Hi! I think Apus exists you can see him on top of the hut/tent near Hooded One. Though I'm not really sure if that's him since there's no name indication but he's the only (male) child in the area. Love your vids btw
Clever GGG implying ancient civilisations harnessed advanced technology. When going through the gateway, into the past then venturing into the Zigguratt, all the enemies are robots and biome is mechanical looking with lasers.
In the storyline of Path of Exile 1, our understanding was: 1. The origin of "Corruption" is The Beast. 2. Demons are invaders from another realm. However, in the Atlas storyline of POE2, the manifestation of Atlas corruption surprisingly takes the form of the "Beyond mechanic" (gathering red orbs to summon demons). This gives us a new clue-the power of demons and the corruption of The Beast might originate from the same force. This suggests that The Beast is merely a creation related to the power of Corruption, rather than its true source. Through the dialogues between Hinekora and the TrialMaster, we can infer that Wraeclast is currently facing an "Existential Crisis(The Trialmaster, "Exception"), which appears to be related to the demonic invasion. Since the power of demons and the power of Corruption now seem to share the same origin, it is highly likely that this existential crisis is actually a crisis brought by Corruption itself. Also considering that The Arbiter of Ash seems to be planning to purge the heavily corrupted Wraeclast with fire (according to the Fourth Edict). From these perspectives, looking back at the Primordial era, it is possible that the Primordial world also faced a survival crisis caused by some form of Corruption. This crisis may have manifested as demons rather than necessarily taking the form of a Primordial Beast. Ultimately, it was brought to an end by a Great Fire that cleansed the world. The smoke from this cataclysmic fire shrouded the sky, blocking out the sun, marking the beginning of the Winter of the Wold, followed by the emergence of The Lightless. In other words, the Winter of the Wold was merely the consequence of an event's conclusion, rather than the source of destruction. If history indeed unfolded this way, then it makes sense that The Precursors would have known that Fire is a weapon capable of countering corruption, which would explain why Doryani was seeking such a weapon. (At least, this is how the current EA storyline concludes; however, with Acts 4 and 5 yet to be released, the story may take a different direction.)
Holy shit. I think you are 100% spot on, and you wrote it perfectly. I have to reread a few times - helped me connect some dots! I’d add that in current end game (non-canon, but still) Doryani explains his alternative self as a consequence of visiting one of the oldest wisdoms of this world. I assume he means Kalandra because of her age and her mirroring. Kalandra is primordial, and gave Sin his beast seed… she could be well aware of the original corruption, that which comes like Scourge… and maybe the precursors are from the primordial time. I also really like the framing of great fire as cataclysm and winter of the world as aftermath. I hadn’t considered that but it makes way more sense than winter as cataclysm (especially now that Zarka said the Winter was 1000s of years). Thank you for this!!!
@@KittenCatNoodle I likewise believe that the oldest wisdoms Doryani visited was indeed Kalandra. However, Kalandra's motive for giving the Seed of the Beast to Sin is highly thought-provoking. According to the Trial Master's dialogue(The Trialmaster， "The Beginning of Time"), Kalandra's gifts should come with a horrible price. So, what was the price of the Beast's Seed? Is it possible that Kalandra knew the corruption caused by the Beast would violate the Fourth Edict, triggering The Arbiter of Ash to ignite a world-consuming fire? And could this somehow be connected to her escape plan? Furthermore, if we reverse-trace the storyline of Sin: if the Great Fire was meant to cleanse corruption, and the corruption originated from the Beast, and the Beast was created to counter the power of the Gods (Divinity, ordered and focused power), Then, applying the same sequence back to the Primordial era, could it mean that: 1. Certain individuals or species attempted to harness power (Divinity, ordered and focused power). 2. A survival crisis caused by some form of corruption emerged. 3. The Great Fire. 4. Winter of the Wold. 5. The Lightless emerged.
@@ekwow I have been toying with a theory for a while which would gel perfectly with yours The Trialmaster says that "we [...] already sacrificed all we had to buy this world one stay of execution." The "we" here refers to Order and Chaos collaborating, which has only happened once and from context clues it's quite clear what the "Existential crisis" is: it's the Scourge demons. Then, in the same quote, the Trialmaster goes on to say "The decaying temples and cities of the Vaal Empire are [...] a legacy, a silent reminder of what was given so that the other peoples of Wraeclast might survive." From this, we can infer that the Vaal Cataclysm is that "stay of execution": the reason the Cataclysm happened was to save Wraeclast from the Scourge. What does the scourge have to do with Atziri and the Vaal? Well, what did Atziri want? She wanted immortality and eternal youth, like Zerphi before. As far as I know, there is only one character we see in PoE 1 that has that kind of immortality, without the use of virtue gems/necromancy/atlas shenanigans: Lycia. And how did she get it? From Beidat, one of the Demonlords of the Scourge. And she explicitly gets her power by sapping it from dying adventurers, similarly to Zerphi and his sacrifices. In my old theory, Atziri was actually making a pact with the Scourge, and the Cataclysm was Doryiani tapping into the Beast to stop her; this was the shakiest piece of the puzzle, as there was very little evidence of this. But instead, with your new theory, it is quite possible that Atziri did not even know *what* she was bargaining with, and the Cataclysm may simply be a consequence of the failure of the full summoning of the Scourge. The thing that actually drove me to this theory is something else, actually. It has to do with the Kalguuran colonists after the first Cataclysm. The descriptions they give of the monsters they fought never quite sat right with me, a lot of it did not necessarily feel like mutated Wraeclast native fauna/shamblers and so on. The sounded more... demonic at times. Plus, there's the million dollar question: who and what is the Empty Eyed Fiend? Well, what does The Last to Die say about the Pale Scourge? "The pale demons are blind, but that just makes them more dangerous." And indeed, if you look at Beidat's ingame model, his face is basically a skull with empty eyesockets. What if the Scourge *were* summoned to Wraeclast, but not fully? This would make sense of why the EEF responded to Medved's letter (as Beidat is known to be able to communicate), and perhaps why Medved was so shocked: if he served Order like Hinekora, he might've known about what the Scourge is (from peering into the past-future, maybe). "Countless arm-teeth" could be hyperbole referring to Beidat's "wings". Sadism would be appropriate to Beidat, as his faction is not described as "hungry" by The last to Die. And while Olroth did decapitate the EEF, if he can make Lycia immortal, it would not be suprising for Beidat to be similarly immortal. If the Beast is connected with the Scourge and the Druids of the Circle with Order, that could even explain why they lost their powers as they took on the gems, and perhaps why they were so effective in the first place (fight fire with fire?)
Corruption is meant to be more general than just the Beast, even in PoE1: Nightmare has been flowing from the dream worlds since the beginning. A large part of the information Malachi used to interact with the Beast came from dreams, and while he certainly seemed to think the Beast will give him the power of Nightmare, the corruption continues to spread even when we defeat him. Punching half of everyone's pantheons in the face calms down the initial danger, as Sin prepares to recreate the Beast and suppress the gods once more, while we take to the dream world ourselves and begin to encounter corruption even there - demons, the blight, the intrinsic darkness... lots of types of corruption. At some point we come upon Venarius, whose greatest fear (so great that it drove him to madness) is the various demons from the dreamworld. He seeks to dominate the minds of all people through dreams, so that he can create a force that is prepared to fight off the demonic onslaught. During Scourge league, The Last to Die told us about how the world Venarius dominated was the only other one she'd found where the Scourge's various factions had not managed to invade successfully. And yet, these are not the only demons who have found their way into Wraeclast at various times. If you play as a Monk through act 2 of PoE2, the Valley of the Titans provokes some comments from him. We know that the order of monks he belonged to were unwittingly serving at minimum Chayula, and his comments about one of the oldest places in the entire universe, a place so old that even the Primordials (who still appear to be human) would not have been around yet, imply that demons from the Breach may have caused the fall of the Titans, and they are still influencing Wraeclast to this day. Then there's what the art book says about Act 5. Overall, corruption and the nature of demons attempting to invade reality through the dreamworld is probably not one thing. I'm expecting act 6 to involve the start of a cataclysmic demonic invasion, but I don't even believe it will be a singular faction. Looking forward to something crazy.
