Lore speculations / discussion (spoiler alert!)

res7less

Jumpkin
Cards are said to be in every living/sentient being (that includes robots and plant). Now, assuming this applies to humans too, when we look at all cards, there's no simple human card.

Look at Frostlings. They have 2 different cards, even if they are one species. This means that cards are "essence" of the individual being. Frostlings have two professions: Scoundrels and Rogues. So the card that drops from a being depends on what it did in it's life. Most of monsters drop single cards per species, because they are very primitive. E.g. Rabby is just a Rabby, it can't be Guardian Rabby or Gardener Rabby, right? So, if human cards are to exist, we wouldn't get a single one from humans. We would get a Human Collector card, Human Carpenter card, Human Blacksmith card etc. They would grant us abilities of the person they were formed from.

That's actually a very interesting chain of thought - one that I didn't think of. It would be interesting if Zhamla actually hunted down the strongest Collectors to collect the Human Collector card.

What I'm wondering about, though, is what's with all the fire? When we meet Zhamla, he doesn't seem to mage-type. Even as a kid he was training with a sword. And as a grown-up he sliced the Thorn Worm with his blade. So why is everything burning where he appears? All the reports we find tell about fire and smoke. Was he riding a dragon or something? Slan'kerz? :D Well, that certainly would explain, why he would be guarding his sword. Can't wait for more plot content.

Edit: On second thought, if he was riding a dragon, the Flying Fortress wouldn't have been safe from him. So either he wasn't, or he didn't know of its existence.
 
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Own

Moderator
As far as we can see, Slan'kerz doesn't have wings.

It could be that he tried to hunt a dragon card. Engaged Slan'kerz in a battle that spanned the entire continent, ignoring everything else save his desire to kill the dragon. He loses, Slan'kerz gets his sword. But his sword vanishes when dad approaches it, so... I don't know. It can go anywhere it wants to go, so why stay there? Weird.
 

res7less

Jumpkin
That would be kinda weird, since the dragon is huge but isn't mentioned anywhere. Surely someone would have noticed that Zhamla is fighting against something large, instead of just making him responsible for everything. He is known to be constantly busy with fighting against creatures, after all. If it was hard to see what exactly is happening because of the smoke, I think it would be easier to spot a huge dragon than a small human. But I generally like the idea of Zhamla not being a villain even after he became mad. I so badly want to know his (and probably Charlotte's and the player's) connection to the Goddess.
 

KoBeWi

Jumpkin
Plot twist: Slan'kerz has invisibility/illusion powers (that's why the sword disappeared). During the battle with Zhamla, he was invisible to other people, so it seemed like Zhamla was causing all the destruction. Also it could be possible that Zhamla realized his mistake and just tried to stop the rampaging dragon.
 

res7less

Jumpkin
Firstly: What if the player him/herself IS zhalma reincarnated, with no memory of their past life.
(If Zhalma is not the player then I am under the opinion that it is possible that collecting the human card is somehow related to a person becoming an artifact.

I somewhere briefly mentioned that I think Zhamla is a titan. I was referring to greek mythology, although it appears that titans are not children of gods and mortals, so I just used the wrong word. What I'm saying is that I think that Zhamla might actually be the Goddess' son with his father being a mortal we don't know yet. I guess that would make him a demigod? Whatever it's called; what I mean is an equivalent to Heracles. So, that could be an explanation for his powers and some people like Faita wondering if he is even human. The problem is that we don't know if Zhamla himself reproduced before he died. But if he did, he could pass down the Goddess' "genes" to further generations. Even if not every offspring might have those powers, people like Charlotte and the player could inherit them generations later. If he didn't reproduce, then, well, I guess then they could be reincarnations. I wonder if multiplayer can be explained, though :D The players all potentially have those powers, but only the host is Dad's child.

Plot twist: Slan'kerz has invisibility/illusion powers (that's why the sword disappeared). During the battle with Zhamla, he was invisible to other people, so it seemed like Zhamla was causing all the destruction. Also it could be possible that Zhamla realized his mistake and just tried to stop the rampaging dragon.

