Dragonsong's Reprise
Dragonsong's Reprise is an eight player raid in the Ultimate tier, introduced in Endwalker. The first half of the raid is a retelling of the Dragonsong War as we know and the later half tells an alternative retelling. What if... things were done differently? Time rewinds."Thus did one song draw to a close. But here and now, this minstrel shall perform another—a song of imagination transcending."
The clock turns back time and you are transported back in the Vault battling the Heavens' Ward knights. Off to the side, Ser Zephirin is charging an attack with the Spear of the Fury in hand. Haurchefant runs and shields the attack with all his might. To save Haurchefant, there is a debuff you would need to remove. Removing the debuff allows the tank limit break to affect Haurchefant and to also receive any healing. You are then able to assist and attack the Spear of the Fury before it kills Haurchefant.
By saving Haurchefant, the urgency to head to Azys Lla shifts. The weight of events goes wrong quickly from here on. We do not give chase to Thordan fast enough, thus he is able to absorb significant amounts of aethers from the Warring Triad (Sephirot, Sophia, and Zurvan). With this newly obtained wealth of aether from the Warring Triad and one of Nidhogg's eye, he begins to temper the dragons.
Instead of fighting King Thordan in Azys Lla, we fight him in The Churning Mist in the ruins of "Tharl Oom Khash". He has tempered the dragons to join him in his battle against us. The journal description for the sidequest "A Frightening Field Trip", describes that the ruins were once home to Ratatoskr and her brood. Specifically choosing this location is a parallel to the slaying of Ratatoskr that started the Dragonsong War thousands of years ago. Cruel.
After nearly killing King Thordan (at 2% - 3% HP), he yields and begs for mercy. If you kill him, you do not advance to the next phase. So you are required to spare him and before he flies off, King Thordan scoffs,
"Hmph, your compassion will be the end of you."
The stage transitions into the next phase and you are back at the Final Steps of Faith in Ishgard. You notice something different in this alternate story. Nidhogg (still using Estinien as a vessel) is not alone. Bound by the ancient Allagan relic known as Neurolink, Hraesvelgr is being controlled and involuntarily joins his vengeful brother's side. Hraesvelgr begs to be stopped because of his oath to his beloved Shiva, that he will not kill any mortal. If Hraesvelgr ends up killing you, he goes into a rage mode that causes a wipe!
Once you defeat both Nidhogg and Hraesvelgr, Nidhogg's body transforms back to Estinien. Because Haurchefant and Ysayle did not die in this alternate, the memories of them do not give you and Alphinaud the final push to pry Nidhogg's eyes off Estinien. In this struggle, King Thordan returns and absorbs both the eyes of Nidhogg's and Hraesvelgr's. This transitions you into the final phase of the fight where you face off against Dragon-king Thordan.
We are back in The Churning Mist, this time in the "Shattered Remembrance" part of Sohr Khai. This area was also home to Ratatoskr. Another poetic location setting as we are in the final phase. Once you defeat Dragon-king Thordan, you gain the Achievement, "As Suits a Hero". This is a direct nod to Haurchefant's famous quote, "A smile better suits a hero."
"So ends an alternate chapter in their tale. What lessons, dear listener, might we derive from this Dragonsong reimagined?"
Dragonsong's Reprise shows an alternate story, detailing how significant events would change at the moment of if Haurchefant's life was spared. Haurchefant and Ysayle are both some of my favorite characters in the game (and in the Final Fantasy series ever) and I do wonder how much more their stories and growth would be like, have they lived. I do not do any high end raiding and did not watch the world first livestreams of this, so it was nice to watch several videos of this raid for this section!
I enjoyed what this alternate story was trying to say and teach? Then I did start to wonder how even in this alternate they introduced, there could be more alternates within it. Like how, I do not believe my Warrior of Light would have spared King Thordan when he begged for mercy. If he was defeated then, he does not become the Dragon-King Thordan. Requiring you to spare him to advance forward does not sit well with me personally. But I get it, we can go on and on and spiral about how different things would have played out if we did some things differently.