Recap / Granblue Fantasy Heart Of The Sun

Heart of the Sun

Shortly after Lucifer's creation, Lucilius warns him to keep his guard up around Astaroth, who plans to turn the world around its head. Many years later, a body is found underground and suspiciously well-preserved. Said body, calling himself Abramelin, eventually goes off on his own to search for his target.

While the Festival of Falling Flame is coming up again, rumors of the Phoenix's revival and surrounding disasters causes the organizers to request additional security in the form of the Kingdom of Radlith. Despite being on guard for the revival, Lyria notices that there's more primal beasts waiting for them.

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Tropes

• 11th-Hour Superpower: The Captain, with Raziel's help, taps in to the Omnipotent's power while fighting the Phoenix, giving them buffs like heavy Anti-Regeneration damage, upgraded skills, and gaining an element that has never been seen before in Granblue's history.
• Advertised Extra: Lucifer and Lucilius' appearances in this event have so far been limited to brief flashbacks, despite pre-event Soar the Cosmos segments implying that they would play larger roles in the narrative. This is somewhat justified, as Lucilius is currently trapped in the dimensional rift, and Lucifer is deceased, with his conscience only reachable in the afterlife. The latter's existence proves to be crucial to the plot, however, as Raziel's motivations during the story partially revolve around him.
• All for Nothing: The Phoenix leaves without offering either of Raziel or Magus her tears, meaning that all of their efforts to ensure the resurrection of their respective loved ones were in vain. Both take it as inspiration to search for a new way to resurrect their respective loved one, however.
• Asshole Victim: Few people seemed to care about Ceodric’s death.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: While the Diviners reconvene to assess the crew's strength, Ra is more interested about how much money she got from slots. Osiris's remarks notes that this isn't the first time Ra has gone on a side tangent.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Ceodric obtained the power of the Phoenix and tried to go after the Captain's head, not for any legitimate reasons but to show that he is strong, all while displaying bouts of hypocrisy through the event. In the end, despite claiming that he is now equal to Seofon in terms of power with the help of the Phoenix, he is ultimately nothing but an Unwitting Pawn to Phoenix in the long run.
• Bittersweet Ending: Abramelin is dead, but he uses the Phoenix tear to revive Fernie before passing away, promising to meet Sabrina and Fernie again in the future. The Diviners also get to walk away with their life’s because the Phoenix is still alive, meaning they still have their original purposes to track the Phoenix. Lucifer is also still dead, with Raziel unable to resurrect him due to the Phoenix's refusal to let go of her tears, but she vows to find another way to resurrect him, keeping hope alive that he will one day return to the sky realm. Meanwhile, Lucilius sees the Phoenix and muses on its travel methods, just as the players are shown the Astral Realm.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Phoenix doesn't share the same mindset as those of Primals and mortals, leaving many confounded by its true motive by the end of the event.
• Connected All Along:
  • The existence of the Diviners is literally dependent on that of the Phoenix. If it's gone, they lose function and fall into a deep, wakeless sleep forever.
  • Lucifer and the Phoenix took an interest in and acknowledged each other during Lucifer’s lifetime.
• Continuity Nod: Although Raziel was never mentioned by name before this story, she could have been one of the jealous angels Lucilius was referring to in Paradise Lost when he mentioned how much time Lucifer spends with Sandalphon, as she admits to him that she’s jealous of Sandalphon.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Captain normally would have aged several decades from handling the Omnipotent's power. The reason why they didn't is due to Caligostro taking that load off and redirecting it to her backups.
• Deal with the Devil: Under the belief that Seofon is hoarding power to prevent his kingdom from rising their standing and being bitter due to the Eternals not stepping in to save his mother from illness, Ceodric made a deal with the Phoenix to stand toe-to-toe with Seofon and also to show off that he's stronger than Sabrina. The Book of Phoenix also hints that Ceodric wishes to bring his mother back to life which motivated him to take the deal with Phoenix.