@@KittenCatNoodle One other thing: Doryani has been getting news in his time that someone of Vaal blood has been bringing in some crazy murderer to invade Atzoatl. That's been happening recently from his perspective. He doesn't know anything more than that. If Alva shows up through time travel, assisted by some crazy person who murders everyone on the way to his chambers, he has every reason to assume it's the same person. He isn't breaking the fourth wall, he just actually has no idea that you're someone else.
The editing on this video is absolutely stunning. Holy crap. I mean everything else is wonderful, too, it’s just crazy clear how much time you put into it from how precise and topical each transition is in the background footage.
Thank you so much! I’m not skilled with editing but I do try to line up dialogue and evidence / inference for what I’m talking about where I can! And then fill the blanks with random map gameplay, haha
@KittenCatNoodle don’t sell yourself short! This is pretty damn skillful. I’m in the (slow) process of trying to make some videos on PoE’s world building (focusing more on where certain inspirations from real-world cultures and mythology may have influenced the writing) so your videos have been both a necessary educational resource and a tremendous inspiration. Thanks for what you do, noodle. You rock.
Greetings, Noodle. I believe that it is clear that Doryani's mysterious patron is Kalandra. He will not say it outright, but several of his endgame dialogues very strongly hint towards it, including straight up admitting there exists an evil mirror image of himself that we should slay, which is pretty damning. Further, Kalandra has been known to have frighteningly precise knowledge of... everything, which explains how Doryani is so well-informed, having "been told" what would happen and what to do, and left to his own devices to try and fail to stop the inevitable outcome Kalandra knew was coming. It also means that it would have been Kalandra who would have named us the player as the Demon of Atzoatl, and Doryani is just repeating what he has been told; he does not have the ability to see beyond the fourth wall, but Kalandra does. As a further reminder, it was Kalandra who gave Sin the original Seed of Corruption-or possibly created it in collaboration with him, since the Beast appears to employ a version of Sin's power as the Thief of Virtue which is what allows Virtue Gems to exist, being the stolen powers of many different gods, crystallized within the Beast as little objects of divinity for anyone to take and use. Whatever the case, Sin came to the lake in search of answers, and left with the Seed. This means that Kalandra is directly responsible for the events of both PoE1 and PoE2, being the true architect of the Beast. She has stated a motivation to free herself, but what exactly her aim is remains unclear; now that we know that it was her who directed Doryani to create this time portal, it appears that she wants both Sin and Doryani-two of her most significant pawns, along with Ahkeli whom we know visited the lake once-to be present in the current time, with the second Beast. Whatever her plan is, it appears that her schemes are coming together. It only took over two thousand years.
I definitely agree that Doryani met with Kalandra, sounds like as part of his attempts to fight us and prevent the Cataclysm. I agree with everything you’ve written here, but I’m holding out that the Patron isn’t Kalandra! It totally could be, but I’d like to see it be Zana or as some have suggested, the PoE 1 “canon” exile. I do think Kalandra makes a lot of sense though and might bring her some justice from the not-so-epic PoE 1 league!
@@KittenCatNoodle I've seen your angling for Zana as the patron before, and while an interesting theory, I can't quite agree that it seems plausible-starting with just that Doryani is a bigger fish in the sea than Zana is. Yes, she's very accomplished, and has the benefit of much knowledge of the future and know-how of the Atlas. They might even collaborate, if given a common cause. But the way Doryani speaks about his patron, he makes it sound like the things he was told were laid down with absolute certainty, as something that he wanted to avoid happening at all costs, but which nevertheless came to pass. Zana has the benefit of knowing what will happen in history-but so would anyone from the future, and Zana is not ultimately a higher authority. Besides that, there is the question of motive; Zana has repeatedly resisted the influence of various eldritch forces, so why would she seek out an oft-maligned expert on corruption? Perhaps she knows of the doom that Oriana is planning for the world and thinks she needs Doryani's help, but if so, wouldn't it be easier for her to take direct action than to engage in time travel shenanigans? Speaking of, I suspect that Oriana might be another one of Kalandra's pawns. She is far too well-informed, and the motivations of her and her faction seem to be anti-god; something that Kalandra shares a distaste for. I reckon that it would be just like Kalandra to send all of her pawns on a collision course with each other in order to enact the result that she ultimately desires for herself.
I've been waiting for your video on this act! I LOVE the Vaal civilization and its lore. It is my favorite. I also love the fact that we meet Doryani AND team up with him!
I don't think "demon of atzoatl" HAS to be breaking of 4th wall. He was informed about Alva & her "companion" coming and heard horror stories about someone matching alva's description raiding Atzoatl with a "companion". It makes sense from his point of view to consider us the same person as PoE1 Exile.
Yeah, or, if things go exactly as the gameplay does, there's this stranger who pops out of nowhere, slaughters the architects and guatds, then vanishes after a minute, over and over again. Next thing he knows, he hears that Alva and someone else popped through the time gate, her companion rampaging their way through the city, slaying Viper Napuatzi and countless citizens, and now stands before him. It's easy to see how he would put two and two together and think "Oh shit, this is that same one from Atzoatl!" When you think about it, it's a kinda terrifying concept. One minute, the staff at Atzoatl are going about their business, the next, some stranger emerges out of thin air, blasting their way through everyone they meet until they slay the senior staff, then vanish. Just as everyone's running about, wondering what the hell just happened, they reappear, going for another one, again and again, leaving at least one rival architect alive each time to tell the tale. You can see why the people at the apex of the Kopec Ziggurat freaked out and got everyone worked up into a hostile panic, leading to Viper Napuatzi being dispatched with her legion. Then, to make things more terrifying, Doryani had heard the tales, had heard that she had been killed and that this mysterious interloper had arrived and was making a beeline for him. He had no way to know it wasn't the same figure from Atzoatl.
Events at Atzoatl were taking place multiple times across years, hence all the rooms were built as wished by the exile. Doryani had a lot of time to prepare
I don't remember where we heard it, but I don't think this is the first time that characters in PoE have referred to us, the player, as an entity behind the player character. Was it Hinekora who does that?
@@Tjimmeske I think the only other contender for a character in game who implies any knowledge of the "player" would be Tangmazu, the Vaal trickster god and voice / power behind Delirium League in PoE 1.
Very nice work piecing together the lore that has been revealed thus far. You've compiled it all into a coherent and comprehensible treatise. You definitely can see the forest despite all the trees, is how I would put it.
I thought that Doryani calling us the Demon was not breaking the fourth wall, but a mistake on his part. Because in POE1 the demon (The player character) would always arrive with Alva, when she arrives with us (The POE2 character) in Utzaal he thought we were the same person as POE1 character. From Doryani's perspective, the temple was always ransacked by Alva and the demonn, When Alva arrives in Utzaal witth another person and starts ransacking the place, he concluded, wrongly, that this other person must be the Demon.
I think my 4th wall comment is being misunderstood since I’m getting this comment a lot - I don’t think Doryani knows that we are a player, playing a game, manipulating this character. What he knows is that the herald is a person of Vaal blood + their accompaniment. We don’t know if he assumes we are the demon because that description matches the PoE 1 exile as well, or if he was told any specifics, but whatever this Patron said to him - he is not addressing the witch, or the warrior, or whatever character because canonically, they haven’t gone to Atzoatl. His information is in regards to the player of PoE, whether or not Doryani knows that, it’s the information he has been given (but I don’t think HE literally sees the audience. His information is about us as players but he’s speaking to our character).
