hidden meanings in the lyrics of the songs and such? Or some analysees on characters and story arcs etc.?
That’s what I’m hoping I can continue to provide. Next character will be Emet-Selch and probably Graha. Are there any songs in particular that interest you?
I want to see ALL the shards of azem rejoined, of course under the mind of your character
I don’t know if it would restore his mind but Probably significant memories.
Venat and Hythlodaeus really loved to tease Emet Selch in every chance. Shamed if Hermes didn't wiped their memory, Hydaelyn would loved to tease Emet Selch again and WoL would be glad to befriend Emet Selch.
I have my headcanon/crazy theory that WOL is just literally post-sundering Azem, who was "stored" somewhere by Venat or someone else for 13k+ years, until we are needed to close the time loop and fight Meteion. Azem lost their memories due to sundering and centuries of "cryo sleep". That would explain why everyone in Elpis say we are exact copy of Azem, even though reincarnation does not guarantee to keep the same gender and appearance, and Ardbert is so different from us, because his shard was reincarnated normally.
Most of the ancients have a unique ability. If we look at all the WoL can do...Perhaps his was a very rare one in the form of Precognition? Not a 100% knowledge of the future like the dream bit...but perhaps like we see on the minimap, etc. He knows where he should go and where to be, not necessarily why. A very strong hunch ability.
Or, crazier...maybe, just maybe, Azem is a bootstrap paradox and IS us. But we'll only know that when the game finally ends if we go all the way back and make a loop of ourselves :B
Another aspect of Azem is their abilities. Because Venat reveals that her 'Blessing' only protects one from tempering or control from others. Thing is that we've associated a LOT with 'The Echo' and that the Echo is one and the same as the Blessing.
Meaning we know Azem has 3 unique abilities.
1) The ability to see and change the future. (Our ability to see aoe lines and markers for stack or spread mechanics are Azem's premonitions.) Unlike Mikoto who can "NOT" change events she sees, we actively 'can'.
2) The ability to see into the past. Which could be how we're using all these soul crystals to such great effect in getting new jobs as they come along.
3) Resurrection. In 'every' battle when we Die we come back 'with the power of the echo' as the game mechanics put it. A little stronger, a little, better, however; the ONLY time we die a permanent 'death' is when we fight the Primal Bahamut. Where Phoenix has to resurrect us, showing there's a limit to how much we can take in damage before we can't just resurrect ourselves. And it takes something on the level of a Terraforming Primal beast to do it.
Just a thought.
Good video, but you ignored the possiblity of Azem just NOT approving Venat's sundering, which was actually my impression.
Venat's plan had more than a few Moral issues.
It’s unlikely he’d just ignore her, even if he disagreed with her choice. They were very close. He didn’t ignore Emet, he just told him I don’t want to be a sort of this.
A weird part of me want to know just a little more about Azem but you're right, some things are better left a mystery.
I’m in the same boat.
Emet Selch seems to take such an interest in us particular that I'm not sure if he knew we were a sundered shard of Azem all along and was shocked at the fleeting mistaken thought that Azem Prime had been restored upon our rejoining with Ardbert, or if he had no idea that we were a shard of Azem at all until that moment.
I think the way he reacted so vehemently in denial meant that he didn't know. Maybe he subconciously favored us since he was looking at whether we could work together, if we had the power, to defend the star. It's possible our way of acting was in line with Azem's character already, and that interested him enough to pay more attention to us without him really realizing why.
I think he knew… but was in a deep stage of denial. We’ll talk about that when we cover Emet in his own video. Probably next week.
@@StoutHelm I agree, he knew but didnt want to admit to himself
A ten thousand year tale of Elidibus trying to keep Emet-Selch from choking a bitch.
Great video, thanks for all of that
Glad you enjoyed it!
Maybe not Azem but I'd love to meet the other shards of Azem. Especially with Y'Shtola trying to find a way to travel to the reflections. Iirc our WoL is 8 times rejoined and with the 13th reflection now the void then by my count there are 4 more reincarnations of Azem from the 4th, 8th, 9th and 11th reflections. Could meet em in our travels :D
Not to spoiler anything but it appears shard travel, at least to one, is about to become very possible.
@@StoutHelm no worries. i'm up to date. in the mean time i'm looking forward to fighting Golbez and his 4 heavenly kings :D
@@shinra6913 anything FF4 related will make me a very happy man.
I want to know a little more about Azem, mostly some of their adventures. I'd also like there to be a stronger insinuation that you're not the same person to ensure they remain a separate entity without it all getting tangled up.
Yeah they have to handle it delicately.
Knowing a mythic charactet via their incarnations and refractions is wayy more interesting than being presented with them plainly
The funny thing is the shattered/shar'ed hero is a staple in Tokukasu. Its almost as Azem is more of that civilian Hero that populates Japanese Live Action. A few heroes or series, Ultraman being one of them. Another being Kamen rider and a few: Kamen Rider Decade, and Build. Both character's have amnesia and when faced with the truth of who they are...they come to a realization that while they may be that person, they are not that person.
Azem is the same way, we may be the multitude of reincarnations of Azem (Tenzen being the only other reincarnation on record we know of in the four lord story quest). His aether may embody the WoL's soul but the Azem that our past friends knew has been dead for some time. Knowingly fracturing himself and leaving enough of his personality, skillls and memories to give his progeny a chance to do good.
As who told him, as with any time travel story, Venat is the candidate who told the current Azem of the source of what was to transpire and only up to the point they meet where both the past and future bisect each other. In this case it wouldnt be too far fetch that stories of heroism and the Warrior of Light were made specifically to embellish both Venat and current Azem's exploits but give a secondary blanket of hope to people a beacon of light.