3 Unresolved Story Points in FFXIV

[@insecdroid]

I think the most famous Mistranslation is Matoya saying that Y’shtola’s Aethersight is draining her life force, when they meant Aether. So now many people assume she’s slowly dying when she’s not. Well technically she is, we all are! It’s called aging. Also the entire plot with Zenos maybe being experimented on by Emet-Selch and him dreaming of the Final Days.

[@jaypro6269]

I wouldn't say it's a mistranslation exactly, as the "meaning" is still the same. It's just, given the context of the situation, it sounds more grim. I think the line is supposed to be similar to, "this job is soul sucking", where you know the meaning is metaphorical. That didn't work in this situation. Hindsight is 20/20 after all, lol.

[@corwyncorey3703]

I see that as more like a subtle or poetic use of the same word's possible meanings. Life force IS aether. It is draining her personal Aether all the time. It leaves her slightly weaker... all the time. Matoya would see such a result of doing a forbidden magic as in itself bad... something to be seen with disdain. Thus her saying it that way... showing her disapproval by saying it "just so". She IS precise in all things, and had a higher bar she judged her pupil by.

[@torashiki5646]

@@corwyncorey3703 Yeah like people not catching that the aetherial sea and the lifestream are both the same thing. Aether IS the life essence. Same with Mana and Aether. Same thing, different nomenclature.

[@siyrean]

Many people do not have enough aether to use aetherites, safe to say that Y’shtola has a higher amount than average, however I worry with how quickly she was offering her own to Zero that we’re leading up to a fight where she over exerts and has to remain proper blind for some time while she recovers.

[@corwyncorey3703]

@@siyrean hence why she switched to learning how to become a Black Mage... who, unlike many other types of magic, can draw aether from sources that ARENT herself. Why else did you think she learned that? She gave herself access to a veritable unending supply for the trickle her sight needs, by learning how to tap into aether that isnt, strictly, hers.

[@vincentbeton]

It would be both sad and funny if we met some of the missing Ascians in 7.0, probably highly depressed in a Bar, trying to get over Zodiark being gone

[@richardwicker8456]

It would be kinda neat to see how the remaining Ascians handle the loss of Zodiark, and what they decide to do in the prinal's absence. Do they try to get revenge, or do they decide to watch over and protect the remaining shards?

[@SynodicScribe]

That'd be great. "Whoa what happen to you guys?" "Well after you killed the Unsundered and saved the universe I guess we just don't feel like being Ascians anymore...."

[@RockSoup]

@@SynodicScribe "You kinda took away our whole deal."

[@Karloss00]

That's what I was going to say. I also wonder if any of the stray Zodiark parts are still in their respective shards? Could give a sort of sub plot to explore of Acsians trying to enhance themselves with the left over shards or attempt to remake Zodiark in a lesser form to grow from there?

[@kingofcarrotflowers5364]

@@Karloss00 I belive Golbez is the 13th Zodiark's shard, and if that ends up being true I share all your enthusiasm and ideas

[@bellduke6417]

#1 unresolved plot point: BEAVERS

[@warllockmasterasd9142]

It's just the source of all evil.

[@FtanmoOfEtheirys]

Shhh, we don't discuss those foul creatures. Back to Pandæmonium with ye!

[@jroberts2nd]

We caused that in Elpis in a side quest. Along with creating the behemoth and picking an annoying attack for the nix. We were on a roll.

[@acgearsandarms1343]

If the Ancients couldn’t figure it out, how will we?

[@darksnakex5187]

When it comes to the ascian you can't forget about unsundered they kept the sundered in check like fandaniel that like ask what plans did they have now that there uncheck.

[@wyvernlord23]

My favorite inconsistency was Estineian accending to the dragonstar in a dark apotheosis in the lvl 50 job quest....only to just be chilling out next to Aemeric in Heavensward.

[@IronLordEXO]

He actually did say that it took him several weeks to fight off Nidhogg's influence and regain his marbles at one point

[@SynodicScribe]

"Sup WoL! I know I tried to kill you the last time we saw each other but I'm cool now. Promise!" hahaha

[@DracoSuave]

The real inconsistancy is trusting him with two eyes of nidhogg when we knew this.

[@shybluehope894]

ikr? I was like "Oh! Estineian! You were dead...? Didn't you explode? No? You good? Okay".

[@kuronaialtani]

And when we meet him "for the first time" in I think 2.4, if you've done the 50 DRG quest he straight up says "chill bro I'm not here to fight you today" YEAH BECAUSE THAT'S THE LEAST OF MY CONCERNS

[@Jocanist]

In Endwalker (spoilers ahead): During the Final Days in Thavnair, despair turning people into Blasphemies, yet...there wasn't a single dancer in sight. Dancers, who's job quests literally revolved around purging negative emotions from people. Dancers, who's native country is Thavnair. Just a huge oversight of the writers

[@disnagburnazog9552]

Two dancing in meyhane but yeah no support on the frontline...

[@jjc101]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the Dancer trope we were apart of were still in Eorzea/Hingashi while it was all going down and they were the only ones keeping the old tradition alive. The art of dancing was a part of Thavnirs culture but the weilding of the Kriegstanz is unique to Trope Falsiam's heritage.

[@Xenmaru00]

@@jjc101 yeah i'm pretty sure that's the case. and unlike us, they didnt have an immediate quick way to get home. and even then, with all the panic going on, who is going to stop and watch a dance when there's literal monsters being born of people and ripping through town?

[@Jocanist]

​@@jjc101 It's actually not, the Kriegstanz predates both the Troupe and Radz-at-Han and is widespread in Thavnair. Kadjaya is considered the mother of the Kriegstanz. You can see it in the Vista Record 021: Kadjaya's Footsteps (Thavnair).

[@itsaredvine]

I feel like in regards to Ramuh, the reason why he's different from yhe other ARR primals is based off the purpose of his summoning by the sylphs. Each primal's personality is based off the intentions of the ones summoning them. For example when Titan was summoned during Gabu's trauma, Titan's normal voicelines were replaced with the cries of a child. It's a mix of dynamis and aether working together based off my understanding. Especially during the end of EW where Garuda (still a vengeful god) begrudgingly helps us with the Ragnarok simply because her summoners' intentions were to help us.

[@Nempo13]

She was also goaded on by Susano in an amazing way. He poked fun of her till she stopped being so tsundere that she would help.

[@kingofcarrotflowers5364]

It is also speculated by Urianger that Ramuh is a sylphic interpretation of Rhalgr, and that storyline is being told right now and could touch on this

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

This also explains Alexander's choice of self-sacrifice via time paradox as well. As he is basically born of the Engima Codex (an object that reflects the desires of it's original summoners) and and the cold calculation of machinery, it's able to decipher literally every action it could take in it's primal instances- and realizing how much damage any of those would result in, instead decides to do nothing, only influencing the world by Schrodinger to ensure all the actors of this tragedy close the time loop. This also in part ties also in Ysale and Shiva as well, as Ysale's own ambitions and acting as the primal's core in turn tempered the idealized Shiva's personality as well.

[@ikeaira8701]

Tbf, Ramuh in a lot of other FFs was that "Father Figure" so to say that was very different from the other Primals/Summons/Espers/whatever ya wanna call 'em. So maybe it's as simple as that? Or being saved for 7.0

[@seboulol]

Once you're done with Shadowbringers and return listen to what Ramuh say when you meet him (at least in the french version), you have the impression that he knows that we are more than the Warrior of Light, that he already knows we are Azem. I would have liked so much that this character to be relevant again in the story with the new 24-man raid, but it seems impossible now.

[@jroberts2nd]

The Echo is something everyone had in Ancient times; Venat explains it to you before she guides you to witness Hermes sending out the Meteia, which confirms what Elidibus said in Shadowbringers. The Echo wasn’t ignored, the resolution is in the game. The emphasis was moved to the blessing of light to let that serve as the plot hook in Elpis that lets Venat recognize you being from the future.

[@dckuha]

I agree with this, and as I recall Elidibus explained that the echo still remains dormant in sundered souls, which is why he was able to awaken it in so many in the First to encourage them to become warriors of light. I think there's a pretty simple explanation for why the echo and the blessing of light are interchangeable: Hydaelyn simply awakens the dormant echo in the process of bestowing them with the traveler's ward, and so for most Eorzeans who don't fully understand these things, they have been seen as one and the same. Perhaps this isn't made 100% clear in the game but I wouldn't call it a retcon, as there is nothing contradictory here.

[@stevenalvarez2924]

​@Fredy 20 The echo was assumed to protect against tempering. Way back in ARR there was a Sahajin priest that used the echo to teleport his soul to a new living host. Now ask a simple question, was that sahajin priest tempered? If he wasn't tempered then there was no reason for tempered sahajin to follow him. Tempered follow tempered, this is how it is with Ifrit, titan, Garuda and rahmuh. If that sahajin in ARR was a tempered echo user, then everything else people assumed about the echo is wrong.

[@siyrean]

Echo gives you the power to dominate over a Primal - see Zeno’s imposing his will onto it. Blessing keeps your Aether from being corrupted in general- not specifically from Primals. I have no idea why people think they can’t both exist. They both offer protection from tempering but for completely different reasons.

[@TheNeoVariable]

@@stevenalvarez2924 The echo protects but it isn't absolute. Even Emet-Selch said that after they summoned Zodiark, naturally they were tempered. So the questions are how strong is the echo against primals and how strong does a primal have to be? Does the blessing of light add an extra layer of protection and since the Loporrits can alter primals (telling people they might still feel a tug on their souls) how intentional was it that Zodiark tempered the ascians?

[@MidoriGrey]

I think it should be duly noted that the blessing of light basically unlocks the echo. Also the aoe markers you see is a product of the echo as well due to giving you strong reflexes.

[@rainbowsnail4171]

Didn't Elidibus summon an illusion of a starshower to awaken the Echo in a ton of people at the end of Shadowbringers too?

[@Xenmaru00]

yes he did. And it worked too.

[@futurepastnow]

Although Urianger and G'raha's powerpoint presentations show the Source and shards arranged in a ring, I think they really occupy the same physical location, superimposed on top of one another out of phase. Like for example I think the Crystal Tower is located at the same xyz coordinates on both worlds, as if it only moved through time and dimensional. The Source is simply the shard that remained in phase with the rest of the universe.

[@corwyncorey3703]

Exactly... they show seperate versions aligned in a ring simply for visual distinctiveness. the world in Shadowbringers IS Eorzea, geographically, under different circumstances

[@Vulgarth1]

Yes.

[@torashiki5646]

@@corwyncorey3703 Its basically the same world that diverges somewhat 12000 years in the past. Hence why they have different history, but similar yet still different cultures.

[@harukuroma376]

It is the same also hence the teleportation fees

[@Tucarius]

Additionally, the most recent story patches show even the remaining moon appears to have been sharded, something we didn't consider before.

[@necrolord1920]

The one that perplexes me is Cid's memory of getting the goggles from the WoL, which was shown not far from the confrontation with Garuda.

[@paledrake]

Oh right, god I wish that cutscene didn't exist. It makes literally no sense.

[@luxsignifer6996]

i think that makes more sense if you played 1.0. I didnt played so I'm not sure, but in 1.0 there is a scene where you character gives cid the goggles or something like that. If your character started in 2.0, however, the scene doesnt make much sense

[@paledrake]

@@luxsignifer6996 Okay then that's fair, it's just a flashback.

