Dear exiles, we finally got the news that Path of Exile 3.26 is scheduled to be officially released on June 13th. Are you ready to go? This update will be a new Atlas Expansion after 3 years. I believe the developers will bring a game-changing Atlas iteration.
Based on the past Atlas expansion updates, POE 3.26 will not only add major adjustments to Atlas progress, but may also bring new challenge leagues, class balance, and a rework of Path of Exile Currency economic system.
However, apart from the trailer, we have not received any more information about the 3.26 Secrets of the Atlas expansion. Although it is very short, the suggestive text and pictures have given us a lot of room for imagination. The developers are really good at whetting our appetite!
So, before we wait anxiously for June 5th developer livestream, let’s explore the lore of the new league through this mysterious diary in the trailer and where it will lead the storyline of the past. Here, let’s guess who the author of this diary is and what secrets are hidden behind it.
Journal Entry Content
The trailer provides us with a picture of a handwritten diary, and the title of Journal Entry: My Purpose reveals that this is someone’s diary, but we are still not sure whether this diary was written recently. The specific content of the diary is as follows:
For the first time in my life, I’ve found meaning. Purpose.
A path has revealed itself – winding inexorably toward The Atlas.
There are secrets buried there. I know it.
Secrets I was born to find.
The trail is set.
And I must follow it… to find The Originator.
Valdo
To be honest, we first thought of Valdo, but in fact, you should be more familiar with his other name, The Shaper. It was once recognized as one of the most hard bosses in the game. Many players said that they were always trapped by him, especially in the early days when they could only choose to buy POE currency to continuously strengthen build gear to survive.
This is an early diary, written before the events of The Shaper and The Elder, when he was still Valdo. But if you entered the game after POE Delirium league, you will find that you actually missed a lot of background information about The Shaper’s storyline.
We found the relevant content by looking up some previous versions of the dialogue, but we are still not sure whether this diary was written by Valdo.
From what I understand, Valdo studies Venarius’ map device and in the process finds himself entering Atlas as well, thinking it was a dream, but eventually when the device is fully activated, Venarius enters Atlas, Valdo destroys the device, and is also sucked into Atlas, ultimately becoming The Shaper.
So this diary entry doesn’t square with Valdo’s first conversation with Atlas, where he seems to quickly realize the danger. The diary entry suggests that the author seems to lack purpose before this revelation, which also contradicts Valdo himself, as he had a young daughter, Zana, at the time, and seems to care deeply about her.
However, there is one part of Valdo’s story that actually does somewhat match this diary entry, and that is when Valdo was initially assembling the device, he noticed that there was a missing component that he couldn’t understand. But later, as he was in this dream-like world of Atlas, he noticed an entity following him, a mysterious shadow that was later revealed to be The Elder. This shadow helped him complete the missing component and get the device fully activated.
Now, the original missing piece of the device could be Originator mentioned in this journal, which somewhat matches the description of Valdo researching the device in this journal.
But there is no mention of this missing piece being called Originator in the old dialogue, so this may not be Valdo, even though this journal has a lot of his shadow in it.
Venarius
What about Venarius? We know that originally his Templar found the map device, but they didn’t know what it was, so he sent Valdo to research it. The map device is actually a world object that allows players to access certain areas by placing maps, fragments, or other map-related POE currency items in it.
We also know that Venarius tried to weaponise the map device as much as possible, but unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Venarius really understood it before entering Atlas, so this journal doesn’t quite match his ideas.
Zana
So, could this journal be written by Zana? We’re not sure about this, mainly because of the writing. If this is indeed a recent diary entry, and it was written to explain Zana’s return, then the way it’s written doesn’t really make sense for her. Because she has mastered Atlas, but the diary is written from the perspective of someone who is unfamiliar with Atlas, or someone who may have never entered Atlas.
Especially since they say there are secrets buried there, which is obviously about finding a purpose, but Zana definitely already has a purpose in her life, she’s trying to save her father, Valdo. So this obviously doesn’t make sense. While it’s definitely possible that Zana returns to POE 3.26, I’m not sure if this diary entry was written by her.
In addition, we have some additional information that also denies this view, which is that Russian translation of this trailer shows that this is written from the perspective of a male author, so the idea that the owner of the diary is Zana is not valid.
But I must emphasize that I don’t think this translation really confirms anything, after all, it may not be translated well.
Sirus
If not them, then who else could it be? Now, there is actually a guess that has sprouted in my mind that this may be written by Sirus before he was trapped in Atlas by Zana. This idea is mainly based on an old diary of Sirus, who once said that he always wanted a purpose and wanted to find his place in life.
The most interesting thing is that if this teaser log is indeed an old log written by Sirus, it means that our player character is actually writing this log as Sirus, and The Shaper and The Elder are representatives of Exiles from the past timeline who entered Atlas with Zana and helped seal The Elder. They are not the current Exiles, but they are Exiles just like the current Exiles who entered Atlas before.
This is another potential choice that some fits and some do not. But we have not mentioned anything similar to Originator in other dialogues of Sirus or dialogues between The Shaper and The Elder before, unless Originator is some kind of alternative name for The Elder.
New Character Or Current Exile?
If none of the above are reasonable results, then the author of this log is left with two options.
The first is that this is a brand new character, a character we have never met, a new character with new motivations in the endgame Atlas story, he may be an ally or an enemy, which is the most likely scenario at present.
But another possibility is that this is our own diary in the current exile, and it is also a foreshadowing of the new Atlas story.
This is the new purpose of the exiles entering Atlas. Because The Elder is currently sealed, Sirus and The Shaper are finished, and although The Maven is still there, it is no longer a direct threat. So, this is the unfolding of the new Atlas story.
This is basically all I guess about this preview diary. Obviously, the author of this diary is inextricably linked to the origin of Atlas. Perhaps we have uncovered the tip of the iceberg, and let us wait for more news next!
