The Void & The Warrior of Light

Honestly this was something I'd been wanting to talk about since the end of 6.5. So when I was asked to cover it I was more than happy to do so! Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comment section as to your thoughts on the WoL's 13th reflection. Is it original Golbez, or something else entirely?
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[@Lyn685]

I think 6.4 and 6.5 made it so obvious that the original Golbez is a shard of Azem, that I was actually surprised that there were people who still doubt it.

[@SynodicScribe]

When you got some fans who make a theory and stick with it for years it's hard for some of them to let it go sometimes. haha

[@setsuna5919]

in that regards I have 2 things that I'm confuse with 1. isnt all WoL shards supposed to have the echo? and isnt it suppose to protect from any kind of aether corruption as per Venat explanation? 2. Why Hydaelyn crystal reacting to Zero and "purifying" her voidsent form?

[@SynodicScribe]

@@setsuna5919 Sure I got some answers. 1. The Echo can't protect from everything. It has its limits. Total aetheric corruption is something it can't stop. 2. The writers literally just did a one off for Zero's story. That crystal hasn't been mentioned/appeared ever since. Zero is still a voidsent despite all that.

[@MrSpiderspider12]

​@@SynodicScribeexample answer 1: WoL and Lightwarden aerher

[@NatyaVT]

@@SynodicScribe It's also worth noting that the Blessing of Light, or rather, the *Traveler's Ward* was probably never applied to Golbez. in fact in all likelyhood the shards all had to fend for themselves. Hydaelyn had her hands full with the Source after all, and with good reason. The Source is where the Warrior of Light as she met them is from, and it's also the lynchpin. That was established by the Watcher, and reinforced by Ryne receiving a premonition of the sky burning. If *it* goes, they *all* go. Since the worlds were divided by *Her* power She, if anyone, would know that.

[@BladRavenYey]

the player character's body is essentially an apartment complex 90s family sitcom situation, we can take another guest.

[@LemonedIScream13]

F.R.I.E.N.D.S but all the casts are the entities that live inside us, including our voidsent avatar.

[@EeveeReturn]

Reminds me of a fanart I once saw of the avatar popping in to the WoL's mind only to find Ardbert and Fray playing poker while mini Midgardsormr was napping like a puppy in a corner of the room.

[@hippiechick73]

Is the WOL internally essentially “Herman’s Head”?

[@Ignost]

I personally believe our 13th shard is the Avatar we commune with as a reaper. If i recall correctly Zero had mentioned that our avatar had made a pact with us freely out of their own will. Not to mention our ability to Enshroud with it without it threatening to consume us multiple times a fight. An ability that is known in game as the hardest thing to control as a reaper.

[@starofaetherius]

All i know is that when we visit another new shard again, i want to run into a character who looks suspiciously similar to the player character and never speaks in voiced cutscenes just because it would be hilarious.

[@TheKeyblader133]

WoL: "woah! you must be my shard!" Y'shtola: "Warrior of Light, dont be ridiculous. Your souls bear absolutely no resemblence" WoL: "What??" Ardbert: "It's true, remember how Hythlodaeus said our souls looked the same? there's not even a hint of similarity" WoL: "THen what in Hydaelyn's name am I looking at???" Mystery Clone: "Dont pay me any mind, Yoshi P just made me to fuck with the fans"

[@meaninglez100]

The idea of Azem's shards being significant heroes from other FF's (with the assumption of Ardbert being a representative of the original FF1 Warrior) makes enough sense to me

[@Zeithri]

Novrandt and Ardbert has *NOTHING* to do with FF1.

[@rednova2212]

@@Zeithri The original WoL in FF1 was a 'Warrior', basically just like the class in 14. The only thing he's missing is the red hair. He starts as Warrior not Knight. And the *knight* class is what is shown on the cover. That's what the reference is.

[@AzureGreatheart]

We have a _direct_ translation of the FFI WoL in FFXIV, and it’s not Ardbert; it’s the 5.3 trial boss.

[@rednova2212]

@@AzureGreatheart He's not stating in the literal sense. He's stating as in the pixel art and it's translation to how, in FF1, your MC starts off as a Warrior character. The only thing Ardbert is missing is the red hair and his armor isn't red. In FF1, the job 'KNIGHT' in terms of how the pixelated character looks, most closely resembles the 'Warrior of Light' from the cover art. However, that's not the starting job. That is the reference being made here.

[@starofaetherius]

@@AzureGreatheart yeah by transforming Ardberts body

[@vincentbeton]

I agree with the assumption that the original Golbez is the most likely candidate...but I still want to know what was so special about Zero that Zenos ended up with her and Hydaelyns Crystal so conveniently gave her another form

[@EnishLord]

And why she turned into a paladin in that one 6.5 cutscene. Considering that the 'cannon' WOL is a paladin, it seemed to be implying some sort of connection. Or it could be just giving the message that you don't need to be a shard of azem to be a wol, and working to make the world a better place and not giving up hope is enough? Kind of ties into a question: Are all the historical WOL Azem's soul? Also, what about in the beginning of ARR where they talk about the warriors (plural) of light? Or in shadowbringers where we learn that albert's party all had crystals of light, compared to ARR where we get a bunch of them?

[@vincentbeton]

@@EnishLord Didn't Elidibus proclaim in ShB that the whole WOL Idea is based on him? We can probably only assume how much he intervened on different Shards over the Millenia

[@kzorander8577]

And why they play Ardbert's theme in some of her cutscenes! Like, OG Golbez makes sense. But it almost feels like they were setting it up to be Zero before changing their minds.

[@kzorander8577]

​@@EnishLordUnukalhai was a WoL from the 13th though, and I don't think he was meant to be a shard of Azem.

[@AzureGreatheart]

@@EnishLord Pretty sure her class change is a direct result of her absorbing some of The First’s light.

[@shh532]

WoLbez is quite likely, but it feels like it's something they won't explore until we go back out to the 13th in a future expansion, likely after a large timeskip as the Exarch mentions is possible between shards (possibly even one affecting the first too?). It's a challenge of where they want to take the shard story and leaning us closer to Azem (which I feel they put a nice close on in Endwalker), but nothing in FF ever really just vanishes. An 'anti-ardbert' that's trying to hijack your body or soul having been corrupted, or even as a full blown antagonist could be really interesting.

[@WickedSensei]

You just reminded me of the movie "The One" with Jet Li, that would be cool actually lol

[@thomasheller4629]

Your 'anti-ardbert' gave me an idea: The original Golbez really is a shard of the WoL and we reunite with him, maybe after a battle against his cortupted form. Then the corrupted aether begins affecting us and inside the WoL Ardbert fights against corrupted Golbez. That would be really interesting.

[@theegocollective2695]

I wholly believe that Golbez is Azem, Durante is Zenos and I'd go as far as to (headcanon) that those two souls are predestined to have an odd connection in almost every reincarnation.

[@redryan2000]

the one thing that's interesting about the case of the original Golbez and Voidsent in general is concept of separation and restoration. the idea of turning them back into people along with restoring their world. it seems to be the goal and dream of Zero now. so even though we likely won't be gaining any more pieces as the story seems to be going a less is more route, saving the OG Golbez might not be impossible.

