This.
This is amazing.
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I know I know, I'm just saying that it doesn't close the possibility of possession, we still don't know how powerful (lore wise) is Shiva, she could take over Iceheart while she tries to summon her. I'm just saying all theories out there are equally possible IMO.
This makes me think the Ascians are controlling the high priest / pope of Ishgard to threaten the heretics, driving them (and Iceheart) to seek for "extra" help (which the Ascians will provide).
This is how the sahuagin priest proves (to me at least) that Iceheart is Shiva. The Ascians granted the priest the power of the Echo, granting him immortality (for however long that lasted). Players are also granted the Echo and when we die we can just revive at an aetheryte like nothing happened. Remind you of anything? (/cues Jeopardy theme) That's right, like a primal. Primals don't die, they just go to the aether and have a nap. Imagine if Echo bearers had the same strength of spirit. Seems to achieve this you just need alot of aetheric energy. Iceheart is either naturally gifted with the Echo or has been/will be awakened by the Ascians, then she'll go and power up on crystals cause why not and in the process become Shiva. That's my theory, at least.
Actually, word of god says that players don't literally die when you die. You're knocked unconscious, and your character's natural instinct activates their anima which sends them to a safe point via the lifestream. The Echo grants immortality by allowing your soul to exist outside of your body in an aetherial form, like the Ascians. Whereas Primals don't really have a soul, they're just walking, talking masses of crystal given identity through the beliefs of their followers.
This is just my personal opinion/theory.
I believe if Iceheart is Shiva, that somehow she is transformed into a Primal, that we'll finally see the process of how a Primal is made, which could open up the doors to new possibilities for us in the future for many different things. I think the heretics aren't all what they seem, Iceheart might actually have some kind of intel that Ishgard is corrupted by some unknown force (or she knows it's by the paragons) and is trying to start her own rebellion through these "heretics". Her followers get so devout over her, and the process of how to create a primal is imbued upon her, that she becomes Shiva, in hopes to thwart what ever plans Ishgard might have against the rest of the world. I'm not entirely convinced she is the same as Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan, but more like Ramuh and her fight will be something different that just "stopping the raging Primal from sucking up Aether." Again... just a thought.