Originally Posted by
Anonymoose
What to make of the primal explosion bothers me, as well. I'm torn between a desire to take the video literally, which makes sense from a logical perspective, and believing that it is symbolism, which fits better with the lore.
Who knows at this point, but be careful not to discount the fact that we may be dealing with a chicken and egg situation. We're told that primals cannot exist when the aether that exists as a basic unit of reality is in a balanced harmony. We know they're dissolved back into the stream, but in what form? And if they are gone for so long, how does knowledge of them remain accurate? The Ixal once worshipped Garuda as the Empress of Birds - did this legend come to them from a past umbral era where Garuda existed, or did Garuda manifest in their image of her? That would go a long way to explaining what's up with The Moogle King. Do they have any "soul" at all, or are they a husk of dreams and the survival instinct to keep on chugging aether?
I don't really have a working theory, but for all we know, Primals are like thoughtforms - perhaps when aether is in imbalance, the power of belief and prayer can concentrate the aether on that idea and give it life. If there is a core, static essence that exists as an individual, we don't even know how literal that is. Was Garuda always Garuda? Or was Garuda then different from Garuda now? That would explain Louisoix's ritual, for starters. If this is true, I expect that would be a key difference between primals and elder primals... the elders would basically be holdovers from previous umbral eras. If you can also mold aether with thought-form, that puts a whole new spin on how voidsent are created; maybe Eorzeans are right about them being sent upon Eorzea...
All of that? Right now? Crazy fringe ideas. Don't mind me... just musing.