[@kurojester4513]

I do like the idea of Golbez. With him still being enough of an enigma for players to create their own characters around him if they wish. Like how Azem themself has never been shown in person. I did also like the ideas of Zero or Unukalhai purely because they do reflect the WoL very well while still having distinct personalities!

[@LukeShadowrider13]

I feel like I might be weird for this but I had thought for a long time that the voidsent Avatar was the shard. Since it was most compatible with us. I've been pretty alone in that theory so it's very likely not true. But it is a nice thought for me.

[@kurojester4513]

I had this thought too! Like the 13th’s shard somehow found it’s way to us or was even drawn to us!

[@amitamaru]

The avatar isn't a voidsent, it's more like a reflection of the voidsent's power. I do believe that the voidsent your Reaper contracts with is your Thirteenth shard. The reason being that Drusil says only those with a connection to the Thirteenth can become Reapers. Anyone else gets nothing from the soul crystal. So my thought is that you can only make a Reaper contract with the sundered piece of your own soul.

[@nerobiblios4086]

Some Jobs aren't exactly truly canon to the WoL, it can be inferred that most Expansion Jobs are, WAR, BRD, DRK, DRG, SAM, PLD. In any case, if Meteor doesn't wear it in a trailer, then its probably nit entirely canon.

[@EeveeReturn]

​​@@nerobiblios4086MNK is in there too; it headlined Stormblood alongside SAM. Also, being completely pedantically technical, it's not the Job BRD, but the Class ARC 🤷‍♂️.

[@gothicshark]

When we first met Zero, they seemed likely, and them being basically a warrior of light from a past game reimagined kind of lends Creedence to that theory. But the fact we never see to Original Golbez outside their armor, and the fact we see the story from his POV makes it very likely he is the prime candidate for a shard of Azem, but I would say not the only one. Sort of a 40% to 30% Golbez/Zero with a 30% chance it's someone else entirely.

[@themanonthewall7029]

i think og golbez is the warrior on the 13th i had a feeling sense the start of this quest line.

[@youiri65]

I think the WoL could safely take in OG Golbez. I remember a line from Venat in Elpis that tells us that the Blessing of Light/ Traveler's Mark prevents the owner of the enchantment from Aether Corruption, the reason why we can resist being Tempered. The WoL does still have the Blessing of Light, right? And with us claiming the seat of Azem (is what I assume, when the WoL willfully uses the Azem's crystal to summon allies), we have access to "Premium version of the Traveler's Mark" as a bonus, since I also remember that the enchantment isn't a Venat original, but the First Azem original.

[@LiorVolf]

You're correct. Though I have one doubt: who is this first Azem that you mentioned?

[@youiri65]

@@LiorVolf we werent told who the first Azem was, but we were told that the "power over stasis" was a concept of magic the first Azem made. It was when Hydaelyn imbued that concept into the crystal before we went to Ultima Thule.

[@sondimons2880]

I mean, the WoL probably could safely take in OG Golbez. However, Shadowbringers happened and the WoL did willingly absorb the primordial light of five lightwardens during that journey, which meant that the blessing didn't really do anything except delay their corruption. This implies that the Blessing of Light is a shield against external corruption, but not really for internal. Notably, their aether's also slightly tainted by all the primals they slew, which is why they're allowed to become a full-fledged summoner. Taking in Golbez might allow that darkness into them, but we don't know much darkness corrupted him. Maybe the WoL would be fine, but who knows.

[@LiorVolf]

@@youiri65 still don't understand who this first Azem of yours is... The Azem that the Warrior of Light is a reincarnation of was the (possibly) the last Azem, since he is Venat' successor. Do you mean Venat's master? I don't remember him being mentioned...

[@LiorVolf]

@@sondimons2880 IMO The Warrior of Light being threatened by Lightwardens just means that even the Traveler's Mark/Blessing of Light, even if it is powerful, does have its limits

[@jovenc4508]

I would say Zero due to the fact she was Zeno's voidsent companion when he took up the reaper class. He was drawn to her in particular because she had the same feeling as you. They say that the very first time you meet Zero.

[@Peashooter521]

that would just make zenos even more gross.

[@jovenc4508]

@@Peashooter521 What makes him gross to begin with?

[@Peashooter521]

@@jovenc4508 in from the cold where he violates us

[@jovenc4508]

@@Peashooter521 Define "violate" in this situation.

[@Peashooter521]

@@jovenc4508 it felt uncomfortably similar to rape, and triggered the traumas of many people who have suffered or still suffer from a lack of bodily autonomy, especially victims of sexual assault and trans women

[@mr.jeorgexiii1732]

Lesson time!

[@femboizooters]

I think another question we should be asking is whether or not we SHOULD merge with our 13th reflection. We only merged with Ardbert out of necessity, to save the first and the source. While the 13th might not have immediate need for their WoL, that isnt to say sometime in the distant future that the need may arise. Golbez may even wish that he remain separated (should we find a way to uncorrupt him) for this very reason. And lets not forget that we can travel freely between the first and the source, our means of traversing to the 13th is not consistent nor is it guaranteed. So if we were to merge with our 13th reflection, if for some reason we find ourselves unable to return to the 13th, that may prove detrimental to the security and stability to the 13th in the future. (Note: All of this is only speculation and by all means events can change desisions and outcomes but its worth taking consideration that, for now, it might be best to leave our reflection in the 13th. An extra pair of hands if you would. Same goes with the other reflections.) (Also note: This is assuming that all shards of azem have the same proclivity to protect their respective reflections. While souls may have a bias towards certain behaviors its not guaranteed that all reincarnations would behave in the exact same way. Take Hermes for example.)

[@auragleaf02]

With that line of thinking that those can be unsealed, could there a possibility to heal the souls within? Kind of liked how we figured out how to cure the thrall. I personally am still saddened we couldn't save the blasphemies . I hope we can save those in the 13 .

[@elaine_of_shalott6587]

I kind of wonder if Ryne and Gaia using the darkness from it in their work of rebalancing the first might have an eventually purifying effect.

[@auragleaf02]

That would make sense, since it is hinted we are not done with first and the thirteenth has just started its journey.

[@Zeithri]