[@helpfulDeathgod]

It's a relic of 1.0 when the Echo did allow you to almost time travel to an extent. I think they just want to sweep it under the rug and pretend it didn't happen.

[@noahcole4201]

I think that scene was him remembering a Warrior of Light. Not us, but the ones everyone forgot. And since he can't remember what they looked like, he's remembering the closest thing (you). I don't think our Warrior of Light confirms it was them anyway, so it's not as though we're off messing around with time (at least not in ARR.)

[@jaypro6269]

In regards to the Echo. It's not that it isn't important anymore, it's just no longer a mystery. There were a few little bits of added information in Shadowbringers, but by the end of Stormblood, most of what made the Echo "mysterious" was solved. We know what it is, where it comes from, and even our own specific version of it. (Summoning through the power of friendship, lol) The Blessing of Light however was never really explained. That might be why it got more "screen time" and exposition in Shadowbringers and Endwalker. But neither the Echo or Blessing are an unused plot thread, they've both been fully explained.

[@amitamaru]

I always thought the Echo and the Blessing of Light were interchangeable, since Hydaelyn blessed every person as soon as they unlocked the Echo.

[@lysandre1861]

wasn't the blessing of light explained a single dialogue option during endwalker, where venat just called it an "aetherial ward" that she invented

[@jaypro6269]

@@amitamaru I think at one point they were interchangeable, but as the story evolved, the devs made them two seperate things. Contextually it worked, since neither was really explained until much later.

[@jaypro6269]

@@lysandre1861 Correct, the Blessing is basically an aetheric shield protecting our aether from corruption. Both the Echo and the Blessing act as wards, but the Blessing is a physical, external ward, compared to the Echo's "mental", internal one.

[@dakotadoyle7573]

@@fredy2041 Because the Resonance was created as an exact copy of the Echo, using Krile's version as a frame of reference

[@YUXKE]

The echo wasn’t completely ignored in ShB and EW though. But it’s importance was just never expanded beyond what was established up to stormblood. I think the last meaningful lore bomb we got on it was Elidibus explaining how it was something that can be awakened within anyone since all ancients possessed it in the past. I think the last time we made use of it in MSQ was just for investigating Meteion and Hermes.

[@foxdavion6865]

The Echo has showed up since in sidequests and the Endwalker Raid storyline. It is also "implied" to show up in the postscript questline series unlocked by getting one of each job category to 90. Though it's significance has literally never been explained past where the last explanation of how it worked occurred during Eureka which was concurrent to Stormblood, so if you're never done Eureka, well that is why you were left hanging and if you have completed Eureka which requires completing BA and keeping a certain someone alive, it actually left *more* story unresolved. Since canonically in Eureka someone could live or die, they will exit the story forever regardless of outcome, it is only resolved out of frame by a conversation you have at the start of Endwalker if you finished Eureka before reaching Endwalker, otherwise you're left forever in the dark unless you launch EW in NG+.

[@papaulf9487]

I could be wrong but I thought the reason why Ramuh acts differently is because of the Sylphs view on him and reasons for summoning him. Unlike the other tribes who see their primals as aggressive beings to fight their enemies, the Sylph see him as a defender of their lands and so he is more reasonable when we meet him?

[@Xenmaru00]

this. The Sylphs, being a breed of Fae, are less "aggressive" than the other Beast Tribes. They're like children. They like pranks, they like playing, they CAN 'Fight' but its not their first action. their fear isnt the fear of an Adult, its the Fear of a Child. So their Primal, their God, is "Daddy." Daddy doesnt *attack* first. Or at least, he's not supposed to. he's supposed to defend you. Protect you. Find the cause of the danger and make it go away. Ramuh is reasonable and only fights to test our purpose, because he wasnt summoned to "destroy the invaders" or "erase the heathens", but to "make the scary thing go away." He wasnt summoned from a fearful vengeance or rage, but from the curious, childish fear of "this is scary. i dont want this here."

[@MiloKuroshiro]

Yep. Exactly that. They let it pretty clear and use it as a contrast from others

[@acgearsandarms1343]

Not sure if this counts as a loose thread but how about the ultimate fate of Azem before the world was sundered? Endwalker seems like the last chance for it to be relevant before it gets cast aside. So far we know that they chose to not side with the Convocation and Venat’s faction. But they were obviously no fool. So what did they do? What did they do to save the star on their own terms? I really doubt they did nothing but twiddle their thumbs.

[@jaypro6269]

The devs said they have a "canon" answer, but want it to be left up to interpretation by the individual player.

[@acgearsandarms1343]

@@jaypro6269 So we’re never getting an answer then.

[@jaypro6269]

@@acgearsandarms1343 not in the foreseeable future anyway. But, the devs did say, "whatever you think they were doing, that's probably the answer" so take that as you will, lol.

[@Boxkar24]

@@acgearsandarms1343 I mean, to be fair, the player coming up with their own answer sort of makes sense. I mean we haven't seen the unsundered Azem either I think they want it to just be something that reflects who the player is ultimately. And well sadly with Endwalker over, I think all the Ascian/Ancient stuff is pretty much done(?). So anything related to that time period is probably going to get left there.

[@acgearsandarms1343]

@@Boxkar24 It’s not a bad answer but not fully satisfying if you get what I mean. I can live with it, but some things I do want answered about Azem could be done without giving away to much. Like their glyph or mask. We don’t need to see them in full, just fill out some blanks that still gives us the freedom to craft our interpretations.

[@JT-Kazan]

Don’t forget all the Garlean legions we didn't get to see Like the Empire fell what are they doing now?? Are they destroyed, or manage to sustain themselves like the 4th?? For example, in EW we learned that the 10th legion has apparently sought the help of the alliance but we never saw them or their legatus

[@cattosw5399]

The remaining legions are remaining stationed in the provinces and keeping order, waiting to see what happens at the capital. I think its also safe to assume the strength of most of the legions are depleted as none heeded the 10th legion's call.

[@sirthanksalot97]

Y'know, funny that the ending clip should be of Ultima Weapon - because that's actually one thing that's not yet been covered. More specifically, the heart of Ultima Weapon: the Heart of Sabik, which Lahabrea utilized to cast the titular spell of Ultima on us way back in ARR. After that, the whole plot thread of the Heart of Sabik just... Kinda dropped. It was stated to be a tremendously powerful artifact, able even to shake the likes of Hydaelyn, and that it predated even the Allagan Empire; further still, the Allagans could only tap into it enough to utilize it as a power source and nothing more. Now, the Heart is all but missing, and all but forgotten. Word is that Yoshi P's made some reference to it when asked quite recently though, and that there *might* be some talk of it in upcoming patches... Though it's anything but certain.

[@AuroDHikoshi]

Maybe a long term story, could be a possible END game plot but thats not any time soon?

[@acgearsandarms1343]

Well we do have the final part of Pandæmonium coming up. Let’s hope we get answers there. Also in FFII, Ultima was used to banish Pandæmonium. Wouldn’t it be a fitting reference if we did the same in the Aetherial Sea?

[@wrathshorts2894]

Also there is the connection between the spell Ultima and the Ultima raid boss. The story hints that they are connected in some way but no one knows how exactly. Also we don't even really know what the hell Ultima was. Some say she was a powerful primal from another star.

[@trial_with_an_error9687]

If I remember correctly, Yoshi P straight up said something about the Heart Of Sabik appearing in the final wing of Pandaemonium in an interview. Most likely in it's real form, Sabik itself.

[@AuroDHikoshi]

@@trial_with_an_error9687 Yoshi p couldn't say much because he isn't promising unless it doesn't work out in that form

[@TiggoFfm]

I think the question why Ramuh is so different was explained already during the dialogue before we enter Ragnarok to go off to Ultima Thule: The line about why we don't have to worry about tempering when we convert the mother crystal into the primals to get the aether into the ship. The fact that the motives/wishes encumbered in the summoning have a huge effect on it. Most of the beast tribes even without the Garleans have a territorial conflict with the city states. A huge part of these territorial conflicts in nature have a big part with conquering ("bringing into the fold -> tempering), which makes the power to temper play a huge part in these summons. The Sylphs on the other hand live basically as "next door neighbors" with Gridania and only summoned Ramuh to defend them after the Garleans were pushing into their territory after a long while again and the summoning was seen as a last resort. And as Gridania is probably not seen as a threat necessarily ("next door neighbors" -> somewhat coexisting), Ramuh, as a reflection of the sylphs wishes/thoughts, didn't see us as a "threat" per se, which is why he was so open to "negotiate" in the first place. At least that's what i think/interpret with the given information.

[@AuroDHikoshi]

After Ramuh they did start to play around with what the primals did and not just did it for revenge...

[@fierceblu]

As much is also reflected by the Primal Alexander too! The only weird part is the hesitancy to temper.

[@Vulgarth1]

Unfortunately contradicted in that the tempered Sylphs actively seek to force all the other Sylphs to become tempered as well. Additionally, during the Sylph Beast Tribe quest (spoilers) There's a podling (a baby Sylph) that is going to be born and essentially be god-king of the Sylphs. The Tempered ones want to raise it themselves to ensure every single Sylph in the Twelveswood sides with them. Ramuh is just an anomaly that was never fully explained. The Sylphs intention was indeed defensive and isolationist. The best assumption is that, as Sylphs are capricious but ultimately are very much closer to nature than "regular" people, Ramuh as a primal is closer to Hydaelyn than other primals and as such works along the lines of her will and needs. It's all very much in the realm of fan theory though.

[@TiggoFfm]

@@Vulgarth1 I was primarily talking about the situation with Gridania though. The forcing of other Sylphs sound more like a "civil war" between them.

[@Vulgarth1]

@@TiggoFfm Oh, right. Yeah, the Tempered Sylphs are absolutely openly hostile to Gridanians even being in the Shroud near their territory.

[@Fgtr4Life]

I sincerely hope one of the living ascians becomes a party member in the future. It'd be so interesting to have one of the Ascians come around to the changes in the world.

[@AzureRoxe]

I mean, we're the reincarnation of Azem, so we already ARE one of the Ascians turned good.

[@davibergamin5943]

we kinda have gaia

[@shishio87]

Yeah, I've been wondering how space works regarding the reflections. If you go far enough outside one of the reflections do you eventually enter space around the source? Is there a barrier around each of the reflections so that you cant leave them? I cant think of any other way it could work.

[@R3b3ccaCran3]

I still wonder what's up with Thancred's eyes in Heavensward. Like that one cutscene with Krile made it obvious that he had two different eyes, just for him to be totally normal in Shadowbringer. (Plus, did Feo Ui told Tataru to cut Thancred's hair on the source to match his style on the first? There is so much weird shit going on with Thancred...)

[@emeraldpichu1]

Probably, something something Lahabrea.

[@AuroDHikoshi]

The eyepatch that he wore when he was wild Thancred... I think it could be part of being sucked up into Y'Shtola's flow...

[@R3b3ccaCran3]

@@AuroDHikoshi Yeah that might be, but that eye never got spoken about ever again and once his soul is in the first, both his eyes are normal again.

[@AuroDHikoshi]

@@emeraldpichu1 They've not mentioned any effects from it other than the shame of having been put through it, but having a leftover weakness from being possessed, althouth the aetheric disability he now has might complicate that

[@AuroDHikoshi]

@@R3b3ccaCran3 G'raha inadvertantly fixed his eyes in the switch over and like himself fused the two when reunited?

