Board Thread:The Last Sovereign Discussion/@comment-39332473-20190808194309/@comment-39120971-20200106080539

@Fulminato: I basically agree with your points above. If I had to differ somewhere, then I would say that I trust the Anak, despite everything. But 'trust' is a bit misleading in this case... it would be more accurate to say that I expect certain things from him.

I trust the Anak to keep secrets from us (from Simon, but you know what I mean). I trust him to tell us things he wants us to know, for his own reasons. I trust him to have a big plan for the endgame and leave us alive long enough so that we can play our part in that plan. I trust him to be a good judge of characters as well as everyone's power levels, and if he didn't act against the AoA, the Fucklord, or Tanurak, then it's because they weren't a threat to his plan or to him personally. Indeed, what does it matter if tyrants take over countries and make people suffer under their rule? Tyrants come and go, they die of age or sickness or murder (it seems so common now). Why should he do anything to remove them if they will eventually get removed without him having to lift a finger?

... this leads me to think that the Anak murdered the Sage of Ghenalon for reasons altogether different than what we've seen in the story so far. With Tanurak returning as Simon clashed with the Fucklord, there was enough going on for Xerces to try and do something in the Tower, something he had been waiting to do until a sufficient distraction arrived. He went and did it while everyone was busy killing each other, but then he got noticed by the Sage of Ghenalon. So he went and murdered him in cold blood - not because the Sage was a threat, but because he could expose his secret, and THAT is the one thing that gets the Anak moving, somebody learning his secrets and potentially exposing what he's really doing behind the scenes.

I know that could be anything, but I think this both lines up with what we know of Xerces already and it casts an interesting light on his character and motivations. In short, we can conquer the world without risking his involvement, as long as we stay away from what he's doing up in the Tower. Or, conversely, we can put a target on our foreheads (on Simon's, but again, you know what I mean) by investigating his activities and figuring out what purpose his theology studies and theoson harvesting really serve... and given that our new batch of research options added at the end of chapter 4 all have to do with tower matters, I have a feeling that the Anak will make his move whenever we complete all of those relevant subjects. Maybe it'll even be scripted event (like Yhilin Final State upon finishing our investments) that can occur at various points in time, like we'll get a visit from the Anak or just Xestris sent with a message, a sort of final warning to back off and leave him alone, or else... and then we're free to handle other things before we face him for a final showdown.

.... anyway, that's enough speculation about Xerces for me, at least for this one post.

@Maldon k: I don't really see how we could use the Shining Swords directly, other than arming a small army of Chosen with them. It's a rather obvious use for them, which makes me think it's unlikely and we won't see it, hence all the ideas suggesting they'll get reforged or otherwise repurposed for something, especially since they are magical constructs in their own right, that magic can be used in many different ways.

Either way, we probably won't learn what Shining Swords are for until we wrap things up with the Church of Ivala and take that long overdue trip to Aram, which might be one of the last things we get to do before the endgame clash of Incubus Kings begins.