@@KokoHekmatyarr Chaos and Hinekora know that we are extradimensional beings that control heroes with different faces across different timelines (this is confirmed at least for Chaos by a Lore Q&A post from GGG). Since Doryani's Patron is almost definitely Chaos, he knows that we are the Demon of Atzoatl and that it's irrelevant what body we inhabit. Navali also knows this when addressing PoE 1 exiles, so it can be assumed that the Trialmaster also knows we're extradimensional. It doesn't mean they're aware we're real humans in front of computers, just that we're some higher force.
@@KittenCatNoodle I have another explanation: if devs are going to add incursion to PoE2, then player character will eventually get to Atzoatl, and therefore will be known in the past
Oh my god thank you so much for these videos, I did not put together the details about the time portal/paradox plan - the fact that the time portal was built *because* Doryani knew we would be coming back in time *because* we've been doing that with Alva make SO MUCH SENSE, which is ironic given how twisted the logic is. I love this kind of stuff.
Thank you, lore master Noodle! There are so many things without resolution now is it so hard to even speculate. But with the amount of lore than have been putting in just 1 act, I wouldnt be surprised if there are some twists and turns in the acts 5 and 6.
I was spoiled by the story of PoE2 in the first few minutes of early access. You could not travel to your hideout via the map, but the /hideout command still worked. Typing it in brought me to the fully staffed hideout including Doryani. This was me on the shores finding out a man of legend from a kingdom that just disappeared was going to be involved... somehow??!
This video was really well put together and included a lot of information that was useful in understanding the references and story threads of POE2 so far. Thanks!
Some minor details and hot takes I think can be corrected/considered: - PoE 1 is in 1599IC, only the endgame is in 1600IC (you can even see 1599IC in the Incursion trailer) - Kalandra didn't give Sin the seed personally, just the knowledge about it - Sin made the Beast in the time of Orbala/Garukhan, around 1000 years after Solerai/Lundara ended the Winter - Primeval Vaal fell the moment the "Fires" started and covered the skies, causing the Winter, and gods were active in that time (making Wildwood, Solerai, Lundara), so that means whatever "fire" caused the Winter was not a Cataclysm, because then the gods would be asleep. Perhaps the Fire was the "Edict" that the Arbiter tries to conjure in the endgame encounter, to cleanse corruption/Beast. - Since the Fires ended the Primevals (they lie in the ash layer itself), the Precursors are from before the Fires and the Winter. Theory time: we don't know how they died out, but we know that Arbiter of Ash was made by the Precursors (Doryani voicelines from db files: From what you've told me, the guardian of the Flame Seed seems to have been purposely molded for his task. The Precursors created him, but he is not one of them. I can only theorize as to his purpose...), and the Flame Seed is probably "the Weapon", and perhaps Arbiter was left there to use it each time a Beast made a corruption poopoo on the planet (and that's why he calls it the >Fourth< Edict).
I believe the machinarium is not a maze by design but due to dilapidation over time. The main corridor is blocked in multiple places from structural collapses and similar issues are seen throughout.
Yippee 🎉 for pulling the big lever and winning the jackpot. 😂 Seriously though, the editing style is so perfect for retaining attention and also showing some of the texts so we can pause and read some of the entries. This must take absolutely forever, but it is very much so appreciated. 😊
Something to consider about the Precursor Weapon: Maybe it *wasn’t* made to fight Corruption. Maybe it was made to fight something else, of a more *cosmic* nature, and it’s simply such a powerful weapon that in the fight against The New Beast, it will hopefully suffice.
Given the timey wimey Dr. Who esque levels of complex planning the vaal pulled off in this act, this is by far the lore video we needed most. Side note. Doriyani's fight may not be the most brutal, but MAN is it fun.
my fav videos for poe 2 LORE!!!!!!.... you're the best Noodle thank you 😸 (apus is on top of the tent just to the right when your going toward the wp in town)
When he talks about us players as a demon, I see two options: (1) he calls us a demons because that's how he concepualizes us based on what we did in temple or (2) we players actually are demons possessing people and changing the world. I would prefer (2) to be canon, because it would fit with us selecting a character at the start causes that very character to survive.
Love this series of videos, KNoodle! Thank you so much to put this much effort in doing it. I personally loved this whole Doctor Who thing with timetravel and Alva that GGG has going on, and finally we get to interact with Doryani! I'm really curious to see what we get for the next arcs, we know that Act 4 will be at the Karui lands, and Act 5 i think might be Kalgur! I'm also curious to see how the end game is going to be when the full game releases and if we are getting any kind of conection to the celestial/cosmic side of the story
@@KittenCatNoodle We can wait as long as needed for these 6h long in-depths videos XD Strength to you, thanks for all your hard work and passion, take care and stay sane, Exile ;)
That act is HUGE! But seeing ancient tecnocracy in vaal, and all the treatment they gave to Doryanni, made me very happy. Ever since Tota league I was bothered by the fact that the vaal were treated like one dimension culture (the human sacrifice people). Seeing the dept they gave to Karui people in that league made it more glaring issue. I'm glad we got to finally meet the elusive taumathurge himself and see a more rounded approach to the vaal. Now, how sin knew about vaal affinity for corruption? Was something he learned after waking up? Was him somehow connected to the beast, so in the end he wasn't put to sleep as the others, or at least kept some awareness?
If you ever have the time , would be amazing to make like a mini series starting from the beginning to the end ! 1h + would be such fun 😅 thank you so much for the efforts 👌 you rock harder than Atziri herself! ❤
I believe it could have been the trialmaster that could have told doriyani about us and atziris communion. We know doriyani did go through the trial and the trialmaster has clear reason to try to stop atziri, because atziri existing in every possible timeline is something we know chaos dislikes. And the trial master being a servant of chaos has shown to have some awareness of the player existing.
It didn't disappoint. As always super good. There were definitely things I'd missed in my playthroughs so this was great. Can't wait for the in-depth videos!
I don't think he's breaking the 4th wall, I think he knew of the incursions into Atzoatl and assumed anyone from the future that he met would also be the demon.
She was hinting that not Doryani, but the entity that prophetised our arrival to him is a fourth wall breaker, as we know some that do just this in PoE1. So it's just teaser for the in-depth video analysis :D
Excellent series btw. Can't wait for the deepdive versions. Particularly deepdive on act3/timetravel stuff. Im still so confused about the expedition npcs, they all talk like they're time travellers, but talk as if they've been making _many_ trips thru time, not just one
YESSS, I was waiting for this... Starving for your voice Noodle 🥰. Many thanks for the material! Cant wait for Affliction league and Dark wood delve and perhaps, Necropolis latter? PLEASSSSE!
Shit! The lore is more complicated than I could imagine! I'm shocked by Vaal viper warrior is disappeared after defeated. Never notice that! Thank you.
Those with Vaal blood in their heart give willingly for their time portal I'm running out of ideas with this, but excellent video as always, rock on queen
I don't think the demon of atzoatl line is a fourth wall break, but it is certainly an easter egg. Think through incursion events from the vaal perspective: you're in the middle of what you think is your empire's golden age and you're building this giant monument to your civilizations' greatness. The best architects from the empire are all competing to design rooms. But you've scarcely broken ground when a strange portal opens up, a ludicrously powerful humanoid steps through, massacres an entire construction detail, and then vanishes without a trace. Then several months or even years later, it happens again. And again. And again. Some architects start filling the temple with traps. Some even arm and armor their workers, but nothing even seems to slow this monstrous intruder down. It doesn't say anything, it has no discernable motives, it just appears without warning, kills everyone, and leaves. Something like that would scar the psyche of an entire generation. And to someone like Doryani, a true genius of thaugmaturgy, it would never be far from his mind. So when he hears that strange invaders have arrived in Utzaal and begun genociding the hell out of everyone, and one of them is so powerful and deadly that they trounced the mightiest general the vaal empire ever produced in single combat, it's the only possible conclusion he could draw.
