A good theory - Big Picture

So, with all these crossover events happening, I think I might have a good theory as to an overarching element of the FFXIV Lore.

Lightning's game had crystals, FF3 (or was it 2?) had the Crystal Tower, never played FF11 or Dragon Quest, but I'll bet there's a bunch of crystals running round there too.

"So," you say, "crystals?!? Yeah!!! Tons of 'em... It's Final freakin Fantasy!!!"

Well, I think that's how everything is getting together. I'll bet that these crystals are all old Hydaelyn's babies! Probably an old theory, but I think it's cool that they can bring in the other stuff to give us some fun, fresh distractions and I like the reminiscent feel.

Holla!

it all has to do with time/space travel.

Shantotto comes from her event in FFXI where she accidentally fudged up a spell and ended up in another dimension. During that time she could have come here.

FF13's already boring story, got even worse in FF13-2 when they pulled time travel out of nowhere. Which how Lightning got here.

I am sure DQ is gonna have a time travel thing too.

Honestlyy with all the time traveling, I am wondering if we could see other characters such as a Fei and Elly from Xenogears. Or Aya from Parasite Eve. Where as these character do not time travel, but they have existed at different points of time. So who is to say that in our time line we can't see an ancestral form of them.

It's been established for a while now that every Final Fantasy world is linked together through the Interdimensional Rift/Void. Gilgamesh uses it to hop between games all the time. So Lightning and Shantotto probably both end up in Eorzea through the same means. =P Several FF worlds have Mothercrystals that act as a central core to that world. Hydaelyn is most likely just another Mothercrystal, unrelated to the others.