Fulminato
[Premise: assuming the anak-xestris scene at the end of the gathering is genuine and not an act, a thing i'm not sure if is true or not]
I...I know that that part of the plot-line has not been released yet. I've actually played the game up to the point where you can't play anymore. So, yeah. Neither one of us is sure what is true. That's why I was trying to play the "Occam's Razor" card. It's kind of designed specifically for these moments. I even tried to use the language of the rule to make it clear what I was doing, but perhaps a more formulaic presentation will break through any barriers to Communication.
Occam's Razor is usually presented as "All things being equal, the simplest explanation is the likeliest to be true.". That's...not exactly how it works, but it's close enough for our purposes. I can explain any extra bits needed as I go.
So, to start off, we don't actually know what the Anak's plan is or how (or if) Xestris factors into it. That's that whole "All things being equal" part of the equation met. We don't have a canonical "Right" answer, yet. So all answers are equally "wrong" for the purposes of this discussion. You with me so far?
So, I put forth the theory that the Anak has a plan and he doesn't want Xestris involved. With the extra corollary that he doesn't intend to survive past the execution of his plan.
You put forth the theory that the Anak has a plan and he either does want Xestris to play a part, likely the role of a spy or possibly saboteur (Maybe even assassin, but that seems even more outlandish and I don't think you're seriously trying to suggest that Xestris would be expected to fulfill that role), or that he has a plan, but doesn't care if Xestris lives or dies because she is now dead weight.
Now, for the Anak to be play-acting the role of a callous bastard, he needs to be able to tell a lie with a straight face. That's not hard. I can do that. For instance: I have high hopes that I will be able to convince someone on the internet of the validity of my point of view using only a jovial demeanor and well-reasoned arguments! See? Easy as lyin'. He also has to assume that someone, either Simon or Esthera, will be collecting Xestris after the fight if they're all going to fight the same guy. Simon's evident actions have never been at odds with the Anak's, and Esthera has been a respected contemporary for at least decades, if not centuries. Either one of those would be an acceptable host for Xestris in the eyes of the Anak (Assuming my theory that he cares about her is correct), and Simon in particular has shown a fetish for collecting useful subordinates. Again, no special prior knowledge is needed to make this claim. There you have it, the simplest explanation that matches all the known facts.
However, for the Anak to use Xestris as some sort of (possibly Manchurian Candidate styled sleeper) agent, then all the ground-work for that has to be done (And The Manchurian Candidate is already a fairly obtuse plot. Seriously, You should read/watch it sometime.), and in such a way that Simon's research team finds NO indications of it, otherwise, Xestris will just be "disarmed" and all that work is less than worthless. In addition, Xerces would have to do all of this without her knowledge (Keeping it secret from a constant companion, trusted co-worker, and lover) OR (if she is a co-conspirator) Xestris would have to be a good enough liar to fool absolutely everyone about her purpose. A skill that takes a degree of nuance that she has not displayed. So, either she's genuinely unaware or she's faking that lack of nuance, adding even more complexity to this argument.
And if the Anak is truly just throwing Xestris to the ground because he's just done with her, then either
A: his plan is at a stage where figuring out what it is won't enable you to act against it effectively. Likely because the plan can't be undone once implemented.
or
B: Xestris doesn't have any information that would be useful for understanding his plan. Either because his plan has changed or because she never knew what his plan was.
If it's A and we're still stuck at doing research and making investments and not even knowing what the Anak's plan is or how we can stop it or even if we should...Well, then we're fucked and TLS is actually a lot closer to completion than I thought. Sucks that the ending is just "and then the Anak took over reality while you were still getting your shoes on. Thanks for playing!", but that's all that route really allows for.