Azem, our character never had any parents. Because Mommy Crystal withheld the majority of our shattered soul in stasis until it could be assembled in place on the Source. Something like 6 Souls are already present from the start in the Warrior of Light, that's the only explanation for the insane power gap. The fact they had to retcon Echo as only being a part of us while the rest was the "Blessing of Light". Makes it funny though, how come no one *ELSE* is as powerful as us despite the fact that they absolutely should be? Could be that they were never Ancients to begin with like we were. Tenzen was obviously a shard in the past and is now present within us. Ardbert was the og WoL poster-boy until they retconned the entire FFXIV 1.0 and proclaimed him his own person, despite that all we see him do is what he did. Hell if you started playing in 2.0 and not 1.0, you could even feasibly say that Ardbert was the 1.0 WoL that disappeared and you took his place in 2.0 because storywise, 1.0 characters at least seemed to have had a past prior to the Echo-activation but 2.0 characters awoke in the void, ergo 2.0 characters is the major shards of the original Azem finally ready to go slam some stuff down. Golbez is our soul in the 13th Shard but I was certain it'd be Zero. But it might as well be the Avatar we commune with as a Reaper.. The question is, who is the soul of the Zero and Golbez friend? Also this brings us into what I hate with Shadowbringers and their continual attempts at post-game retcons by claiming balance is needed: If that was the case, then Hydaelyn would had enacted a flood of light to drown the world in light after we would had tilt the scales in the favor of Light enough so we would have no choice but align us with Zodiark and become the Warrior of Darkness............ BUUUUUUUUUT that'd actually mean there'd be competence in the story on display so instead --- We're a vacuum cleaner in Shadowbringers. Being a Warrior of Darkness is as simply as just saying that you are. Even though you aren't, you're still a Warrior of Light. %()(="#)(%/()=()U%=() PLAY FF3 FOR ¤=("#% SAKE!!! IT DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT! 9:16 - Nah. It's no problem. I leveled Marauder into Warrior as my first job. And in Shadowbringers, we keep puking light. We're used to it. And let's not forget, we already *have* six-no wait Seven souls + Source soul in us already. This is a non-issue. Especially after beating that which threatened all of existence and then, criminally, survived... Yeah, this is such a non-issue. *Trust me, I'm a Botanist.* Here's what you need to know; *The Warrior of Light never was an adventurer. At most, we're a glorified mercenary.* *The Warrior of Light should never mess in politics. That's always a mistake. We're hired muscle. Nothing else.* To try and force us into being what we are not is a disservice to the story. *For those who wonder, the idea of having your soul split at least comes from Greek Mythology, possibly something else.* But in the beginning, Mankind had two heads, four arms, four legs. Zeus feared our power of cartwheeling ( _I suppose_ ) and so he *split* us into two to reduce us. This is the origin of " _your soulmate_ " because by doing so, we wander forever in search for other other half, to make us whole again. And one last thing... *THE SHARDS DO NOT REPRESENT GAMES. FF1 DOES NOT EQUATE SHADOWBRINGERS. JUST BECAUSE THE 13TH SHARD HAS FF4 LOVE, DOES NOT EQUATE IT BEING FF4.*

[@LarkyLuna]

Golbez has been pacified, so I don't think we'll ever know until 4 expansions from now when the void and first are balanced and we have to find a way to free those souls so they can rejoin the sea He's a good parallel to the WoL either way, it will probably be fun whenever it happens Or maybe when the slow convergence of the shards becomes a problem now that Hydaelyn isn't keeping them apart anymore

[@Kaligraphy22]

Hey Professor, did ya hear about the speculations that Durante is one of Zenos' shards? That one threw me for an absolute loop and the only bit of "info" that holds any water is that Golbez and Durante were close friends, much how like what Zenos wanted with us back in Stormblood (when he basically asked if you'd accept him). Granted, no matter what choice you chose, he still came to the conclusion that you two could never be true friends. Which brought up the "theory" that maybe in another time, another reflection, WoL and Zenos' shards could have been friends. Oh, the other minor (and paper thin) connection between Zenos and Durante is that their both blondes and proficient in battle, lol.

[@lobete]

While fun to think about, I think what SE will probably do is leave it as an unanswered question, here and in future shards. Maybe make someone that is fitting, but never quite telling us for sure. It feels like they would want to move away from giving us reflections that we need meet or take into ourselves like Ardber, leaving the other shard versions be as part of the star moving on, the rejoining having been ceased.

[@gana5420]

The way I see it rejoining with the other WoL shards is the only way to get stronger, and since the devs seems to refuse to scrap the Scions despite having disbanded the org, it would be far more entertaining to have the WoL rejoining with the other shards to power up and defeat the next big bad than some lame power of friendship scene

[@lobete]

​@gana5420 I feel like that is the obvious expectation, but it also feels like it runs counter to the point of going against the rejoining and letting ourselves move forward rather than reaching for the past. Plus I kind of think people play into the idea that rejoining is a power builder a little too much. Really didn't feel like people on the source are any stronger than those on the first. Whatever advantage people gain from having a souls 6-7 times as concentrated in aether seems minimal to nonexistent.

[@lobete]

Bit of an aside, but the sundering splits the aether of the star and the souls within, specifically it is splitting the aetheric quantity or density. It isn't splitting things like strength or intelligence, which is more a matter of the physical form you grow or the experiences you gain in each incarnation. Those physical attributes and learned experiences won't follow you to your next incarnation where as things like demeanor or personality type do seem somewhat likely to (only to be shaped later through the life you live). A big part of the story for Shb and EW was about how the sundered beings are no less capable for acts of strength and intelligence, that we aren't inferiors to the ancients in all aspects; we're just less aetheric. It makes us easier to corrupt and our lives finite, makes it easier to reset civilization-building with a calamity or two, but it doesn't make people dumber or weaker inherently.

[@Max44321]

I was sure we saw the model for the canon WoL as a generic robed guy during the latest dungeon or story in the flashback area just getting blasted away

[@kyzorend.tirrem4457]

Golbez being WoL's 13th shard is a nice idea, but I personally subscribe to our 13th being our Reaper Avatar instead! Somewhat following in the footsteps of Dark Knight, resonating with and becoming one with ourselves would be an absolutely badass "We Are Venom!" moment and it would be awesome! (Also a longer lasting or outright toggle-able Enshroud would be Morbin'!)

[@kyzorend.tirrem4457]

@@UrsulaMajor It not being focused on, sure, but I don't know about it not making sense... Especially as a post-6.5 thing; the next Reaper job quest could be about anything... For instance, we start with helping Scythe-Granny and the Lemures gang restart the Reapers in Ul'dah (fits having Nald'Thal as a deity), and along the way, we encounter the main antagonist Voidsent, that sets our usual silent/obedient Avatar off, and the story unfolds from there... Again, I'm just imaginating, but I disagree it wouldn't/couldn't make sense...

[@bronxshogun7089]

While we’re talking about whose reflection is who, I have a suspicion that Durante is Zenos’ 13th reflection. Which, if it ends up being true, would make his friendship with OG Golbez pretty fitting imo.

[@LemonedIScream13]

Yeah, I thought so, too. Durante is like Zenos if his childhood wasn't messed up.

[@katmeerkats]

I didn't think I cared who our shard might be. But this Golbez theory is so wholesome I now stan it.

[@Alovon]

Personally I think a combination of the blessing of light and our 8-times rejoined soul would be enough to filter out the excess darkness inside our 13th reflection, assuming it was the OG Golbez. Primarily as OG Golbez was pretty much a fledgling Voidsent, no ether sucked up, no soul-merigng, he didn't even fully mutate before Durante sealed him into Memoria. So if the WoL was able to filter out the already integrating light of 5 Lightwardens (Equivalents to the 4 Archfiends + Durante-Golbez) once 8-Times rejoined. The Blessing Of Light + becoming 9-times rejoined technically probably would let them filter out the excess darkness from Golbez in a similar manner to how Adbert's introduction let them maintain stability to filter out the excess lightwarden light

[@TheDarkThunder]

Our shard is the Impresario from All Saints Wake of course!

