Answers About the Archons

[PArcher]

To keep this simple, I'm looking for pretty much anything we know about the Archons; their role in the Astral/Umbral cycles, lore behind the people, myths about them, info connecting the Scions to them, etc.

I've got a theory about them, but I'm not sure exactly how viable it is with the little info I have on them

[Fenral]

If you dig, there's at least one other thread examining them as avatars of the Twelve. Some of the comparisons made were under the (mistaken?) assumption that G'raha and Moenbryda, who share the same insignia, counted alongside the five we know as Archons, but... yeah. 2.5 happened.

[treuhavik]

Tales from the Calamity: The Walker's Path

“It is foretold that on the cusp of an Umbral Calamity, individuals blessed with the power of the Echo will appear," the letter continued. “During the Sixth Umbral Era, when the waters rose to swallow the land, the twelve Archons who stood against the darkness each bore this blessing.”

Minfilia looked up to see Thancred staring at her. He abruptly turned away.

“The histories paint a fanciful picture of these gifted souls. Through countless retellings, the Archons’ deeds are become myth, their powers more akin to gods than men. However, there are two things of which I am now certain. First, their gift, the Echo, granted them the power to walk within the memories of others. Second─”

Though Minfilia knew how the sentence would end, her breath caught in her throat as she read Louisoix Leveilleur’s next words.

“You have been blessed with the selfsame power.”

Of Archons and Muses

Caught wind of all this Archon talk yet? Some folk make them for the very incarnations of the Twelve, come to Eorzea. Old prophecies and wives' tales say they descend from their heavenly seat whenever disaster threatens Eorzea, see.

Needless to say, many believe the Archons to have otherworldly powers─both of mind and body.

According to the loremasters' books, there was an age of shadow and calamity some fifteen hundred-odd years ago, when a great flood drowned the world─the sixth Umbral Era, they called it. Believers say it was the twelve Archons what came to fight the darkness then.

They say Ahldbhar was the mightiest of the twelve Archons. Rhalgr the Destroyer himself, taken form in Roegadyn flesh─a bloody mountain of a man, and a fearsome warrior, besides.(...)

You must've seen renderings of Rhalgr at some point─in paint or stone. Looks like a bag of angry muscles in a mage's robes, right? Aye, well, those are done in the likeness of Archon Ahldbhar.

Ahldbhar fought relentlessly against a clan of wicked sorcerers that sought only to wreak havoc on the world through their dark powers. But then, something happened... Something that threw Ahldbhar into deep despair. And in the end, he turned and took up with the enemy, though none can say as to why.

What came of him after his betrayal? Well, I confess I haven't heard the end of the tale myself.(...)

The Waining of the Sixth Sun

At the urgent behest of a party of twelve shadowy figures history remembers only as the Archons, the nations agree to consolidate their remaining resources to form the grand companies of Eorzea in an attempt to forestall the coming apocalypse.

Hatching-tide

An eccentric Miqo'te named Jihli Aliapoh is said to have been visited in her dreams by the Twelve Archons of eld, descending from the heavens atop beautifully bedecked eggs.

Hatching-tide turned out to be a lot less exciting than I had thought. Anony Moose summed it up for me: Basically some Miqo'te dreamed that the Archons would return, just before the Sharlayans showed up. So, it was probably speculated that these Archons (our Scions) were reincarnations of The Twelve, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case. For good mesure, a spriggin named Twiggy also claims himself to be an Archon. So, yeah...

[Anonymoose]

Thankfully Havik has found most of the relevant quotes, so I'll just do a play-by-play.

So far several entities have been called Archons.

• The (alleged) twelve legendary figures who fought the Sixth Umbral Calamity (compare to Thavnairian legends of the Zodiac Braves)
• Mythological figures who fought every Calamity
• Earthly incarnations of the Twelve sent to guide people to a new Dawn (compare to Beast Tribe legends of the Paragons)
• The Circle of Knowing of Sharlayan
• The figures Jihli Aliapho claims to receive messages from via her dreams

The game wants you to question how, if at all, they're related. Are people making the connections, interpreting history with present beliefs? In the words of Urianger, truth interpreted is truth changed. Or is there something deeper? The Twelve could be involved - historical figures with the Echo might be remembered as God(s) Blessed - the knowledge keepers such as the Sharlayans could see the signs and show up and people just assume they're divine(-sent). History begets legends, and legends alter perception of the present.

If I had to guess, I'd say that educated history-keepers are often at the forefront of saving people from an Umbral Era, and that the ones from other eras end up remembered as divine beings - angels - messengers of the gods' will - because myth gets bigger and bigger as time goes on. So a new umbral era comes, the history-keepers show back up, and everyone's like "THE ANGELS HAVE RETURNED!" while the old Archon's great great great great great great great great grandkids are just like, "Sure, we'll go with that for now, please just start planning a defense."

I assume the Echo is also involved. Chroniclers such as the Sharlayans might write down and preserve the events relatively faithfully, but the commonfolk who see Echo users fight Ascian machinations probably wouldn't tell those tales as accurately.

[Fenral]

My current crack theory is that we'll end up with one Archon each paired off against a corresponding Ascian (and either Minfillia or the WoL paired off with the 13th, Eldibus).

2.5 spoilers:

Considering Moenbryda sacrificed herself to eliminate Nabriales, that leaves eleven (plus one) matchups to go.

What that means going forward is anyone's guess, but something tells me that uniting all twelve in some special attack against Zodiark is an all-too-plausible direction for the ongoing myth arc.