• Death of a Child: Nanashi ultimately dies a Heroic Sacrifice under a crazed Ceodric's hand when he tried to kill Sabrina over the revelation that she had been the reincarnation of Abramelin's wife Farhana, forcing Sabrina to kill Ceodric in return over Nanashi's death. The final chapter subverted this due to Abramelin making a deal with the Phoenix to bring Nanashi back to life in exchange of his death.
• Death Seeker: The Phoenix wishes to die after watching the world for billions of years. This is the only reason it seeks out the Singularity, believing them to be the only being in existence that can end its long life, especially after receiving immortality from it. The Book of Phoenix reveals that this is a ruse to manipulate Raziel.
• Deus Exit Machina: Wilnas fight off against a raging cyclone and falls down injured after it. This leads to the festival requesting stronger security through the Kingdom of Radlith. The Book of Phoenix reveals that the cyclone came from the Phoenix who wanted to deal with the Six Dragons first before it could commence with the next stage of its plan.
• Entitled to Have You: Despite envying Sabrina and never actually loving her, Ceodric feels entitled to be her husband that he didn't take the revelation of Sabrina being the reincarnation of Farhana well.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Magus to Astaroth, which is why she wants to use the Phoenix’s power to bring him, as her own powers of resurrection are insufficient.
• Evil All Along: Possibly; It's unclear what the Phoenix's true motivation was. Raziel speculates that its manipulations were a covert attempt to assist the reincarnated Farhana in fulfilling her promise to be reunited with her family, but it’s bio says it has no special feelings for Fenie.
• Evil Knockoff: The event reveals that the Phoenix that showed up in "Festival of Falling Flame" is the Astrals attempt to mimic the actual Phoenix.
• Equivalent Exchange: In exchange of bringing Nanashi back to life, Abramelin ask for his own death so he could die in peace and reincarnates into his next life to meet Farhana again.
• Failed a Spot Check: The Diviners found their recon on the crew to be pointless and would rather kill the Captain as soon as possible. Their haphazard recon meant that they didn't factor in the alert Abramelin, causing Atum's assassination attempt to end in failure.
• Foreshadowing: In The Book of Skydwellers, Raziel tells Sandalphon that the Phoenix's existence is essential for the Primarchs of this generation, but it is unclear what she means at the time. In The Book of Primals, the meaning of her words becomes clearer, as her goal is to use the Phoenix's power to resurrect someone, who is strongly implied to be Lucifer. Sandalphon, at least, seems to have figured it out by the end of part 2.
• Forever War: The Phoenix's true goal is to set up another war with the Omnipotent to destroy the world and "restart" it from the ashes, using the Singularity, the Captain's death, as the catalyst to cause that war to "restart" the world.
• Got Volunteered: Ceodric signs up Sabrina into a duel with the intention of promoting both her and their kingdom. Sabrina immediately forfeits after her first match to focus more on the festival's security.
• Graceful Loser: The Phoenix ultimately accepted defeat at the end of the event.
• Hate Sink: Ceodric devolves into one over the course of the event, revealing himself to be a hypocrite, misogynist, and a user blessed with Phoenix's power who never loved Sabrina. When he’s finally killed off, it comes as no surprise that neither the major characters of the event nor the players really give a hoot.
• Healing Factor: Abramelin is notably a very tough cookie as much of the damage the crew and the Diviners dealt to him gets quickly healed.
• Hypocrite: Ceodric claims that Seofon is hoarding on power for the sake of so-called equality among other kingdoms, all while Ceodric himself is the prince of his own Kingdom and is in position of power, even bemoaning things that his own Kingdom lacked instead of acting on it to improve and show his standing as the future king. Seofon points out that he's already powerful as a prince, but Ceodric is too greedy in his pursuit of power then to make note of it.
• Identity Amnesia:
  • Nanashi, hence why she's called "Nanashi," which means "Nameless." It's revealed in The Book of Primals that she's a fragment of the Phoenix. Nanashi's real identity is Fenie, Abramelin and Farhana's adopted child, and she pretended to be amnesiac to hopefully have her adopted parents reunite.
