A Metaphysical History of Eorzea; Part 1: First Principles

What exactly is Eorzea? How was it formed, how does it work? What is "aether" and what is its relationship to the physical world; how do people manipulate it to constitute the magical disciplines? What exactly is a Primal and how is it ontologically different from The Twelve?
These are the kinds of questions we will approach over the course of A Metaphysical History of Eorzea. I hope you enjoy it and I hope it stimulates some discussion!
This video extensively contains my own editing and commentary and is intended for educational purposes.

[@ValkisCalmor]

Found you through your most recent lore video and heard you mention how new information invalidated some old contend and uh...wow. These were pretty good guesses when this was made but just about every expansion has punched a new hole in this huh? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts now that we know more about Zodiark, Hydaelyn and the Shards.

[@ClassicalTheist]

Is the aethereal sea roughly equivalent to the Aristotelian doctrine of prime matter? Being a Thomist, I must say I appreciate this video in a very special way. So many subtle references to the metaphysics of the early philosophers of our own world (particularly Thales, Heraclitus, and Parmenides) up through Plotinus of Rome I had no idea how philosophically deep this series went. I thought it was SO fascinating that water was the first proto-substance of sorts to come out of the aethereal sea, since the first real philosopher in our world, Thales, thought water was essentially the First Principle as well. VERY awe-struck with the depth of this series right now

[@McGrill18]

This may be my favorite series you are working on so far! Very very excited to follow this one, like all your work. Also your character fits you see well.

[@ustav85]

I absolutely love your channel! It us exactly what I had been looking for and you bring it all together really well. I can't wait to see what else you bring us. Uber excited!

[@Drew88317]

Would be cool to see this idea revisited as some of the initial concepts no longer hold true chronologically speaking

[@Darkflare221]

I just wanted to say I'm impressed! I've mulled over this topic a great deal, but haven't correlated the thoughts as succinctly at this point! Thanks for posting this one. I hope to think over it and comment on it more soon. But for now I can say this is my favorite series yet. a philosophical analysis of Eorzea. While metaphysics isn't my area of interest, you still managed to combine two of my loves. :)

[@EthysAsher]

Thank you! This is one of my favourite aspects of the game to think on as well so I hope it's well received - I was worried that it might be a little too abstract but I'm really glad you enjoyed it and I look forward to your thoughts.

[@andrewfoti462]

Really liking your videos so far man. Most of the other "lore" videos I've found only rattle off story recaps up til your channel. Remind me of Vaati, but for FF / ES. Keep it up!

[@TheSlayer117]

This video contains speculations/myths which are not true thanks to new information being unveiled so be careful how much you take as actual lore.

[@atwoodthehunter2620]

honestly love this video, for a long time I was a mr happy viewer and that's what brought me here to be honest, I really like how you're like a bit of a ezorean historian :)

[@balmung1992]

"one can not build a castle on sand." the king of Figaro would like a word :p

[@blaze595]

well to be fair; just because you can, doesn't mean you should. :P

[@preshrunk_cyberpunk5479]

The "aetheriel sea" sounds suspiciously similar to the Dirac Sea theory :) Also, my god man, I love your videos so much.

[@Cillranchello]

This series gets you my sub. I'm looking forward to the analysis of magic and aether's role in it, how it is constructed and how shit interacts and etc.

[@lightninginmyhands4878]

That’s crazy man that image at 2:11 is the Hydaelyn/Zodiark poster for Endwalker

[@2uAndy]

Hope your planning more of these! I'm curious what you think about the 12 being primals. What little I know does seem to support this theory, and Gaius alludes that they are the same in the scene with Ultima weapon. However my belief is that because the 12 were created of the light that while they would require aether to manifest physical form, they would essentially return that aether upon upon de materializing. And I believe the primals to in fact be Zodiarks answer to the twelve, that work to counter balance the work of the twelve. Don't know could be entirely wrong but from what little I know it seems possible.

[@AlkacGaming]

Great. Now I must know more!!

