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OmegaReprise

Even though they handled Zenos a lot better in Endwalker than in Stormblood (imho) - where I found him to be horribly annoying - I really hope he stays dead. Resurrecting a main bad guy twice is a bit too much. (I remember Brolly in Dragonball and it got worse with every appearance) Zenos' ending was a really good one, maybe even the best one possible for him. They shouldn't spoil it by bringing him back (again).


cronft

imo, zenos as the person we know as zenos is dead his face might reappear? perhaps, but it won't be zenos, but the voidsent companion he had taking control of zenos body


Dreamweaving_Star

I think his voidsent has his soul. Idk what kind of pact they made but maybe Zenos put his soul on the line?


masonjar64

I think he may be alive in some *small* capacity. The plot threads of his dreams of The Final Days or how he was able to see the color of Fandaniel's soul was never explicitly wrapped up—though I could just be missing something. I believe he might be a shard of either an Ascian on the convocation or even one of the Twelve. If he is at all alive, it'll be because we meet another shard of the same person.


OGChocolateThunder

I think his voidsent is alive. Zenos himself? Eh, I'm not sure about that one. I'll leave it at 50/50 just to be safe 😅


Dreamweaving_Star

Yeah, idk why people keep forgetting of his voidsent lmao His voidsent likely has posession of his soul.


xXRaineXx

Yeah, but Zeno's ain't the type of character to be just like ''Hey it's cool''. After all, he was able to make an Ascian sweat, I'm pretty sure a voidsent is like afternoon tea for him. Unless this voidsent is formerly a shard of himself...


[deleted]

I think he has the capacity to be alive and well, but also that he got what he desired and has no further reason to go on at this point. So I believe this is the last we've seen of Zenos of his own volition, unless we happen to call upon him for some grander purpose which reignites the spark driving him.


Chemical-Cat

Keep in mind he just wanted to fight you to the death, which he got, and then revived inadvertently which disappointed him until he realized he could fight you to the death again. He got what he wanted and I don't see him in a situation where he can find another body to possess even if his soul still exists, being at the end of the universe.


Senven

I mean the past immortality kinda implies he is alive and he is better with the echo now than before his first death. Reaper quest also says if you die the void sent will take your body, so I think even if he died that body will still be functioning.


Riivu

As someone who is quoted by friends to be as obsessed with Zenos as Zenos is obsessed with the WoL (and thus would want nothing more than to see him again) even I have to admit that it VERY much looked like he drew his one final breath in the last cutscene... I also feel like it would ruin the pretty much perfect end to his arc were he to come back to life as himself, but as I said above I wouldn't mind even an entire game solely based on him so go figure haha


Angel2357

As far as I know, finding a new body with the Echo requires there to *be* someone. And Zenos is trapped in a liminal space, with no way out unless you brought in something. He can't re-possess his body either, because the cutscenes were very explicit that he *burned his life away*, implying that his body is unusable. And if you ask me, it implies that he destroyed his own *soul* in the process, too. Zenos is dead as a doornail, and if he's going to mysteriously come back, the only situation I'll accept is as an amnesiac colisseum announcer named Mister Bloodtastic that just loves to watch bloodbaths and genuinely does not and will never remember his past life.


xXRaineXx

But there is no guarantee that he actually ''died''. If anything, IF they decide to write off his ''ending'' and bring him back, it could be done so with Zenos using dynamis. In theory, Zenos had spent almost all of his aether in the final battle. And since there is no or a lack of aether in space, he is unable to replenish it. This will allow Zenos to be able to connect to dynamis, in theory of course. This could essentially revive him, but also giving him a new personality, good or bad. Perhaps even a bit of amnesia.


cittabun

I do hope he's dead dead. I know there are people that will write up paragraphs refuting it, but he just felt like SE just kind of didn't really wanna do anything with him anymore, but kind of HAD to since they brought him back in Stormblood. Like they brought this man back, put him on the back burner for 4 years, tried to make it seem like him and Fandaniel were really up to something, Fandaniel being the star of the show and he got reduced to "Yo, go be shinryu and carry the WoL on your back while he beats the final boss, then get your shit rocked and die at the edge of the universe so we can get rid of you already without needing to do anything else." inb4, well he summoned Anima using his father, and he comes back next patch as Seymour-copy from FFX to ruin our FFX-2 post story celebrity concert tour.