[@SubduedRadical]

Some of these things may still be "pending" - there's been some speculation that the various Primals may be local interpretations of the Twelve, and we're just now discovering who they are (or hopefully will at the end of this raid series; there's some suggestion with things like the brother/sister in Elpis where the brother has highly regarded powers over Time Magic, for example, and if you complete the quest, you introduce them to the name Nymian Lilies, which the sister remarks is a pretty name but none of them are familiar with the plant). The idea behind this is that many of the Primals, or at least some of them, could be local variations on those glimpses the 24 man quest series showed us that sometimes appear between the Twelve's realm and ours, giving mortals only a bare moment to see the Twelve themselves through the rift. For example, it's possible that some Slyphs once saw Byregot through such a rift, and thus was born the legend of Ramuh. While the Beast Tribe versions look different, it could be how a member of the Beast Tribes would interpret the vision. For example, if a Amula'ja saw Azema through a rift covered in flames eons ago before they had widespread encounters with the Human-ish races of Eorzia, is it so unrealistic to think they MIGHT interpret what they saw as something akin to Ifrit? Sort of like the idea that people seem to envision God in their mind's eye as an elderly sage of their race, and non-white people even do this in depictions of Santa Clause. Indeed, the Twelve are adamant in the quest series that THEY are different and are NOT Primals, despite the WoL and crew mentioning the possibility. So this may be one we get an answer to at some point soonish. The Shard skies are actually fairly easy to understand if you understand the concept of something being "out of phase" in sci-fi. I believe I first encountered this as a kid with the Star Trek: The Next Generation 2 part episode where they meet Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens. The super short version for the non-Trekies out there are there are some aliens who exist slightly out of phase with our reality. Close enough they occupy the same space, but we cannot see or interact with them, nor they with us, since our matter's wavelengths don't quite align. Same location, but not able to interact physically. In this sense, the Shards and Source are all in the same physical location to the outside universe (hence seeing the same stars), but are "out of phase" so they don't interact. Further, only the Source is "in phase" with the rest of the universe, which is why things traveling from afar (like Midgarsormyr or Omega) land on the Source, not one of the Shards. And while we know time can travel differently on the Shards, we don't know that they actually MOVE differently through space. That is, maybe the perception of time goes by faster for the people on one, but the planet spins in the same part of the orbit as the Source and moves with the Source rather than outrunning it around its star. The only way to test this would be to travel to Shards and see if their stars rotate faster in the sky or if they are in a different phase of the year. We can't presently do this other than the First, but the First is currently locked to the Source's flow of time (as we learned in ShB), and its sky is identical to the sky on the Source. We DO know that the Shards also have their own sundered moons, but looking at the First's sky, the moon seems to appear the same and be in the same place in the sky (I tested this a few months back). There are all kinds of gravitational, tidal, etc things that could come out of this, but regardless, it seems the most likely explanation for the time being. Urianger's description I haven't seen in a while, so I'm curious on the details, but I will say there's a quest in Eplis at the Twelve Wonders where the questgiver, in the turn-in text, mentions that what it does is regulate the elements: "The gardens of the Twelve Wonders reflect the balance of dynamic and stagnant aether of all six aspects. An excess of activity in a single aspect leads to this type of agglomeration." - Alkmene (questgiver) Obviously, this is a statement of the same principle that there are six elements but each has a stasis/light/order/umbral facet, stagnant, and a change/darkness/chaos/astral facet, dynamic. (I recently finished up EVERY side-quest in the game...like...yeah...ALL of them as far as I can tell). Took a screenshot of that text blurb because I thought it was interesting. . Translation issues happen, the Ascian question isn't quite settled at any rate because there are still a few unaccounted for. I still would like to know who or what Sabik was/is. And I agree that it's weird the Echo vs Blessing of Light. The whole "has seen a starshower and had your Ancient soul shard awakened" could be an explanation for the Echo, but doesn't explain how people like Zenos could do so much with it or how it seems to still be important uniquely to the WoL - that is, while others may awaken the Echo, there seems to be something special about ours. Instead, Venat's "Traveler's Ward" seems to be the new explanation, which is kind of lacking since that seems like a simple thing. Even if it's a rare spell, surely others besides Venat would have known how to cast it during that time, if no one else, Azem likely would have. It seems odd that such a rare and esoteric power would be relegated to "Well, the godess (before she was a goddess?) cast a defensive spell on you and it's somehow done all this stuff for years even before that". Even if we take it as her casting the spell on your character when he or she was born, that still relegates it to a defensive spell, no matter how powerful, which doesn't explain things well. For example, Midgarsormyr was able to neutralize it during HW. While he was, indeed, powerful, he was not powerful on par with goddess version Hydaelyn. Moreover, many times it has been commented on. Aside from Zenos, there's a fight or three in the Void Arc series, and I distinctly remember one saying, when he/she dies, something to the effect of "My powers are truly monstrous and great, but WHAT are YOU??" There seems to be more going on there, such that it's been commented on by even very powerful beings. And the Warding Spell argument doesn't really explain just how powerful the WoL is. The entire point of the Garlemald soul snatching scene was to show with game mechanics how weak an average soldier is compared to the WoL. The soldier body you're in doesn't even have out of combat health regeneration and can barely stand up to other soldiers, much less magitech, while the WoL's soul in his/her native body can slay gods. That isn't explained away by "Oh, you had a Traveler's Ward cast on you", no matter how powerful the caster.

[@NoNo-dn2kt]

This is technically an unresolved point that I haven't seen anyone talk about. At the end of the Save the Queen questline, we see more weapons claimed by the IVth Legion, hinting at there being more weapon-primals than just The Queen (unless I completely read that scene wrong). We all know where this story goes though, so it's unlikely we'll ever see what happens.

[@sfenix.]

We already know of more weapon-primals, Odin is one (and likely a number of the things in the Baldesion Arsenal), as is Excalibur. It's likely that the Queen was also created by Eureka.

[@acgearsandarms1343]

@@sfenix. The Queen wasn’t made by Eureka. She’s a primal manifested by Misija and the previous Gunnhildr. Odin also isn’t technically the main primal, the sword is. I assume you mean the weapon Save the Queen?

[@torashiki5646]

The primal-weapon thing is further explored in Eureka Orthos with Excalibur.

[@torashiki5646]

@@acgearsandarms1343 Well, yes, but also no. The Queen was made by allagans, and the Queen we see on it became a primal THROUGH bonding with the sword, as a vessel for the sword's power. Its just that its not understood its a primal until way later.

[@acgearsandarms1343]

@@torashiki5646 Oh I see, I thought you meant Eureka directly made it, not indirectly. In that case, then yes, I suppose it did.

[@probablyhuman632]

Okay but what about that time in ARR when Cid tells us that we gave him his goggles when he was escaping Garlemald?

[@AuroDHikoshi]

I think what I've seen is a 1.0 reference? Hinting at something in the past that led him to leave Garlemald enitrely?

[@GrayWaves-ux8nx]

In 1.0, the Warrior of Light gives Cid the goggles he wears. Assuming you played 1.0 and, as such, your ARR WoL and the 1.0 WoL are the same person, that scene was Cid regaining his memories of you, making him the second person to do so (Minfilia being the first). If you aren't a legacy player, Cid does not fully regain the memory, and is still subject to the curse that made everyone forget the original Warriors of Light. Instead, he only partially regains the memory of getting the goggles from the 1.0 WoL, confusing them with you since your ARR WoL apparently heavily resembles the 1.0 WoL. Whether that means you look like them (same race and gender) or it's simply that you both have the Blessing of Light, which is causing Cid to mix you up, is unclear.

[@AuroDHikoshi]

@@GrayWaves-ux8nx It would be interesting that they do bring up more stuff that happened as the light starts to dim a bit meaning you get more depth into those days before the calamity?

[@GrayWaves-ux8nx]

Sadly YoshiP stated they want to minimize as many 1.0 references as they can since the game and its lore is no longer accessible. Why they added this scene with Cid is beyond me, let alone how they made it extremely confusing to anyone that hasn't played 1.0.

[@masterxeno]

Something I dont think gets enough highlight is the fact that essentially the ability to see enemy telegraphs and abilities is a part of the echo. Its not so much stated in the game but you can clearly see the difference with Fordola. I cant remember if its something said in the game but after she gets the resonance its pointed out that she fights like we do.

[@TofuSG98]

Is that why the AoE markers appear and stuff?

[@jacobkern2060]

Echo's one explanation, but since the Scions can also dodge mechanics despite not having the Echo (even if Alisaie tries to greed every melee phase), you could also just chalk it up to experience.

[@sleepythemis]

@@jacobkern2060 Aether, mostly. They went hard on it during Endwalker's duty support, which is why Y'shtola will dodge basically everything (like in the Mothercrystal trial) but people like Estinien and Alisaie need one or two tries before they're not getting hit by a particular magic mechanic anymore.

[@HoneyDoll894]

@@sleepythemis I think that definitely fits with the echo tho. Venat explains that the the way echo works is by attuning to the aether and reconstructing events of the past, so since y'shtola can see aether, it wouldn't be a stretch to say she can use a sort of less advanced version of the echo

[@sleepythemis]

@@HoneyDoll894 While the Echo is a form of aetheric manipulation, that doesn't make just any form of aetheric manipulation the Echo, or even make them that similar. There are several characters who can sense and analyze aether around them by sight alone, like Krile and Beq Lugg and similar magely/scholarly types, so I suspect Y'shtola's case is probably more akin to something like a "sixth" sense, related to aether, strengthening to compensate for the loss of her sight, similar to what happens for some blind people in real life with their other unimpaired senses.

[@valeriethistlewind]

there was one moment in msq that always felt unexplained in every playthrough, and thats during cutscene #2 of "Lady of the Vortex" where our WoL appears in Cid's memories as sparkles of light off the ship of the Enterprise midflight, then show our form but seemingly aetherial, like a spirit, and hand him his goggles, which materialize and then sparkle some more. Now, as far as i can tell, we dont appear in this fashion in any other Echo memories, and I am led to believe thru context that the entire sequence is instead more metaphorical, as a retelling of Cid's disjunct memories by Cid (its even narrated by him), but it feels very unclear. is it implying we were on the ship, giving him the goggles? he does mention in the prior cutscene there were other adventurers "like us" on board before, so is our spirit-self simply a stand-in for those missing faces? or was it our actual WoL giving the goggles back then? i was not around for 1.0, and i dont have supplemental material, so im not sure if those things would clear this up. im hoping you could cover this topic, as well as for others that see this to share their knowledge and theories. i love ur all ur videos, and i deeply appreciate them and how much care and work u put in expressing the lore. i look forward to future videos, anc potential replies or videos going over this and other unexplained lore tidbits! keep up the great work!!!

[@Rewwgh]

The impression from numerous interviews with CBU3's people that I've gotten is that the XIV story hasn't been developed with a definitive ending in mind. The lore and story is developed enough for one expansion and then some. It's a big cause for frustrations that I've had with the story direction for a while now. But most of these examples presented here, should be viewed as story-threads in suspended animation. Especially the Ascian one! They will be reintroduced or continued when the writing team thinks it's necessary.

[@Majima_Nowhere]

You kind of have to write that way for an MMO like this, which isn't planned to end until the money well runs dry. If you end the main story with all the loose ends neatly tied up, you have nothing to lead into the next expansion with. That, and a player might stop when they feel they've reached the end of the story. Hence, we have zero detail on any of the remaining unvisited shards and only tiny grains of story from the other half of the planet we haven't been to. They're just keeping their options open.