She was hinting that not Doryani, but the entity that prophetised our arrival to him is a fourth wall breaker, as we know some that do just this in PoE1. So it's just teaser for the in-depth video analysis :D
I don't think Doryani is breaking the fourth wall, he reffers to our character as the demon of Atzoatl because he THINKS Poe1 and 2's characters are the same person, which honestly is a fair asumption considering we kill whatever steps on our way without much thought, specially since our entire motivation for ravaging Atzoatl time and time again is just profit
What's the difference between two time travelers 20 years apart from eachother who just do the exact same thing (killing everyone) hard to tell from his point of view I had the same interpretation of this
She was hinting that not Doryani, but the entity that prophetised our arrival to him is a fourth wall breaker, as we know some that do just this in PoE1. So it's just teaser for the in-depth video analysis :D
Same! Did it on first try (honestly besides Mighty Silverfist I killed all bosses first try in normal Act 3) and it felt really anticlimactic. I also wish he didn’t use the mech so the fight wasn’t so visually cluttered. I think I struggled the most with the Jamanra fight (maybe even the 1st one the most, haha) but both Geonor and Jamanra (especially Geonor) were more thematically and visually interesting, with cool mechanics. Doryani could use a buff.
56:34 it also could be that Incursion will be a poe2 mechanic as well later in development. Incursion is a poe1 classic gambling mechanic so I'd imagine GGG would like to include it in poe2 as well. Players love vaal orbing items so what's better than 2 vaal orbs at once with even bigger risks and bigger rewards. So here we would make the foundations of Alva's incursions AND be the exile that raids Atzoatl. Then Doryani later finds description of "demon of Atzoatl" which matches us and our character.
I think Queen of Fitlh might be Atalui the bloodpriestess, cuz she is part of endgame ziguratte crew like Ketzuli and its somewhat convenient that Queen of Filth is in possesion of the Key to Kopec. Given what youu said in this video that Ketzuli was tasked to stay 2000 years inside the temple, Atalui could have been tasked to be the Keyholder, but corrupted a lot outside. On another Note, would find it pretty hilarious if the "non canon" act3 ending is infact the canon ending of act6. like we gathered everything and did all that is needed in act3-6 and arrived back into past to deliver Doryani back or w/e and whitness the cataclysm. Question is, can we even canonicly travel back into future after act3? Can imagin act4 happens in the past too
"Kitava was trapped in a stone that was used for the statue of Innocence" - never realized it could be interpreted this way. I thought Kitava emerged from the statue because his cultists arranged that - it's painted with Kitava's cross in that cutscene.
awesome video thanks so much its great to listen to! I am shocked tho that you didnt dig deeper (yet) into the legion crystal thing. It was the biggest wtf moment for me at least in PoE2. Could it be that we are the reason legion exists? Maybe if you time travel and kill somebody thats not supposed to die it causes a rift in time and they get sucked into and trapped in a legion monolith. It can't be a concidence that we also need to find 3 more piecesfrom various places around the world (and work with the maraketh as the 5th), my tinfoil hat says that we will also somehow meet the other 4 legion generals through time travel or same timeline meetings to then create the legion thing for poe1 also the quote "we know not why we fight, we know only that we must!" from legion fits really well to this 57:15
You say PoE2 is first mention, but what about Precursor's Emblem (the delve rings)? Love the video series, btw. Always been a big fan of your PoE1 lore vids.
That’s a good point! The names on those rings I’ve always associated with the “primeval Vaal” but they are literally called precursor emblems 😅 hmm. Maybe there isn’t a distinction between the 2 groups, in which case we definitely know stuff about them
42:55 if you go close to the edge, your light radius will illuminate the liquid and pretty clearly show that it is blood :) at least clear on my monitor.
55:19 there are very few npc's that break the 4th wall in PoE talking to and/or referring directly to the player behind the character. I could be misremembering, but the only 3 I recall are Tang Mazu, Hinekora, and Chaos(+trialmaster), so it's very likely that his source could be among there. --It's also mentioned in the epilogue that Doryani underwent the Trials of Chaos, so I'd be willing to bet that Chaos is the most likely one to be whispering sweet nothings to Doryani.
![[PoE 2 Lore] The Story of Act 2 - The Ardura / Maraketh - Path of Exile 2 Complete Lore Series](/img/n.gif)
Hi! I think Apus exists you can see him on top of the hut/tent near Hooded One. Though I'm not really sure if that's him since there's no name indication but he's the only (male) child in the area. Love your vids btw
Apus has been found! Someone get him a name tag!
Eyyyy
#ThereIsNoApus #IsApusAmongus #Apusgate
I was confused at first too until I found the boy a little ways away. I think it's more poignant if he doesn't exist though.
Clever GGG implying ancient civilisations harnessed advanced technology. When going through the gateway, into the past then venturing into the Zigguratt, all the enemies are robots and biome is mechanical looking with lasers.
In the storyline of Path of Exile 1, our understanding was:
1. The origin of "Corruption" is The Beast.
2. Demons are invaders from another realm.
However, in the Atlas storyline of POE2, the manifestation of Atlas corruption surprisingly takes the form of the "Beyond mechanic" (gathering red orbs to summon demons). This gives us a new clue-the power of demons and the corruption of The Beast might originate from the same force. This suggests that The Beast is merely a creation related to the power of Corruption, rather than its true source.
Through the dialogues between Hinekora and the TrialMaster, we can infer that Wraeclast is currently facing an "Existential Crisis(The Trialmaster, "Exception"), which appears to be related to the demonic invasion. Since the power of demons and the power of Corruption now seem to share the same origin, it is highly likely that this existential crisis is actually a crisis brought by Corruption itself.
Also considering that The Arbiter of Ash seems to be planning to purge the heavily corrupted Wraeclast with fire (according to the Fourth Edict).
From these perspectives, looking back at the Primordial era, it is possible that the Primordial world also faced a survival crisis caused by some form of Corruption. This crisis may have manifested as demons rather than necessarily taking the form of a Primordial Beast. Ultimately, it was brought to an end by a Great Fire that cleansed the world. The smoke from this cataclysmic fire shrouded the sky, blocking out the sun, marking the beginning of the Winter of the Wold, followed by the emergence of The Lightless. In other words, the Winter of the Wold was merely the consequence of an event's conclusion, rather than the source of destruction.
If history indeed unfolded this way, then it makes sense that The Precursors would have known that Fire is a weapon capable of countering corruption, which would explain why Doryani was seeking such a weapon. (At least, this is how the current EA storyline concludes; however, with Acts 4 and 5 yet to be released, the story may take a different direction.)
Holy shit. I think you are 100% spot on, and you wrote it perfectly. I have to reread a few times - helped me connect some dots! I’d add that in current end game (non-canon, but still) Doryani explains his alternative self as a consequence of visiting one of the oldest wisdoms of this world. I assume he means Kalandra because of her age and her mirroring. Kalandra is primordial, and gave Sin his beast seed… she could be well aware of the original corruption, that which comes like Scourge… and maybe the precursors are from the primordial time.
I also really like the framing of great fire as cataclysm and winter of the world as aftermath. I hadn’t considered that but it makes way more sense than winter as cataclysm (especially now that Zarka said the Winter was 1000s of years). Thank you for this!!!
@@KittenCatNoodle
I likewise believe that the oldest wisdoms Doryani visited was indeed Kalandra. However, Kalandra's motive for giving the Seed of the Beast to Sin is highly thought-provoking. According to the Trial Master's dialogue(The Trialmaster， "The Beginning of Time"), Kalandra's gifts should come with a horrible price.
