Tin Foil Hat : Hysh and The Haven of Lileath

Hey Everyone!  Today I wanted to try something that I don't do very often and that is doing a bit of a Tin Foil Hat discussion.  It won't be about any rules discussion but focused on the lore and possible future of the overall narrative.  Recently in a Community Article talking about changes to magic and casting in the Age of Sigmar showing off the realm of Hysh.  Hysh, the realm of light and home to the Twin Gods Tyrion and Teclis.  It is one of the first glimpses we have seen about this realm and it reminded me of some prior art from The End Times.  There is a very good chance none of this is how it will all work out, but it should be fun to look at.  Join me as I attempt to tie together random strands for a bit of fun and a look at the possible direction of the lore.

When I first saw the above image I was instantly reminded of the one below from The End Time books.  During the events of The End Time, a pocket realm was created in order to save the Aelves of The World That Was.  Ultimately, to the best of my memory, the destiny of this pocket realm is unknown.  It was created by Lileath who died during the events of The End Times and she was the only one who held a connection to the realm.  At one point she could no longer sense the realm so we have no way of knowing its fate.

It could very well be possible that this pocket realm was actually the very beginning of the realm of Hysh.  The color palette is very similar as is the scope of the image.  Being a goddess Lileath could have had the ability to create such a realm.  We never really got a sense of the power of the gods from The World That Was so she might have spent the majority of her power to save the Aelves she loved so much.

Also pictured is the Wood Elf Noble, Araloth who was married to Lileath and much to his surprise had fathered a Daughter with her.  She sent Araloth and their daughter to this new realm to save them and start anew sacrificing herself to attempt to save The World That Was.  She never gave up on The World That Was, but she knew to plan ahead.

Lileath was one of the primary Elven Gods from the old Pantheon and was the goddess of dreams and prophecy.  She would speak and interact directly with the elves of old, but when Asyuran, The Creator, had ordered the gods to pull away from their creation she would speak through Dreams and Prophecy.  During the "Golden Age" of the Elves of old, she granted them three gifts the only remaining being the Staff of Lileath.  The staff was last wielded by Teclis and it is likely he still holds it to this day.  One of the lost artifacts of Lileath was the Amulet of Sunfire which was so pure that no evil could stand in its presence.  The magic behind this item feels much in line with the magic of Hysh which, in the lore, Spells of Hysh (or light) could Banish Daemons.

Lileath, while not truly interacting directly took on other mantles to guide her plans.  It was revealed in The End Times that she and The Lady of The Lake were one in the same.  She had wished to imbue the Humans of Bretonnia with honor and purity so that they might one day be the protectors of the new realm she had created in secret.  Ultimately the surviving Bretonian Knights turned their back on her when they learned the truth.  She did return to more direct contact when she redeemed a Wood Elf Lord named Araloth.  Araloth, accompanied and his hawk companion Skaryn, grew up a coward as such would only ever hunt game they could not hunt him back and he was looked down upon in his home of Talsyn.

One day while riding in the woods he was thrown from his horse.  Soon after he came upon an Elf Maiden being attacked by a four-armed Daemon.  Finally finding his courage Araloth and his hawk drove back and killed the Daemon.  The Maiden was a disguised Lileath who had helped Araloth find his true self.  He would go on to be a great Lord of the Wood Elves and become the living Champion of Ariel herself.  Lileath, as we know, would be the mother of his Daughter.

Lileath and her influences were all through The End Times.  She only sent Araloth and their daughter to the new pocket realm, which looks strangely similar to The Realm of Hysh.  Why did she not send any other old elves through?  I believe she would use the souls of the elves to begin anew.  As we have seen in the lore recently for Age of Sigmar Souls are potent energies which the gods can manipulate to create new life and pretty much anything else.  Aelf souls are the most potent of these and Lileath had shown an Elven Princess, Eldyra of Tiranoc that she was, in fact, the reincarnation of Erth Khial, The Pale Queen who was the Elven goddess of the dead.

Eldyra was a strong elf who took up her father's sword to serve the Phoenix King, but when the court shunned and laughed at her Tyrion saw the strength and he made her his squire so she could take her proper place.  During the Battle of the nine Daemons, Eldyra was captured by Vlad Von Carstein and locked away as the only surviving elf of the battle.  She thought to be turning into a vampire, but in fact, it was her power as Erth Khial awakening.  Lileath instructed her that she would need to save as many elven souls as she could from Slaanesh's great hunger.  Perhaps these souls were meant to repopulate Lileaths hidden realm, but sadly we do not have a clear answer.  Eldyra's fate is a mystery, but if she saved any elven souls and kept them safe it would be a great boon to Tyrion and Teclis as the souls would be pure and could create a strong new race of aelves.  If this did take place then it is likely Lileath had it everything in motion for the souls to end up in her hidden realm which could very well be a part of Hysh as we know it now.

So how to the Twin gods of Light play into all of this connection between Lieltahs Hidden Realm and the Realm of Hysh?  We know that Teclis worshipped Lileath and had worked with her very closely through The End Times as he worked to avoid the fate set in motion.  He watched his brother, Tyrion, be claimed by the curse of Khaine and ultimately die so the curse could burn itself out.  Teclis tore apart the Great Vortex to create the Incarnates, most of who became the gods in The Age of Sigmar.  He kept the wind of Hysh contained within the Staff of Lileath before using it to resurrect his dead twin as the Incarnate of Light.

Teclis did a lot of actions during The End Times that most consider him foolish or even evil for doing, but he was looking at a very long game and I will explore Teclis as a character in a future article.  He did all of this with guidance from Lileath, even killing her to use her remaining power to magically transport the Incarnates and their armies to the final battle during The End Times.  It is not impossible he also knew of Lielaths Hidden Realm and to this day is still following his dead goddess and her grand plan to save the Aelves.  We know that Tyrion and Teclis are the Twin gods of Light and if the hidden realm was, in fact, the beginning of Hysh it would explain why they awoke in Hysh after The World That Was ended.  If one or both of them found the hidden realm it is unlikely they would have told anyone or risk losing it before they could use it to their own ends.

Slaanesh is imprisoned between the realms of Hysh and Ulgu through some Pylons that look very similar to those we see in the art with Araloth in the hidden realm.  It is very much a call back to old High Elf architecture so it could be a connection to all of this or a simple throwback, but the art is worth sharing again so I wanted to mention it in this article and point out the similarities. 

So did Lileath's plans succeed and the hidden realm is, in fact, part of or the beginning of Hysh in The Age of Sigmar?  We don't know, but it is fun to explore these ideas and possibilities.  At the very least it leaves a lot of room for interpretation if these loose ends remain open and a fun space to craft a narrative.  While we won't know until we know I am choosing to believe that Lileath's hidden realm is safe and somehow part of Hysh as did the Aelven souls secreted away by Eldyra.  It's more fun for me to think of it this way until I am either proven wrong or correct and that's what this is all about.  Having fun in the Mortal Realms!

I hope you enjoyed my Tin Foil Hat article and the wild claims I make purely on a few images and my knowledge (i.e. obsession) of the Aelves as they were, what they are, and what they could become.  Until next week, Happy Hobbying!

Chuck Moore