Do not read this discussion thread until after you have completed Revenant Act II, if you don't want spoilers.
[spoiler]The Tomb of Elders is a fun activity, though I admit I am quite worried for Mithrax. His dialogue this week was bloodthirsty. Musing about burning the Prison of Elders down, thinking about watching his enemies forced to fight each other, wanting to punish us for our failure in stopping Fikrul from resurrecting Skolas...I genuinely fear how much of a turn for the worse he'll take in Act III.
Mithrax would normally reprimand Eido if he believes she has made a mistake, but would also listen and trust her judgment. With Eido convincing us to break Eramis out for her help, I can only imagine how rage-filled the current Mithrax will be.
Just us helping Eido with fieldwork instead of hunting Fikrul drove him into a rage towards Eido!
When someone like The Spider, of all people, is worried for your well-being on account of your decisions, that shows how perilous your current position is.
Meanwhile, Fikrul's purpose in the Prison of Elders was successful. He found Skolas and resurrected him as a Scorn. It is undoubtedly a power-play by Fikrul to cement his claim for the title "Kell of Kells" - he used the Echo to make the previous Eliksni who tried to claim the title his pawn. I confess to seeing the info for Tomb of Elders' boss list early, and Skolas was on that list. However, the leak did not spoil that Skolas was one of the main plot beats of Act II, only that he was a boss in the Tomb of Elders.
The other reveal, which caught me off guard, was the Echo itself. It is alive, it wants nothing more to do with Fikrul [i]and is actively seeking a new wielder[/i]. There was a lore tab in Echoes of the Echo of Command calling out to those within the Vex Network, and Maya's knowledge of Te'Qal showed that those who wielded the Echoes have access to the memories of those making up the Echo.
This presents a new dynamic, however. The Echoes won't just give their power to anyone who finds them. They choose who wields them, or at least have a preference for who they want to wield them and how. The Echo does not like how Fikrul is wielding it to create the Revenant Scorn and is singing to any Eliksni who can hear it in the hopes of finding a new wielder. Singing with a Whirlwind dirge of the Eliksni.
This immediately establishes one thing: the Echo is made with the memory of an Eliksni, which likely explains the Echo's particular power over Ether and its nature. Fikrul is using it to turn Ether into Dark Ether, but another wielder might be able to wield it to create an entirely new kind of Ether - Light Ether, or even Prismatic Ether. I can only imagine how either variety would affect the Eliksni, in the same way the Echo of Command was able to give Nessus Vex individuality.
What I think will happen as a result is that Fikrul won't be holding onto the Echo after this Act, not like what happened with Maya and the Echo of Command. It's possible we will claim the Echo after it abandons Fikrul, and its power could be what Eido needs to purge Nezarec's influence and save Mithrax. Then, whoever the Echo chooses to be its true wielder will most likely be named the true "Kell of Kells", and we'll get an answer as to whose Memory formed the Echo.
This has elevated my anticipation and curiosity about what Echo we will find in Heresy. With it established that the Echoes have wills of their own, able to decide who they want to wield them, the Echo that ends up on the Dreadnaught could have heavy lore implications. Whose Memory comprises it, who it hopes to find on the Dreadnaught to wield it, and what powers it possesses.
So far, the Echoes seem to have powers that tie to the species of the Memory that formed it and/or the desires of that person/people. The Echo of Command mirrors the way Te'Qal of the Qugu connects with and commands other Qugu, even drawing on the memories of their ancestors, in a way.
Now, the Echo Fikrul is wielding has direct ties to the Eliksni through the Memory of the one(s) who formed it, explaining its power over Ether. Fikrul uses it to turn regular Ether into Dark Ether. A new wielder, as mentioned previously, could use its power for something else.
Whose memory could comprise the Heresy Echo, and what powers could it possess in relation to that individual?[/spoiler]
-
Hard to say. The Echoes are inconsistent so far. The first echo was based on a species who had to be retconned to have the special ability and had no relation to the Vex. This episode we see an Echo based on the same species it’s affecting. One was shoehorned in, the other makes some sense. So what the third could be is a complete toss up. My first assumption would be Taox, it’s nice low hanging fruit and people love speculating about her.