So, what was the price of the Beast's Seed? Is it possible that Kalandra knew the corruption caused by the Beast would violate the Fourth Edict, triggering The Arbiter of Ash to ignite a world-consuming fire? And could this somehow be connected to her escape plan?
Furthermore, if we reverse-trace the storyline of Sin: if the Great Fire was meant to cleanse corruption, and the corruption originated from the Beast, and the Beast was created to counter the power of the Gods (Divinity, ordered and focused power),
Then, applying the same sequence back to the Primordial era, could it mean that:
1. Certain individuals or species attempted to harness power (Divinity, ordered and focused power).
2. A survival crisis caused by some form of corruption emerged.
3. The Great Fire.
4. Winter of the Wold.
5. The Lightless emerged.
@@ekwow I have been toying with a theory for a while which would gel perfectly with yours
The Trialmaster says that "we [...] already sacrificed all we had to buy this world one stay of execution." The "we" here refers to Order and Chaos collaborating, which has only happened once and from context clues it's quite clear what the "Existential crisis" is: it's the Scourge demons.
Then, in the same quote, the Trialmaster goes on to say "The decaying temples and cities of the Vaal Empire are [...] a legacy, a silent reminder of what was given so that the other peoples of Wraeclast might survive."
From this, we can infer that the Vaal Cataclysm is that "stay of execution": the reason the Cataclysm happened was to save Wraeclast from the Scourge.
What does the scourge have to do with Atziri and the Vaal? Well, what did Atziri want? She wanted immortality and eternal youth, like Zerphi before. As far as I know, there is only one character we see in PoE 1 that has that kind of immortality, without the use of virtue gems/necromancy/atlas shenanigans:
Lycia. And how did she get it? From Beidat, one of the Demonlords of the Scourge. And she explicitly gets her power by sapping it from dying adventurers, similarly to Zerphi and his sacrifices.
In my old theory, Atziri was actually making a pact with the Scourge, and the Cataclysm was Doryiani tapping into the Beast to stop her; this was the shakiest piece of the puzzle, as there was very little evidence of this. But instead, with your new theory, it is quite possible that Atziri did not even know *what* she was bargaining with, and the Cataclysm may simply be a consequence of the failure of the full summoning of the Scourge.
The thing that actually drove me to this theory is something else, actually.
It has to do with the Kalguuran colonists after the first Cataclysm. The descriptions they give of the monsters they fought never quite sat right with me, a lot of it did not necessarily feel like mutated Wraeclast native fauna/shamblers and so on. The sounded more... demonic at times. Plus, there's the million dollar question: who and what is the Empty Eyed Fiend?
Well, what does The Last to Die say about the Pale Scourge? "The pale demons are blind, but that just makes them more dangerous."
And indeed, if you look at Beidat's ingame model, his face is basically a skull with empty eyesockets. What if the Scourge *were* summoned to Wraeclast, but not fully?
This would make sense of why the EEF responded to Medved's letter (as Beidat is known to be able to communicate), and perhaps why Medved was so shocked: if he served Order like Hinekora, he might've known about what the Scourge is (from peering into the past-future, maybe). "Countless arm-teeth" could be hyperbole referring to Beidat's "wings". Sadism would be appropriate to Beidat, as his faction is not described as "hungry" by The last to Die. And while Olroth did decapitate the EEF, if he can make Lycia immortal, it would not be suprising for Beidat to be similarly immortal.
If the Beast is connected with the Scourge and the Druids of the Circle with Order, that could even explain why they lost their powers as they took on the gems, and perhaps why they were so effective in the first place (fight fire with fire?)
Corruption is meant to be more general than just the Beast, even in PoE1: Nightmare has been flowing from the dream worlds since the beginning. A large part of the information Malachi used to interact with the Beast came from dreams, and while he certainly seemed to think the Beast will give him the power of Nightmare, the corruption continues to spread even when we defeat him. Punching half of everyone's pantheons in the face calms down the initial danger, as Sin prepares to recreate the Beast and suppress the gods once more, while we take to the dream world ourselves and begin to encounter corruption even there - demons, the blight, the intrinsic darkness... lots of types of corruption.
At some point we come upon Venarius, whose greatest fear (so great that it drove him to madness) is the various demons from the dreamworld. He seeks to dominate the minds of all people through dreams, so that he can create a force that is prepared to fight off the demonic onslaught.
During Scourge league, The Last to Die told us about how the world Venarius dominated was the only other one she'd found where the Scourge's various factions had not managed to invade successfully.
And yet, these are not the only demons who have found their way into Wraeclast at various times. If you play as a Monk through act 2 of PoE2, the Valley of the Titans provokes some comments from him. We know that the order of monks he belonged to were unwittingly serving at minimum Chayula, and his comments about one of the oldest places in the entire universe, a place so old that even the Primordials (who still appear to be human) would not have been around yet, imply that demons from the Breach may have caused the fall of the Titans, and they are still influencing Wraeclast to this day.
Then there's what the art book says about Act 5.
Overall, corruption and the nature of demons attempting to invade reality through the dreamworld is probably not one thing. I'm expecting act 6 to involve the start of a cataclysmic demonic invasion, but I don't even believe it will be a singular faction. Looking forward to something crazy.
@@KittenCatNoodle One other thing: Doryani has been getting news in his time that someone of Vaal blood has been bringing in some crazy murderer to invade Atzoatl. That's been happening recently from his perspective. He doesn't know anything more than that. If Alva shows up through time travel, assisted by some crazy person who murders everyone on the way to his chambers, he has every reason to assume it's the same person. He isn't breaking the fourth wall, he just actually has no idea that you're someone else.
The editing on this video is absolutely stunning. Holy crap.
I mean everything else is wonderful, too, it’s just crazy clear how much time you put into it from how precise and topical each transition is in the background footage.
Thank you so much! I’m not skilled with editing but I do try to line up dialogue and evidence / inference for what I’m talking about where I can! And then fill the blanks with random map gameplay, haha
@KittenCatNoodle don’t sell yourself short! This is pretty damn skillful.
I’m in the (slow) process of trying to make some videos on PoE’s world building (focusing more on where certain inspirations from real-world cultures and mythology may have influenced the writing) so your videos have been both a necessary educational resource and a tremendous inspiration.
Thanks for what you do, noodle. You rock.
i love how that kitty cat is just like "yea keep going with those pets, forget whatever you are doing for i am the attention!
Can you give me a timestamp? :D I only listened to the video without watching what happened on screen
Just found you and have been watching all of your older videos! Thank you for doing this!
Greetings, Noodle.
I believe that it is clear that Doryani's mysterious patron is Kalandra. He will not say it outright, but several of his endgame dialogues very strongly hint towards it, including straight up admitting there exists an evil mirror image of himself that we should slay, which is pretty damning. Further, Kalandra has been known to have frighteningly precise knowledge of... everything, which explains how Doryani is so well-informed, having "been told" what would happen and what to do, and left to his own devices to try and fail to stop the inevitable outcome Kalandra knew was coming. It also means that it would have been Kalandra who would have named us the player as the Demon of Atzoatl, and Doryani is just repeating what he has been told; he does not have the ability to see beyond the fourth wall, but Kalandra does.
As a further reminder, it was Kalandra who gave Sin the original Seed of Corruption-or possibly created it in collaboration with him, since the Beast appears to employ a version of Sin's power as the Thief of Virtue which is what allows Virtue Gems to exist, being the stolen powers of many different gods, crystallized within the Beast as little objects of divinity for anyone to take and use.