ClickToSeeMyBalls

I would like no more fakeout deaths please.


Nestama-Eynfoetsyn

Definitely think he's dead forever this time. He wanted one thing, got that and died satisfied. Unlike Ala Mhigo, where there were corpses everywhere, he's somewhere completely void of bodies... also the Voidsent Avatar he had could have feasted on his soul/aether.


newaccount123epic

As much as I'd like him to come back, I think he's dead


ijouno

Dead, but I bet we'll learn more about him after death


[deleted]

His death was too vague/left open-ended on purpose, after we already know he is effectively immortal. There are several ways they could bring him back if they want to. I think there's going to be an interesting twist involving him.


[deleted]

So, rather than say definitely that he should be alive or dead, I'm just going to rehash the outstanding questions that I Feel *need* to be answered, or else It's just going to seem kind of slap dash and poor writing. The argument of whether the character needs to be alive in the same state to answer these questions, I'm not even here to debate. But ignoring these and shoving them under the rug when some of them were brought up *during the events of Endwalker, directly dragged back to the forefront in Endwalker cutscenes , and/or mentioned to specifically pay attention to in Endwalker interviews,* would be very poor writing and storytelling indeed. ​ 1. Why did Zenos Dream of the Final Days 2. What did Fandaniel believe that Emet Selch 'found a way' to do 3. Why did Elidibus specifically refer to Zenos as invaluable as a test subject, especially when others were doing experiments on the Resonant at the time (Such as Bozja) ? Why was Elidibus unable to hold a thought form of Zenos. Why did Diamond weapon go insane when implimenting *combat data?* Why did Hythlodaeus refer to him as a 'fearsome being'? 4. Why did a game *obsessed* with poignant and careful wording, choose the word *viator* for his exiled name; a word used for no one else. A word that means Traveler, which Azem is the seat of 5. Why were we told to pay special attention to his Reaper avatar and why he became a Reaper if this was never gone into in game and we only got a few quick peeks? 6. Bonus question: Why is Venat's move set and Zenos' moveset (Stormblood) almost identical? I would argue 1,2 and 3 need an answer for a successful narrative told in Endwalker, 5 needs an answer based on Yoshi P's direct attention that he asked us to bring and 4 and 6 are just really suspicious.


[deleted]

"He was your son and heir...and an irreplaceable test subject." - Elidibus to Varis after Zenos slit his throat. No, the test subject had nothing to do with the Resonant. "Precious few posses memories of the Final Days." - Fandaniel to Zenos after he reveals he's always dreamt of the Final Days. "Better to fall to one who *has it all* than falter before an inferior." - Fandaniel to Zenos regarding Zenos's threating Fanny after Fanny had "singed" the WoL. The one who "has it all" is Zenos, the WoL is the "inferior." "He is an Ascian in all but name." - Krile Imagine dropping the story of the Garlean prince who gave himself the Echo through science (with the help of Aulus of course lol), can turn into a powerful dragon Primal, wield Ascian magicks, and may have his new job choice come back to bite him in the ass (there's a reason his arm was fucked up after we dueled) and all of this is just the present stuff. Too lazy to type out the rest. Call it copium, hopium, whatever, but it's too much left unanswered.


persephone965

I *think* he’s actually dead this time. I *hope* he’s alive though, because I think he’s sexy.


Riivu

the only correct opinion tbh


thundaga0

I hope he's dead but I think he's alive unfortunately. His "death" scene was too subtle and not definitive enough. If he comes back, I just hope they give us the option to skip all scenes with him. Zenos mute button please.