Actually, Slan'kerz may not be a dragon at all. Paralyzing with a stare, like he did with Dad, is an ability associated with basilisks. I guess he is some kind of serpent/reptile mix, who happens to know how to use fire magic, which then (admittedly convincing) looks as if he's breathing fire. The player also has the Flame Thrower skill, eh? :D That would indeed mean, that he isn't able to fly like Own said.
 

The G-Meister

Giga Slime
Not exactly, was just saying one comes from each house. To be honest, seen as no-one makes any comments about your magic powers they should be pretty par for the course... right?

This is why I don't think any sort of skill tree should try to be explained with lore. It gets very meta or very complicated very quickly :confused:
 

SacredFire

Green Slime
I'm sitting up at night thinking about this game (don't judge,) when my thoughts progressed in this direction:

Ya know, for a side character Luke is really well developed,
He is strong, WAY strong, but really stupid
......
....
wait a minute...
he could be easily manipulated....
by Master Ivy........
....
....
...
......HOLY **** I hope he doesn't wind up as a boss



I feel like he would be a REALLY hard boss
He hits the frostlings in the toy factory for like 2.5k if I remember correctly

On a second note it would be kind of fun to face him
 

GrindeaElmeri

Green Slime
I was kind of hoping that SPOILERS

it would turn out that the Dad was the bad guy all along, one of two ways. Either that he lied about how Charlotte died and is just after power with the artifacts (unlikely, seeing as Bag was there and could testify against this), or that he was so desperate to bring Charlotte back that he'd be willing to resurrect her by means of too great of a sacrifice (which could've been what also happened with Zhamla way back). However, now that I'm caught up with the Tai Ming -beta, neither seems very likely anymore. Would've been an interesting twist though -- would've made Ivy the good guy.

Regardless of that, I'm fairly certain at this point that Ivy=Charlotte. The sword might've been Zhamla's old one and could've corrupted her, for instance. Like others said before me, it's no coincidence her face/hair is concealed.

I don't believe Bag is Zhamla, but Bag definitely knows more than he's letting in on. One thing I didn't see mentioned -- the "vision bubble" in the house with the diary. Zhamla mentions seeing a dream where he was fighting Yetis -- I think that was an implication that Zhamla and the main character are connected, and Zhamla saw us as the main character fighting Yetis.
 

GrindeaElmeri

Green Slime
Heh, that's a good point. I assumed that the skin colour wouldn't matter after the fire attack and/or artifact corruption. But, you are right, that does make it less likely.

I'd still bet on Ivy being someone we've seen before, but not as confidently.
 

KoBeWi

Jumpkin
Maybe her hood covers a secret, like third eye or Voldemort's face at the back of her head. Or she's just very ugly.

Or it's just for the lulz.
>*uncovers her face*
>Ha! You thought I was hiding something?
 
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Enoen

Rabby
I guess it's time for some story time!

Some new things have happened in the new update and I would like to discuss them and share my thoughts. I have been having that one thought coursing though my mind since way back: the encounter with Phaseman. First, it was just a small thought but as we advance further through the plot, there is more food for that thought until I can't ignore it further.

So, what is the connection between Bag and Zhamla? Obviously, they do have some kind of connection since before the encounter Phaseman recognized Bag as being associated with Zhamla and since he was constructed for the pure purpose of destroying him, he attacked. It seems the player character just happens to be there as he is not the Phaseman's true target. So, perhaps Zhamla possessed Bag in the past. Yet, we now encountered Zhamla on the point of being able to finish his album and... no sight of "young Bag".

Well, that thought I was talking about was... what if Bag is Zhamla? So far we cannot explain or prove it, as we have no knowledge as to how sentient artifacts actually come to be. We meet a bunch of other artifacts throughout the game, including the ones that we meet a thousand years ago, so they existed before and continue to exist. So, if artifacts were, in fact, previously people, why would that be so? Well, the only explanation I can find is the Goddess, which we also know not enough about (yep, her secrets are yet to be revealed). It may be a reward for those who have achieved great deeds, destined to live forever and be collected after having devoted one's life to Grindea's cause. Or it may be punishment for going against her will. In any case, somehow the artifacts must be serving the Goddess, serving a purpose in Grindea's plans only she knows of. What purpose does Bag serve? Will he disappear like the Cursed Priestess after serving her purpose to the Goddess? (I know she's not an artifact, but maybe the Goddess handles priests differently from collectors)

When thinking about all that, I made a small list of pros, cons and neutral things regarding the B=Z (Bag equals Zhamla) theory.