[@SynodicScribe]

That would actually be so funny I couldn't be mad. lol

[@kuronaialtani]

All the talk in the prior patches about a famous hero got me (and I think a good chunk of the playerbase) thinking already And then we got the echo in Golbez's first-person perspective without voice in a voiced cutscene, which has never happened before And then we got the memoria crystal fighting alongside Durante as Golbez, literally walking the memories as someone else

[@LinkJTO]

A bit of a correction, in Shadowbringers we have a cutscene where the Echo activated during our sleep and we see the Exarch memory’s of a time before he came to the first, both first person and no voice in the voice cutscene

[@SniperKing-O]

Currently, I'm kinda more interested in who Zenos' shards were. I saw a fan theory that it could be the reason why Zero was picked as his Avatar by Fandaniel, but I also think Lord Vauthry might have also been another one of his shards. Though I mostly get this feeling because of Vauthry's two underlings, his female Zorn and Thorne harlequin subordinates. While Zenos'body was possesed by Elidibus, he was briefly in charge of what I suspect to be those two harlequin's original Source counterparts, due to the ceruleum aura they produce when we fight them being both red/pink and blue, the same opposing colors that the two harlequin twins share. They also both die during a raid on Eulmore by the Scions and WoL, same as how their Garlean counterparts die during a raid by Gaius and Estinien. The other reason why I feel this way is because of Zenos and Vauthry's shared physical traits (blonde hair, blue eyes, light skin), them having opposite personalities and both of them essentially being the heirs to a (former) mighty kingdom. Though we don't know when Emet-Selch approached Vauthry's family in compared to whatever the era it would have been on the Source, I wonder if Emet-Selch approached Vauthry's parents not just to experiment on their son with the power of Sin Eaters, but he may have been also drawn to Vauthry because his soul might have been a Shard of Zenos and that potential alone might have spurned him to conduct said Sin Eater experiment on him because of that. His grandson was a monster in nearly all respects, so he might have thought Vauthry had the potential to become something similar and gave him the extra boost to become just that with more ease. Though that's might cheese hole riddled theory. 😂

[@dakotadoyle7573]

I often wonder what would happen if all the excess corrupted Light from the first was funneled into the 13th without a specific target and just allowed to mingle with the atmosphere

[@SneakyMuffin]

If they never reveal it, then I'd say Golbez is the most likely candidate, but it's also worth remembering there are plenty of other decent memoriates who were out there in the 13th. Golbez could just have been a kindred spirit in the more traditional sense.

[@rierku]

I think Golbez being the 13th shard of Azem is very likely. As for the corruption if we unsealed the crystal to have a shot at rejoining the soul with the WoL's.. I think there's 3 distinct possibilities: - Being of the source, the WoL's soul is already 7 times stronger than that of a WoL's counterpart from a reflection. Even 8 times after the evdents of Shadowbringer. This alone might already make a difference on how the corruptive energies work upon the WoL. I don't know, maybe even the elemental aspect of the previous calamities (plus Light from SB) might play a role, since the dark element is still missing in our collection. - Maybe corruption doesn't even matter in the context of rejoining as we're not after the aether but the soul itself. As was said in the video, Durante shattered the crystal to empower himself with the aether, which corrupted him as well. But if we could siphon away the tainted aether to extract only the soul itself it'd be a different matter. - It would also make a possibly quite interesting new Dark Knight quest. Absorbing Golbez' aether/soul and over the course of the questline reintegrating him. Seeing how the previous questlines with DRK went, it'd even be a good thematic fit, I think.

[@railitto]

My WoL is from the Void so I am pleased that they didn't outright confirm anyone from the Void as our shard. Now I don't have to headcanon it away 😂

[@Norbert_Sattler]

I think we can rule out any voidsent that died in the source, like Rubicante. After all, if they died in the source, then their part of the soul should reunite with the Warrior of Light and I think we'd notice something like that happening. Or if not us, then Y'Shtola would. She did see a difference in us between before we went to the First and after Ardbert joined with us after all. I wouldn't necessarily say that Golbez corruption was absolutely complete. In the memory Golbez defeated Durante and then just stood there, neither finishing him off nor leaving. He just stood there and waited for Durante to monologue for a bit and then hit him with a final attack. Thus I think that there was at least a part of the true Golbez still within him and able to hold the corruption at bay for at least a little big, that kept him still specifically so Durante could seal him. A self sacrifice so the world and his friend would be safe from what he had become. With how a bit of Adjaza remained even after being corrupted, this makes a lot of sense to me. Considering how Zero was able to take in light and after some help from Ryne achive a balance, without being turned into a sineater, I think there is a good chance that rejoining with a corrupted part of our soul would work out, especially when you consider how the Warrior of Light has already gone through the whole lightbringer business and thus has some hands-on experience of supressing corrupting ether in themselves. Sure it's not the same, but then again it is also just a single soul this time, were we took in multiple lightbringers in Shadowbringers. On a different note, I wonder if the shards will even remain eternally. When Zodiark died, the changes he made to the laws of nature reverted quite quickly, allowing Metion to attack once more. So why didn't her change of nature - i.e. the sundering - come undone the moment Hydaelyn died? I think the answer is in her foresight. I suspect that she did something to fortify the sundering before she died. But now the question is... how, or more importantly how long will that last? It might well be possible that the shards are very slowly bleeding into the source and after a couple of generations or millenia, everything will be rejoined once more. Or it could be that the barriers between reflections is slowly running out of energy and once they do *bam* full-on calamities everywhere from a sudden in-rush of the energy. Then again with the other shards not being intentionally flooded by a single element, maybe even the sudden failure of the barriers might not cause outright calamities, but something less destructive. Or she might have set up a system that draws aether from the life stream to sustain the sundering. But if so, does the aether come only from the source or all reflections and what kind of side effects might this aether drain have on the worlds? Due to the gameplay impact this would have, it is certainly something that will not happen while the game still runs, but it's still interesting to speculate about the future of the Etheirys :) This might be worth discussing in a future video.

[@NoOne-gg5mc]

I'm suspecting whenever we do shard travel (looking at 9.0 at the earliest), the topic of our other selves will be a focal point to the story, as well as the various mysteries that surround the original Azem. Regardless if our 13th counterpart is Golbez or someone else entirely, I'm confident that the mystery is currently unresolved because it's planned for a later story line.

[@TheKeyblader133]

While there doesnt really need to be a connection, and I don't really think it's more likely than Golbez being our Shard of the 13th, I do often wonder if we'll ever learn of any significance to the voidsent we form a pact with as a Reaper. Seemingly, there may not *be* any noteworthy element to it, but the fact that Zenos' voidsent was fixated on in Zero, it makes me curious as to if we might eventually learn anything about our own. It feels potentially inevitable, as the game is slowly trodding towards the intent to restore the 13th, and I'd be very interested in seeing what comes of that potential thread. There's also the interesting potential that, if our Reaper's Voidsent IS one of our shards, that in whatever process of restoring the 13th (and subsequently healing the voidsent, possibly?), it might end up rejoining with us, as Ardbert has, and exist alongside him. Shadowbringers did show a few times that Ardbert is still somewhat present within us, if only in part. It could mean that we'd still be able to call on our "Voidsent-Shard" as a Reaper to hand-wave that element. I kinda have my doubts even saying this, though. We have no idea if the Voidsent can even be truly "cured" or not, especially seeing as Zero was a special case. But I really do hope that we get some time looking at our Voidsent and how it ties to us, whether it's "Important" or not.