Springing off of a question from the thread Moose linked, what is up with those tats? They don't simply designate Circle of Knowing members, or Ramnbroes would have them, and they can't really just be a general marker for Sharlayan scholars, or Y'mhitra would have them, too. The eye insignia is especially interesting, because (from what we've seen) it only started being worn after Louisoix's sacrifice at Cateneau. (Or do the echo scenes from the 2.0 starter quests retcon that?) But it can't be exclusive to the disciples of Louisoix, unless there's a hell of a lot G'raha kept quiet about. I also don't think it designates Students of Baldesion, because you'd think a Student of Baldesion would notice that first when two imposters walked up to him.

[Anonymoose]

My current crack theory is that we'll end up with one Archon each paired off against a corresponding Ascian

Well, it'd certainly make Nabriales' line about how Elidibus would be frustrated if he killed Minfilia pretty funny.

[Anonymoose]

Apologies as always for the double post, but I wanted to address this part that I didn't notice until now.

what is up with those tats?

The "Archon" Brand

I believe this tattoo to be the one for the Circle of Knowing, but possibly not in the sense that it's limited to Louisoix's close-knit group. I believe it to be a mark given to a certain tier of Sharlayan scholars of history - the keepers of the shelves of what I assume to be a great library, ever cataloging the past to discern and protect the future. The tattoos seem older than Louisoix's decision to stop chronicling and start meddling (the mark is of Sharlayan, but Sharlayans do not interfere), so I imagine there's a tradition behind them and that perhaps not all who have the mark shared in his decision to take a hands-on approach in Eorzea. IF the order itself is traditional and larger than we know, I imagine that Louisoix's departure caused a bit of a schism, explaining why the remnants of his group joined the remnants of Minfilia's. For all we know, the Elders of Sharlayan have been rebuilt and are keeping the shelves once again.

The "Scion" Brand

And I believe this tattoo to be the symbol for those who've pledged to aid Eorzea under the banners of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. I'm pretty sure that the sides of the design are meant to mimic part of the brand above, referencing the group being made of two now-defunct ones. The eye I'm less sure about, because the Path of the Twelve symbol was different (though perhaps not so different that you can't justify the likeness, especially if you look at that symbol right below the main one, or interpret the circle as an opened eye symbolizing that all original Path members had the Echo except the receptionist, Tataru).

I could be wrong about either of those, though - they are just educated assumptions. They do however satisfy the boundaries that we know of, as far as I can tell. Rammbroes and Y'mhitra lack them because they're first and foremost of the Sons of Saint Coinach, which is a Sharlayan order, but is dedicated nigh-on exclusively to studying the Allag.

[Fenral]

Thanks for the amazingly in-depth response, as always, Moose. We read the same wikis, or maybe I've just been following your loremonger trail longer than I thought. I'll be back with screenshots of my own later, but for now:

Ramnbroes was formerly of the Circle of Knowing back in 1.0land, or so he says, but lacks their assumed trademark on his exposed neck. Magic tattoo removal? The others seem to have kept theirs.

G'raha Tia. Just, yeah. Kid drops out of nowhere going "check out my cool tats," then peaces out before any sort of link can be established from him to our known Archons. Is he a red herring? The exception meant to show that these marks don't mean what we thought? Or have they become a sort of trend back in Sharlayan, a fashion statement worn by anyone who generally supports the cause of the Scions?

[Anonymoose]

Ramnbroes was formerly of the Circle of Knowing back in 1.0land, or so he says, but lacks their assumed trademark on his exposed neck. Magic tattoo removal? The others seem to have kept theirs.

Now that you mention it, he does confirm in ARR that he was once of the Circle. Even the way he interprets his study for the Sons is in line with the Circle's thinking - cataloging the past to protect the future. My only guess is that he wasn't high enough in the chain to bear the marks back when the marks were being handed out. The others showed up in 1562, whereas we don't meet Rammbroes until 1572. The others have been on important missions to interfere with a coming Calamity, whereas Rammbroes is just hanging out at the Gold Bazaar as a pitstop on his journey across Eorzea cataloging how important knowledge diffused across the realm and then vanished from it. He's even pretty detached from the threats Eorzea faces as a whole, preferring to stick to his scholarship (though, he's found his calling in the Allag, apparently). If my interpretations of the marks are correct, it's the most logical assumption I can think of, but I've no proof.

Kid drops out of nowhere going "check out my cool tats," then peaces out before any sort of link can be established from him to our known Archons.

Another complete shot in the dark? Our point of view as Eorzean adventurers has been on Minfilia and Louisoix's groups and we just don't get to see all of our allies. Minfilia's made a lot of connections since Louisoix's death - a lot of networking has been done and many of his allies are now ours. G'raha is of the Students of Baldesion, who had access to a lot of Sharlayan resources that Eorzeans couldn't get ahold of. Perhaps the Students had links to the original Circle, perhaps some were members before Louisoix took off (perhaps some were assigned by him to places we didn't see). G'raha strikes me as one of the youngest members, anyway, and he seems to love labels. He's got the keepers of the shelves "archon" tat, he's got the "scions" tat, he's of the Students, hanging out with the Sons, and puts a new label (NOAH) on the combination effort to explore the Crystal Tower. Strikes me as an over-achieving, exciteable kid that grows up a bit as a result of what he learns in the Tower.

I wonder what, if any, tattoos Krile will have, and Galuf, for that matter, assuming he's not dead.

[PArcher]

About the "echo-archon" link; do we know if urianger has the echo or not? Elidibus calling him "Archon", but not Minfilia or us is interesting, especially after forgetting that lou basically called Minfilia an archon in that Tale. Are we under the assumption that Elidibus really knows what's up, or could this be something else?