  • Neutral things:

- The first neutral thing is the encounter with Phaseman. Phaseman's text only says that the "sentient container" is "associated" with Zhamla Meer, so that doesn't get us far.

- The second neutral thing is Bag becoming emotional when meeting Zhamla in Part 2 of Tai Ming. When does Bag ever get emotional? Never. Bag is Bag. Always making fun of stuff and having no worries whatsoever. But that might just mean that Zhamla meets Bag later. Furthermore, why doesn't Bag react this way in Part 1 of Tai Ming? So, that too doesn't help us here.

  • Cons:
- The first argument against this theory is "Why the hell doesn't Bag just mention that?". Yes, why indeed. Could be some condition of the Goddess. Could be that he himself doesn't remember it that clearly. Could be that he doesn't want to scare the protagonist(s) away, revealing himself as the one who cause the Cataclysm. Maybe there are reasons, maybe there aren't.

- Another thing speaking against it is his reaction to Tessen. Even if she shouldn't be the Cursed Priestess (which he might not have recognized because of her age), when seeing little Tess in Tai Ming 1, who he supposedly loves so much (regardless if it's as a sister or else - they're technically not related, so it may be either), he should be overjoyed or oversaddened - one of those. SOME reaction should surely be there, if he was Zhamla, but alas, there isn't.

- Lastly, why doesn't he know, how the damn door with the emblems work? If he has also lived in Tai Ming, surely he should know the same story of the door's origin as Tessen does. But nope, Bag has no clue. So either he isn't Zhamla, or collectors get a different education from priests. One doesn't have to be very bright to become a great collector, after all. (*glances at Teddy's avatar* :D) In that case it would slightly support the theory by Bag now knowing the story, thus not being present at the time the story Tessen told happened, thus not being older than Tai Ming.

  • Pros:
But now to the Pros.

- Like Zhamla Bag regards everyone as weak first (even the player in the beginning). He constantly makes fun of everyone, seems to be smart(-ass) and witty. And Bag respects strength, as he despite making fun of Luke, does it in a way that shows a liking.

- Another pro I noticed by using the translation tool. With the last update a pretty much core text was changed within a the first dialogue after character creation. Formerly, when Dad explained who Bag is after giving him to his son/daughter, he said Bag was passed down from generation to generation. Now, however, it states that he was "within their family" for a very long time. He refers to Bag as an actual person, not an object that is passed down. So, either Bag was a person, or it's just that common relation, where people view for example their pets as family members - that may also be the case with Bag.

- The third pro is noticeable throughout the second part of Tai Ming. When dealing with Zhamla, there are certainly some weird reactions from Bag which have never occurred before. Bag clearly remembers Zhamla, if not vice versa. At one point Zhamla's appearance gives Bag pause and Bag was never really at a loss of words before. It's evident Bag feels uncomfortable around Zhamla for some reason. But being Bag, he swallows his thoughts and emotions.

- And lastly there is a certain dialogue between Bag and Tessen, that has some very strong clues. Remember the place when Zhamla and Tessen have an argument? Zhamla storms out while the player comes in and Tess starts to complain about Zhamla's behavior. Three vital things happen during this dialogue.

One: Bag gets serious. Bag was never serious before, regarding the squabbles of mortals from a distance and amusing himself over their stupidity. But not here. Here Bag actually gets serious and deep. He has some convictions here and talks of things he believes in, in a way he never did before.

