I SAW THIS COMING AND I'M STILL MAD
Visions of Mana - https://youtu.be/3gA_STD5JsM
Today was a heavy plot day.
Was I shocked about the ruins? Not at all. Because I read the location information before I arrived, and someone apparently forgot to make the info hidden (or update after story events) before you go there and foil Passar's plot. When the game tells you it's his hideout before you even arrive, that's kind of a big whoopsie. I guess even the developers didn't think people would read all that text when available.
As for what Eoren did next, well, you have the video title. And all my commentary leading up to it.
It seems we've finally hit the part of the game where there's a lot of side quests and such. This isn't end-of-game cleanup, not by a long shot, but we do have a quest of "go everywhere" so that's something. And since it doesn't count ruins we've already visited, that's yet another confirmation that we'll be heading back to the first continent at some point. I'm just wondering when that will be, and if it'll be connected with the main story. It probably doesn't have to do with getting Hinna's corestone back, but maybe the Sword of Mana can give her a body again? Faerie sure made it sound like it could do that during Trials of Mana, anyway… And at least two of the places blocked off during our first visit were "sacred" locations, so visiting them would probably have something to do with obtaining the Sword.