  • Sabrina is revealed to be a straight example in the Book of Phoenix as she is the reincarnation of Abramelin's wife, Farhana, which later caused conflict with Ceodric.
• Identity Breakdown: Sabrina had a breakdown due to the mix of memories between her current self and of Farhana, catching her off guard and defenseless from a crazed Ceodric.
• Immortals Fear Death: The Diviners are effectively immortal as long as the Phoenix lives, as they were created to serve as tracking devices for it. However, when the Phoenix reveals that she intends to kill herself, meaning that they will lose their purpose and fall into an eternal slumber, they become concerned for their own lives and seek to kill the Captain, who, if empowered by the Phoenix, will become the only being in existence capable of killing her. They are very human in their fear of death, which earns them sympathy from Raziel and even the crew despite the fact that they are technically antagonists.
• Living MacGuffin: The Phoenix becomes the central piece to the motives of much of the characters featured in this event. Magus wants Phoenix's blood to hopefully revive Astaroth, Raziel wants to keep her friend alive and also make use of its ability to potentially revive Lucifer, the Diviners wants the Phoenix alive so they can continue to exist in the sky realm and Abramelin wants to find it so he could finally die in peace, with the Crew being in the center of the crossfire because these very parties learned that the Phoenix wishes to seek out the Captain, the Singularity, to give its blood to them so the Singularity can kill them. Even Nanashi, a girl who was introduced as having amnesia, is revealed to be a fragment of the Phoenix.
• The Lost Lenore:
  • After Abramelin loses his wife, Farhana, he decides to accept the Phoenix's proposal of immortality and assistance of defeating the Omnipotent.
  • Although they were only boss and subordinate, Lucifer is implied to be this for Raziel, and her motivations are heavily implied to be to resurrect him from the dead.
• Meaningful Appearance: Nanashi has red hair, eyes, and a red color motif overall, and is revealed in The Book of the Primals to be a fragment of the Phoenix.
• Multiple-Choice Past: After the Captain sees the Phoenix the second time, the latter ask how long ago they've met before, ranging from "8-10 years" to "just now". The answer doesn't change the Phoenix's response that much as it states that every memory is correct and comprises to a unique truth.
• Playing Both Sides:
  • Raziel is technically on three sides: she is friendly with the crew and shares information with Sandalphon because of his connection with Lucifer, she is friends with the Phoenix, and she collaborates with the Diviners because they all want to keep the Phoenix alive, albeit for different reasons.
  • The Book of Phoenix reveals that the Phoenix is playing on everyone in hopes of starting a Forever War that will eventually restart the universe. Or so it seems as Raziel reveals that the Phoenix is telepathic and would have easily fight off the crew if that was the case.
• Playing with Fire: The Diviners and Nanashi have fire-based abilities due to their connection to the Phoenix.
• Real Name as an Alias: Bennu participates in the festival's duels under the guise as "Bennie" as part of his recon on the crew.
• Reincarnation: The Book of Phoenix reveals that Sabrina is the reincarnation of Abramelin's wife Farhana.
• Remember the New Guy?: Raziel was neither seen nor mentioned before this event, but appears in flashbacks to Lucifers time in the Astral realm. Sandalphon also remembers Lucifer telling him about her. Hauhet similarly has not debuted before unlike her fellow Diviners who initially were introduced as V2 Raid bosses, but is treated as part of the Diviners. Hauhet's relation to the Diviners is revealed to be intentional as the Book of Phoenix reveals that Hauhet is Phoenix in disguise herself and used a perception filter to make them think that there had been 7 of them.
• Resurrective Immortality: Along with Healing Factor, those who ingests the Phoenix's blood can't die, as they will immediately be revived after they are killed. The Phoenix itself also had this ability as showcased when Magus trying to kill the Phoenix proves futile as the Phoenix could revive itself back in a blaze of flames.