Two: Bag defends Zhamla's behavior. To the eye of the observer (us), to Faita, to Tessen, to all witnesses of Zhamla's arrogance, to everyone but Sizou and Zhamla, it's evident that Zhamla is wrong and making a huge mistake. Why the hell would Bag want to defend that? Shouldn't he be on the player's side by now? Throughout the game Bag shows a good sense of justice, but here he defends Zhamla for being an asshole? That sure is very out of the ordinary.

Three: The most uncommon and strongest thing of all that happens in the dialogue, is when Bag states "Those of us who find their true calling...". Us. He says 'us'. Not 'those', or not 'those people', no, he includes himself into those finding their true calling. For a brief moment he dives into his memories and feelings, remembering what it was like to be human (or a titan, but that's another theory :p) and speaks his peace as if he was saying it a thousand years ago.

He defends Zhamla's deeds despite being fully aware of where it leads, speaks with a determination of someone who knows what the truth of things is and counts himself to those, fully devoting themselves to collecting and thus to Grindea. Bag may very well be defending himself and the things he has done as Zhamla, the things he has done "all the way to the end".

And then, if it's true, the bitter irony of Tessen saying "...you don't know Zhamla at all!", with Bag probably thinking "If only I could tell you, sister.", while saying "...".

I sure hope that hunt for the human card was worth it. It must have had some purpose, at least, if the Goddess allowed him to become an artifact after that. What are those secrets, dear Grindea, I wonder?

Lastly a fun thought: If Bag is only a part of Zhamla's soul with the other artifacts being the other parts, then the player is collecting Zhamla. And as far as I remember some of the devs stating "zhamla meer" means "collect more" in swedish. And what a symbol for eternal collecting is better than a bottomless bag, eh? I wonder when and why he got that green patch on him.

Well, looking forward to further updates ;)

When I returned and replayed the entire game (And therefore recollecting every card on my new character) I never expected Zhamla Meer to be such a kind-hearted boy who just wanted to have fun. My friends pointed out many things such as the "Bag" artifact's relation to Zhamla Meer possibly meaning that the bag was the enemy all along (But I am more interested in sympathizing with the bag just to play devil's advocate) but the things that stuck out to me are the following:

1. In the scene with the dragon when the father attempts to take the sword which vanishes strangely enough like how Zhamla Meer's weapon vanishes after he slays the giant thorn worm; I began to wonder if that was exactly like his sword and it was placed there as a trap. And if so why? Did Zhamla Meer leave it there? Is his remains behind the dragon's resting place? Pure speculation since I'm on the fence on why Zhamla Meer would go rogue without the influence of some "True" evil. Even if Sizou kind of pressured him into it I doubt he'd be a boy beyond reason.

2. The dragon devours the father's arm while he was held still by some force. This is strange to me. Why so specific? My friend who jokingly believes we are on a quest to give back his missing arm (Because they otherwise believe bringing the mother back is not a grand idea considering how casually the solution was presented) but I am starting to think there is a plot-heavy reason for him missing an arm. That dragon could've easily swallowed him whole but to be fair I could be overthinking it since it tried to obliterate them both with fire the second they ran. Should've opened up the menu quickly Charlotte and make a portal to town.

3. The artifact that the Sky Fortress mentions regarding Zhamla Meer being able to devour souls. Maybe this is the artifact that drove Zhamla Meer down a dark path? Maybe Sizou's prophecy about the great evil was about the evil artifact; and Zhamla Meer was following his destiny to defeat it but failed since honestly Sizou just wanted him to become an amazing collector. This is why everyone strongly believes that it's the stereotypical self fulfilling prophecy and that WE the player have to take him down.

4. But as fun as it would be to fight Zhamla Meer. Maybe get his clothes...His hairstyle...(I really like that guy's style over the MC's uniform) these were events that happened over 1000 years ago. We still don't know if the reason we travel to the past is because the priestess guardian (Who is strongly believed to be Zhamla Meer's sister...While the evidence is there I'm hoping she's the one Sizou was talking about in terms of the prophecy since this means something tragic I'll mention at the end) wants us to be prepared for Zhamla Meer's resurrection by the hands of our father unintentionally (Since the theory my friends hold is that the bag has been using everyone this entire time to bring back his former partner and thus proving to be the soul sucking artifact) or if it's simply to warn us of what caused him to go rogue in the first place to prevent something similar from happening. Our characters have the potential of being Zhamla Meer honestly if you think about it; especially true if you're like me and have collected absolutely everything. Why would a threat from 1000 years ago be a threat to us now?

