In Shadow's Wake

Quest giver: The Watcher (NPC)
Location: Mare Lamentorum (X:15.9, Y:31.0)
Quest line: Endwalker Main Scenario Quests
Level: 84

Experience: 475,200
Gil: 1,170
Previous quest: The Martyr
Next quest: Helping Hands
Patch: 6.0
Links: EDB GT TC

Main Scenario Progress: 741 / 978 (75.8%)

Endwalker Progress: 43 / 155 (27.7%)

“

The Watcher would discuss grave matters with you.

— In-game description

Rewards

1 Phrygian Weapon Coffer (IL 533)

Walkthrough

You are now getting as quests rewards Item Level 533 gear that is better than the level 80 IL 530 Augmented Cryptlurker Armor purchasable with Allagan Tomestones of Poetics at the end of Shadowbringers.

Steps

Search for your comrades at the Watcher's Palace.
Inspect the dimly glowing crystal.
Inspect the faintly glowing crystal.
Inspect the warmly glowing crystal.
Inspect the brightly glowing crystal
Speak with Y'shtola

Journal

The watcher would discuss grave matters with you.

Dialogue

The Watcher: Before we speak at length, I believe a change of surrounds is in order.
The Watcher: I have more than ill tidings to share, you see. I sensed others arriving not long ago.
The Watcher: Though my communions with Hydaelyn have grown infrequent, I have learned enough from Her to know these are your comrades.
The Watcher: And as luck would have it, they have already reached my abode. Come, let us join them.

Optional dialogue

Thancred: Dare I ask what happened before we arrived?

Urianger: May we presume this being is a native of the moon?

The Watcher: Yes, they are indeed the three I sensed.

Search for your comrades at the Watcher's Palace. (Cutscene)

Y'shtola: Thank goodness you are unharmed.
Y'shtola: We did what we could to subdue the tempered before making our way here.
Y'shtola: Not without casualties, unfortunately. Some few detonated explosives, killing themselves and others.
Y'shtola: The contingent's healers had their hands full tending to the injured and enthralled when we took our leave.
Urianger: Lest you wonder, Mistress Krile hath also been delivered unto their care. Serving as a conduit for Hydaelyn's power hath taken its toll, but she will recover in due course.
Y'shtola: As for Alphinaud and Alisaie, they insisted on remaining in Garlemald while we three rushed to your aid. It appears, however, that matters here have already come to a conclusion...
Y'shtola: But what manner of conclusion, if I might ask? And is this the ally whom Hydaelyn bade you seek out? He is not unlike the shades of Amaurot.
The Watcher: Not unlike, perhaps, but not the same. I was created by Hydaelyn, together with this place. It has ever been my duty to keep vigil over Zodiark. Or rather, it was my duty...
WOL apprises the three of the past events.
Y'shtola: Then Zodiark is no more!?
The Watcher: And not without consequence, I am afraid, for now the delicate weave of the star, preserved by His presence, will begin to unravel.
The Watcher: If you mean to avert the Final Days, you shall have need of─
Thancred: Are you all right!?
The Watcher shakes it's head.
The Watcher: My attempts to forestall Zodiark's release have all but exhausted my strength.
The Watcher: If you might allow me to rest a short while, I will share with you all I can.
Y'shtola: Please do. You need not exert yourself on our account.
Y'shtola: These crystals contain records of your time here, yes? May we peruse them while we wait?
The Watcher: By all means. If you would review them chronologically, might I suggest beginning with those on the upper floor?
Y'shtola: I shall leave that to you, [Forename], while I see what can be gleaned from the crystals on these lower levels.

Optional dialogue

Y'shtola: Pray review the records on the upper floor, and I will see if there is aught to be learned down here.

The Watcher: A moment longer, friend...

Thancred: Zodiark defeated... While He may have been in an incomplete state, that's nevertheless an impressive feat.
Thancred: But even if you hadn't, His demise was inevitable ─ Fandaniel would've seen to it one way or another.
Thancred: That said, he probably would have wielded Zodiark's power to wreak untold destruction before taking his own life, making this the better of two unfavorable outcomes.

