Note: to clearly avoid any queerbaiting, this title unfortunately does not refer to a queer couple.
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The Truth Hurts
-Urianger thinks he can get a Talos up and running, if only we find material to repair its heart.
JERYK: “it was three years ago.. when she… no, I can’t. I’m sorry.” Did something happen to Magnus’ wife too? Jesus.
-Magnus’ wife was a great miner. She went digging for Talos heart material when the mine collapsed. Amh Araeng is just a pile of sorrows no matter where we turn.
-We find Magnus drinking at the grave of his wife and son. Thancred approaches him.
“No bottle is [enough to make you forget.] Believe me – I know.”
Minfilia. And Thancred KNOWS his Minfilia is just lying dormant, which has to make this whole thing different than just the normal grief you feel at a loved one’s passing. No closure.
-Thancred recounts his history, but it feels new – or my memory just sucks. He says he was an orphan, and someone took him in.
“I finally had a family. And then… and then I robbed a young girl of hers.”
We see a flashback we saw before, of kids fleeing a goobue.
I previously assumed this was a “childhood hijinx with Minfilia” memory, but we see the NEXT memory flash briefly: kids weeping and someone wounded on the ground.
“I did my best to make amends, to offer her comfort… but I let her down.”
He’s revealing something in dribs and drabs. I can’t see the whole picture yet.
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A Dirty Job
-Thancred and I head south to a mine, and meet a Ronso named Guthjon. He sends us out to mine some leonine fragments for the Talos.
-While waiting, Thancred reminisces. Our Minfilia used to be a miner long ago. I had no idea.
-Thancred remembers how he used to worry about her in the old days, back when his job was ferreting info out of drunkards. Felt guilty for being useless.
Now he sees his guardianship of THIS Minfilia as a chance to make up for the past. I feel that. There are few things I fantasize about more than second chances.
-Guthjon found plenty of leonine in our samples. He even found one big piece with an engraving: “To my beloved Magnus and Skuli.”
A final gift carved by Magnus’ wife, probably in the hours before she died.
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Have a Heart
-We bring the leonine to Magnus back in Twine.
-It hurts. He lets us use it for the Talos instead of keeping it as a final gift, but I think that’s how she would’ve wanted the gift to be used tbh.
-Urianger begins his ritual, suffusing the Talos with aether. Success!
-Magnus watches in shock… but not joy. “You left me for this… this wretched heap of stone and rubble? This worthless pile of earth. And yet… I can’t… I can’t…”
His wife died mining leonine, after all. This is a lot to take in.
-Something about this hits Minfilia. She runs off. Urianger follows.
MINFILIA: “I’m just a burden, helpless and hopeless. If tomorrow came and I was gone, it would be better for everyone!”
What about Magnus and the Talos triggered this reaction? Maybe it was seeing a reaction to someone angry at someone dying for no reason. She may have seen a mirror of Thancred’s grief over Minfilia.
“Thancred most of all… I wish that he’d just say that he hates me! That he wishes I was dead so that she could return…”
-Urianger feels guilt too. He was the one who urged the Oracle onto the path that led her to the First.
I mean. I guess? But this was her choice. Don’t reduce Minfilia to a billiard ball whose agency belongs to Urianger or Thancred.
-Yeah, Urianger follows up with basically this. Everyone’s choices led to these outcomes, all tied together in a messy web.
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Meanwhile, in the Crystarium…
-The exarch watches all in his magic portal when Emet-Selch enters.
-Emet yammers on about how he likes to laze about, sleep time away. Unlike most Ascians. And oh wouldn’t you know, nbd but he noticed that the Exarch also never sleeps.
-Is the Exarch an Ascian? I don’t think Emet knows for sure.
-Emet shaped the Allagan civilization. (I didn’t know that, or forgot that.) He knows what this Crystal Tower can and can’t do.
“There is nothing in these walls which could have aided you in summoning our dear friend across time and space. Much less in possession of her mortal flesh. Not even I could have performed such a feat.”
OOH OOH THEORY TIME! Emet-Selch and the Ascians were the ancient summoners of Zodiark. What if the Crystal Exarch is one of the ancient summoners of Hydaelyn?
CRYSTAL EXARCH: “You would know what I am? I am the adjudicator of the sacred history with which you would dare trifle. I am keeper of this tower’s boundless wisdom. The great work of those who tamed the wings of time and grasped the nature of the rift.
“The history which led us here will be unwritten. I promise you that.”
I’m not sure what to make of this. He has some ties to Allag. I still think it’s likely he’s a character from our first encounter with the Crystal Tower back in “A Realm Reborn.”
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Full Steam Ahead
-Magnus is feeling more energized seeing the Talos work. His wife’s dreams fulfilled. He’ll help us.
-We hop into a mine cart for the Talos to push us to Nabaath Araeng (and hopefully the Warden).
-Urianger will break off to help the twins with Eulmore. We’ll hopefully meet up at the mine later.
-The cart ride starts smoothly. The problem comes after we breach the southern half of the zone, when General Ran’jit blocks the way. THIS DUDE HAS BLOCKED US LIKE 17 TIMES
He punches the cart off-track.
-Minfilia fights on our behalf, and this REALLY insults Ran’jit. He takes it as a personal betrayal.
RAN’JIT: “Who armed you? Trained you? Fought and killed a thousand sin eaters with you?! And when you were inevitably cut down and lay lifeless in my arms – who sought out your successor to carry on the futile struggle again and again?!”
-YEAH BUT DUDE, YOU’RE NOW ON TEAM SIN EATER! I guess that use of “futile” means he just gave up. He’s now a true believer in Lord Vauthry’s sense of order at world’s end.
-Minfilia is different. Unlike Ran’jit, she’s not giving in to fatalism.
-Thancred hears this… and apologizes. Whew, there’s so much unsaid between these two even now. He’ll hold off Ran’jit while we push ahead.
-Cool! I get to play as Thancred in this fight while Ququshu and Minfilia escape.
-hjfkldshadfs HOLY SHIT WHAT AN ENCOUNTER! It does one of my favorite things: mixes story and character with combat.
This isn’t just a battle between to stop Team Scion from reaching the Lightwarden. It’s very explicitly (and through dialogue) a battle to determine who’s the best father figure for Minfilia.
Ran’jit wants to shelter her as the world ends. Thancred wants to further her desires and goals to protect the world.
-I like how Ran’jit melds with his dragon, Gukumatz. Wears him almost like armor to power up.
-Mechanically, it’s a long and unforgiving fight. Lots to dodge, and a stealth mechanic while Gunblade Thancred lines up the perfect shot.
He finishes off Ran’jit with a special cartridge Minfilia gifted him.
-Gukumatz wraps around Ran’jit and they teleport away. Thancred collapses, bloody and exhausted.
-WAIT IS THANCRED DYING? I hope not, but some of this has the je ne se quoi feel of a death scene.
-He’s remembering his Minfilia, growing up so fast for those she lost and those she could save. Her sacrifices before and after she became the Oracle.
“One last time, with a little help. I’m so proud to have been a part of your life. Oh, Minfilia…”
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Next time: Ququshu and Minfilia continue their push towards the Warden.
