Thou Must Live, Die, and Know
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Thou Must Live, Die, and Know
- Quest giver
- Venat
- Location
- Elpis (X:30.9, Y:22.4)
- Quest line
Endwalker Main Scenario Quests- Level
- 87
- Experience
495,000- Gil
1,152- Previous quest
Caging the Messenger- Next quest
- As the Heavens Burn
Fish Time Forgot - Patch
- 6.0
- Links
- EDB GT TC
Main Scenario Progress: 780 / 987 (79%)
Endwalker Progress: 82 / 155 (52.9%)
Venat is watching you in quiet contemplation.
— In-game description
Rewards
- Unlocks
Walkthrough
Note: Upon speaking with Venat and returning, a sequence of cutscenes will play. The cutscene sequence will take between 18-20 minutes, depending on text advance speeds. Plan your time accordingly.
Steps
- Speak with Venat.
- Report to Krile in the main hall of the Baldesion Annex.
Journal
- Venat is watching you in quiet contemplation.
Dialogue
Accepting the quest
Forename, listen to me. Our duty now is not to denounce Hermes for his misguided determination, or to convince Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus that they have been deceived.
No, we must instead ensure that the experiences Hermes sought to expunge are preserved.
What remains in our memories alone will be our weapon against the Final Days.
You must fight this battle in your age, and I in mine...
Come, let us walk together once more. I will see you to the doors of Propylaion.
Speak with Venat.
Your time in this age is drawing to an end.
Upon speaking to Venat, several cutscenes will play in sequence.
It is recommended that you set aside sufficient time to view these scenes in their entirety.
Speak with Venat? (Yes/No)
Start of voiced cutscene.So...it is within. The portal that brought you hither...and will take you home.
What will you say?
Yes. This is where we part ways.
May you and yours emerge triumphant.
Make use of the knowledge you have gained, that your days in Elpis and our friends' sacrifice be not in vain.
Perhaps I should stay and help...
I appreciate your sentiment, I truly do, but 'tis a very long game that we must now play.
And while you have maintained a stable presence here thus far, there are dangers in lingering overlong.
No, you must return to your own battlefield. Make use of the knowledge you have attained, that your days here and our friends' sacrifice be not in vain.
With Meteion free to pursue her designs, 'tis only a matter of time until the Final Days are upon us.
We must be ready. From fortifying our defenses to securing our escape, there is much to be done.
In spite of this, we cannot allow the report that set this calamity in motion to become common knowledge. Were the masses to learn the fates of the other stars, I fear the situation would spiral out of our control.
I must carefully consider who can be trusted, and bring them into the fold.
Ordinarily, I wouldn't hesitate to call upon the Fourteen. However, it was the desire for a fair determination that drove Hermes to attempt to erase our memories; were he made aware of his actions, there is no telling whether he would remain a friend or become a foe.
Alternately, we might try to alienate him from the Convocation. Yet in doing so, we would deprive ourselves of a brilliant mind who would be invaluable in the crises to come.
Quite the dilemma... Which is why I must work independently of the Convocation.
Regardless of how we proceed, if we are to permanently avert the Final Days, we must be equal to Hermes's challenge. We must prove that mankind is worthy to exist.
And this hinges, I think, on how we confront the all-consuming despair that accompanies a senseless and seemingly inevitable end.
Bewildered and divided, we would perish like the peoples of those celestial ruins.
We could not hope to survive the Final Days, much less take the battle to Meteion at her nest.
We must find a way to defeat despair. To unite and prepare as many as possible for the struggle ahead.
Heavy will weigh the burden of guiding this legion of souls...
Yet I have faith in mankind's potential. As long as he believes in himself, there is naught he cannot achieve. So I will not give up on him. On us.
You may find your world to be very different. Or perhaps the erasure of our friends' memories has sown the seeds of a conjunction between us.
We cannot know until the moment is at hand. So shall I strive to do my best, taking naught for granted as I walk my path.
And I pray you walk with me to the end.
As you move forward, so too will I. As will all resolved to fight for the morrow.
And when mankind has found the strength to stand against despair...