[@PapaDeusVult]

With regard to the Thirteenth shard of Azem theory: On top of the facts presented that point Golbez to be Azem's thirteenth shard, there's also another one in the same vein: the mere fact that his memoria crystal resonated with your psyche and showed you the memory within it about Baron and his final moments alongside Durante. With regard to the different shards on the different reflections: The fact that you mentioned that there's no certainty that the shards are currently alive like the Warrior of Light is on the Source is neat, because that's how I've played it out with my own non-WoL character. As an example, his shard on the First-a young Hume from Voeburt-awakened to adventure and heroism because Azem's shard (Ardbert) did so, just like the Source counterpart did when the Warrior of Light was making a name for his/herself, and so on and so forth with regard to the other reflections. Given that, he followed in Ardbert and company's footsteps and made the attempt to become an adventurer. By the time the Flood of Light came around, the shard of my character had becme a formidable adventurer in his own right. When the Flood was stopped and the Lightwardens first appeared, I had it in mind that he aided in striking one down, only to become its next vessel-and his life ended there

[@Spyrit2011]

Need more story on Azem. If you think about it Azem had Emet-Selch at their beck and call, what kind of person and how powerful were they?

[@Zerethon]

One thing i think people get wrong too, is that because there's been several rejoinings, that we (and others) are basically at X/14ths of our full selves, which i think personally is wrong. It's never been set in stone or fully explained (to my knowledge) that a rejoining = peoples shards from the "Rejoined" shard being recombined, rather it seems more like the Aether of a shard is re-added to that of the source, with the exception of the shards of zodiark (due to the ascians) The only, shown, and set in stone actual "Rejoining" of shards of ourselves, is when we rejoin with ardbert on the first. After this point is also when we get the crystal of Azem, and when we start seeing the summoning sigil and things before trials and the like (Because we use the crystal) and endwalker taught us that our reduced Aether is what lets us channel "Dynamis" to do things like "Surpass our limits" with things like Limit break Essentially, we might only be 2/14th's, with the rest of our shards still in the winds, or some other smaller fraction than 8/14ths because fragments of ourself might still be lost to the winds (EG: a shard of us is alive on the source already, a calamity happens, they survive, but the part of us that "Comes over" and ends up being reborn while the first shard is alive) Unless i've missed a lot, and there's a good chance that i have, it's possible that we're still only like, half the potential we could be at, we could be like, 5/14ths and there's someone on the source that's actually 3/14ths of us running around. We don't know for sure.

[@SynodicScribe]

Thankfully it was explained. Emet-Selch confirms this in Shadowbringers, remarking on how we're already Seven Times Rejoined. Confirming, we have been 8/14th's our original strength, and with Ardbert we're now 9/14th's.

[@TheJohnnylupine]

I do think original Golbez is the strongest contender for a WoL shard but i also wouldnt be surprised if thry weren't either since a lot of the evidence for the idea could easily be given another explaianation. Following Golbez' footsteps in his memoria crystal for example, WoL doesn't appear to be the only one to enter the crystal, unless the trust system isnt a canonical version of events someone like estinien could be the reason the crystal reacted or it could be that they crystal was only reacting because Durante-Golbez did something to it so it would trigger the memory gor anyone who got close as he entered the room behind the crystal, its a good delay tactic and to use the crystal as a tactic in that way in a situation where someone in the party was the trigger rather than the crystal simply being activated and left in our path assumes Durante-Golbez had enough info about our party to confidently assume one of us would set the crystal off and at this point he could likely only base that assumption on personality likeness or a comparison of power, which isnt firm evidence. Why was WoL treated as if they were Golbez and why did Golbez step out of WoL at the end? Its a crystal containing a single persons memory of an event. Who else would the participants take the role of? It's entirely possible everyone in the party got Golbez' POV and if WoL was the only one to experience it so vividly you could put it down to the echo - something shown to already be able to replay memories - rather than it being due to connection with the memories owner. Original Golbez not being voiced could be more to obscure the fact that Durante took his name. Our vision through his eyes could indicate a connection but there are other characters who have provided the same type of vision - such as when we see Amon's past through his eyes.

[@Zerix3Dragonkin]

I suspect if the techniques used to untemper an individual might have the ability to alter the aetherial makeup of a memoria crystal. Though there may need to be unusual amounts of energy needed to achieve this. Further, it may require the release of the contents of the memoria crystal for such techniques to take hold. Difficult to say. Such a thing would revive the lost person, though, not rejoin souls. I don't think they will give our WOL any more rejoinings of their soul, tbqh, because of the story reasons involving Dynamis that Endwalker introduced.

[@andrewmosby6004]

Before 6.4/6.5 i theorized that our Avatar should we choose to become a Reaper was our missing fragment from the 13th. It would go a ways to explain how easily we were able to pact with and even join with it via Enshroud, which would be something of a temporary rejoining.

[@Gloomdrake]

The existence of Reaper in general kind of tanks my hopes for any resolution of the Void Restoration story. How’re we supposed to have an Avatar if all the Voidsent become just guys again?

[@zephyr7552]

​@Gloomdrake I honestly doubt the voidsent will ever be the people they were again. See as from what we have from minion information voidsent can reproduce sexual and asexual doing so as voidsent will just make more voidsent. And Aether corrupting you to the point of transformation has no cure, think of it like rabies in that sense. The "Cure" would be death. But there'd be no point as they'd just be reborn as a voidsent because of reproduction.

[@AzureGreatheart]

@@GloomdrakeI feel like the voidsent would probably stay as voidsent, but the world itself could get some perfectly satisfactory resolution. There is no known method for curing aetheric corruption that has reached the point of causing physical mutations, and the patch questline implies that the hunger for aether exhibited by voidsent is a result of the lack of ways to naturally recover aether in the 13th. The impression I get is that restoring the aetherial sea on the 13th would fix most of the problems, but the voidsent are just going to be weird monsters forever (although I don’t think they’d care that much considering how long they’ve been like that, and how much not being stuck in a horrible limbo would make their situation better).

[@ShiroNekoDen]

I am honestly thinking the wol of the thirteenth is zero, and honestly with her abrupt job change I can't help but draw parallels. primarily because it was zero who was purified by hydolyn's crystal, and the sheer odds against them meeting each other in the first place. add to that, the fact she got a lot of screen time, I don't think a patch story has ever focused so much on a single character with out some connection to the wol. in heavenward we got unakalai, in shadow bringers we got ardbert for the whole expansion, and now zero i can't help but be suspicious.

[@ray30k]

As an additional argument in favour of "the WOL can't merge with their 13th shard without getting corrupted," light-aspected aether and dark-aspected aether work in very different ways. Light is stable, perhaps stagnant while dark is active, chaotic. Knowing how to handle one doesn't immediately make you able of handling the other safely.