[@venabre]

For the first one while it is true that we haven't hear anything from them I do not think that is necessarily something I'd consider unresolved. Each Ascian can have their own will and their own goals, and it was only the three Unsundered that made sure they were all kept in line. Like how Fandaniel went off to try to destroy the world or how Mitron's goal was to be together with Gaia and not so much return the world to its original state they could have split off and gone on to do their own thing. We also have a lot of land we've yet to go to, like Meracydia and the New World, not to mention the other remaining Shards, so just because we haven't met them doesn't mean they weren't doing their own roles in these parts. The game is far from finished and there is still a lot we don't know. For the Echo I've always considered it and the Blessing of Light to refer to the same general phenomenn. It's not so much that the Echo lost its significance, but rather that through investigations in the first as well as the knowledge the Exarch brought from the future they now understand it more and know exactly which component it is that grants you protection against the light. It also makes more poetic sense in a way, so the writers probably decided to use Blessing of Light instead of Echo for Shadowbringers, though they could have easily kept using Echo had they chosen to. Furthermore before we arrived the Oracle of Light already existed in the First, and what the people of the First decided to call her powers was the Blessing of Light, so it is a continuation from that as well. As for the same sky it is my understanding that the Source and the Shards share the same physical space while at the same time being separated from one another. Think different dimensions. The way it is portrayed in the Ocular is just a visual aid to understand the concept, not how it physically looks. After all if it really looked like that then we'd see the shards in the sky.

[@Joe-it2dh]

Part of the Echo is explained in Endwalker: the ability to view the past is explained as "reading the aether" whether that be ambient aether in the area or reading the aether of the soul of the individual, when they are focused on that past event it makes it easier. This act of reliving the past is basic magics to the Ascians as demonstrated when you and her view the past together she is shocked that you are unable to do it at will like everyone else. The Blessing of Light is called the Traveler's Ward and we got her special version to mark us on the first visit to the Mothercrystal. Though I would like Yoshi-P to flesh these things out more instead of just using them as a convenient plot device.

[@GeneralESB]

I just want to know what was up with the giant dark crystal seen at the end of ARR. I think it was supposed to represent Zodiark like how the Mothercrystal represented Hydaelyn, but it was never seen or mentioned ever again. Am I missing something?

[@AzureGreatheart]

It was probably a placeholder design. We believed the Mothercrystal _was_ Hydaelyn until EW, and Zodiark has always been written as a counterpart to her; thus, a palette swap of the Mothercrystal is used prior to Zodiark's actual design being finalized.

[@Zyvux.]

I've always been a big halmarut fan, knowing that his only expose was one third of a dungeon after all these years makes me sad :(

[@aurondoxon3805]

Urianger speaks in a very old English way so the translators had a lot of creative freedom with the delivery of his lines. I don't know the Japanese version but I assume it must also sound scholarly and poetic to match his English version.

[@shikiyama]

In Japanese, he just speaks with very polite language as far as I'm aware.

[@utafumi_s3244]

His speech is just really formal, it's nothing like his English

[@helpfulDeathgod]

His speech in Japanese is extremely formal but it's also spoken in a kind of old fashioned way? But not in a way people are normally expected to talk. More accurate to a narrator in a way.

[@AthenaPrime]

@@helpfulDeathgod It's amazing how much small nuances like this create such differences in story and characters, isn't it? Like Emet-Selch's lines in Japanese are, I'm told, delivered with much less sarcasm because culturually, it doesn't land the same as snarky charm does in the western world. Would make him a very different character if he were "played straight" without the snark in the English version. Same with Urianger. If he didn't use such quirky and archaic speech patterns, he wouldn't be the same character or have the same effect on the story.

[@SonsOfMalice]

One small plotline which kind of annoys me: Unulkalhai. Dude wanted to restore his world and we actually go there now but never think about involving him...?

[@Razornuke]

My perspective is that the echo is a set of common abilitiew (memory sight and tempering resistance) along with a unique ability being common place. The blessing of light seems to be more of a resistance to aetheric corruption, and even then it alone was not enough to protect the WoL from all that sparkle dust. Reminder (EW Spoilers btw) that even with the echo and the blessing of light, the WoL still needed a warding scale to enter the void because it was that corruptive.

[@Felinius]

I was an 1.0 Player, that took a long hiatus shortly after ARR, and I really like things like this, because I’m really curious about story beats that I thought I missed, that turned out to be just missing.

[@jamib7970]

The trick with the Ascians is that other than the Unsundered there were multiple fragments of souls of those who last held the Convocation seats spread across the Source and original thirteen shards. Not to mention souls of previous Convocation members who had "retired", such as Hermes mentor. All you needed was someone like Emet-Selch with a strong enough soul sight to recognize and point out the pieces for collection. Because they died at the sundering of the world they would no longer feel Zodiark's tempering; however, bring them in, explain the disaster that has befallen the star, give them the desperate mission to save the beautiful world that once was and imbue them with the memories stored in the Convocation's soul crystals and you would surely have the makings of a fanatic to rival any tempered beast tribe member. As these sundered Ascians are defeated across the shards by various WoLs, unless steps were taken to permanently destroy their souls they could in theory return to the life stream and be reborn, as was the case with one shard of Logriff. It would just be a matter for Emet-Selch to hunt them down again. A vicious cycle playing out over the 10,000 years of their great work. Sore plot point for me personally is that one of the masks Gaius carries around has distinctly feline features. I believe it was during a live letter they identified this as belonging to another Ascian. However, in time and place this should 100% be Asahi Fandaniel's. FFXII's Fandaniel corresponded to and the Convocation memory stone for the seat bore the constellation of Leo the Lion. And while gleeing to Zenos about his body the Asican mentioned that he had "lost" his previous body and found this one conventiently lying around, meaning he crossed someone that was skilled or strong enough to destroy his body very shortly before/after the fight against Tsukiyomi. Not long after, we meet up again with Gaius in the story line.

[@DeusGamez]

the main ascians who were ascended had been 7 times rejoined so logriff at the time of our meeting her was 7/14 shards rejoined. and its already been clarified who's masks Gaius hoisted to his belt by Naoki Yoshida he told the interviewer that Gaius did not kill any ascians because he had no means to destroy their souls an that the two overlords he confronted were : Deudaliphon and Altima with Deudaliphon bein the more beast like mask cause they represent the Capricorn zodiac and then Altima bearing a feminine like mask to symbolize the Maiden zodiac.

[@DeusGamez]

it should also be noted: that Igeyorm was one of the first they ascended cause her experiments with the 13th were the basis they used to implement calamities and sometime later after Allag had fallen was when Emet-Selch recruited Hermes to resume his duty as Fandaniel. so it seems that Elidibus, Lahabrea and Emet-selch only picked up their fellow convocation as they deemed it necessary too and were not actively restoring them all at once. but of the 13 we do see appearances from: Altima, Pashtarot, Nabrialis, Emerololith, Mitron, and Logrif which suggests that they were raised up in the time before or prior too 1.0/ARR storyline.

[@josephgregorowicz5135]

The Echo was mentioned in our trip to Elpis. Do you not remember the scene where Venat has us go to the location Hermes launched the Metea, and "watch" what had happened in the past? She mentions the power t us, and queries us about how we for some reason cannot control it, while she can. The Echo was briefly mentioned in post-shadowbringers as well, in 5.2 when the starshower fell, and suddenly the power was awakened in some people from the First. We are told the starshower is like a recording from Hydaelyn, repeating over and over again through time, searching for the heroes worthy to save the realm (later we find she is searching for those worthy enough to take on the task of stopping the Endsinger). I propose there is even more in the final words of Emet Selch to us in 5.0. "Remember....." The Echo is an actual echo of the past, and a power to see the past. It allows those who are sundered to remember who they were, if only slightly, enough to be able to make use of said power. While there probably is alot more about this latent power we don't know, and aside from Fordola's feats we have not heard much talk of the Resonant since, we can at least close the book on what the Echo originally was, and how it came to be in us and those who possess it.

[@Majima_Nowhere]

YoshiP in 6.4: "ALRIGHT FINE here's where the Heart of Sabik is from. NOW SHUT UP ABOUT IT"

[@Glennkabob]

In my personal opinion, the scariest plot point that was created with EW is the soul ripping technology that the Garleans created. Do we have confirmation that there is no trace of it left or is there still remnants of it around? And if it is still around, what would it mean if it were used again not only on just the WoL but on others? If it is ever brought up again how can we trust anyone to be honest with who they are whether intentionally or unintentionally? The only person that I can think of that can detect a soul-ripped person is Y’Shtola but only if she saw that person prior to the soul-ripping.

[@Viech54]

As you mentioned mistranslations: Could you make a video about the more prominent ones? Someone in the comment mentioned that Matoya meant something else when she spoke about Y'shtola slowly dying from using Aether to see. I'd have listed that as an unresolved story point, but it's apparently not even true and is instead a mistranslation.

[@AuroDHikoshi]

I think it is an interesting point to bring up, is she in danger but given Y'Shtola, she wouldn't do it if it meant her death... except yeah...

[@-cat-..]

Ive heard in other languages it actually meant Y'shtola was using aether to see, while the EN line just says "life force", leading people to assume shes slowly dying

[@JohnAtDawn]

You know what? I'm going to put my plot hole here. In 5.3, when Elidibus recalls your first meeting, he claims that the Source was "drifting dangerously close to darkness", and that the reason he approached you was that as the WoL, your actions could change the balance. This is contradicted several times in ARR, HW, and SB. Most notably when Lahabread claimed at the end of 2.0 that Hydaelyn had pushed the Source too close to light instead. So I always wondered if this was a retcon, or an example of Elidibus' faulty memory.

[@shadeblackwolf1508]

Not surprised the echo is here. Long story short, the Echo has been hyped up by those who did not understand it. When we met those who did, they broke what we know as the echo into 2 distinct components. A resonance by a soul that is sundered of what once was whole, allowing a tiny glimpse into powers that used to be common, and a lost blessing from ancient times, that our guardian primal bestowed us with. I like the comparison to Naruto's tailed beasts, going from a demon, to a mass of negative energy, to an energy being that was sick of abuse by humans as we met those who understood it better. yes, it's a retcon, but one based on an in-universe expansion of understanding.

[@tsbulmer]

A lot of confusion about the Echo and the Blessing of Light stems from, I think, the terms referring to separate things *now*, but originally referred to the same thing. It seems to me that, originally, there was no more difference between BoL and Echo than there was between Primal and Eikon. As the MSQ's events unfolded and the characters came to understand that there were two phenomena at play, the terms that *had* been equivalent diverged. I suspect there was a similar situation with the game's writing, where the the BoL and the Echo were the same to the devs, until they weren't.

[@novamarie2162]

I always assumed they were the same thing. When do they split?

[@TheNeoVariable]

One other unresolved plotline are these "horns" that can carry phenomenal amounts of aether. We've seen Tupsimati and a horn was used to summon Alexander but we never really got anywhere else with it.

[@shimasclan]

My main question related to the shards is 'if you start on the first and take a rocket to space, is it a whole new cosmos, or do you eventually pass a line that puts you back into 'Source-space'? And if the second, how long do you have to travel for that to happen.'