If it's B then either:
1: Xerces has been feeding Xestris a line of bullshit for the entire time they've existed together. And that requires a mind simultaneously so cracked that even Tanurak would suggest therapy AND still cogent and high-functioning enough to outthink everyone else in the tower for longer than Simon's been alive. A list of parties that includes Alonon, Ulrissa, the Fucklord (who understood enough about the deeper workings of the tower to almost singlehandedly overthrow Zirantia.), The sage of Ghenalon, and (more recently) Simon's crew. All from a plan he developed before he'd even made Xestris. We are now talking about a person who, from sheer Machiavellian scheming alone, is on par with Ozymandias from The Watchmen (a character so unbelievably over-the-top, part of his plan involved tricking a precognitive superhero by making him too sad to see the future). Add on to that immortality, a deep well of personal power, the wealth of a nation, and a literal army.
How? Logistically speaking, how is this version of the Anak not already ruling the entire world? If he has even a single whim for how the world should be run then what, I ask you, is preventing him from just making it that way? Screw all this tower nonsense. He's smarter than everyone in the world combined, why doesn't he just trick everyone into doing things his way? Use a mix of spies and political agitators. Get a Trin. You can afford one. The Fucklord had a Trin. Trins are great. You can just buy them. The fact that the world is not already under his control is de facto evidence against him being this inhumanly nefarious.
or
2: He changed his mind and started working on a new plan in secret. And here, you're finally on firmer ground. He'd have to simultaneously feed Xestris a convincing lie, do all the things that Xestris can't do without an Incubus King handy, make the occasional public appearance, singlehandedly (unless there's another whole person waiting in the wings for us to find) delve the Tower and research all of his findings and, in theory, sleep. We've gone from Ozymandias down to Batman (Which is a perfectly acceptable amount of Over-the-Top. Batman's awesome.). He'd probably always look busy and, wouldn't you know it, he does tend to look busy most of the time. So that fits most of the known facts.
But that leaves us with an Anak who initially laid his plan out to Xestris more or less in full. Which means she knows at least one version of his plan and is therefore a liability. "Forensic Psychology" sounds really fancy, but it's a lot simpler when you break it down. It's essentially a means of building a predictive model of a person based on physical evidence and past history. And the fucking Rosetta Stone of "past history" is an older version of someone's plan as laid out to a trusted co-conspirator. If you have that, you do not need to be a forensic psychologist to figure out their likely next move. You just need to figure out where they went off the rails. That wouldn't take a genius and the Anak knows that.
This means that if the Anak is reasonably intelligent (and he is), he has at least one good reason to ventilate Xestris' skull. Means, motive, and opportunity. He had it all.
If he had to change his plans and
If he doesn't care about Xestris
Then Xestris should be dead.
She is not. At least not in my playthrough. Which means you now have the dangling question, again, of why is Xestris alive if the Anak doesn't want her that way?
Occam's Razor has some things to say about making sure your explanation fits all the known facts. If your explanation adds more unanswered questions into the mix, It's usually a sign that your explanation doesn't really...fit. For instance, why does the Anak need an agent in Simon's camp? Why does it need to be Xestris when it would be far easier to try and sneak a spy in amongst all the household servants Simon's collecting? If Xestris is a sleeper agent, how does she get activated behind enemy lines? All things being equal, your theory relies on a lot more complex things being true than mine does.
first i don't think he works against is interest for centuries, he works hiding is true motive under the mantle of balancing the world and in the moment the deception doesn't matter anymore he discharge the facade and put his real plan in motion. xestris is part of the facade, so he trow away her too. perhaps in the centuries of xestris works he has grow to like her, but on the altar of is great goal he sacrifice her.
Yeah. Sorry. I was trying to paraphrase a cool line from the game and invert it, slightly. You remember when Simon is talking to Orilise just after they cleaned up the First Root? How she's talking about The Mother being...kinda' dumb? And asking Simon if he really buys it? He replies back with (Hang on, lemme' find it): "I suppose that it's possible that there could be some brilliant plan...that requires her to work against her own interests for years in exchange for a single critical moment. Having met her, I doubt this." I just thought that was a funny way of saying that the Anak is probably capable of being two-faced if need be. We're actually in agreement on that point, I think.
xerces was a tower walker well before he gain is shard. you don't need a shard to venture in the tower or gain power with it. based on xestris-simon dialogue the equation is made by two parts, dark and divine shards. it's probably he take a shard for mastering that part of the equation, i think he gain his shard in the same way the LL gained is big one. a lot of IKs die try to stop an abomination like wendis. "all dead outside the LL". a lot of dark shards was free to take, and both the anak and LL snack a couple of the big ones (perhaps esthera too). xerces was unable to gain the help an entity using a divine shard willing to partake his little "project" so he capture and imprison a goddess and start his works from the power he harvest from her (zelica). i think he must 'use' a goddess with a lot of power builded over time, so simply take a divine shard an stick up in xestris doesn't works [and i don't think he will be willing await decades only to start is project, if he can take a shortcut].