Urianger: Dost thou suppose our host hath maintained his solitary vigil since the very beginning, without rest or relief?
Urianger: If so, these records comprise the sum total of his existence. We must needs handle them with care.

Inspect the dimly glowing crystal.

As you gaze into the crystal, ancient knowledge of Zodiark flows through your mind...
Crystaline Memories: Daily summary: no abnormalities detected... \ Daily summary: no abnormalities detected... \ Daily summary: no abnormalities detected...
These appear to be records of a long, lonely vigil on the moon, dating back to the beginning of Zodiark's imprisonment.

Inspect the faintly glowing crystal.

As you gaze into the crystal, knowledge of past calamities flows through your mind...
The records describe how, with each Rejoining, Zodiark's thirst for freedom grew, as did the strain on the brands.
Maintaining Zodiark's imprisonment appears to tax Hydaelyn greatly...

Inspect the warmly glowing crystal.

As you gaze into the crystal, knowledge of past Rejoinings flows through your mind...
The records describe the watcher's efforts to prepare in the event Zodiark broke free from His prison.
The records go on to describe maintenance carried out regularly with the “Loporrits,” though it is not clear who or what they are.

Inspect with the brightly glowing crystal.

As you gaze into the crystal, a record of an unexpected visitor flows through your mind...
The records note the watcher's musings when Elidibus is spotted on the moon, though clearly not for the first time.
Crystalline Memories: It is clear he and his brethren have a keen interest in freeing Zodiark from His prison, and yet they have made no attempt to destroy the brands. Perhaps they prefer He remain hidden from mortal eyes until the final Rejoining.
Crystalline Memories: Perhaps they realize we would never dare bring harm to Zodiark, so long as He remains imprisoned.

Speak with Y'shtola. (Cutscene)

Y'shtola: Did you learn anything of import?
Y'shtola: So it is as we suspected. Maintaining the brands requires a great deal of Her energy and focus─and this cost has grown higher with every Rejoining.
Y'shtola: That would explain why contact with Her has become rather infrequent since the Seventh Umbral Calamity.
Y'shtola: I too made a rather startling discovery...
Y'shtola: This heavenly body we know to be the moon was in fact created by Hydaelyn!
Y'shtola: When the watcher said he was created together with this place, I thought he only meant this facility... Truly, Hydaelyn's powers are far beyond anything I could have imagined.

| Voiced cutscene |
The Watcher: I thank you for affording me this short reprieve...
Y'shtola: It is we who should thank you. The records stored here are nothing short of extraordinary.
Y'shtola: There is much we could learn of Zodiark and His imprisonment, but perhaps you could offer us more focused guidance. Pray tell us of the calamity that came before and comes now again.
The Watcher: Long ago, before the great sundering, there was but a single world ─ Etheirys.
The Watcher: One day, from within the earth, a terrible cry issued forth, affecting a profound change in all manner of life.
The Watcher: We were not exempt. Our creation magicks ran rampant, giving shape and form to thoughts of hopelessness and despair.
The Watcher: At first, the phenomenon was limited to a single region. But quickly...so very quickly...it spread and engulfed the whole of the star.
Y'shtola: Were the ancients ever able to deduce its source?
The Watcher: They were not. However, the Convocation struck upon a method to predict where next the corruption would manifest.
The Watcher: The aetheric energies which flow through all of creation in the form of various currents.
The Watcher: The currents which course through the land and seas...
The Watcher: Those which flow through the very air...
The Watcher: And those of a celestial nature which encompass both our star and this moon.
Y'shtola: Celestial currents... I cannot say I am familiar with the concept.
The Watcher: Nor would I expect you to be. Few scholars of our time knew of their existence.
The Watcher: Their invaluable knowledge helped us to better understand the nature of the calamity.
The Watcher: Like the terrestrial ones of earth and air, the celestial currents form a vast network. But the aetherial distribution is not consistent.
The Watcher: The Convocation soon realized that the inciting incidents occurred in regions where the flow was weakest.
The Watcher: Correlation without clear cause, ultimately. Nevertheless, on closer study, a stagnancy of aether was observed in nearby currents...
Urianger: And so they sought a means to harness the forces of Darkness, of activity and growth. Thus was Zodiark conceived.
Urianger: No less a power than a god's could set right the laws of nature and quicken the flow of aether within the star.
The Watcher: Precisely. With the advent of Zodiark, our end was averted.
Thancred: Emet-Selch claimed that those who summoned Hydaelyn did so because they saw Zodiark's power as a threat. Is that true?
The Watcher: Indeed, there was a faction opposed to Zodiark's creation. But their aim was never to unmake Him.
The Watcher: They understood the continued preservation of the natural order was dependent on His very existence. Until we could identify and address the underlying cause of the Final Days, He would need remain, for His departure would set in motion those apocalyptic forces once more.
The Watcher: Hydaelyn recognized this as well. And so, rather than destroy, She sundered Zodiark, Herself, and the star into lesser reflections, that She might confine Him in this place.