[@birdgang2939]

Going on the pre-established FF Universe lore alone, the mentality is that there is a consistent equilibrium within every dimension in this universe. The constant battle between light and dark helps with the generation of entropy, a constant exchange of energy between both sides. The biggest issue at the moment is the presence in which 'The Void' takes in FFXIV at the moment. In the past, The Void has been a place in which 'dark' beings have come from, but lore also indicates that beings come from this void and proceed to engage in combat with being of light as so entropy can occur, feed the void and keep it at bay. The light within the FF Universe proceeds to exist, it is only by the actions of beings of light and their creations in which they grow out of control. As you stated, The Allagans, The Amdapori, The Garleans and potentially the Ishgardians next all exist in a state in which beings of darkness wish to exploit the technological or power advancements these beings have in order to rebalance and help the void with its consumption of energy. The beings of FFXIV's void, the Ascians, seem to be unaware of the nature of the Void and it may in fact be that XIV's Void behaves in a different manner than we can understand atm. Should this Void manage to consume all, it would create a complete nothingness, everything would cease to exist and both Zodiark and Hydaelyn would also be destroyed. Whether or not the Ascians are aware this will happen is something I am not sure of...

[@EthysAsher]

The Ascians refer a few times to "restoring the world to its natural state" or similar, I believe that they do understand the global nihilism of their goals and wish for the mutual destruction of all creation... in fact I feel that this impulse is one necessarily attached to all "voidsent" and that they only tolerate their own existence as an instrument with which they might end everything else along with it... but of course we have much to learn still of the Ascians and Zodiark and it will be interesting to see their motivations become clear, if they ever do.

[@birdgang2939]

Considering the Void itself is a sort of existence, it wouldn't be shocking if all creatures that came from it naturally have that instinct to destroy, because of the nature of their birth and whatnot. At the least, in other FF games, this is a common theme. What I don't quite understand is if Zodiark exists within the void itself... Or the void Zodiark exists in is merely a parallel Hydaelyn that is 'connected' to the ACTUAL void. From a game mechanic standpoint, I see this being a likely possibility but have nothing to base it off of purely other than speculation from FF lore in general. :P

[@Willow-Eversong]

damn it, man. that was so beautiful. I don't know if you wrote that story of creation yourself, but wow that was so... amazing. Do you have the script for it or whatever may have inspired you?

[@EthysAsher]

Yes, I wrote it - of course I'm basing it on all the supporting lore I can find, but I also wanted it to seem internal i.e. the kind of account that a Sharlayan would give... When I write more entries for this series I'll be giving them the same kind of voice. If you really want to see the script you can add me on skype or pm on twitter and I'll send it to you :)

[@Willow-Eversong]

Ethys Asher tweeted

[@neron8497]

Fantastic!

[@ArtChallenger]

I dig yr videos man! Cheers!

[@amitamaru]

Well as you already know, 3.2 pokes one hole in this genesis theory. SPOILERS AHEAD! Apparently Hydaelyn and Zodiark had consciousness in the early days, enough to desire. It was Zodiark who desired more and became a threat to the natural order. To preserve existence, Hydaelyn struck down her opposite and divided him into thirteen metaphysical fragments. The Umbral Eras are, as we can speculate, the Ascians attempts at the Rejoining, the method to restore the thirteen fragments of Zodiark and revive their Master.

[@kaitoudark1]

Taxima I wouldn't say the hole that was poked is wide enough to fully discredit this theory. Bearing in mind that 3.2 is more viewed from within modern Eorzea; and due to that, I firmly believe that not even Ascians can fully comprehend or dissect the origins of Eorzea, and her external universes. It's frequently noted that they admit to "errors" in theory. Thus I propose that "Ascians" are nothing more than greatly evolved echo bearers, with origins not unlike those we already know, such as the Scions. Therefore, the great battle between both Ascians and ourselves, can be considered a sort of "theoretical debate" put to action, to determine exactly what makes the universe run forward.

[@aysaqchaudhry6054]

And then Shadowbringers came along and told us that Hydaelyn and Zodiark were in fact Primals given life by the ancients in an attempt to save the world. And in so doing split the Source into 14 worlds. Which in turn left the once immortal ancients transformed into the mortal, various races we see now.

[@HyMyNameIsMatt]

ff3 mentioned warriors of darkness that exist in-between warriors of light the keep balance in order. I just wonder if this rule applies to all ff games or if ff14 just really likes ff3.

[@athest7]

HyMyNameIsMatt Each FF is its own thing in how it handles the common themes so you can't really base a theory on another FF.... although like you said, Yoshida really likes FF III, and it wouldn't be a surprised if they borrowed a bit more from it.

[@PeninatorSS]

My friend: Aw dang I can't slide on this ice Me: THAT'S NOT ICE THAT'S WATER ASPECTED AETHER

[@lightninginmyhands4878]

It boggles that this video was done all before HW came out

[@Andromansis]

This video did not age well.

[@skaldi8347]

You were this dead on right 6 years ago?!

[@nekoloverforlife1748]