Whatever the case, Sin came to the lake in search of answers, and left with the Seed. This means that Kalandra is directly responsible for the events of both PoE1 and PoE2, being the true architect of the Beast. She has stated a motivation to free herself, but what exactly her aim is remains unclear; now that we know that it was her who directed Doryani to create this time portal, it appears that she wants both Sin and Doryani-two of her most significant pawns, along with Ahkeli whom we know visited the lake once-to be present in the current time, with the second Beast. Whatever her plan is, it appears that her schemes are coming together. It only took over two thousand years.
I definitely agree that Doryani met with Kalandra, sounds like as part of his attempts to fight us and prevent the Cataclysm. I agree with everything you’ve written here, but I’m holding out that the Patron isn’t Kalandra! It totally could be, but I’d like to see it be Zana or as some have suggested, the PoE 1 “canon” exile.
I do think Kalandra makes a lot of sense though and might bring her some justice from the not-so-epic PoE 1 league!
@@KittenCatNoodle I've seen your angling for Zana as the patron before, and while an interesting theory, I can't quite agree that it seems plausible-starting with just that Doryani is a bigger fish in the sea than Zana is. Yes, she's very accomplished, and has the benefit of much knowledge of the future and know-how of the Atlas. They might even collaborate, if given a common cause. But the way Doryani speaks about his patron, he makes it sound like the things he was told were laid down with absolute certainty, as something that he wanted to avoid happening at all costs, but which nevertheless came to pass. Zana has the benefit of knowing what will happen in history-but so would anyone from the future, and Zana is not ultimately a higher authority. Besides that, there is the question of motive; Zana has repeatedly resisted the influence of various eldritch forces, so why would she seek out an oft-maligned expert on corruption? Perhaps she knows of the doom that Oriana is planning for the world and thinks she needs Doryani's help, but if so, wouldn't it be easier for her to take direct action than to engage in time travel shenanigans? Speaking of, I suspect that Oriana might be another one of Kalandra's pawns. She is far too well-informed, and the motivations of her and her faction seem to be anti-god; something that Kalandra shares a distaste for. I reckon that it would be just like Kalandra to send all of her pawns on a collision course with each other in order to enact the result that she ultimately desires for herself.
I've been waiting for your video on this act! I LOVE the Vaal civilization and its lore. It is my favorite. I also love the fact that we meet Doryani AND team up with him!
Alva noping right outta there when zicoatl started to come out of the wall had me laughing
I don't think "demon of atzoatl" HAS to be breaking of 4th wall. He was informed about Alva & her "companion" coming and heard horror stories about someone matching alva's description raiding Atzoatl with a "companion". It makes sense from his point of view to consider us the same person as PoE1 Exile.
Yeah, or, if things go exactly as the gameplay does, there's this stranger who pops out of nowhere, slaughters the architects and guatds, then vanishes after a minute, over and over again. Next thing he knows, he hears that Alva and someone else popped through the time gate, her companion rampaging their way through the city, slaying Viper Napuatzi and countless citizens, and now stands before him. It's easy to see how he would put two and two together and think "Oh shit, this is that same one from Atzoatl!"
When you think about it, it's a kinda terrifying concept. One minute, the staff at Atzoatl are going about their business, the next, some stranger emerges out of thin air, blasting their way through everyone they meet until they slay the senior staff, then vanish. Just as everyone's running about, wondering what the hell just happened, they reappear, going for another one, again and again, leaving at least one rival architect alive each time to tell the tale.
You can see why the people at the apex of the Kopec Ziggurat freaked out and got everyone worked up into a hostile panic, leading to Viper Napuatzi being dispatched with her legion. Then, to make things more terrifying, Doryani had heard the tales, had heard that she had been killed and that this mysterious interloper had arrived and was making a beeline for him.
He had no way to know it wasn't the same figure from Atzoatl.
Events at Atzoatl were taking place multiple times across years, hence all the rooms were built as wished by the exile. Doryani had a lot of time to prepare
I don't remember where we heard it, but I don't think this is the first time that characters in PoE have referred to us, the player, as an entity behind the player character. Was it Hinekora who does that?
@@Tjimmeske I think the only other contender for a character in game who implies any knowledge of the "player" would be Tangmazu, the Vaal trickster god and voice / power behind Delirium League in PoE 1.
Apus is sitting on a tent overlooking the lake/waypoint/stairs down, just kicking his feet endlessly (SE from Servi)
Very nice work piecing together the lore that has been revealed thus far. You've compiled it all into a coherent and comprehensible treatise. You definitely can see the forest despite all the trees, is how I would put it.
I thought that Doryani calling us the Demon was not breaking the fourth wall, but a mistake on his part. Because in POE1 the demon (The player character) would always arrive with Alva, when she arrives with us (The POE2 character) in Utzaal he thought we were the same person as POE1 character. From Doryani's perspective, the temple was always ransacked by Alva and the demonn, When Alva arrives in Utzaal witth another person and starts ransacking the place, he concluded, wrongly, that this other person must be the Demon.
I think my 4th wall comment is being misunderstood since I’m getting this comment a lot - I don’t think Doryani knows that we are a player, playing a game, manipulating this character. What he knows is that the herald is a person of Vaal blood + their accompaniment. We don’t know if he assumes we are the demon because that description matches the PoE 1 exile as well, or if he was told any specifics, but whatever this Patron said to him - he is not addressing the witch, or the warrior, or whatever character because canonically, they haven’t gone to Atzoatl. His information is in regards to the player of PoE, whether or not Doryani knows that, it’s the information he has been given (but I don’t think HE literally sees the audience. His information is about us as players but he’s speaking to our character).
@@KittenCatNoodle But the Trialmaster does know us as irl players, right? And possibly Tangmazu as well?
@@KokoHekmatyarr Chaos and Hinekora know that we are extradimensional beings that control heroes with different faces across different timelines (this is confirmed at least for Chaos by a Lore Q&A post from GGG). Since Doryani's Patron is almost definitely Chaos, he knows that we are the Demon of Atzoatl and that it's irrelevant what body we inhabit. Navali also knows this when addressing PoE 1 exiles, so it can be assumed that the Trialmaster also knows we're extradimensional. It doesn't mean they're aware we're real humans in front of computers, just that we're some higher force.
@@KittenCatNoodle I have another explanation: if devs are going to add incursion to PoE2, then player character will eventually get to Atzoatl, and therefore will be known in the past
@@Subli8217 I thought Doryani's patron was implied to be Kalandra, just as she 'helped' Sin by giving him the Seed
Oh my god thank you so much for these videos, I did not put together the details about the time portal/paradox plan - the fact that the time portal was built *because* Doryani knew we would be coming back in time *because* we've been doing that with Alva make SO MUCH SENSE, which is ironic given how twisted the logic is. I love this kind of stuff.
Thank you, lore master Noodle!
There are so many things without resolution now is it so hard to even speculate. But with the amount of lore than have been putting in just 1 act, I wouldnt be surprised if there are some twists and turns in the acts 5 and 6.
I was spoiled by the story of PoE2 in the first few minutes of early access.
You could not travel to your hideout via the map, but the /hideout command still worked. Typing it in brought me to the fully staffed hideout including Doryani.
This was me on the shores finding out a man of legend from a kingdom that just disappeared was going to be involved... somehow??!
Stay sane, exile ! D:
fun fact, if you only call alva after initiating the fight with zicoatl, she stays around to appreciate the fight
This video was really well put together and included a lot of information that was useful in understanding the references and story threads of POE2 so far. Thanks!