What will you say?
> I could have sworn She beseeched me to banish the Darkness.
The Watcher: Perhaps She did. But as with all beings, intent is not always in accord with spoken word.
> ... Then what She told me in the aetherial sea was false?
The Watcher: That the two once dwelled as one until Zodiark grew hungry for power, upsetting the balance 'twixt Them? Not quite a lie, though a rather gross embellishment.
The Watcher: But knowing what you know now, you must surely realize why She might opt to obfuscate and mislead.

The Watcher: Hydaelyn and Zodiark are both constructs of man. Approximations of perfection limited by our own imperfections.
The Watcher: Zodiark was, without question, the more powerful of the two, having been born from the sacrifice of half Etheirys's population.
The Watcher: Thus was it necessary for Hydaelyn to commit Herself wholly to His defeat. Still more effort was needed to confine Him.
The Watcher: Maintaining the brands taxed Her greatly. With what power She dared spare, She cried out to any who might listen, and offered Her blessing to those who heeded Her call.
The Watcher: Though it was likely within Her power to do so, I believe She did not wish to speak of Etheirys and Her history.
The Watcher: Like Zodiark, Hydaelyn's purpose is a reflection of Her creators'. They wished to look to the future, and not linger in a prison of the past.
Y'shtola: The Ascians set in motion seven Rejoinings before we came to oppose them. How many more worlds would have been lost had we not placed our faith in Her?
Y'shtola: How many more souls living in the present would have been snuffed out for the sake of those long dead?
Thancred: Well, in light of recent events, I see no reason to doubt your words.
Thancred: And even if Hydaelyn is not a god in truth, if Minfilia believed that we should trust in Her plans, then I choose to do just that.
Thancred: Which brings me to a rather important question.
Thancred: Let's suppose we try but fail to stop this second coming of the Final Days.
Thancred: Should the Source fall, what will become of the other worlds?
The Watcher: The nomenclature is more fitting than you know...
The Watcher: Bring ruin to the Source, and its reflections will share in its fate.
The ground rumbles...
The Watcher: Ah, it is ready.
The Watcher: This way, if you would be so kind.

The Watcher: A beautiful sight, is it not?
Y'shtola: Yes, but what is it?
The Watcher: Hydaelyn knew better than any that Her power was not absolute. Indeed, She has ever struggled to hold Zodiark and His faithful at bay.
The Watcher: She feared the worst, and so made preparations. In the event of His demise, there would be a contingency.
The Watcher: This moon is more than a prison. It is a vessel capable of bearing the people of Etheirys to safe harbor.
The Watcher: You need not go far to find its pilots. In fact, I should be happy to take you to them...
The Watcher: ...And fulfill my final duty as watcher in the dark.
| Voiced cutscene end. |