Ondra, Abydon, and the Eastern Sea

[Jethroe]

So its revealed by Ondra in white march 2 that she is kind of the secret police of the gods, hiding away any secrets they dont want being revealed.  We also learn that she was responsible for the destruction of the Engwithians by pulling down the moon to destroy them, though she won't really tell you why she did that other than some vague reasons about the gods getting too cozy with the Engwithians.  If you really question her further she will mention that she wanted to take out Deadfire and the Eastern Reaches specifically.  In some of the books in the game they talk about how if you sail east past the eastern reaches your ship will be invariably destroyed by giant sea monsters, the same sea monsters that are under the control of Ondra.  It seems also certain to me that there is something super secret in the East that she is attempting to keep hidden from civilization.  What do you guys think this is?  My guess is that the home of the gods lies in the east.  It would make sense that the Engwithians would make their home close to their gods and also aligns with her comments about them getting too close with the gods.  

  I also found it interesting that it seems like Ondra does not just want to take people's memories from them for their sake, but that maybe she actually feeds on those memories.  The event with Maneha in the salt pool and the ritual of slowly bleeding away the memories of the low tide make me think she doesnt just take your memory but some portion of the soul that is bound to those memories.

 How do you think golem Abydon came to be?  We know Ondra "killed" him when she destroyed his physical form, but somehow he was able to come back as a golem?  Did the other gods craft the golem for him so he could come back, did mortals make it for him, or did his soul somehow craft it?  Its also strange that he doesn't question how he died, its clear Ondra took his memories of his former life away but you would think he would at the very least question the other gods what happened to him. 

[globalCooldown]

Well, we don't technically know whether or not Abydon questions it. He could've asked how it happened and all the other gods shrugged in unison. Or, he could not question it because Ondra made him forget to ask. Who knows?

 

I love the theory that the sea monsters in the Eastern Sea are keeping something hidden from the rest of the world. Maybe a place. Maybe some super-powerful artifact. Maybe they're just trying to keep people from confirming that the world is round.

[Baron Pampa]

I think I recall from the dialogue that because of Abydon's sacrifice Ondra didn't suceed at destroying Engwithians...at that time. And I think that Durance mentions that Abydon got some help from Magran in reforging himself.

[Ausir]

My interpretation was that because of his sacrifice the Engwithans did fall, but they at least did not vanish without a trace.

[house2fly]

The Engwithans sacrificed themselves as a people to create the gods, leaving only their ruins and people like Thaos. At some point Ondra got paranoid about someone finding the ruins and uncovering their secrets. I forget if they say but I think after this the gods charged the Glanfathans with guarding the ruins as a compromise between leaving everything untouched and blowing up the continent.

[DozingDragon]

Ausir's interpretation is the conclusion I arrived at.

 

The Watcher's flashbacks provide evidence that Engwithans were the backbone of spreading their faith.

 

In the flashbacks there are references to the works of the Engwithans, Thaos speaks of his people in a present tense, and Iovara explains she learned the secret of the gods by eavesdropping on Engwithan missionaries.

 

So, there might be something about the eastern sea, but it really seems like the timeline went something like this:

 

1. Gods are created, many Engwithans sacrifice themselves in this process, but the Engwithan civilization survives the process.

 

2. Engwithans begin their mission work, spreading their new faith across the other cultures in Eora.

 

3. Some point after Iovara's death Ondra decides to destroy Engwithan civilization. Again, Iovara stated that she learned the secret of the gods by eavesdropping on Engwithans, therefore the best way to keep this a secret is to eliminate the only ones who know the truth. Abydon intercedes and as a result some traces of Engwith survive.

 

4. It's probable that the impact that wiped out Engwith had far reaching effects on the rest of Eora, wiping out the civilizations that Engwith converted. Hence there is no mention of Creitum, etc. during PoE.

[house2fly]

Engwith converted everyone. As Thaos says to Kana, "you are LIVING in the time of my people"

[Luckmann]

On the issue of Abydon's body, it is my understanding that the prevailing mythology (whether true or not in relation to the gods' true history) is that Magran helped Abydon create a new form for himself, and has been closely aligned with (some would likely say subservient to) Magran ever since.

 

This is all of course quite debatable, as it posits the question whether the gods have physical bodies at all. Everything we know suggests that they don't, but at the same time, it is obvious that this embodiment of Abydon is as an important part to the mythology or the "real" history behind the mythology as the story of the burning of Woedica, physically, literally, scarring her forever.

[THOMAS_W]

On the issue of Abydon's body, it is my understanding that the prevailing mythology (whether true or not in relation to the gods' true history) is that Magran helped Abydon create a new form for himself, and has been closely aligned with (some would likely say subservient to) Magran ever since.

 

This is all of course quite debatable, as it posits the question whether the gods have physical bodies at all. Everything we know suggests that they don't, but at the same time, it is obvious that this embodiment of Abydon is as an important part to the mythology or the "real" history behind the mythology as the story of the burning of Woedica, physically, literally, scarring her forever.

 

Is it that debatable that the gods have physical forms? I mean you literally find a skyscraper sized corpse of one, he is tangibly there. If not Abydon then what is it?