[@airget]

I feel like we might get the answer to this in about 3 weeks. Considering the MSQ ended with a scene on the 13th moon. So we might get a revelation about that.

[@sockhead3028]

I think elidibus did explain in shadowbringers that the echo is basically the X gene that exist in everyone but has yet to awaken. But you're definitely right about no one knowing the full extent of it capabilities depite it's usage

[@DatDirtyDog]

We're also told the the echo is differn't for everyone. Like how Kryle could use it to trace where 3 of the scions were after the end of arr.

[@Vulgarth1]

No, it's not in everyone. The Echo is just repressed aether-imprinted memory of The Final Days, and the remaining power of that shard of a person from Etheirys. Not everyone on The Source and all its reflections are a shard of an Etheirys...ian? Etheirite? Whatever. Point is, some people are just people, and it's why not just anyone can be an Ascian, and why the Ascians despise life in its current form. They have a higher esteem for shards than they do for the beings that naturally manifested after The Sundering.

[@voidhunter2800]

They did explain why Ramuh is so different from other primals; its because of how the sylphs are in general, they don't seek to fight you on the spot and will generally use their tricks to get you to leave, unlike every other beast tribe that already has a small army on standby.

[@Y0USEEMUPSET]

Heart of Sabik finally wrapped up, maybe? Might be worth diving into a little Ivalice lore in a new video.

[@saulmadrid9950]

The note on Ramuh and the Primals' behavior isn't completely glossed over by the devs either. While there wasn't a multi-point explanation given, in the most current raid we finally confront the 12 gods of the realm. In one conversation we are told that just like the denizens of Eorzea seek guidance from Primals, so too do the Primals react in a similar fashion to the gods. Whether that is sufficient explanation for Ramuh or not, I've personally thought of him as the sagely type of deity compared to the rest, referring to his iteration in FF9 of course.

[@woljay9362]

The Ramuh thing isn’t AS convoluted despite them not being explicit with it. The nature of the Sylphs (as Ramuh is created from their belief) , which is distinct to the other tribes, gives hints why Ramuh is the way he is. The Twelve raids also supplemented a lot on this especially when G’raha theorizes that sighting of Rhalgr may have given rise belief in Ramuh and his appearance. Encyclopedia Eorzea vol. 2 also mentions how the two deities’ appearance and features are conflated and scholars theorize they are aspects of the same being. Also awesome video! These questions must be asked! ❤

[@grimmdul9808]

Ramuh was explained in some dialogue. The sylphs summoned him as protection against the Garleans. He's not some aggressive primal because his goal is to protect the sylphs. The other tribes wanted to crush the city states, so their primals are way more aggressive.

[@Zeracheil]

For me the plot hole I wanted answered is why Zenos was dreaming of the file days since he was a child.

[@temporalTechnologist]

I just wanna know what happened with Zenos' second outfit. He had it on for like 2 scenes and then it disappeared. It was so good, his best look.

[@rickydargence5948]

He used it to canonically go to Dissidia NT, when he came back it was in bad shape so he changed it. Source: My Ass

[@zeroxvii17]

End Walker Spoilers!!! Only thing that irked me in EW was the inconsistency with the telling of the Final Days and Zodiark's summoning in SHB vs the Venat cutscene of her sundering the world in EW. Main plot: We are told in SHB that Zodiark was summoned to halt the Final Days and so half the world's people were sacrificed for the summon. After those remaining saw their broken world, they sacrificed another half to restore it. A plan was then set that they would slowly create new life to later be sacrificed to Zodiark again to bring back the many that were sacrificed in the first place. After hearing this plan, Venat and others created Hydaelyn solely to bind Zodiark leading to their clash and the sundering. Inconsistency: So how the hell was all of that supposed to take place in the cutscene where Venat is walking down Amaurot? Many people have said it's because the entirety of that scene is supposed to be symbolic and not what actually happens during the Final Days. However, this scene is shown to use as we are traveling through time/space in one of the crystal shards which, until that scene, only showed memories of things as they happened. Don't get me wrong, that scene was incredible and I teared up like everyone else upon seeing it, but coming off the MSQ high and really examining the plot made me love and appreciate the writing in SHB.

[@warllockmasterasd9142]

In a realm reborn we learn that an echo user can transfer their soul to another vessel, but while in such a state you are an easy snack for a primal. in Shadowbringers in Bozjan we actually learn there is a different type of echo power held by the Sharlayan Raen. in shadowbringers we also learn that the Echo is something that every person in existence actually posses, but it has to be activated by an event that resembles the end of the Original world. in yet again Shadowbringers we also learn that the Echo is essentially how the Ascians are jumping from vessel to vessel by being confirmed by Meniphillia. in Endwalker we are actually taught by Hydaelyn to use our echo's sight ability to concentrate more on looking into the past. while she also clarifies that this can be used to see into the future or the past. We know that Fandaniel taught Zenos how to better use his awakened powers after the Elidibus had done alterations to his vessels after possessing it. allowing him to traverse the Atherical stream like the Ascians. I also believe that the Warrior of Light has directly chosen to not harness too much into the power of the Echo, in order to remain as human as possible. meanwhile in Endwalker we learn that the Blessing of Light is actually just a very powerful warding spell created by Hydaelyn herself. that has the function to protect your essence from corruption. meanwhile the Echo is basically a mix of your passed complete self and the power to view the future and past, something that appeared to at least being a normal thing to be able to do according to Venat so, long as you've the right instructions. the Resonance on the other hand is the power to read the flow of the soul and to detach your own soul to a new vessel. Zenos also took in the aether of a Primal, which granted him immense power. I also remember a quest in Stormblood where the Resonance basically overpowered them and they had to use a trick to disrupt it in order to beat it. the Echo in origin of the game though has always been a plot-device.

[@Wepospalient]

One of the things that's felt unresolved to me for quite a while now has been some of the stuff surrounding The Shroud in 1.0. Gelmorra, the conjuror quests, amberscale rock, the mysteries of the elementals. A lot of the really mysterious stuff 1.0 started with The Shroud just seems all but forgotten by the time 2.0 rolls around, and we havn't exactly gotten a whole lot on it since then.

[@Nempo13]

Have you done all of the White Mage quests? That is where the elementals are explained.

[@Wepospalient]

@@Nempo13 I have but it's been a long enough time since then that I may have just forgotten a good chunk of it. I'll be sure to look them up again.

[@aurumvale9908]

​@@Nempo13 wernt they basically just weather regulators in Elpis? I can see the Ancients placing them all around the world trying to fix nature after the first sacrifice. the ones in the shroud are probably just faulty with age at this point

[@Ladywizard]

@@Nempo13 don't forget the healer roles in EW also were major elemental lore bombs especially about the green death.

[@turntapeover5749]

A little correction: it is not accurate that we don't know the whereabouts of 4 of the ascians. There is only 1 and here is why: We know what happened to Emet-Selch, Lahabrea, Elidibus, Igeyorhym, Emereloth, Loghriff, Mitron, Nabriales, Fandaniel and Azem (Azem being the WoL, who left the convocation and never became an ascian), and when we encounter Gaius van Bealsar in the Burn he has 3 ascian masks in his possesion which belonged to Deudalaphon, Altima and Halmarut which we can safely assume are dead and gone. So there isn't 4 ascians unnaccounted for, there is only one: Pashtarot. And since Pashtarot is associated with the esper Zeromus, we can hypothesize that he is likely to make an appaearance in the 13th story arc since it draws so much from FF4 and the final boss of that game is Zeromus. And if my theory is correct, the 13th storyline should conclude the ascian storyline once and for all. That would bring the total to 14, which is how many members were in the Convocation. So there will be no unresolved plot there if Pashtarot is at the conclusion of the 13th story arc. That being said, it is true that what happens with Emereloth is a bit strange as in ARR she should indeed be dead and that has been retconned in Eureka.

[@Dhalin]

@8:11 They _did_ explain it. When a primal is summoned, what characteristics said primal has is entirely dependent upon what the summoner(s) envision said primal as being. Ifrit is full of rage because his summoners had all of that anger. Titan was an angry defender because the kobolds who summoned him were angry but fearful of the Limsans who were encroaching on their lands. Ramuh, on the other hand, was born out of fear. The Gridanians never directly attacked or threatened the Sylphs who summoned him, but they summoned him out of paranoia that either the Gridanians, or the newly arrived Garleans would eventually attack them. Therefore, Ramuh was less the angry "I KILL YOU NOW!" and more "Prove to me that you have no ill intent towards the Sylphs! Prove to me that you mean to oppose the Garleans and have the strength to do so!" because these are the thoughts of the sylphs who summoned him. We learn later, that Primals can be summoned without evil intent, such as when they were summoned to help the Ragnarok take off in Endwalker.

[@Makorze]

As far as "replacing" Ascians goes. Only an Unsundered Ascian can do it as they can either combine shards themselves to create a sundered Ascian (the black masks who cannot reincarnate on their own) OR if they are a member of the Convocation of 13 - Transfer their memories into one of their other reflections - however this cannot be done if their Shard from the source is destroyed. Also Emett mentions alot of the missing Ascians kinda got their asses handed too them by Warriors of Light in the other reflections

[@Nedread]

I suppose a decent one would be: What ARE the Elementals that Gridania worship? Are they Primals that a civilization predating Gelmorra summoned and they have just remained ever since? Are they normal elementals that ascended into a divine state, similar to how an Auspice attained divinity? Are they similar in nature to the Twelve, somehow?

[@kainnak]

I always figured Ramuh wasn't hostile because the Sylphs were not aggressive toward us, we came as friends he even says prior to fighting him that he wants us to prove our power to protect the Sylph in his place against the Garleans.

[@ramiselif9295]

I believe that all shards looking out see the same night sky but in outer space looking in, its the source. Why did zenos see the flashes of the collapse? Was there a point to that?

[@tyty8484]

*SABIK!!!* Tho I assume they're going to resolve this with Pandemonium. As well as the Ascian's ability to reincarnate indefinitely. *Crystal Exarch Timeline Zenos:* In our timeline IIRC Zenos is actually responsible for stopping the Black Death for "getting in the way of his hunt." What happened differently in the Exarch Timeline that prevented Zenos from doing just that? Also, if Zenos has the power to absorb Primals and their power then wouldn't he be able to absorb Alexander and use time magic to come back to the past to meet his best friend again? 1:54 Nii-san Altima! 9:30 3 Graces Raids in EW seem to be going in this direction. Maybe?

[@GavinAstraWolf]

I always wondered why the shards share the same moon and stars as source but I wonder if 6.4 will explain that finally. Either way great video and I never realized half of these things when I played. lol

[@bakacdaz]

I still not understand how this Reflection thing work. Did she physically tearing the planet apart and send it to the galaxy far far away or just duplicated the whole system but with same physicals location. It it duplicated dimension then how big of these this pocket dimension. Did she duplicated just the solar system or the whole universe? If she duplicated and shrink the dimension then Dragon's home planet also shrink too or it just our planet?

[@AuroDHikoshi]

I think with the projection speech, 8+ will maybe adress the shards... (I think they need to establish a hub to move between them and a majort area at that!)

[@corwyncorey3703]

they share the same stars and moon and geography... because they are the same PLACE, in different "dimensions", or Shards

[@duncanmacleod6274]

@@corwyncorey3703 So was the planet sundered or the entire universe? If the reflections are out of phase with the Source, why would they be in phase with the rest of the universe? Why isn't there another shard of Middy on the reflections, or any other dragons for that matter? What would happen if you just flew off into space from the First? Would you be able to see the Source? Would you be able to go to Ultima Thule? Would it be in the same state we left it in? It would be really weird and concerning if there were 13 more of Meteion, and I feel like we would have to have addressed that by now.