I agree with you here, and can only again apologize that I did not successfully convey my intended message, leading you to refute points I was not trying to make.
for philon i think is easly explained by the impressive amount of resurces his project will drain, anithing short of a big and wealthy nation will be fall short. perhpas he managed philon with the well being of his subject in mind, or he only want a strong economy and military for keep his research running (and anyone other away from it), but his position of ruler of philon, for me, is only a necessary step for is project.
Again, probably true. Or, at least, I think that's where he eventually ended up, emotionally.
if his original plan was something "nice/pure/idealistic" we don't know. but based on ginasta impression (I have no idea as to their identity, but their power is rooted in the divine. They would be a sterile and dogmatic tyrant.) now it isn't for sure.
Oh, yeah. He might've started out with the best of intentions, but I bet his ideal world looks like Camazotz from A Wrinkle in Time (a nice little YA novel that got a movie adaptation a while back). No war, sure. But existence becomes so sterilized that it becomes a clockwork parody of actual life.
robin assestment is "This is only an impression, but I believe looking toward Philon is a distraction. Xerces is simply setting it aside while he focuses on his true plan." and xestris comment "Correct. A war fought in the heavens, high above the need for ordinary soldiers."leaving her to the manage of philon will be one of the most safe position for her. the conflict will be in the tower, and the philnese defence are enough to discorage anyone to try something while the anak is distracted.
It most definitely is not. Philon has a standing army (Probably) and whatever defenses have been set up for it. Y'know who else has those? Every nation on the planet. Y'know what Philon doesn't have while Xerces' doin' his Tower shenanigans? An Incubus King. Those tend to be a big deal, geopolitically. There have been some other moments in the game that have kinda' hinted at that. A war or two. Little things. Philon without the Anak can protect Xestris from, I guess, Zirantia. Maybe Rodak. But the safest place for Xestris is where someone powerful and well-inclined toward her can keep an eye on her. Now if only we had some in-game evidence of him attempting to put her in a place and mindset where she'd be easily recruited just before he left her...
it's a waste kill her. sending her in a suicide mission is another thing, her action will distract the actor enough for him to rise the defence and put forward is real plan. the anak simply killing her gain nothing, send her as bait and disctraction there some gain for him (time, a thing ofter very relevant). if his real plan is unknown to her he don't need to fear any leak of information, she has none, and because business as usual is ended and her know only that business .
I feel I've sufficiently addressed this earlier in this post, I won't drag you through all that again.
i think the scene is out of character, and fishy, a lot. this can be all ruse to send xestris in simon's fortress to spy his action as close as possibile. i don't trust her, and hope she will no stab hin in the end, but this danger is more then theoretical.
Also addressed this. Either she's in on it (in which case The Anak is an ultra-genius super-Hitler), or she's not(, and is easily the worst choice for a spy, like, ever).
i never talked with you about the emperor of mankind?
No. No, you didn't, Ralke. Is that something we need to talk about? Do you have plans for the Emperor of Mankind? Perhaps some desire to liberate the Earth from his clutches?
the anak know the DK ruse. but he know the fact of esthera foster him to become her demise? this isn't theoretical or irrilevant. if he know we are ok, but if we doesn't know for sure any simon's allies will be under esthera rule, and she behave a little different from simon. so you risk your second in command based on that and be sure to an absolute level xestris will never end dominated by the empress? it's a dangerous risky plan.
Hey, it's plan B. If it were a safe and surefire it'd be Plan A. He had limited time and he had to make a decision.