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Last Epoch’s lore is enchanting. It is a rare case of time-travelling done right in a narrative, with the added bonus of also being utilized to a great extent when it comes to the game’s systems. There are rules to follow and, cleverly, you learn them alongside the protagonist.
Although the game’s had its 1.0 full release, the story isn’t actually finished yet. The open-ended conclusion gives a lot of threads for the developers to pick up on in the future, and that’s what we’re going over in this article. Where, or better yet, when will the Epoch take us to next?
Chapter 9’s Ending Explained
After traveling from epoch to epoch, attempting to unravel the over-arching narrative that will eventually lead Eterra to The End of Time, the Traveler’s final actions take place inthe Divine Era, the protagonist’s original time.
They’re hunting for the blessings of the gods tokill Rahyeh, the one who turned on the three others.
Last Epoch’s Gods of Eterra are: Heorot, Lagon, Majasa and Rahyeh.
Heorot is mortally wounded, buthelps the protagonist on their journey and gets them his blessing. In the most difficult fight in the campaign, we manage to get Lagon’s blessing too, before moving onto the final god, Majasa.
This is where our plan goes south, becausetreachery is afoot in Maj’elka. The goddess is betrayed by her oracle, Apophis,who corrupts herwith the power of the void, forcing the Traveler to fight her. This gets them the third and final blessing they needed, but at a great loss.
After the final battle,Apophis uses the powers seemingly granted by Orobyssto drain the power out of the Epoch, managing to escape and leaving the protagonist stranded in time.
This leads them to the End of Time, wherethey have to go through the other timelines that fell before theirs, trying to learn how to avoid the same fate, while attempting tosomehow recharge the Epoch.
Who Is Apophis?
Apparently, out of nowhere, Apophis joins the story andbecomes the main antagonist in Chapter 9.
Before getting to Maj’elka, she’s mentioned once or twice in passing, but doesn’t seem to have any relevance.
As Majasa’s vessel maiden,Apophis exists to ultimately be sacrificed, so the goddess can retain her eternal life.
With motivations that aren’t clear, especially in a culture that has seemingly kept this tradition for ages,Apophis rebels against her goddess and betrays her.
To do so, she somehow interacted with Orobyss,who taught her the ways of the void, empowering the vessel maiden.It isn’t clear if she has a plan after getting her freedom, or ifOrobyss has somethingin store for her.
Apophis Is The Oracle?
The main theory throughout the community is thatthe Vessel Maiden Apophis is actually the Oracle we also meet in Chapter 9. This would answer a lot of weird questions that the NPC’s existence poses.
Her title implies some sort ofprophetic powers, yet she seems entirelyconfused by the fact that the Traveler is the one helping Alricwhen they meet her.
Furthermore, she focuses on the protagonist having the Epoch by that point, mentioning that"(…) it is all you need for what must happen next".
By this point in the campaign,they’re not using the Epoch for anything. The Traveler is gathering blessings from the Gods to empower Heorot’s Lance,yet the Oracle’s concern is the Epoch.
It’s very likely that the Oracle isn’t actually a seer,just someone who’s lived through this timeline before, and found a way to return with all that knowledge.
Given that, right after this, Apophis steals the power of the Epoch to begin the next part of the narrative, it seems thatthe Oracle indeed knew what was going to happen.
Moreover, despite being an important character to the narrative,the Oracle isn’t voice acted, which might imply that if she were,we would immediately notice that she has Apophis' voice.
Although this remains a theory, for now, it seems extremely likely thatApophis and the Oracle are indeed the same person.
What About Yulia And Zerrick?
The Traveler’s two main helpers in Chapter 9 have got no conclusions whatsoever. Yet, we do know how they eventually end up.
Zerrick, the rogue who plays a crucial role in the protagonist’s success,ends up becoming Spymaster Zerrick, an undead boss fought during the Imperial Era, a millennium after the Divine Era in which Chapter 9 takes place.
How did he end up becoming a twisted monster under the Immortal Emperor’s influence? Did the Traveler play a part in getting him to that point?
We also know that Yulia, the brave warrior who helps the protagonist achieve their goals, remains brave even as an undead servant of the Immortal Emperor.
She tries to help the Traveler stop him, but since they didn’t have Heorot’s Lance yet, they’re not able to finish the job. It’s not only entirely unclear how she got to that point, and how she’ll get out of it aftershe openly betrays the Emperor.
Yulia is also featured as a boss in the Timeline of Fates but, unlike Zerrick, isnever the player’s enemy during the campaign.
It is a worrying sign thattwo of the Traveler’s main companions have become minions of the Immortal Emperorin the Imperial Era, one that has been feeding theories that, perhaps,an alternate version of theprotagonist is the one who becomes the skeletal tyrant.
The Holy Grael
The third important companion is Grael. Introduced to the protagonist in the game’s first chapter, Heorot’s Champion is a puzzling character.
He serves as the Traveler’s guide throughout the beginning of the game, beforedisappearing for the majority of the campaign.
He does come back in Chapter 7, when the protagonist is assisting Heorot in his fight against Rahyeh, butquickly disappears again, never making a return.
Why does the game seem to give so much importance to a character that barely plays a role in the story? Not only is he given a lot of weight when he shows up in the campaign, he is even featured as aQuest Echo boss in the Age of Winter timeline in theMonolith of Fate.
In the Age of Winter timeline, Heorot goes mad after killing Rahyeh.
Being his champion,Grael follows him blindly and ends up becoming the Traveler’s enemy.
There’s no way Grael doesn’t play a crucial role in the next chapters of the story, but with the information we currently have, predicting what that role is would be pure speculation. We’ll get our answers when the final three planned chapters of the story come out.
