pre-release theories
Regardless of the player's actions, some companions will not return
So far, the only companions shown to be returning are Eder, Aloth and Pallegina. It is possible that due to plot reasons, some companions will be Put on a Bus.- Confirmed. Only these three return as playable companions. Depending on their endings, you can also run into Kana, Maneha and what is left of the Devil of Caroc.
post-release theories
The antagonist of a third game, should it happen, will either be the God of Yezuha or the church of a non-existent god.
- Let's look at Rekke's revelations: there exists, far to the east of the known world, a monotheistic, probably authoritarian (if shipping the unemployed on westward suicide missions is standard practice), highly cosmopolitan empire. With the storms east of the Deadfire gone, missionaries of Yezuha will be free to sail to the domain of the Engwithans. So why did the Engwithans feel it necessary to create such storms in the first place? Was the God of Yezuha too much for the Engwithan pantheon, or were the constructed gods unable to defeat the kith of the west? Neither answer bodes well.
- Possibly supported by the fact that the Engwithans created dangerous sea monsters that live in the east of Deadfire, making the area impassible. It's possible that the ancient Engwithans knew about this civilization and created the monsters to act as another layer of defense against it.
- Just a wild stab in the dark: Rekke's going to turn out to be one of the bad guys in the sequel. Yes, I know he can die, and he could easily be a friendly, and maybe that scar is too obvious of a tell. But I've got to to at least put it out there, because he does feel like sort of a middle road between Thaos and Eothas in terms of personality, and there's something he's not telling us.
Arkemyr is an imp, and/or imps are Arkemyr.
- This one's pretty out there, I admit. I'm not 100% convinced of it myself, but I liked it enough to want to share it. So the Circle's resident master illusionist seems downright dull, yet the grumpy old hermit surrounds himself with wacky, annoying, stupid imps, and the person who would seem to know him best, his most recent apprentice Fassina, suspects there's more to him than he lets on. She entered his service with the curious inkling that he somehow knew more about magic than the rest of the Circle combined. What if he, like Llengrath and Concelhaut, sought a form of immortality? What if that immortality came through passing his intellect into the imps in his service, and the real Arkemyr is just an illusion, used to keep up the pretense? Perhaps this Arkemyr created his imps long ago, and allowed them to spread throughout the libraries of all mages, gradually adding to his own arcane knowledge? ...Or, to take a completely different tack, what if the human "Arkemyr" never existed? We know that imps like Nemnok can grow in power and knowledge by devouring tomes. Perhaps this is how the imp who would eventually be known as Arkemyr came to be, and why he forbids his imps from learning to read and thus coming to rival his power? Even if neither of these is quite true, Arkemyr does still seem more closely connected to imps than his fellow wizards, and imps are said to be drawn to wizards' libraries. What if this isn't only a natural drive, but a rumor Arkemyr capitalizes upon to put his own imps behind enemy lines, so to speak, accessing research that would otherwise remain hidden to him? Nobody suspects an imp, after all, but Drowsy Puke in The Forbidden Sanctum shows that they are capable of learning on their own, of acting without orders, and organizing themselves. It all seems decidedly far-fetched, and yet surely Eora's foremost illusionist has more than a few secrets yet to be revealed.
Tayn is the new Weyc of the Hand Occult.
- The former leader of the Hand was also an Archmage, so the precedent is there. More than that, though, Tayn embodies Wael's ethos and ideals extremely well: chaotic and interested in doing crazy things just for the novelty of seeing what happens. He lives Wael's "truth" far more faithfully than Fyonlecg ever seemed to. On top of that, he's the one that warns the Watcher that the Hand Occult are far more powerful and insidious than they let on, while his fellow Archmages Llengrath and Concelhaut dismiss them as incompetent cranks. He was able to find the Forgotten Sanctum without traversing the labyrinth above it like the Watcher and Llengrath had to, suggesting he knew what to look for...possibly because he's been there before. And last but not least, let's not forget what he does to Llengrath's journals if you let him have them. There's no question that Tayn is more than he appears to be, and this fits so naturally with his character and possession of knowledge/abilities he shouldn't have.
There ARE six party slots
- The real reason the party limit is five is because the sixth slot is being occupied by Grieving Mother, who the Watcher has lost the ability to see after being brought back by Berath. This is represented as the player not being able to see her either, but she's been there the whole time.