5. If that priestess guardian is actually Tessen? Then man is that sad because the moment I learned Zhamla was her adopted brother I already shipped it because it would be sweet if Zhamla Meer had his little happy ending at the end of this but unfortunately evidence suggests that neither of them are happy now.

So those are my current thoughts. Once I rationalize them to not sound like ranting in my head I may repost the important bits into it's own thread about Zhamla Meer and his relation to us now.
 

GrindeaElmeri

Green Slime
A couple of things I realized today:

1) The 'Echoes of Madness' found in Tai Ming probably refer to Zhamla's madness, and are weaker replicas of him. The Champion-version asking "WHERE IS IT? I MUST FIND IT..." might actually refer to the human card, and Zhamla's madness may have been that he started slaughtering people of his hometown in his search for the card.
(Does this mean the Echoes of Madness -card technically counts as the human card, if an imprint of someone's consciousness can produce a card? The same could be asked of Ghosts, actually.)

2) I really really want to see how Zhamla got the Chicken-card.
 

KoBeWi

Jumpkin
So, if you look at today's post in Vilya's blog, Zhamla can be seen bearing the same curse as Tessen. It would be pretty straight-forward to say that it's just his present version, like Cursed Priestess. But he is using Amalet in one of his attacks, so the battle would take place before GUN-D4M was constructed then.
The curse is probably connected with the destruction he brought, but that would mean we can't win this battle. Tessen returned to normal after she is defeated, and if he returned to normal, world would be saved, right?

With this whole curse, it seems like there's some even greater evil behind this and Zhamla was just possessed. Maybe this evil thing resides in artifacts and it led foundations for Collectors. People are collecting rare treasures in the name of the Goddess, but whole this thing is actually a trap to free that evil being, so it can take over the world or something.
(such story has some similarities with FFX, where ppl worshiped some Yevon to fight a great evil, while he was that evil one)
 
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Enoen

Rabby
So, if you look at today's post in Vilya's blog, Zhamla can be seen bearing the same curse as Tessen. It would be pretty straight-forward to say that it's just his present version, like Cursed Priestess. But he is using Amalet in one of his attacks, so the battle would take place before GUN-D4M was constructed then.
The curse is probably connected with the destruction he brought, but that would mean we can't win this battle. Tessen returned to normal after she is defeated, and if he returned to normal, world would be saved, right?

With this whole curse, it seems like there's some even greater evil behind this and Zhamla was just possessed. Maybe this evil thing resides in artifacts and it led foundations for Collectors. People are collecting rare treasures in the name of the Goddess, but whole this thing is actually a trap to free that evil being, so it can take over the world or something.
(such story has some similarities with FFX, where ppl worshiped some Yevon to fight a great evil, while he was that evil one)
It's possible but now I'm sure of one thing.

Man even Zhamla makes the meteor spell more practical...Really hard for me to want to be a spell sword when I can never do cool stuff like that ha.

Other than that I'm glad Zhamla Meer isn't the final boss. Atleast this means we can save his soul somehow by defeating him but honestly from Vilya's little preview I don't understand what makes our MC special anymore; We don't use artifacts other than the bag for combat purposes and while the gold skills look impressive on some of them we don't really look like we show the potential to become anywhere near the level of the mother or Zhamla Meer so now I'm wondering what role does our character truly play? I still think it's possible we could end up like Zhamla Meer.
 
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res7less

Jumpkin
Guys, please be fair and don't discuss stuff from Vilya's blog here. It's not part of the game just yet and there are people who don't read the blog for exactly that reason. At least mark the posts as such.
 

KoBeWi

Jumpkin
At least mark the posts as such.
You just need good reflexes XD
I stated in the first sentence that it's speculation based on Vilya's blog, and Heilias quoted my post, so it's logical he referred to this too. You should have just stopped reading at that point.
 
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