[@corwyncorey3703]

@@duncanmacleod6274 ...Think of it ALL as out of phase. Yes, each universe a separate entity... yet the same. Its why the geography is identical to Eorzea... yet different due to (as was mentioned) 12000 years of divergent history. Easier to picture pages of tracing paper, all on top of eachother... when seen as a whole, its a solid THERE image... when seperated, all the same yet fainter. Gaining in strength every time a layer is added back to the original "source" page.

[@ArborusVitae]

As someone who skips all of the story stuff it’s neat to see what potential things could maybe get pulled back in in the future or reconnected or referenced in new content.

[@Hobojo153]

I think the implication from EW with the Echo is that most of what was said prior about "it" was actually just character misinterpreting several different things as a single power.

[@MissLilianae]

This might've been me reading between the lines/not understanding fully, but even before EW attributed the Echo to the Blessing of Light, I always assumed it was part and parcel of the blessing. Like anyone who has the Echo is blessed by Hydalaen in some way. And considering the only 4 character we meet who are CONFIRMED to have the echo all speak of how they have powers gifted to them by Hydalaen, I had no reason to question this. I think the idea that the Echo as we knew it, the ability to gaze into the past and see memories, became just a plot device is because that's what it's always been. It's essentially the reason WE are the WoL, why WE are the chosen one. OUR blessing is stronger than Minfilia's or Krile's, but given enough time they could theoretically have risen to the point where they were able to stop Primals just like we did, but our empowered blessing just made it possible for us to do that sooner. That's my understanding anyway.

[@trial_with_an_error9687]

The echo WAS something that a majority of Ascians had. The Blessing Of Light is in actuality something Venat calls a "Traveler's Ward." The enacting of a travelers ward is most likely what reawakens the Echo effect in the certain individuals Hydaelyn chooses, Hoary Boulder, Arenvald, Krile etc etc. Zenos and his war crimina-I mean scientists. Discovered a way to forcefully transfer the Traveler's Ward (I.E Blessing Of Light) onto those who had not reawakened their echo or straight just weren't chosen. Which is why The Resonant empowers him and Fordola the same way it does for us.

[@trial_with_an_error9687]

Our blessing is also stronger simply because of who we used to be. Azem was, as far the lore and tidbits we can gather from Emet, Hyth and Venat herself, freakishly strong. He/she was capable of taking on godlike beings entirely by themselves (The whole first primal thing to save an island from an erupting volcano) and as Venat tells, but the absolute shit out of her during a sparring match. And Venat was the most committed Azem before our true self was. Now combine that with Azem now being 8 times rejoined due to our soul refusing with Ardbert. We're essentially an ascendant being compared to everyone else.

[@waferdaze8017]

My main issue with the Echo's relevance is that it just keeps bouncing between what it even is. The Echo is mostly defined by being the thing that allows those who possess it to peer into the past. Stormblood framed it as the key to holding off primal temperment or even the ability to control them, but that's not what it is in either ARR or Endwalker. For example, Ifrit in ARR says the reason he can't temper the Warrior of Light is due to Hydaelyn's blessing. Endwalker has Venat confirm that is exactly what it is. Yet we know it can't be the same as the Blessing of Light, because Zenos could artificially replicate it. And don't even start on what the Talismans created in Endwalker mean for the Echo, that practically assassinates what deeper utility the Echo was posed to have to begin with.

[@ragnarokseig]

I think you forget some of what the echo does when you say it was abandoned and doesn't do much. Endwalker talks about what it is and what it does, we even work to use it's memory powers willfully under Venat's guidance. It gives us access to every language, which is more subtle but gets used constantly. And most importantly, but most easily forgotten, it allows us to precog attacks (giving us the telegraphs before attacks). To say Zenos uses it better is debatable, cuz with telegraphs we've been doing the same thing this whole time,

[@joshplater3963]

With point number 1: Yoshi P confirmed that the Ascians Gaius killed weren't permanently killed. Also, in that scene with all of the Ascians, ALL seats are taken up, with Elidibus being in the middle, making 15 Ascians, unless he didn't have a seat there. Furthermore, Azem's seat would also be taken up, despite the WoL supposedly but not confirmed to be, them. I'm curious about that, they shouldn't have been replaced after all, and a Shard of us from another realm, with their memories restored, wouldn't have helped, as they refused to help in the Unsundered world when it came to summoning Zodiark.

[@aurumvale9908]

3:20 cause I imagine it takes quite some time to actually find one of the soul fragments. keep in mind they were originally spread around 14 worlds and given there were only 3 unsundered and oy one of them with the ability to see the "color" of a soul I imagine Emet spend a good while just searching for a single fragment. now imagine you finally have all 13 replaced and gotta start searching again for 1 specific fragment in another world. I'd say he probably found a good number of duplicates from the same original soul. that one ascian was probably one of those and could be replaced that fast because emet knew exactly where they were.

[@neobahumuth6]

I think you forgot tht the echo was used in the story again both ShB and END, in ShB in the Bozja questline we have Mikoto's echo where she can see fragments of the future and Misija uses that power for herself. In END Venat asks us if we know how to call on the power, this is a bit important because it implies the ancients knew of the power to "see" events we were not part of, my theory is that they wanted to make the echo still somewhat of a mistery and not something related to just the final days.

[@torashiki5646]

Its weird that people say the Echo was dropped when 5.0-5.3 has actually a lot of talk about the nature of the Echo and where it comes from.

[@sleepythemis]

It doesn't imply that the Ancients knew about the echo, it straight up confirms it, along with giving us an explanation of how it works (EW set up a lot of lore about how aether and memories correlate and the echo ties heavily into that) and a demonstration of how they use it at will.

[@alsims2007]

I think he just phrased his statement poorly by saying it disappeared. when you listen to his points what he means is people stopped talking about it as something super amazing. up to 4.x it was a heavy focus. characters would always comment on how much a cheat power it is. I disagree with him that it's some unresolved story. the Echo started to lose it's story relevance once we started curing tempered. it took another blow with the warding scales. ignoring the unique abilities that people may not get, those 2 things completely destroyed the main desirable effect of the echo hence no one really needs it nor talks about it anymore.

[@neobahumuth6]

@@alsims2007 I think it's unresolved for a reason, since while now the blessing of light loses relevance going forward the echo remains a power in the setting as such it could be tied to something else entirely

[@alsims2007]

@@neobahumuth6 I was thinking the opposite. Echo would lose relevance almost completely (still relevant for flashbacks) and the blessing of light would become more important for explaining what makes us special when needed

[@ashencometmom5291]

something that always springs to mind when i think of unresolved plot threads is the one in the sb patches where they seemed to consistently show that the entire world's aether was getting inexplicably thinner. i don't know if i missed something in some side quests that explains it, but i was SURE that it would be foreshadowing for endwalker, only for endwalker's aetheric thinning to be caused by the death of zodiark that hadn't happened yet

[@AuroDHikoshi]

I think they link that to Endwalker. Defeating Zodiark was maybe what they thought but it was something deeper from then on to the End Signer using Dynamis to do that I think. They seem to have resolved it on the whole or just are waiting for a time to bring it back up.

[@DatDirtyDog]

The aether was getting thinner in endwalker because the towers were sucking it up.

[@AuroDHikoshi]

@@DatDirtyDog The aether was getting thinner before, it was mentioned a few times over post patches... I think it was however exposed more by the time the towers popped up... they might be putting off until time has past since endwalker stopped dooming the star

[@starwolf339]

That was stagnation of the aether, building up to the Light/Umbral aspected calamity (the one that was prevented in ShB). Caused by the First slowly tipping closer towards total Light saturation.

[@googlemademedoit806]

Echo wasn’t forgotten. They explained the conflation between the Echo and the Blessing in I believe 5.1. Next we get further info on what the “Echo” is in Endwalker in the 5th zone. The real issue is what is exactly preventing us from being Tempered. There are points where we do not possess the Blessing but are not Tempered. Zenos does not possess the Blessing at all but can’t be Tempered. My guess is the point of the blessing is to allow Hydaelyn to directly intercede on our behalf and give us an extra layer of protection against normal causes of aetheric imbalance but Primals would never be able to Temper us because our Soul is simply greater than them to begin with. This is because not all who awaken to the Echo have the blessing or if they do they do not possess crystals of light but having the Echo does still prevent Primals from Tempering. But this isn’t because of the Echo itself but what the Echo signifies about the Soul of the person who has it.

[@DrakeWurrum]

Reminder: the Echo is why we are able to "wipe" and try again. It's also technically the ability that allows us to predict how enemy attacks will land - i.e. why we see stack markers, defamation markers, orange telegraphs, etc. Didn't Shadowbringers explain what the Echo really is when Elidibus was going nuts on the First? Every Ancient human had it. And the "blessinf of light" was really jusr a standard Traveller's Ward protection spell, according to Venat.

[@MaelraJade]

One plot point that is of basically no importance at all and that was brought up by a singular side story (namely "Nhaama's sweet embrace" in Dotharl Khaa) is what happened to the souls within the house of the crooked coin after we lifted the aether blockage on the burn. To recap the quest: A young Dotharli woman asks you to escort her to the House because her family had been slain by Oronir and she claims that she will bet Nhaama to strike down the offenders. You escort her there, protecting her from several beasts and then she bids you deliver a letter to a friend of hers back in Dotharl Khaa because she will speak alone with Nhaama. It is then established in pretty clear terms that they believe that any who die there will not be reincarnated and that she chose to throw herself into it. As with all other Xaela I am simply assuming that there is a core of truth to all of their tales and weird customs, including this one. My question now is: How did releasing the aether blockage effect the souls of those who chose to end their life there and for the matter of rebirth in the steppes in general.

[@fluffykitten077]

Scribe: "The Echo had essentially become useless" Meanwhile, the Echo: *BATTLE MUSIC!!!!!*

[@nerfer200]

The one plot point that is straight up brought in then dropped almost immediately was Ultima's core, the Heart of Sabik. It's literally there and then that's it

[@M3gaM4nZero]

Honestly if there is any Primal we can have more back story on I would like it to be Odin. I feel Odin deserves more lore to what it is since its a sword that corrupts the user and no one knows where it came from

[@mikhail2736]

Im confident that the missing ascians are going to be used in future content. The reason they havent directly addressed them is so that they can be directly involved in some future content like a raid story. The echo i think was handled already, while there are some inconsistencies in regards to the differences between it and the blessing of light, overall i think it wasnt really dropped, just redefined. Most dropped threads i am fairly confident they will pick up again eventually, like how they managed to give Lahabrea a reason for why he was so maniacal, or how the Heart of Sabik was reintroduced in the latest raid. The only one i dont know they aftually will continue is Zenos's dreams of the final days. I really want to know what happened with that bit.

[@MegaLabano]

What actually changes in between the japanese and english versions of Urianger's explanation of the aether?

