Light and Dark

So, I have some questions about light and darkness in this world. The latest updates seem to imply that it has to do with the amount of aether. With the flood of darkness being brought about by the aether being used up, and the flood of light being mentioned as an overabundance of aether. However, that brings a couple questions to mind.

First off, there does seem to be darkness aspected aether and corrupt aether that seems to work against life and be purified by white magic.

Secondly, Black mages seem to commonly summon voidsent as a way to draw more power, what is the source of that power then? Additionally, while they are described as aether starved, they are still capable of feats of great power, if there wasn't something else to their power then WoD would just be a cakewalk.


Additionally though, I'm wondering what kind of events brought about the flood of light. I doubt that merely combatting the ascians and preventing primal summoning would be enough, rather, like the flood of darkness, I'm sure it would require a major push towards light, though I'm not sure how you would do that.

Any theories?

I've been digging into this (along with how these often get conflated with astral and umbral) without really finding the concrete walls, even after looking through every mention of the words in the game. It's probably up to Oda-san and Koji to lay it out more clearly, if indeed they'd like it to be clear at all.

The one thing I can say is that Darkness and Light do not seem to be equal to darkness and light.

Most NPCs seem to refer to lower case light and darkness as aether and lack thereof, while most instances of capitalized Light and Darkness seem to be the wills of Hydaelyn and Zodiark, the "star" and the "soul". The void seems to be of the lower case variety of darkness; a vast, hungry emptiness that seeks to devour all light (the life-giving force of aether). While Zodiark seems to be of the upper-case variety, aetherial in His own right having once shared the Sea with the will of Light.

I'm having a hard time understanding if this tendency that I'm noticing is actually there, and whether it reflects reality, or just an Eorzean worldview developed over thousands of years.

But there is (upper case) Darkness-aspected aether; the Dark Crystals used by the Ascians, for starters. But according to the art book, Darkness makes up the crystal seen at the end of 2.00 and the entirety of the Chrysalis, as well. This is kind of fringey, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Heart of Sabik itself turned out to be Darkness-aspected aether in auracite form (going by the Japanese dialog calling it a holy stone).

The two polarities are discussed as if related to these phenomena while maintaining some degree of separation. The "upper" three elements are primarily associated with astral, the "lower" three primarily with umbral. Back in 1.0, astral was just Wind, Lightning, and Fire mixed together, but it might be more accurate to say that those three elements naturally possess slightly more of the "astral force", while Water, Ice, and Earth possess slightly more of the "umbral force", and perhaps those forces are what are linked into Light and Darkness. Is that to say that astral and umbral are not equal balances of those three elements together? Not at all. They might still be just that, as that's what we've seen in the past taken in a very literal sense.

Also, all six elements can exist in either polarity, but when we think of fire, we tend to think of it in its astral state (burning, consuming) rather than its umbral state (warmness, dryness). I wouldn't be surprised if, to pull its opposite from the wheel, water "naturally" exists in a more umbral state (coolness, wetness) and more rarely assumes the astral state (surging, flooding). That might just be the "force" behind the polarity at work.

Corrupted aether, at least, seems to just possess so intense of an elemental charge that it's the aetherial equivalent of radioactive.

So that's like five paragraphs, but it all still amounts to, "I have no idea."

Dang, I was hoping for a little more, even if it was just baseless speculation. I do have some theories about the flood of Light however. It's my belief that the worlds trend naturally towards neutrality, as an excess of aether makes using it in large amounts easier and vice-versa. So there's the question of how you put a lot of aether in the system. Aside from stopping it's usage for primals, there is also possible genocide against the beastmen and monsters putting their aether back in. If their Allagans had imprisoned more eikons then their sudden defeat would cause quite the surge that the world is not prepared for. Other candidates could also be the destruction of ancient dragon eyes or even some methods I haven't considered yet.

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Originally Posted by Shadotterdan

It's my belief that the worlds trend naturally towards neutrality, as an excess of aether makes using it in large amounts easier and vice-versa.

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I'd like to agree with you here. It's also possible that each dimension (source & reflections) has their own "natural" balance of darkness and light. This could be a result of their degree of separation from the source or something to this effect.

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Originally Posted by Shadotterdan

So there's the question of how you put a lot of aether in the system. Aside from stopping it's usage for primals, there is also possible genocide against the beastmen and monsters putting their aether back in. If their Allagans had imprisoned more eikons then their sudden defeat would cause quite the surge that the world is not prepared for.

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If I'm understanding correctly, you're positing that the defeat of primals/eikons would cause a rush of aether, imbalancing the aetherial sea. Though, while deceased life forms do release the aether that comprises them, which then returns to the stream, the aether consumed by primals (eikons included) becomes corrupted and is, at most, harmful; at least, ineffectual upon reentry.

I'd like to say that life = light, and life begets life. However, that and most other solutions to this equation that I've suggested seem to contradict other implied laws of it. It's certainly a difficult puzzle.

Well it is mentioned that the aether that forms a primal's body goes back to the land.

Did the Encyclopedia Eorzea not clrify this?