[@MaydaTiger]

yeah i am pretty much on the same boat, its too much on the nose to deny that OG Golbez was the 13th shard of Azem tho to this moment its not 100% guaranteed so until its confirmed its still up in the air i do however would love a video about ceruleum and its interactions with corporeal aether...there has been a rise on that theory that the beast Estinien fights in DT trailer is enhanced with ceruleum and that's what we are dealing with in DT

[@silvanbarrow86]

So far I'm on the "Original Golbez is the WoL's 13th shard train." As for rejoining with that shard? Hmm. My weird headcanon is that over the next grand ten year saga we eventually have to carry out the Ascian plan of rejoining the shards with the Source because of an external threat (something akin to or worse than Ultima), but because we don't want to wipe out the lives on the other shards it'll be more like linking the shards and the Source together and regulating the aether through the Source to control it as a unified construct rather than a brute force return to Ancient status. To do that however, we'd need to strengthen our soul back to its original state which means rejoining with our remaining shards. In the case of Ardbert I think we were able to rejoin with him right away because aside from the external influence of the aether of the Lightwardens he was merely a missing part of our soul, and rejoining increased the amount of aether we could contain (my weird analogy is If we were Mega Man X, Ardbert was a heart meter that increased how much 'life' we had LOL). More importantly, the strong astral influence that influenced both us and Ardbert at the time probably acted as a stabilizing force to allow the fusion to proceed smoothly outside of the Lifestream. With Golbez on the other hand, while our soul is currently aetherically balanced theirs is probably leaning too heavily towards umbral due to the corruption which renders it too unstable to rejoin properly. Like some have mentioned/hinted at, it would probably take Ryne introducing enough Light AND Gaia removing excess Darkness to return the soul to balanced levels before attempting to rejoin with us. (Sidebar: As a fitting 'ending' to 14 in my headcanon we (or Krile as someone else with the Echo, someone who wishes for our happiness, and a former temporary vessel of Hydaelyn) eventually split the Source and restore all the shards, thus restoring all the lives lost and acting as a power reset for a new adventure to start on a different part of the planet we haven't explored yet, or maybe another shard/world entirely.)

[@Taoryu]

Depending on how far you want to look into Varshans line before the last fight in the lunar subterranean "he gave himself to the dark to stop golbez... And yet it falls to us to keep him... Or rather YOU from harm"

[@joyfulrage958]

I still believe the 13th shard is Zero. She also tried to save the planet on her own if you remember, gained the power of light herself, and squenix loves to hurt us. I feel later down the story something will happen and she will willingly fuse with us too to battle some threat and hurt us in the process

[@Wanderingsage7]

I mean, we already have the Avatar and whatever Fray might be. So it's entirely possible that we could withstand integrating with another voidsent.

[@danapollard6910]

My personal head cannon is that our Reaper Avatar is the 13th shard of Azem.

[@Jon0001]

so globez being the shard seems to be the most likely outcome. As for how to fix the void corruption we sorta see an option when we meet zero. The warrior of light with hydaelyn's crystal was able to turn zerio back to her original state. Zero is half voidsent so it stands to reason she would have had resistance to the corrupting nature of the void but I think globez has something just as valuable. When Ardbert first came into contact with the wol on the first he remarked that despite 100 years of wandering and his soul fraying as soon as he came into contact with the wol he was restored. What this illustrates is that the shards of a person resonate and strengthen one an other to the point of perhaps even healing them from the passage of time. With all that said i believe that hydaelyn's crystal along with the resonance of souls would allow Globez to be healed and purified.

[@throwaway5012]

Here's my biggest question regarding shards - its stated the it was Hydaelin herself who recombined the wayward souls' reflections following a rejoining (the lyrics to the song 'Flow' are pretty on the nose). But what happens to all the reflections cast into the aethereal sea after the 7th calamity? For those whose Source-counterpart was alive during these events? One would think we'd have to 'die' to be woven back together, but following the events of EW - is that even still possible?

[@royloftis3455]

Remember during Shadowbringers Emet Selch gut punched the Crystal Exarch and commented how he must have been through an extra rejoining otherwise he would have died from the gut punch. So being dead to have your soul woven back together doesn't seem to be a requirement as G'rha was only asleep in the tower when the 8th umbral calamity occurred.

[@throwaway5012]

@@royloftis3455 The scene you're referencing is actually Elidibus - and he remarks that the Crystal Exarch's soul is 'remarkably dense'. I always took that to be him acknowledging that he wasn't a native of the First (whose souls would be a single shard). And that something was fishy about that. Leading him to eventually discover the Exarch's secret and utilizing the tower's full functionality in 5.3

[@Silvershadowfire]

I am of the theory that the original Golbez is our shard from the 13th. I would personally love to see a quest where we have to find a way to purify the soul trapped in the crystal; both for our own use and for purifying the other crystals and helping with the long term redemption of the 13th. Theoretically, we could shatter the crystal on the Source and destroy the original Golbez to send them back to the Lifestream to be purified. I'm not 100% sure what would happen after that... maybe we could go to the Aitiascope and speak with them there? At any rate, just a thought. Thank you for the video! Love your stuff and theorycrafting.

[@TheSuperion123]

Actually another though i've had lately is if Durante is meant to be a shard of Zenos

[@mariannerichard1321]

I believe we witnessed at least one other rejoining of souls fragments in the game, Ryne when she absorbed Minfillia. Although, she is in the First, so it would be true that only the WoL reside in the Source and has regained a fragment. As for Golbez, just being the silent type and being sunlight shy doesn't make the WoL. Ardbert is quite talkative and always helmet free. Golbez sure feel like Azem in the time trips, but Azem's gender change with whichever the player's WoL's. Ardbert was definitely a man, I would expect each Azem's shard to be just as fleshed out as Ardbert, instead of as elusive as Azem. For the moment, I believe Zero is the Azem fragment, Fandaniel said Zenos' avatar was carefully chosen and he would want nothing else than the lost shard of his only obsession. Having a woman this time would make it less weird for player who chose to make a female WoL, having them all Azem fragment be male would seem counter intuitive. But we are still years away from an answer. But Golbez could be someone else we know, like Haurchefant, and he did speak nor show his face because we would have recognized him.

[@foxdavion6865]

When I finished 6.5's dungeon, I immediately came to the same conclusion. Bare in mind also, 6.1 to 6.5 is a nod to Final Fantasy IV, a hint of this came in the form of the pre-order and digital collector's edition items. Where it is *really* obvious that Zero is taking the place of Cecil, while the story is completely different, the *bad guys* are the same and the locations are similar.

[@voisinsean]

I like your stuff

[@SynodicScribe]

Thanks! I appreciate you!

[@ViewsfromtheClocktower]

I was a little bitter when Golbez seemed to be confirmed bc I was (still am tbh) very much on the Zero shard train. It'll just have to be my headcanon now lol

[@shadeblackwolf1508]

I think it will come, at the climax of the new saga... the cleansing of the void. I think all the long lingering threads have set the stage for that as our next grand adventure... and the 6.x patch series drawing attention that way makes me even more suspicious of just such an outcome.

[@OniScythe]

Part of me wants to say its the Reaper voidsent you pact with but I bet there's something in the lore to disprove that.

[@mlemlemmlemmlem]

i thought the voidsent that the reaper has a contract with is our shard since when we combine our eyes change into the eyes of an ancient

[@kurojester4513]

Could it be possible that at the time of the corruption of the 13th, the shard of Azem was dead at the time. What happened to the souls that were adrift in the 13ths aethereal sea when the world was swallowed by darkness?

[@VentrexTheXVth]

I never considered Golbez until now. With the voiceless scenes, bulky plate, and no face reveal it definitely is believable but I think its our Reaper contract. What other voidsent could match our power and add to it? Plus that line from Zero how we have a equal contract with it. I like the idea of our voidself using our light like we are using thier darkness.