[@foxdavion6865]

90% of the "unresolved" plots are locked behind tie in story elements, in other words you need to: 1) Finish Dragoon questline before starting Heavensward 2) Finish quest for The Lost City of Amdapor BEFORE doing Void Arc in Heavensward 3) Finish ARR raid before starting Heavensward (Binding Coils) 4) Finish Warrior, Ninja and Monk questline before starting Stormblood 5) Finish all Alliance Raids in order while doing MSQ at current level (with the exception of YoRHa: DA, it has nothing to do with the rest of the game, like the monster hunter trial, it is tie in content.) 6) Finish Stormblood sidequests and Beast tribes before starting post-Stormblood story arc (4.4) a.k.a Shadowbringers prequal. (The plot will no longer feel like it came out of left field). 7) Finish ARR Alliance raid and Heavenward Raid before starting Shadowbringers. 8) Finish Stormblood Alliance Raid before starting Bozjas (This is something you can ONLY DO ONCE, NO NG+ Possible!!! It is easy to do too, so you shouldn't miss out, it changes both dialogue and cutscenes, the devs recently made it easier by removing the food crafting portion of the quest line to count as finished.) 9) Finish Eureka before starting Endwalker 10) Level every job to 80 and finish all job side story arcs before starting Endwalker 11) Complete the Weapon Trial story arc before starting Endwalker (It's story is timeline relevant to Bojzas) 12) Complete level 80 tie in story for having one job in each category at 80 BEFORE starting 6.1 in Endwalker. (A New Adventure) 13) Complete Heavensward Alliance Raid before starting 6.1 MSQ and 6.3 Post Story. 14) Get one job of each category to 90 before starting 6.1 OR redo NG+ after finishing the bonus quests for additional dialogue 15) Talk to all relevant major NPCs between patch quest tiers, you'll be surprised at how many unresolved plots are resolved in conversation. 16) Completing ARR Beast tribes to allied BEFORE doing patch 5.4 MSQ from Shadowbringers changes cutscenes and interactions with beast tribes in the MSQ after (different leaders). 17) Completing the Stormblood Stepps sidequests and Samurai questline before Endwalker changes character interactions for the combat Beast tribe questline in Endwalker. (can only be done once) 18) Complete Stormblood trial story series and *all* Stormblood Beast tribes BEFORE starting 6.3 tie in side story that requires one job in each category at 90. 19) Complete Reaper story arc to 80 BEFORE starting 6.3 20) Complete Shadowbringers Pixie Beasttribe BEFORE doing 6.3 Custom Deliveries questline. (Another thing which can only be done once) In other words, if you've completed all the side content outside of extremes/savage/ultimate, I suggest you play the game through on NG+ a second time in multiple languages and you'll find all the missing plot conclusions. These flag checks are based on your achievements and completed quests log. Doing these things changes the dialogue and how NPCs interact with the player. The game has flags which check to see if you've completed side content that unlocks hidden dialogue and animations of which a lot conclude missing plots. The *true* ending to Eureka only occurs if you finish Baldesion Arsenal, that concludes that story arc. The lowest levels of Palace of the Dead (floors 151+) are in close proximity to the Aetherial Sea.

[@Tazrael]

Pashtarot is also linked to Zeromus by way of FF12 lore, but that also feels especially like a waiting trigger now.

[@BeefNinja7]

Something I've been thinking about recently is the Garleans cloning experiments, Emet-Selch mentions he doesn't even need the cloned bodies of Solus right after establishing them. From a storytelling perspective it's weird to just mention something then say it's pointless, so it must have been foreshadowing something, right?

[@ViviCaligo]

I feel like they were setting it up alongside the resoncance allowing Zenos to transfer his soul like the ascians, might come up again at a later point but doubt it now.

[@aeonise]

The Echo aspect that bugs me the most is how they retconned the "protection from tempering" away from it to the BoL, which basically decanonizes Fordola's involvement in Stormblood (and raises awkward questions about Zenos). However, the BoL itself is also retconned hard. Throughout ARR and HW, the BoL is shown to be a potent force that can provide barriers, physical empowerment, and the like. Then in EW, it's made out to be nothing but a simple magic to guard against soul corruption. Which, aside from the retcon, raises a lot of other questions: Why does such a charm exist _before_ eikons and tempering? Are there other kinds of aetheric soul corruption out there, and what are they? Who was Venat using it on and why? If she can recognize it at a glance millennia distant, and we've established other ancients recognize ancient magics, why did nobody else from the Ascians to Elpis notice we're running around with it? And there's that "keening from within the earth" retcon that mostly bugs me because it was a potentially interesting plot point discarded in favor of "first-year philosophy dropout makes super-depression bird that blasts the universe with suicidal brainwashing waves for thousands of years". If the Meteions missed any worlds where things were actually going well, whoops, they're all dead now. For that matter, with Zodiark being retconned from "rewriting the physical laws of the star" to just making an aether barrier (itself questionable since they didn't establish that aether _blocks_ dynamis, just that enough aether in a creature's body drowns out the effects of dynamis), you'd think the ancients could come up with a better way to do that that creating Zodiark. Of course, the biggest problem for me is the fact that the main timeline is now predicated on a temporal paradox in direct contradiction to everything ShB said about time-travel. (if you're inferring that I think EW's writing is poor and lazy, you'd be correct)

[@OniScythe]

The inconsistentencies and unresolved plots might be due to changes in lead writters, perhaps? Natsuko ishikawa was lead for SHB for EW, not sure who the leads were in previous expansions. If it's the same person or a different one, each expansion. Each writer had their own story to tell, I guess.

[@LadyTsunade777]

Plot threads I remember the writers entirely forgetting: 1. Midgardsormr being with us and watching over us. He didn't even pop up when or after we spoke face-to-face with Tiamat or Vrytra, his children. Nor when we went to Ultima Thule and saw the echo of the dragon homeworld, nor in The Dead Ends where we witness the invasion of the dragon homeworld by the Omicrons. 2. Tiamat. We freed her so she could fight against the End of Days with us, but then the writers seemingly entirely forgot this and brought in Vrytra instead? 3. Cylva and Unukalhai. They know about the Source and other Shards, they're _from_ the Thirteenth, Unukalhai is even a Warrior of Light, and yet now when we're _going to the Thirteenth to try to save it_ they are entirely excluded from the story? It makes no sense at all. Even if the secret reason is because the devs don't want to make the Shadowbringers role quests from side content into mandatory content, they just did that exact thing with the Manderville questlines now being required for the EW Relics. 4. The rest of Ilsabard. We've been to Garlemald sure, but what about the entire rest of the continent? Surely with Garlemald fallen, there'd be a lot of confusion and chaos among the other nations there. 5. Venat's blessing against aetheric corruption given to the Warrior of Light. I was especially reminded of this absence in the Endwalker MSQ, when the group gets aether sickness after teleporting from Sharlayan to Thavnair. That blessing should've entirely prevented that imo. 6. On the Echo, let's not forget they introduced the idea that beings with an Echo (natural or artificial) can inhabit bodies other than their own. Zenos doing this was a surprise but made some sense since his was artificial, but then they had the WoL do the same when Zenos kidnaps you into the Tower of Babil. I'd even go so far as to posit that our weakness in that other body was only due to us being forced into it, since Zenos inhabited other bodies willingly and seemed to not have any trouble while doing so.

[@BlueMageDaisen]

1: Did you not do the Omega raids? He saves you from Omega but the action was so taxing he's fallen into a deep slumber that will last generations. He's no longer concious to be with you. 2: Tiamat went with her brood back to her nesting lands of Meracydia 3: Just because we haven't been there doesn't mean it's forgotten 4: Having a vaccine against the flu doesn't mean you can't still get nausea from being violently spun around. Same principal

[@NilremR]

your question about midgardsormr is answered in the Omega raids. check it out its very worth it.

[@Javalar]

Also, about the weakness when being switched bodies, you have to remember that the body was probably from a garlean officer, and garleans can't channel aether, which would kinda probably mess up your technique. It was less of a problem for Zenos who never could in the first place. It's also not quite true that he had no problems: he does mention that he was much weaker and that this allowed him to see flaws in his technique; which is one of the (unstated) reasons he wants you to go through the same experience!

[@proy3]

1. Midgardsormr burned up a lot of his own energy in the Omega questline and had to go into a long slumber to restore himself. The most he was able to do is give his blessing with the warding scales. 2. We freed Tiamat to fight Lunar Bahamut, not the Final Days. She then went to Meracydia to rebuild her brood. She's likely to come up in 7.0 when we presumably travel there. 3. That's a bit of a reach, imo. We literally just got to Garlemald. That's less a forgotten plot thread and more of a hook for future content.

[@AuroDHikoshi]

2. Tiamat is in Mericydia 3. depends on if there is a link from 6.1 into 7 and maybe relies on the quest to bring the two together 4. I think that could be part of the Emet Trail... a follow up to the fall of Garlea would be interesting but I think it's going to be conincidence more than following the trail of destruction., 5. I do wonder if it was more for comedy or that its avoiding the traditional way of aether teleporting that averts the sickness...

[@BeefNinja7]

I thought of some more loose plot threads. Tupsimati, whatever happened to it? Last we hear of it is when someone from the alliance tells you they're searching Baelsar's Wall for it in the beginning of Stormblood. Louisoixs twelve disciples, we only meet seven Papalymo, Thancred, Yda, Y'shtola, Urianger, Moenbryda, and Rammbroes. Though I guess the last five could've been extras that died in the Waking Sands. White Archon marks, Louisoix and Rammbroes both have white tattoos instead of the purple ones we see on everyone else. I also wonder if there's any meaning to the different shape/location these two and Urianger have insted of the neck tattoos.

[@executiveelf8793]

The point about the First and the Source sharing a sky drives me crazy. Do they occupy the same physical space in the wider universe? If so, how does that work? We know that someone coming from beyond the world will arrive at the source because Midgardsormer did... but what if someone on a shard was to leave and come back? Like, what if, say, Bismark on the first flew off into the space, got really far away, and then came back? Would he return to the First or find himself on the Source? And if the answer is the First, then what happens if, say, he flew all the way to Ultima Thule, would we be able to meet him there or no because he exist in a different reality? And if we can, what happens if we (being from the Source) ride on his back to return? Do we go to the Source? The First? Do we magically get separated as we return and land in our respective homes? How does this stuff work?!?!?

[@SynodicScribe]

The simple answer? We dunno, cause it was never explained. haha

[@scullzomben]

Thanks for talking about the Emmerololth situation. So many people argue against me that she was simply just remade after the Isle of Val.

[@LucasFoxJPSXeserox]

I'm a little late to the party here, but... The Echo... You do realize that it is used beyond the story as well. It's how you can see the "tells" of each of the fights you are in. When you are working with your squadron, they don't have the echo, and they annoyingly get hit with every AOE blast that the mobs throw at them... because they can't see them coming. It's towards the end of Stormblood when fighting Zenos that the realization is you can anticipate what is going to happen before it does, and it's all a blessing of the light. It morphs into that for Shadowbringers and Endwalker.

[@SynodicScribe]

Late to the party indeed! However, your example doesn't match how the Non-Echo having Scions dodge AoE's without a problem in Trust Dungeons.

[@LucasFoxJPSXeserox]

@@SynodicScribe I thought the scions also had some form of the echo. Huh, never thought of that.

[@Calvinooi]

Wasnt the echo explained by Venat, as part of creation magic by feeling the traces of aether left or something? I remember they used it to find where Meteion went

[@Zedonus0]

The whole thing with the Source and it's reflections was explained in Endwalker. Hydalin didn't reflect the entire universe to weaken Zodiark, just the domain of Etheris. Her reach only extended as far as the moon which is why she separated Zodiark 14 times and placed each part in each moon. What I thought you were going to bring up is the kid who was a warrior of light from the 13th reflection. He was introduced in the Warring Triad story in Heavensward and we added him to the Scions, but never saw him again. We now have a whole story where we go back to the 13th and he still hasn't been brought up at all.

