Zodiark and a Coil connection?
I was pondering the Hydaelyn/Zodiark axis and decided to type Sabik into Google, not really expecting anything much to come up. (That’s Sabik as in the Heart of Sabik, Ultima Weapon’s core as referenced by Lahabrea during the Praetorium.) To my surprise, Sabik is a star – also known as Eta Ophiuci – in the constellation of Ophiucus. Ophiucus is the thirteenth constellation on the eliptic (the path the sun takes through the heavens) and for this reason, it’s sometimes known as the thirteenth sign of the zodiac.
Intrigued by the mention of the zodiac, I decided to search Ophiucus Zodiark and discovered that, according to lore associated with Final Fantasy XII, the esper Zodiark directly represents the sign of Ophiucus. The constellation is also known as Serpentarius or the Serpent Bearer. The Romans equated it with Asclepius, the god of medicine, because he carried a staff with a snake twined around it. This snake-bearing staff is often conflated with the cadeuceus, the staff carried by Hermes, which had twin snakes wound around it. Asclepius’s daughter was Hygeia, another deity of medicine and healing (which is where our word ‘hygiene’ comes from).
Cadeuceus. Asclepius. Hygeia. All associated with Ophiucus, which is the sign represented by Zodiark in XII. All adversaries in BCOB. All serpents. Is this coincidence? Or is there some connection between Zodiark and the Coils? Did the Ascians meddle with Dalamud, another artifact of ancient Allag, in the same way they meddled with Ultima Weapon? Is it maybe – just maybe – Zodiark who was working through Nael van Darnus?
Interested to hear what other people think of this wild and crazy theory. I haven’t gotten passed Turn 7 yet so I’ve no idea if there are other serpent-type adversaries later on in SCOB.