• Retcon: The event is filled with contradictions with previous events and story lore, such as how the Omnipotent got split in half, the Phoenix’s role in the grand scheme of things, and so on.
• Revenge: The reason Abramelin agreed to drink the Phoenix's blood in the first place was to get revenge on the Omnipotent for killing his wife. He succeeded, but ended up trapped in his immortality for thousands and thousands of years and is now an active Death Seeker.
• Seeks Another's Resurrection:
  • Magus seeks the Phoenix's power to resurrect Astaroth because her own resurrection power is insufficient to do so. Raziel is also heavily implied to be playing both sides for the same reasons, as she seemingly wants to use the Phoenix's power to resurrect Lucifer.
  • Ceodric is hinted to have agreed to accepting Phoenix's powers in hopes of potentially being able to revive his mother in the Book of Phoenix.
• Spotting the Thread: Seofon notices that Ceodric is way too close for comfort, giving him an early warning of the latter's duplicity.
• Sympathetic Villain, Despicable Villain: The Diviners are villains in this event, but their ultimate goal of killing the Singularity is motivated by self-preservation rather than malice, as they are aware that the Singularity fulfilling the Phoenix's wish to die will also mean the end for them. Magus is initially unsympathetic due to wanting to revive Astaroth and to help him take over the Sky Realm, but her love for him is juxtaposed with Raziel’s for Lucifer and paints her in a sympathetic light. Meanwhile, Ceodric, while not initially a villain, is extremely unlikeable, only becoming more so as the event goes on and becomes the events real villain without sympathetic reasoning for why he’s acting out.
• Time Dilation: Nanashi's long-term flight lasted for 6000 years, which she felt that 900 years have passed.
• Too Dumb to Live: Farhana charged at the Omnipotent to get revenge for all of her fallen friends despite her husbands warnings and was obliterated for it.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Diviners and Raziel, who seemingly were targeting the Singularity for no reason but are ultimately revealed to have been doing so to ensure the preservation of the Phoenix in The Book of Primals. They're doing so for different reasons, though. The Diviners want the Singularity dead and the Phoenix alive so they can continue to exist in the Sky Realm, whereas Raziel wants the Phoenix alive because she's friends with it and requires its resurrection powers.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?:
  • This is the main reason why Abramelin is searching for the Phoenix, he's trying to find a way to die and hoped the Phoenix would provide a solution to it. This also explains his earlier request of the crew killing him after finding they're the ones that slain the Phoenix. In the book of Phoenix, Abramelin choose to die so the Phoenix could bring Nanashi back to life.
  • This is also the reason why Phoenix seeks out the Singularity, believing them the only being in the world capable of ending their life after billions of years of observing the sky realm. The Book of Phoenix reveals that this is a ruse.
  • Averted in the case of the Diviners, who are immortal and have lived for a long time but actually fear dying, so much so that they plot against the Phoenix and the crew so they can avoid their deaths.
• Winged Humanoid: Raziel, being a Primarch. Nanashi is revealed to have wings as well as a fragment of the Phoenix, but unlike the Primarchs, her arms transform into wings when she uses them rather than growing out of her back. The Book of Phoenix reveals that Nanashi is initially a small bird who later obtained a human form when she was adopted by Abramelin and Farhana.
• Your Days Are Numbered: The Book of Primals reveal that the Phoenix plans to give its blood to the Captain, the Singularity, in hopes that they'll get a strong power that could eventually kill it. Since the Diviners were created using Phoenix's ashes as their cores and Abramelin is only alive for as long as he did with Phoenix's blood, Phoenix's death means that they too will cease to function. Learning this plan is why the Diviners and Raziel are dead set in killing the Captain. If Phoenix's plan comes true, the Diviners will cease to function and go to what is effectively death for them due to no longer having anything to power their Primal cores, while Raziel, who had come to be good friends with the Phoenix, would lose a friend. And then its revealed Phoenix's plan of death is a lie.