[@galath9242]

Where was it mentioned? Also, it doesn’t make any sense, the stars are clearly visible on the first when night is brought back. It may be that she split the world and the copies were spread out very far from each other or the whole universe was split

[@Zedonus0]

@@galath9242 Hydalin wasn't as powerful as Zodiark, but she was crafty. From what Emet explained in ShadowBringers, Zodiark was made of half of their population, Hydalin was made from half of the remaining half, so she was only about half as powerful. In Endwalker, they explained WHY Zodiark came to be, since the flow of Ether was thrown out of wack, there were essentially holes kind of like if there were multiple places with storms, the holes would be like the eye of the storm. In these holes, Dynamis is now able to flow more freely without being as diluted. The "End of Days" started in these holes and spread by having these people's emotions form into manifestations of their fears and nightmares due to their troubled times which only got worse. The Convocation took our advice we came back with and learned about these disruptions in the flow of Ether around the planet and chose to create a being who could alter that flow to help them fix their planet by sacrifice of half of the population including the Convocation of the 12. Venat was against it, but not powerful enough to stop the disruptions nor this new god by herself, so she chose to do her own sacrifice and took half of the remaining population to create Hydalin, but wasn't on the same level, so she used her new power to create a prison (being the moon). Still not strong enough to imprison Zodiark, she thought of splitting the "light of The Star" and created 14 reflections like that of when you look through a kaleidoscope. Each reflection looked like the source at that time, but the flow of Ether for the whole "star" was split up 14 times and separated along with Zodiark 's power within each reflection. Now that Zodiark was 1/14 of it's original power, Hydalin was now able to imprison each one within the moon. Hydalin never created multiple universes completely, just refracted and reflected the "star" itself never messing with the other "stars". The only real big thing about this we noticed was that living in the Source, we learned about the history of the Alagan empire and how they learned of the reflections and dragons. When we went to the first, there was no Dalamud created by the Alagan empire there to imprison Bahamut so no 7th Umbral Calamity making all those crystals distorting the landscapes, just the land as it was showing us what Mordona had once looked like and that cultures were a little different especially with names of races and mount choices. We never saw the dragons who took refuge in the source in the first reflection, but in the 13th, Golbez was aware of the name of the beings as dragons and the 13th was the reflection that made contact with the source because of the Alagan Empire making a pact with Darkness (Puff of Darkness character) from the Crystal Tower Raids. Unfortunately, this is all just looking at what we've been given in the story we've been told and piecing the story together as much as possible until we get more or having the story have some changes thrown in if they go that route. This is just my observation, so I have no evidence to show she completely made multiverses instead of minor pocket dimensions that share the same sky (somewhat).

[@1337penguinman]

I'm still waiting for Odin to be revisited. Last we saw of him some dude stole the sword and disappeared with it.

[@SynodicScribe]

I suppose that might just be their excuse as to why Odin still pops up as a Fate boss in the Black Shroud every so often.

[@VideogamesPang]

The inconsistency of the Echo is so frustrating. It's never really clear what exactly it IS. Shadowbringers and Endwalker imply that it's a fragment of powers the unsundered Ancients once possessed, yet it also seems to be much more. The Echo is shown/said to be able to let users do some or all of the following: - See into the past. - Understand all languages - Protection from tempering/corruption of the soul - Sustain their soul outside their body, and infuse their soul into other bodies to possess them, making them functionally immortal. - Fuse/merge with other beings, both other souls and primals - Unlock power beyond one's natural limits - See into the future 5.2 also kind of implies that the Echo and the Blessing of Light are one and the same, Hydaelyn reaches out to any who can hear her and grants them her blessing. Yet the WoL's blessing is frequently called out as unique (allows us to absorb vast amounts of light), the blessed are meant to carry crystals of light, and Midgardsormr distinguishes between the echo and blessing calling one as "gifted" and the other as "chosen". In Endwalker the blessing is said to simply be protection from tempering, even though that's historically attributed to the Echo. So are they one and the same? Though even when the blessing is stripped from us in Heavensward, we don't get tempered and have no trouble still seeing into other's pasts. It's just so all over the place. Ultimately the Echo is nothing more than a story device that allows us to see flashbacks and gain information. That's fine, but I wish they had just solidified that early on instead of adding more and more to it without ultimately having a plan for what the power actually is and what it can do. Unless they plan to really thoroughly resolve it, I hope they just cut their losses and leave it alone going forward.

[@lobete]

I doubt Gaius knew of any way to permanently kill Ascians. I don't know if I would call extra Ascians a "plot hole" though. They are simply people who have yet to reveal their plans. You have to keep in mind that these past 10 years of gameplay all occurs within maybe a year or two of story. These patches and expansions are taking place in the course of maybe days or weeks at a time. It isn't odd that known enemies aren't poking their heads out *right away* if they are like Fandaniel and deciding to focus on their own ends. We can't even say that they are "laying low" really with how little time has past. I don't think they left the Echo hanging as a plot or dropped it. They worked hard to explain how much of what we thought was a result of the Echo was the Blessing all along. I wouldn't call it a retcon as much as the characters in the story learning an assumption they held was incorrect, but that deepens it's plot more than anything. I love games where the lore isn't revealed by NPCs as infallible fact, but their individual understanding that might conflict with what other characters in the game will tell you. It is also important to note that the echo manifests differently in everyone. It is just a term we've given to inherited powers and abilities that all ancients had, somehow manifesting in sundered beings of today. Sufficed to say, I don't think it is so much that Zenos uses the echo better than we do, but that his Echo is different/better than ours...that we may never have been capable of what he can do with the version we got. His isn't a copy, but something the garlean tech allowed him to unlock through study of Echo-barers. It isn't even surprising to me that they might have managed to force open more possibilities than those who were born with some variation of the echo naturally. If the resonance machines are capable of unlocking the echo more fully than it occurs naturally in people who were born with it, if the tech is able to grant people near-ancient capabilities so easily, it is kind of the most powerful piece of technology we've seen and I do wonder if we've seen the last of it... if it's secrets were really buried with those we've had to kill.

[@Adu767]

Emmerololth: Emmerololth's inclusion in 2.3 despite having technically died in an event that took place in 2.2 is likely just a minor writing hiccup, and it's not the only retcon from ARR. While it doesn't make sense in the game-world chronology, the real-world chronology makes the reason for this obvious, as the specifics surrounding the Isle of Val's disappearance weren't revealed until 4.25, more than two full expansions later. The chance they had written up the specifics for this event back during 2.2 is close to zero. So it's just a minor writing inconsistency, and not an unresolved plot thread. Ascians: There's really no telling what the remaining Ascians are up to. As we saw from Fandaniel, a leaderless Ascian can do pretty much whatever they feel like without any other ascians trying to interfere. Now that the Final Days have been ended and Zodiark is off the table, the goal that once united the Ascians no longer exists. They could just show up for any reason, compelled by any individual interest, and we would have no way of knowing. I do, however, DOUBT that Gaius had permanently killed any convocation members. Aetherology was never the purview of Garlemald, so it seems very unlikely that a former legatus would have access to white auracite, nevermind having a strong enough pool of aether to draw upon to blast their soul to pieces like with Nabriales. Echo/Blessing of Light: This confusion comes entirely from terminology, but the Echo and Blessing of Light are the same thing, to the point that the characters themselves use the terms interchangeably. The Echo is just what it was called originally because the earliest manifestations of it have been to glimpse "echoes" of the past. The rest of what it allows it to do is firmly categorized under "Blessing of Light," but each of these things doesn't exist without the other. Also, the Resonance is NOT the Echo. It does things that the Echo could never do (like use battle premonitions and hijack primals), and it also can't do things that the Echo can (it doesn't allow one to hear the voice of Hydaelyn like the WoL, Minfillia and Krile can). The Resonance was a Garlean's attempt to imbue pureblooded Garleans with the ability to control aether, but was then turned into a project that sought to emulate the echo, and then eventually ended up making something else entirely. Ramuh: Yeah who knows. By all rights, the summoning techniques the Ascians introduced to the beast tribes should instill every primal with the desire to temper and assimilate more followers, but Ramuh seems to not be interested in such things. It could be a reflection of how different and less war-like the Sylphs are compared to other beast tribes, or maybe the Ascians screwed up somehow (like they did with the 13th), or the writers just decided to quietly abandon the topic. There were a lot of plot points in ARR that were abandoned when the writing changed directions. Remember the Ardor? It was a goal that was never explained, then the concept of the rejoining was introduced, then they started calling it that and pretended that was what they meant all along. Also that Zodiark was a big purple crystal, a foil to Hydaelyn's Mothercrystal. The Shards: Honestly there's no confirmed information about where the shards are located cosmologically speaking, but I believe they exist in their own pocket realms. The stars they see are the stars from the Source, which is hinted at during Endwalker when visions of the meteor shower are seen by Ryne. We also know that the constellations on the First are the same as on the Source, meaning that they both occupy the same physical space in the cosmos. The moon on the First is also likely the same moon, yet sundered, holding a fragment of Zodiark. The whole situation is basically a parallel reality that mimics aspects of the original. If you've ever played Metroid Prime 2, it's sort of like that. The question I have is, what happens if someone from one of the reflections makes a journey into the Sea of Stars? I don't think it's possible that Hydaelyn sundered anything beyond Etheirys or its orbit, so whether they would be trapped on their shard on Etheirys or if they would end up in the original Sea of Stars is unknown.

[@terrenceojeda7172]

So where that plot line of why Varis had mass produced clones of young Solus ( Emit Selch ) clones. What was the point? Just to give Emit a spare body to hop into? But Acsians can do that with no issue in general. Why specifically in that image of a young Solus though?? Just to have that look? Buy why? Solus in history is dead so running around as a young version of him and identifying still as him would be dangerous. After Varis died, that plot of all those Solus clones died with him. Or was that all explained elsewhere? I never got over that after all these years.

[@619ver1]

Well given the diminished importance of the Primals and especially the tempering it makes sense why the echo was less featured. The echo has 4 core functions. Glimpsing into the soul, understanding laguages, resisting the tempering and mocing between worlds. At Shadowbringers we....kinda did all that. So its less that the Echo is less important now, more that we grew accustomed to using it i guess and its a much more known quantity then during ARR

[@AzureRoxe]

The Echo is one of those things that the writers VERY clearly had no clue what to do with after shoving it into everything. It's abilities constantly changing, Stormblood implying that you could actually create it artificially while Endwalker then confirms EVERYONE has it.

[@Max44321]

I really hate how the more you dig into the lore of the game, the more it comes up with nothing and a tendency to "make up whatever you like"...

[@SynodicScribe]

You're not wrong. The writers for FFXIV indeed have a sort of, hesitation, when it comes to their work. A reluctance to build upon and establish certain things, it's observable in their work. I wish I could ask them about this decision one day.

[@cattosw5399]

I believe the trope is called "rule of cool". Something that looks or thematically resonates better at the current time will trump what came before, even if it causes continuity issues. It's just that FFXIV's writers managed to keep enough space and open ended writing (using things like unreliable narrator, biases of characters) to not require too much retconning (retroactive continuity).