Do you think there is a reason Garleans can't use magic?

Quite frankly there is no evidence in the game why the Garleans have such a hard time manipulating aether.

What there is evidence for is that the Garleans are purposely staying like that by not intermarrying with people of other races. We know that Garlean half-breeds lose the 3rd eye, but can manipulate aether again. So it seems like it wouldn't be that hard to eventually get rid of the "no aether manipulation trait" after enough generations.

Instead we know that Garlemald has been around for over eight hundred years, and the Garlean race is even older. And that even with all that, a third of the native Garlean cultural population isn't even racially Garlean. So it's like... you'd think a race would want to get rid of a trait like "no aether manipulation", but for whatever reason, the Garleans haven't. I honestly think the social reasons for the Garleand race staying the Garlean race are more interesting then wondering how they got to be that way in the first place.

From the looks of it, if it was some genetic the Allagans did, they didn't do a great job of it. It just takes one generation for Garlean decedents to be able to manipulate aether again after all. I can easily see there being racial Garleans on the 1st Shard at some point and they just intermarried enough that they became diluted throughout all the other races.

Also, on the topic of no Garlean equivalent on the First - we only saw Novrandt which is more or less Eorzea. The equivalent of Ilsabard/Garlemald had been swallowed by the flood of light, and with that most likely almost all of the pseudo-Garleans. If the First is very similar to the Source, at least.

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Originally Posted by RicaRuin

Also, on the topic of no Garlean equivalent on the First - we only saw Novrandt which is more or less Eorzea. The equivalent of Ilsabard/Garlemald had been swallowed by the flood of light, and with that most likely almost all of the pseudo-Garleans. If the First is very similar to the Source, at least.

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But we see the Drahn (Au Ra) and Ronso (Hrothgar) in Norvrandt, and they're native to Othard and Ilsabard respectively. The Ronso could have migrated on their own volition, but the Drahn is less believable, given that the only reason we have Au Ra in Eorzea is because they're refugees from war.

The non-existence of Garleans is something very worthy of note, given the presence of other races not native to Eorzea present in Norvrandt.

One thing that’s interesting about the racial distribution of Norvrandt is the inclusion or lack of certain clans. There are no duskwight, which makes sense as there’s no Gelmorra. But there are highlanders even though we were told they came about after the Source’s own flood that sent refugees to the highlands (personally I’ve always believed they’re part roegadyn). Garleans are larger than hyur so the First’s “highlanders” could be explained as hyur with “Garlean” ancestry.

Au ra, lalafell, and miqo’te all have First equivalents so people can finally stop coming up with theories of them being Allagan experiments. But unless they were outside Norvrandt and lost in the flood, there are no xaela or dunesfolk.

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Originally Posted by KalinOrthos

But we see the Drahn (Au Ra) and Ronso (Hrothgar) in Norvrandt, and they're native to Othard and Ilsabard respectively.

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Current locations of races on the Source doesn’t mean much after 13,000 years and a bunch of calamities. On the First, before the flood, Drahn had a nation where Ishgard is now.

The First's history is different to the Source's history, The Drahn/Ronso could have migrated there thousands of years ago certainly long enough to have Voeburt and Arm Ahrang regions to have full blown kingdoms and if the First had garleans they very well could've been anywhere including the First's Mercydia/New World etc which of course is gone so they may have been wiped out entirely.

As for garlean not being able to manipulate aether, i have to say ascian manipulation is a given at least for why it is still around, they probably instilled the superiority complex into garleans to make sure they could be manipulated to war more easily. For how it came about again i do feel ascians purposely had a hand in it due to their mo of creating chaos. An easy way to get people riled up for a revenge war is to repeatedly beat them down and giving an inherently negative trait of not manipulating aether would do that, then once you give these 'inferior' people a means of power no one else can access, suddenly taking back what use to be theirs looks mighty tasty especially against those they feel that wronged them.

If the main scenario is anything to go by, it's because they can't stop talking long enough.

I always just chalked it up to the Ascians wanting a slave race that can't fight back in any meaningful way.

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Originally Posted by MikkoAkure

That’s a good point... Though they could be hiding like the male viis. Or died in the flood.

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Died in the flood is my guess, as well, and they're not the only ones. Namazu, Kojin, Lupin - assuming they were all located in geographically similar places on the First as they were the Source, are likely extinct, or with only a bare few survivors. Seeq, and Bangaa may be gone, as well. Lamia, Vanu Vanu, and Gnath are close enough to the region that there may be more of them, but they haven't made an appearance yet.

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Originally Posted by ObsidianFire

What there is evidence for is that the Garleans are purposely staying like that by not intermarrying with people of other races. We know that Garlean half-breeds lose the 3rd eye, but can manipulate aether again. So it seems like it wouldn't be that hard to eventually get rid of the "no aether manipulation trait" after enough generations.

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Do we have evidence of this happening beyond Arenvald? I can't remember if there's actual dialog in-game that implies that his case is the norm, or just one of many possibilities. Perhaps Arenvald just happens to genetically favor his mother rather than his father, and that other cross-breeds could just as easily favor the Garlean side (maintaining the third eye and such).

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Originally Posted by LineageRazor

Died in the flood is my guess, as well, and they're not the only ones. Namazu, Kojin, Lupin - assuming they were all located in geographically similar places on the First as they were the Source, are likely extinct, or with only a bare few survivors. Seeq, and Bangaa may be gone, as well. Lamia, Vanu Vanu, and Gnath are close enough to the region that there may be more of them, but they haven't made an appearance yet.


Do we have evidence of this happening beyond Arenvald? I can't remember if there's actual dialog in-game that implies that his case is the norm, or just one of many possibilities. Perhaps Arenvald just happens to genetically favor his mother rather than his father, and that other cross-breeds could just as easily favor the Garlean side (maintaining the third eye and such).

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Both Alma and Ramza Lexentale don't have 3rd eyes I think? I think I remember it being said his lack of 3rd eye made him insecure. We know his father is a Garlean pureblood, not sure about their mother. It's possible she's was a Hyur from one of the occupied territories