[@Dojan5]

Would that mean that Zero and Zenos are counterparts? I've been thinking a lot about the counterparts of the supporting cast. Like, what of Azem's original friends? We know Emet-Serk managed to slip into some in-between and avoided the sundering, but what of Hyutolodaeus?

[@mellentlevianth1705]

Hythlodaeus was a sacrifice for zodiark, so all of his shards are just shades. As for zenos/zero it was a very one-sided contract for zenos so not really comparable. Weirdly I could see zenos/durante though.

[@faunidae]

How can he be our reaper avatar if he's trapped in a memoria crystal? That would be cool though.

[@VentrexTheXVth]

@@faunidae I don't mean to say Golbez is our reaper. What I'm saying is our reaper is a separate person and that person is the 13th's Azem. Although the video did convince me that the 13th's Azem was Golbez

[@TheSuperion123]

Is there a way to see more of the podcast segment with Eorzean Archives? I was really enjoying everyone laughing about the theories of WoL possible shards.

[@SynodicScribe]

Indeed! You can find that podcast and others over on the 'AlpacaLips FFXIV' youtube channel! That specific cast was, Final Fantasy 14 [6.4] | Chocobo Radio Ep 8.

[@elaine_of_shalott6587]

The way I tend to put it is that if we have already "met" the 13th's shard of Azem then I think original caster Golbez is the most likely candidate, but they left themselves plenty of room to maneuver if they want to go in a different direction.

[@REIL2LYFE]

Golbez mentions that Cagnazzo and Rubicante have rejoined the life stream of the source. So wouldn't their souls be purified then? If that is indeed the case then taking any memoriate crystal with a corrupted soul into the source to release it would do the same right? Is that reaching for too much? Golbez also mentions he wishes to free voidsent from the wheel of rebirth by invading the source. So I think it's possible to reintroduce all corrupted souls into the life stream for purification.

[@SynodicScribe]

I'll be honest I want that information too. The writers have yet to elaborate on what the voidsent dying over thousands of years on the Source has meant for our Aetherial Realm. We know sooooo litter after that reveal.

[@MrSpiderspider12]

Got a curious question Since you've been in Eorzea since before the Calamity, how Heavensward current players at the time and you reacted to the patch story with Warriors of Darkness and did you have a hunch is gonna become something big as Shadowbringers?

[@raphdaray3578]

Okay guys and girls. Hear me out: What about Unukalhai? 👀 They are from the 13th. What if Elidibus rescued the boy, because he reminded him of Azem? He said it was for the matter of keeping balance to Darkness and Light? I don't thin that "the character doesn't speak like out WoL" is an indicator. Adbert was quite talkative? 😮 just throwing my hat in here 😊

[@lukevolts9005]

I think it'd be very funny if the WoL's 13th Shard was just some random lower-rung voidsent

[@nev2221]

Do/did all the other reflections of the WoL's souls get the power boost from the rejoinings or were the source's souls the only ones to get denser? Are the reflections of the WoLs of the remaining shards technically, aethericly weaker?

[@SynodicScribe]

As the current lore stands. Only the Source has increased in power from the Rejoinings.

[@Glaciola_ice]

I could think that if the wol does take the corruption at most they would become like a half voidsent, like Zero. I also wonder if they could just simply pull a reaper on it, have a pact with themselves?? (im not too well versed on reaper lore)

[@Asin24]

Original Golbez was clealy the WoL. Durante I feel like is the 13th version of Zenos, just how obsessed he was with Golbez as a whole the real vibe I got with him is pretty much what Zenos might of been like if he had a different life and had found WoL earlier on in his life.

[@markup6394]

Golbez is a good enough candidate... but we dont have enough info, simple as that. It still could be Zero (why else would she survive the Flood of Darkness unchanged initially?), it could be even Durante: a man who's faith in mankind was so sorely tested that in the end, he gave up on them, until meeting us or rather a reformed Zero. A fate btw not unlike Artbert: he, too, thought that the Rejoining might not have been such a bad idea, that his people simply lacked strength and conviction to save themselves. It took the creation of the Talos to convince him otherwise. Durante never got that chance. So yeah, if it turned out its any of these three, I wont be surprised. On the other hand, I wont be surprised either if it is someone else entirely.

[@KawarrenD]

Taking the corrupted aether into ourselves, is such a "allowing Ryne to turn into Shiva" idea. In my opinion.

[@SynodicScribe]

Yeah and we all know how that turned out. "I won't lose control!" *Proceeds to lose control immediately*

[@ChaosDX1]

I brought up the question of who the WoL's shard was in the Void to my friends back when Zero was first introduced. They immediately pointed at Unukalhai, (The boy from Heavensward's Warring Triad sidestory) and I've had no reason to question that theory.

[@rukiaaeron5999]

Unukalhai is a shard of the same being as Taynor from the ShB magic DPS role quests. This is made very evident by the “Void Quests” accessible if you’ve done both the Warring Triad and all of the ShB Role Quests.

[@elaine_of_shalott6587]

The Shadowbringers capstone role quests seem to suggest that he is a reflection of the same soul as Nyelbert who traveled with Ardbert instead.

[@rukiaaeron5999]

Taynor, you mean.

[@shevre]

​@@rukiaaeron5999i think it's more likely that him and nyelbert are shards of the same ancient since unukulhai and nyelbert both had the echo and taynor doesn't

[@MrSpiderspider12]

I still subscribe to my theory that every WoL in source and shards has an a friend that respects them to the point of being their idol almost G'raha Tia in source Seto in First Durante in Thirteen

[@Runeknight101]

Zero theorists consider that Zeno is not a WoL shard and has his own shard in the 13th. Also consider that Zero was able to self purify (partially?) and we potentially could have a path to the 13th recovering, and thus the corrupted shard of our own soul returned.

[@DICEBOY22]

I know there are the fiction books but I think their is a possibility Final Fantasy 1, 5, and 6 might be their own worlds within 14. Omega or it's race couldn't have gotten that much pin pointed data of how the villains function and look through just text data alone.

[@Kitsune10060]

1) until such time as we see some suitable evidence suggesting otherwise. Yes, the original Golbez is the our wayward shard from the 13th. but unless it becomes plot important, it's unlikely to be brought up again. as the same with all our missing shards, unless they become plot important they aren't gonna be brought up. 2) i do not believe in the the WoL taking in Golbez's soul into there own for another mini rejoining, would be AS BAD as it would be for some one else, one piece of plot armor that has remained constant is our HEAVY resistance to corrupted aether, and only ONCE has the WoL ever been exposed to enough Corrupted aether for it to be an issue (the 5 Lightwardens we ate) so 1 Soul, corrupted or not wouldn't likely have MUCH negative impact, and i only say that because I'm not 100% convinced there wouldn't be no effect.

[@thomas00129]

though there may be a difference the light warden aether is a external influence while golbez's soul would be like a trojan horse we dont know what would happen

[@Kitsune10060]

@@thomas00129 which is why I'm not convinced it wouldn't be a problem free process, but the WoL's soul is 8 times rejoined, compared to everyone elses soul which at best is 7 on the Source, and I feel like that also needs to be taken into account.

[@thomas00129]

@@Kitsune10060 true especially after we see a soul still being clean after a body was corrupted with Azdaja

[@maj0ga.]