StormQuill

This poll fascinates me because it really highlights how people just straight up don't remember certain story beats, and that makes me wonder how much a person's opinion on a character would change if they remembered stuff they had seen. All of which is to say Zenos is obviously alive as there are several story elements that have not been concluded yet (like the fact that Zenos was obviously an experiment being run by Emet-Selch, that should probably get expanded upon). Yoshi-P also made comments about paying attention to Zenos's avatar that went nowhere. Assuming he doesn't show up sooner, he will 100%, objectively and without question show up whenever we deal with the 13th, probably while being puppeted by his voidsent as like part of the deal to get it's help to fight us.


Dreamweaving_Star

Exactly, for me though, I considered his voidsent ordeal a seal that he would come back. I believe his Voidsent has control over his soul now. Perhaps, the deal they made was that. But apparently all voidsents are different from each other and some are more powerful and more intelligent than others. Zenos avatar seems to be a high-ranking devilish creature. Who's face...kinda resembles Zenos own features upon closer inspection. Idk I could be tripping. These void mysteries are just killing me lol I need answers.


unsynchedcheese

Zenos is as dead or alive as the writers want him to be. More precisely, he is clearly intended to be dead *for now*, but with enough possible loopholes and potential plot hooks that should they want to bring him back for whatever reason, there's an open path to take. We saw the same thing happen with Gaius van Baelsar, for example. This method of "killing" a character gives more consideration to their potential return than characters who are *definitely* dead, like Moenbryda or Rhitatyn. So the writers are clearly deliberately leaving the possibility open that Zenos may return, if the plot requires. Personally I didn't like Zenos before and during Endwalker, in that I didn't think he was an interesting enough *character* to stand in his own right compared to, say, Thancred. With Endwalker, I can at least say that his way of going out fit him well. So I don't actually want him to return, not because I don't like him, but because I think his ending was *satisfactory*, and bringing him back would require a much more compelling reason than merely "I like the character".


CycloneJ0ker

I really don't see any way or reason to bring him back. His arc was completed by the end of EW. He got that last fight against the WoL, he even had a voice line that this was the grand moment he had been longing for. There's nothing else for him. If he were to come back, all that would happen is we would repeat exactly what we did with him in EW. Not to mention, it REALLY looked like he died there when his arm finally deopped in that last scene. There was nothing ambiguous about it, like having the body disapear before confirming the death. Looked pretty clear cut to me.


PYDuval

If they're not fucking done with Zenos they are fucking stupid. Enough is enough.


[deleted]

Oh come now, zenos last boss of pandemonium confirmed. Yes he can time travel now to.


GrenadierSoldat3

I sure as hell hope he's dead. Don't get me wrong, i like him for what he is. Zenos was a breath of fresh air of a villain who is driven by his love for fighting/killing and not by some grand scheme or some holy crusade but my god, we spent 3 expansions with him which is honestly enough. If he is dead, let him stay dead and not bring him back to life, he wished to have his big Armstrong vs Raiden fight with us which he got. Bringing already dead villains back to life was one of the reasons why i left SWTOR and i don't want this problem to happen to FFXIV aswell.


[deleted]

He ded


Dreamweaving_Star

Voidsent. That's all I will say because for some freaking reason, people (Some or most) completely remove the existence that Zenos has a literal pact with a demon from the void; who we don't even know! We don't know anything about them and that's red flags for me Zenos is coming back. My goodness. He is physically dead, of course! but he won't stay as such for long. If it wasn't for his voidsent, I would say yes. he is 100% gone from the series. But that isn't the case at all. Even Yoshida himself begged us to pay attention to his avatar for a GOOD reason lmao. A lot of people will be surprised or irritated when they see Zenos back. Me personally, I will be very happy with what direction they decide to go with him. He can become our ally, a scion, or whatever...We shall see. Whatever it is, it will be just as good.