The Lore series is a God send while we wait for POE2 content
How many sacrifices had to be made to fuel these magnificent lore videos :D
Some minor details and hot takes I think can be corrected/considered:
- PoE 1 is in 1599IC, only the endgame is in 1600IC (you can even see 1599IC in the Incursion trailer)
- Kalandra didn't give Sin the seed personally, just the knowledge about it
- Sin made the Beast in the time of Orbala/Garukhan, around 1000 years after Solerai/Lundara ended the Winter
- Primeval Vaal fell the moment the "Fires" started and covered the skies, causing the Winter, and gods were active in that time (making Wildwood, Solerai, Lundara), so that means whatever "fire" caused the Winter was not a Cataclysm, because then the gods would be asleep. Perhaps the Fire was the "Edict" that the Arbiter tries to conjure in the endgame encounter, to cleanse corruption/Beast.
- Since the Fires ended the Primevals (they lie in the ash layer itself), the Precursors are from before the Fires and the Winter. Theory time: we don't know how they died out, but we know that Arbiter of Ash was made by the Precursors (Doryani voicelines from db files: From what you've told me, the guardian of the Flame Seed seems to have been purposely molded for his task. The Precursors created him, but he is not one of them. I can only theorize as to his purpose...), and the Flame Seed is probably "the Weapon", and perhaps Arbiter was left there to use it each time a Beast made a corruption poopoo on the planet (and that's why he calls it the >Fourth< Edict).
I believe the machinarium is not a maze by design but due to dilapidation over time. The main corridor is blocked in multiple places from structural collapses and similar issues are seen throughout.
Yippee 🎉 for pulling the big lever and winning the jackpot. 😂
Seriously though, the editing style is so perfect for retaining attention and also showing some of the texts so we can pause and read some of the entries. This must take absolutely forever, but it is very much so appreciated. 😊
Something to consider about the Precursor Weapon: Maybe it *wasn’t* made to fight Corruption.
Maybe it was made to fight something else, of a more *cosmic* nature, and it’s simply such a powerful weapon that in the fight against The New Beast, it will hopefully suffice.
I like the detail in utzaal where you can raid the houses of incursion architects for statues (alva can wait, it's treasure)
i watched every single lore video you made in the span of two weeks. I NEED MOAAAAAAAAAAAR
I honestly think with this kind of lore that it needs a tv show like Castlevania(animation vise), so many stuff to choose from :D
My favorite Path of Exile channel.
I've been waiting on Act3 from your previous videos! I'm hooked!
Noodle what a hero! Great research work as always :) love the videos
"No wonder it's lost, it's in the middle of the jungle" audibly cackling
Given the timey wimey Dr. Who esque levels of complex planning the vaal pulled off in this act, this is by far the lore video we needed most.
Side note. Doriyani's fight may not be the most brutal, but MAN is it fun.
Can't wait for the in-depth video, thanks for the lore breakdown noodle!
ok i knew i wasn't hallucinating when i thought the poe 2 Alva was younger than poe 1 Alva. Thanks Noodle
Stay sane, exile ;)
Really love your videos on the lore! Waiting for the next one :)
my fav videos for poe 2 LORE!!!!!!.... you're the best Noodle thank you 😸 (apus is on top of the tent just to the right when your going toward the wp in town)
Great video, thank you! Can't wait for the deep dive!
Yay! I've been waiting for act 3! Found the channel recently when i got into POE 2 and i LOVE IT.
If Alva Valai is back, where's her boyfriend, mr. Justin Time?
best comment
Imma need some outtakes from the amount of reading you do haha. Keeping up the good fight for us. Great videos! Passes the time at work.
ATZIRI ATZIRI!
(*)(*)
(*)(*)
Aiokmo til xu'te! Aiokmo tul jare elba!
Teoyuxtlane ascensionada! Teoyuxtlana Yutsal!
Atziri, Atziri, ma kilya Zerphi!
Ti itsok anab nochira! Kextal xi kujkuali ik'bala!
Atziri, Atziri, ikba'yacane Vaal!
A'te 'Ibil tlayeb kutsen! A'te ik'el tlayeb kifba!
Atziri, Atziri, ascenada akal!
@jurgyy dude i actually love you, i was searching for these verses for soo long!
Yes! I’ve been patiently waiting for this, thank you! 🖤
When he talks about us players as a demon, I see two options: (1) he calls us a demons because that's how he concepualizes us based on what we did in temple or (2) we players actually are demons possessing people and changing the world.
I would prefer (2) to be canon, because it would fit with us selecting a character at the start causes that very character to survive.
7:51 ooo were probably gonna find this in acts 4-6, it could be the weapon to fight corruption
Love this series of videos, KNoodle! Thank you so much to put this much effort in doing it.
I personally loved this whole Doctor Who thing with timetravel and Alva that GGG has going on, and finally we get to interact with Doryani! I'm really curious to see what we get for the next arcs, we know that Act 4 will be at the Karui lands, and Act 5 i think might be Kalgur! I'm also curious to see how the end game is going to be when the full game releases and if we are getting any kind of conection to the celestial/cosmic side of the story
Dang, I wanted to learn about what you call Legion Crystals so bad! More videos please, your work is much appreciated!
I will talk about legion in the in depth video! Which will take a while I need a break haha but I do have thoughts!
@KittenCatNoodle No rush. We'll be here if/when you talk about it.
@@KittenCatNoodle We can wait as long as needed for these 6h long in-depths videos XD
Strength to you, thanks for all your hard work and passion, take care and stay sane, Exile ;)
That act is HUGE! But seeing ancient tecnocracy in vaal, and all the treatment they gave to Doryanni, made me very happy. Ever since Tota league I was bothered by the fact that the vaal were treated like one dimension culture (the human sacrifice people). Seeing the dept they gave to Karui people in that league made it more glaring issue. I'm glad we got to finally meet the elusive taumathurge himself and see a more rounded approach to the vaal.
Now, how sin knew about vaal affinity for corruption? Was something he learned after waking up? Was him somehow connected to the beast, so in the end he wasn't put to sleep as the others, or at least kept some awareness?
That cheeky smile and head turn right at the start was exactly how i felt when i saw the thumbnail/title 😂
Commenting for algorithm, for all that is holy please keep making this awesome content, thank you for all your effort in these videos
If you ever have the time , would be amazing to make like a mini series starting from the beginning to the end ! 1h + would be such fun 😅 thank you so much for the efforts 👌 you rock harder than Atziri herself! ❤
I believe it could have been the trialmaster that could have told doriyani about us and atziris communion. We know doriyani did go through the trial and the trialmaster has clear reason to try to stop atziri, because atziri existing in every possible timeline is something we know chaos dislikes. And the trial master being a servant of chaos has shown to have some awareness of the player existing.
thank you, Loremaster.
A new Kitten Cat Noodle video? Thats listening tomorrow at work sorted, very excited.
It didn't disappoint. As always super good. There were definitely things I'd missed in my playthroughs so this was great. Can't wait for the in-depth videos!
I don't think he's breaking the 4th wall, I think he knew of the incursions into Atzoatl and assumed anyone from the future that he met would also be the demon.
She was hinting that not Doryani, but the entity that prophetised our arrival to him is a fourth wall breaker, as we know some that do just this in PoE1.
So it's just teaser for the in-depth video analysis :D
Excellent series btw. Can't wait for the deepdive versions. Particularly deepdive on act3/timetravel stuff.
Im still so confused about the expedition npcs, they all talk like they're time travellers, but talk as if they've been making _many_ trips thru time, not just one
I have been looking forward to this one since the game came out.
Such a great lore video; I love your work and your adorable cat! looking forward for more awesome content like this...keep up the good work. ^-^
Im so happy you ended up perting the kitty for so long lol
YESSS, I was waiting for this... Starving for your voice Noodle 🥰. Many thanks for the material! Cant wait for Affliction league and Dark wood delve and perhaps, Necropolis latter? PLEASSSSE!
Shit! The lore is more complicated than I could imagine!
I'm shocked by Vaal viper warrior is disappeared after defeated. Never notice that!
Thank you.