I'm not really on board with the Golbez theory but I understand why people invest in that theory. The only way I personally could subscribe to it is if we got to see both Golbez and Azem's original faces. Now Azem (us) have probably been reborn multiple times since the original sundering and throughout that time his/her image has changed with each rebirth. Golbez would have been alive before the first Rejoining and I feel would have been closer to the original Azem's image if this was true. But this is all just pure speculation and I highly doubt they would show us either of their faces. Just another theory like any other.

[@dustinhatfield8373]

I had personally mused before the golbez arc that our shard could be the reaper's voidsent

[@nataliet4293]

Look. Look, as long as every single Azem has a Zenos analog hanging around I'm happy. Also, what do you mean the WoL didn't get more powerful? we gained 10 levels on the first and the assorted abilities to go with it. We didn't have a proper trainer either, that shit was all mimic'd and adapted from other moves we'd seen.

[@altansipdrae2759]

I would argue that the amount of corrupted aether in a single voidsent vs 6 light warden is proprably nothing. We still have hydaelyn enchantment that protect our aether from being corrupt, and that would still be a 9th rejoining that would fortify the soul.

[@0g00n8]

Imagine you're a drk and your inner voice and corrupted golbez will fist fight each other so you can do your thing normally without losing control, would be funny as hell

[@Zoeila]

Not only do i think the original golbez is Azem shard. I think Durante is a Zenos shard.

[@user-on5dl9hc2z]

Does anyone else get a highlander vibe from the 13th before it fell? Durante is Christopher lambert.

[@MugenAeternum]

It's obviously OG Golbez. New Golbez is Durante who is Zenos

[@aerophage]

I think your Reaper avatar is your 13th reflection.

[@Nikrard]

i think the source souls are more denser now, so they may be more resistant to the shards corruption (i would like to see more azem re-joins, but i fear it goes against the the story current path)

[@strf90105]

What about Unukalhai? Wasn't he the Warrior of Light of the 13th?

[@LemonedIScream13]

he is the WoL of 13th, but he isn't our shard. I think he is supposed to be FF4 Cecil-like figure if he becomes WoL if the Ascian didn't mess up with 13th.

[@Takyomi]

I thought it was pretty obvious. If anything it kinda makes the way Golbez goes out pretty lame. It was a mistake to make him voiceless; shard or not, we never really take such a strict pov with echo visions. It took away whatever character Golbez had beyond "he do a good". Its a shame, because even the four fiends had a little backstory that did wonders for their characterizations for me, and gave greater insights on the state of the 13th. Who would be better to show off the state of the realm than someone that walked through it all trying to save it like Golbez? He should have been present visually in the dungeon, so we could get a better grasp over his character. Bantering with Durante. Inspiring the defending baron soldiers. Trying to guide the populace to safety. If not through words, through actions. Maybe have him defending innocent citizens and baron soldiers from the memoriates' corrupting magicks along the way, so that the way he's corrupted by that dying memoriate in the end isn't so sudden. Essentially, it was like Golbez had died by tripping on a pebble the way he gets corrupted. It makes me embarrased for him lol I think the writing team misunderstood what being a shard of the WoL is. They thought Golbez was like Azem in that the team couldn't represent how players would view their characters, so they made his actions vague and blank slated him so that the players could better project themselves onto him. But even this reasoning is hard to agree with because... Just look at everything Ardbert! There's no way they didn't know how popular he was through sheer force of personality and growth. Whatever the case is, making him so bland was a really sore mistake that makes it hard to feel like these past few patch stories were worth the wait. Yeah yeah we'll see in the future what they do with Golbez but as it stands? Such a waste.

[@almondy24]

Question, do you think Tenzen was a shard and the wol is his reincarnation?

[@SynodicScribe]

If truly related. Tenzen would have been one of the WoL's previous lives before the events of the MSQ, not a shard/reflection. It's hinted at that Tenzen and the WoL do indeed share many qualities. So I guess It's up to us to decide whether or not he really was the WoL in a previous life.

[@Raniar]

While I think we don't have anything that's really proof. The original Golbez feels like the best candidate for our soul from the void.

[@JackWolf1]

I’m going to raise my hand and ask: “Wouldn’t it make more sense if the shard of the WoL is the Avatar they summon as a Reaper?” The class literally says that we draw power from a Voidsent, and it would make sense for that Voidsent to resonate with the WoL because it is their share from the 13th. At least, that’s the theory I and some of my friends subscribe to.

[@SynodicScribe]

Unfortunately that can't work since a Reaper's Avatar isn't a Voidsent. It's the manifestation of power between you and the voidsent on the other side. In fact. Your contract with the voidsent in question is more important than the Avatar in this instance.

[@JackWolf1]

@@SynodicScribe what about the Voidsent you have the contract with?

[@SynodicScribe]

@@JackWolf1 A mystery. I don't know who/what voidsent in particular the WoL has bond themselves too. Wish I could ask Drusilla. haha

[@zephyr7552]

@SynodicScribe My problem with Drusilla's explanation of an Avatar is that Zero directly contradicts this cause she was physically turned into the avatar as was there on the source, I don't even think the reaper quest even followed that itself for long given Avatars can eat each other and the whole possession plot line. This means not even SE knew what they were yet and we need that damn lore book ☠️. Given the writing weirdness I decided the Avatar is a new form the voidsent takes and it's soul is using our body as a medium of sorts.

[@SynodicScribe]

@@zephyr7552 Zeno's was definitely NOT you traditional reaper. I don't believe it's ever confirmed he even had a Soul Stone. So I wouldn't place to much value into what he did to Zero when compared to the your common Reaper Avatar. Here's hoping more is explained in EEv3!

[@scullzomben]

Anyone doubting the original Golbez being a shard of Azem is just being obtuse. A hero with the burning desire to save his world from evils cast by an enemy associated with the colour blue, alongside his long blonde haired best friend. The writers aren't really trying to hide it.

[@soldierorsomething]

If Golbez was like us then i can only imagine how it must have felt losing all of his close allies and eventually having to be rescued by their "FRIEND" (like what happened with a certain singer)

[@lushdontu4015]

"friend"

[@JoelDombek]

LFG

[@KrisPage3]

I disagree, we saw the origanal golbez within the crystal owned by the original golbez. We lived his memories. The Crystal was also blue not purple. So my question is was the crystal blue before or after beating the dungen. If blue before maybe an azem uncorrupted. If purple the we may have purified the crystal much like the dream battles we did in gangos for cid.

[@25xxfrostxx]

If they made Golbez the Azem shard, then that makes Durante a shard of Zenos. The problem is, this relies on the mentality that the only person who would be heroic or moral in an entire world of millions and millions of souls has to be the azem shard. It's wishful thinking and if it does turn out to be, that will be very ridiculous and disappointing. Imagine we had two earths and we gave everyone on earth a slip of paper with a number on it with no duplicates. Then you did the same thing on earth 2. You randomly select one person from earth1 and drop them into earth 2. What is the probability that the first person they meet has the same number they do? Tenzen was a helpful, loyal, kind hearted, warrior of light. He was not a shard of Azem. We are not the only one with the echo that answers hydaelyn's call that received the blessing of light and acted as a hero.

[@elaine_of_shalott6587]

My head cannon is that Cagnazzo is the one who is a shard of Zenos. He struck me as what Zenos' love for combat would become in someone who didn't have a royal education. No real proof besides the "core personality" seeming to be similar.