User blog comment:Jyggalag Daedric Prince of Order/Season 9 A Bust?/@comment-5619706-20130527033241

I think the direction of season 9 depends a lot on whether the angels still have their graces, are powerless or otherwise, and where the graces went to if the angels no longer have them. Regardless, all scenarios aforementioned still are unconfirmed, and as of the moment, supporting arguments for any scenario are grasping at straws at best.

I'd like to think that was the Tree of Life (or Knowledge) and not just some random grace-tree, but considering season 8's slooooow and predictable development of the tablet lore (the angel tablet's existance was hardly a plot reveal--in fact, it was far from it as many fans have speculated its existance), and Carver's comments about bringing the show back to basics (and avoiding the weight of the lore made by Gamble's Purgatory and Leviathan arcs, consequently forcing the show to come up with older and older beings), the picture is perhaps, at its dullest in terms of lore, just a representation of how an angel and its grace-tree are now subject to mortal decay.