Those with Vaal blood in their heart give willingly for their time portal
I'm running out of ideas with this, but excellent video as always, rock on queen
I discovered you recently, and i binged all your videos already, i love your work ! cant wait for the in depth video !
I keep thinking that if the beast is allowed to reach a certain god's skull we have had on display as a trophy there is going to be problems.
I don't think the demon of atzoatl line is a fourth wall break, but it is certainly an easter egg.
Think through incursion events from the vaal perspective: you're in the middle of what you think is your empire's golden age and you're building this giant monument to your civilizations' greatness. The best architects from the empire are all competing to design rooms. But you've scarcely broken ground when a strange portal opens up, a ludicrously powerful humanoid steps through, massacres an entire construction detail, and then vanishes without a trace.
Then several months or even years later, it happens again. And again. And again.
Some architects start filling the temple with traps. Some even arm and armor their workers, but nothing even seems to slow this monstrous intruder down. It doesn't say anything, it has no discernable motives, it just appears without warning, kills everyone, and leaves.
Something like that would scar the psyche of an entire generation. And to someone like Doryani, a true genius of thaugmaturgy, it would never be far from his mind. So when he hears that strange invaders have arrived in Utzaal and begun genociding the hell out of everyone, and one of them is so powerful and deadly that they trounced the mightiest general the vaal empire ever produced in single combat, it's the only possible conclusion he could draw.
She was hinting that not Doryani, but the entity that prophetised our arrival to him is a fourth wall breaker, as we know some that do just this in PoE1.
So it's just teaser for the in-depth video analysis :D
I don't think Doryani is breaking the fourth wall, he reffers to our character as the demon of Atzoatl because he THINKS Poe1 and 2's characters are the same person, which honestly is a fair asumption considering we kill whatever steps on our way without much thought, specially since our entire motivation for ravaging Atzoatl time and time again is just profit
What's the difference between two time travelers 20 years apart from eachother who just do the exact same thing (killing everyone) hard to tell from his point of view
I had the same interpretation of this
She was hinting that not Doryani, but the entity that prophetised our arrival to him is a fourth wall breaker, as we know some that do just this in PoE1.
So it's just teaser for the in-depth video analysis :D
i always feel like i kinda know whats going on till i watch your vids lol
very, very nice video. looking forward to 4-5-6 acts video.
doryanis fight was genuinely the easiest boss ive ever done in the game. it was quite sad actually, i struggled more w count geonor
Same! Did it on first try (honestly besides Mighty Silverfist I killed all bosses first try in normal Act 3) and it felt really anticlimactic. I also wish he didn’t use the mech so the fight wasn’t so visually cluttered. I think I struggled the most with the Jamanra fight (maybe even the 1st one the most, haha) but both Geonor and Jamanra (especially Geonor) were more thematically and visually interesting, with cool mechanics. Doryani could use a buff.
The lore's so cool, thanks for the vid
1 hour?! hell yeah!
56:34 it also could be that Incursion will be a poe2 mechanic as well later in development. Incursion is a poe1 classic gambling mechanic so I'd imagine GGG would like to include it in poe2 as well. Players love vaal orbing items so what's better than 2 vaal orbs at once with even bigger risks and bigger rewards. So here we would make the foundations of Alva's incursions AND be the exile that raids Atzoatl. Then Doryani later finds description of "demon of Atzoatl" which matches us and our character.
so there IS a cat
you can see apis climbing on things, but not near her, it's kind of south east of her
What about the primeval civilization (evidence of found in delves) that predate both lightless and vaal? Could be precursors.
Thank you for doing these videos.
I think Queen of Fitlh might be Atalui the bloodpriestess, cuz she is part of endgame ziguratte crew like Ketzuli and its somewhat convenient that Queen of Filth is in possesion of the Key to Kopec. Given what youu said in this video that Ketzuli was tasked to stay 2000 years inside the temple, Atalui could have been tasked to be the Keyholder, but corrupted a lot outside.
On another Note, would find it pretty hilarious if the "non canon" act3 ending is infact the canon ending of act6. like we gathered everything and did all that is needed in act3-6 and arrived back into past to deliver Doryani back or w/e and whitness the cataclysm. Question is, can we even canonicly travel back into future after act3? Can imagin act4 happens in the past too
Oh no, I hope that’s not Atalui. The logic tracks but… I don’t want that to be true 😂
thank you so much for this videos
"Kitava was trapped in a stone that was used for the statue of Innocence" - never realized it could be interpreted this way. I thought Kitava emerged from the statue because his cultists arranged that - it's painted with Kitava's cross in that cutscene.
I mean, it's quite the coincidence. Maybe there's been some kind of ironic meddling in the use of this specific stone for the statue?
@@TheGallantDrake Actually Kitava wasn't even put into the stone, just tied to it according to the text.
Apus is on a Tent to the Right on the way to the waypoint , he is there :D
11:00 apus is slightly south east of servi, hes sitting on top of a tent.
Apist is sitting on top of a tent in between the chest and the hooded one
awesome video thanks so much its great to listen to! I am shocked tho that you didnt dig deeper (yet) into the legion crystal thing. It was the biggest wtf moment for me at least in PoE2. Could it be that we are the reason legion exists? Maybe if you time travel and kill somebody thats not supposed to die it causes a rift in time and they get sucked into and trapped in a legion monolith. It can't be a concidence that we also need to find 3 more piecesfrom various places around the world (and work with the maraketh as the 5th), my tinfoil hat says that we will also somehow meet the other 4 legion generals through time travel or same timeline meetings to then create the legion thing for poe1
also the quote "we know not why we fight, we know only that we must!" from legion fits really well to this 57:15
You say PoE2 is first mention, but what about Precursor's Emblem (the delve rings)? Love the video series, btw. Always been a big fan of your PoE1 lore vids.
That’s a good point! The names on those rings I’ve always associated with the “primeval Vaal” but they are literally called precursor emblems 😅 hmm. Maybe there isn’t a distinction between the 2 groups, in which case we definitely know stuff about them
42:55 if you go close to the edge, your light radius will illuminate the liquid and pretty clearly show that it is blood :) at least clear on my monitor.
Was waiting for this!! LETS GO!🎉🎉🎉
33:32 NO WAY THEY MADE A "SHREK IS LOVE. SHREK IS LIFE" EASTER EGG 😭
Always look forward to your lore.
One hour video. Only one hundredth of the time it takes to complete the act.
Finally, some good fricking food!
Welcome Back Kitten , Still sane?
Lore of PoE2 i liked a lot the main idea to expand Vaal Lore
Did the desert happen because the river was dammed with the piramid?
Apus is above one of tents south of the camp on the way to the waypoint
If there ever was a shining light in the current dimming state of the poe-verse. It be a fresh Cat Noodle lore video
55:19 there are very few npc's that break the 4th wall in PoE talking to and/or referring directly to the player behind the character. I could be misremembering, but the only 3 I recall are Tang Mazu, Hinekora, and Chaos(+trialmaster), so it's very likely that his source could be among there. --It's also mentioned in the epilogue that Doryani underwent the Trials of Chaos, so I'd be willing to bet that Chaos is the most likely one to be whispering sweet nothings to Doryani.
You find her grandson on the right of Sin playing on a tent
WAKE UP BABE NOW POE" LOE VIDEO DROPPED!!!!
The liquid in the Black Chambers is indeed Blood. We can see the red color in some places where light shines on it.
Thank you!!🎉
So what I'm hearing is Alva played with time and is here, there and everywhere lol
Though I definitely didn't pick up on it during the campaign.
I'm ready for some lore 🧻🧴
Tears of Maji refer to virtue gems in general, as far as I remember, not specifically the Vaal variant.
Yes, they are aware. Not sure what was said that implied otherwise. Is it because of the unique "vaal gems" in poe 1?