We shall silence the song of oblivion.
She who sings it will learn our journey is far from over. This I promise.
Fare you well, my light of the future. Till we meet again.
End of cutscene.
Start of voiced cutscene.The player floats through the rift, past a memory showing Hermes after the events in Elpis.
From this day forth, I shall strive to bring honor to the seat of Fandaniel.
Another memory glows red in front of the player, showing a white-robed Ancient. They reach out for it, and it overtakes their senses. The scene shifts to Amaurot during the Final Days with Venat.
Even now, I remember standing there. Locked in a moment where the sky is aflame.
Where stars fall as tears, and screams darken the seas.
Where resignation rots the trees.
Where terror twists magicks into abominations.
Such is the lament of they who have gone before.
The song of they who tried and failed to create a better world. The song of the end.
That which hides at the edge of the universe is no longer hope's creation.
It is hopelessness incarnate.
That day, mankind saw half of its number sacrificed to bring forth Zodiark.
And covering the star in a shroud of aether, we forestalled the Final Days.
Yet the cries echoed still...
We wept for innocence lost. Wailed for death inevitable.
A reality too terrible to bear...
And for too many, who sought comfort in gilded memories of joyful days and tranquil nights.
Venat talks with a group of Ancients.
This is all wrong... Why must we suffer so?
It needn't be like this. No, there must be a way to restore things to the way they were. To reclaim the perfect paradise we once had.
No, my friends. Suffering exists, and we cannot pretend otherwise.
No civilization, however great, could eliminate it. If we would live, we must accept it as our constant companion.
Let us not seek to forget this tragedy. Let us carry it in our hearts, that we may grow stronger and know true happiness.
We can't accept it! We won't accept it! It will be ours again ─ a world free of sorrow!
No, it will not, for there has ever been sorrow. Mankind was but spared its biting sting for a time.
So please, open your eyes. To try and reclaim those lives we lost by sacrificing yet more isn't wisdom. It is weakness.
No paradise is without its shadows. If we cannot accept this truth and learn from our pain, then our plight shall be repeated.
O mighty Zodiark, god born of our boundless faith! We bid you hear our prayer!
Accept this offering of lives, and deliver unto us the lives we once had. Deliver unto us the days of old...
The days when the star was a font of love, and we knew naught but bliss!
Venat spawns her sword.
You would destroy it? Our beautiful world?
Lands that stretched on forever. Skies one could drown in. The heartbeat of nature, silent yet strong.
And amidst it all a people. Beacons of light and life. Laughter that warmed my heart like naught else before.
They are my meaning and my purpose. My love.
In spite of...or perhaps because of this, I choose to believe.
In mankind's potential. In his ability to find a way forward.
So let there be no way back. From that temptation I sunder us.
No more shall man have wings to bear him to paradise.
Henceforth, he shall walk.
Venat sunders Etheirys.
All is excruciating pain. I breathe fire and torment.
I birth a world of suffering to mire and plague.
In one fleeting moment, lives come and go. Ever moving towards the unknown.
And in that fleeting moment, they cry for the answer to the question:
Why, given life, are they meant to suffer. To die...
As fragmented, imperfect beings, yours is a never-ending quest.
A quest to find your purpose, knowing your end is assured.
To find the strength to continue, when all strength has left you.
To find joy, even as darkness descends...
...And amidst deepest despair, light everlasting.
End of cutscene.
Start of voiced cutscene.The player is lying on the floor of the Ocular. They recall Venat's words on the ship to Old Sharlayan.
A conjunction has begun to form; an intertwining of your time and mine.
When you truly understand what is at stake, and your journey has prepared you to surmount the insurmountable...
Then shall I honor the promise made in another time. Another age.
End of cutscene.
Report to Krile in the main hall of the Baldesion Annex.
Optional dialogue
You've a knack for turning up exactly when needed, and this is no exception!
Forename!? Impeccable timing, as always!
I'd heard you were off in the First as part of our efforts to investigate the Final Days.
Well, as so often seems to be the case, while you were away, we've had some few developments...
...Which we can discuss in just a moment. For now, however, I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have you back!