Minfillia Speculation

A thought occurred to me the other day about Minfillia and us actually finding her in the coming patch. The dev's mentioned she had changed as has the WoL. Could we wind up fighting her as the Warring Triad - The Goddess come 3.xx's end? Similar to how Ysayle was able to take on Shiva's powers and form, could the belief and strong connection with Hydalyn lead her to do the same by evoking the TRUE power of the echo? Just a thought really.

well looking at the patch art (if you take it literally) we are going to end up having to rescue Minfillia from something (again) (Warring Triad??)

Slight spoilers maybe?

The Goddess of the Warring Tried, to be called Sophia I think, is its own entity. Minfilia is going to be in her own trouble, as we can see by the patch art.

Given her attire and the patch art, I am guessing that she has been given a bit more power and a special assignment by mamma Hydelayn and, as always, the damsel in distress... I hope am am proven wrong about the damsel in distress thing. Please!

Its also prudent to guess that something is going to get serious this patch as we have the Warriors of Darkness, the Ala Mhigo reclamation force "The Masks", the Ascians, the Garleans and the Warring Triad are all on the move and up to something. Probably something nasty by the looks of it.

Keep feeding Zodiark with your petty squabbles and ambitions why don't you! Yeesh!

Minfilia's return can only mean one thing: The voice of Hydaelyn that you hear in every cutscene is Minfilia using the largest linkshell she could find.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fm_fenrir

Minfilia's return can only mean one thing: The voice of Hydaelyn that you hear in every cutscene is Minfilia using the largest linkshell she could find.

---

we don't know yet what the full result on breaking midgardsormr bind on the blessing of light besides the fact that we have more power than when midgardsormr binded it in the first place

Our power has been enhanced through all the trials that we had to prove to Midgardsormer that we worthy of the Gift. Of course, we might be too powerful now.

I think it would be awesome if Minfilia surpassed us in terms of power, she's always felt like a WoL in waiting.

I can actually see her by the Voice of Hydalyn and Emissary to the Mother Crystal. We shall find out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ageofwar

well looking at the patch art (if you take it literally) we are going to end up having to rescue Minfillia from something (again) (Warring Triad??)

---

If you look at the art, you'll noticed that it looks as if Minfilia is actually bound by Hydaelen. There appear to be crystal formations coming from Hydaelen that are wrapped around her wrists and ankles. So , it's possible that Minfilia is actually being held prisoner by the Mother Crystal.

Remember, Lahabrea did warn the Warrior Light once that Hydaelen wasn't as good as we believed her to be, so it's possible that this could be one of the changes mentioned in the title.

Also, there has to be a reason why Urianger has been working with the Ascians, and I don't believe it's because he's a traitor. While mysterious, Urianger has been a consistent member to the Scions, and I believe that what ever it is he's doing, it's to save Eorzea. He has clearly learned something, and it seems that the solution can only be found with the Ascians.

I can kind of see the Scions moving into a kind of official opposing order representing Hydaelyn in the way the Ascians do for Zodiark, minus the immortality. Im not convinced Minfilia is a prisoner of Hydaelyn. I suspect it will turn out that she has volunteered to fill whatever role the Mothercrystal needed her for.

A clash between the Light side and the Dark Side. Zodiark is coming.

https://41.media.tumblr.com/43e05ff6...i7opo1_500.jpg
This showed up on my tumblr dashboard. Now I need to dig around and find full scans, because I can actually read all that unimportant text that got cut off...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DE-Roxas

Still wishing Minfilia turns evil...i would really like to take her down, she bugged me since the beginning :D

---

Be careful what you wish for. If Minfilia turns evil, she'll turn into Catiua version 2, a super duper special snowflake being used by the true big bad that you're eventually supposed to empathize with after countless horrible decisions on her part.

I would much rather her stay "good" and be restricted to a role at Hydaelyn's side.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DE-Roxas

snip

---

But that's the thing. With characters like the WoDs from FFIII or Catiua from TO, you're not supposed to hate them. You're supposed to pity them for all their decisions and eventually forgive them. The WoDs were fine in my book, Catiua, however, is one of the worst characters I've ever encountered in any narrative.

I'm all for the Zodiark/Hydaelyn relationship to be less black and white, and I'm definitely on the side of "it would be a lot more interesting if Hydaelyn isn't the bestest best greatest of all great goods," but I don't think turning Minfilia evil would really be as satisfying as you think. The narrative would likely paint it more as a tragedy and she would get even more attention than she already does. So in essence, you'd end up even more annoyed.

Regarding Altima in XII.
Keep in mind the whole "Scions of Light" and "Scions of Darkness" titles. Altima was considered evil because she challenged the Gods - and lost. Recall, who were you challenging at the end of FFXII? A God, but a God who wished to free humanity from the other Gods, so he was not entirely unlike Altima, in goal of rebelling against the Gods at least.

Now, when you place it with FFT, she was probably definitely in opposition to humanity, but, uh, her being light and evil doesn't really have anything to do with Minfilia. It has more to do with Elidibus, since he intentionally invokes light in his appearance. Elidibus and Venat have way too many similarities for it to be coincidental, and I'd certainly argue that Venat was definitely not in the wrong.

FFXII, Tactics and Vagrant Story are my favourite RPG's ever. As a result I strongly approve of inspiration being taken from any of those three games. Especially in regards to delicious intrigue and themes of 'Darkness' not necessarily being pure evil and 'Light' not necessarily being pure.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Theodric

FFXII, Tactics and Vagrant Story are my favourite RPG's ever. As a result I strongly approve of inspiration being taken from any of those three games. Especially in regards to delicious intrigue and themes of 'Darkness' not necessarily being pure evil and 'Light' not necessarily being pure.

---

You should probably play Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. FFT is basically the spiritual successor to TO:LuCT. Or, if you want me to be less nice and more realistic about it, Squaresoft bought out Quest after they saw the success of LuCT and had them basically remake and slightly modify the formula and then slap a FF title and FF jobs on it, rather than the original jobs.

And it worked, at least in the west. TO remains more popular in Japan.

The PS1 version has an iffy translation, though, so play the PSP version. It has the same focus on politics, but with added moral dilemmas (eg: you can choose to aid in committing genocide for the benefit of your people and it splits the story path).

Id prefer if whatever they do with Minfilia improves her character and makes her more interesting to deal with rather than killing her off or shelving her. Any time a writer obviously kills off or shelves a character because they are unpopular, it just feels lazy writing to me.

Not sure if Im a fan of the new look though.

I believe that Minfillia is still good. However, she will have to re-evaluate her view and position on the conflicts to come and those that are past. We'll... have to bring her up to speed of course.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CyrilLucifer

You should probably play Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. FFT is basically the spiritual successor to TO:LuCT. Or, if you want me to be less nice and more realistic about it, Squaresoft bought out Quest after they saw the success of LuCT and had them basically remake and slightly modify the formula and then slap a FF title and FF jobs on it, rather than the original jobs.

And it worked, at least in the west. TO remains more popular in Japan.

The PS1 version has an iffy translation, though, so play the PSP version. It has the same focus on politics, but with added moral dilemmas (eg: you can choose to aid in committing genocide for the benefit of your people and it splits the story path).

---

Thanks for the heads up! I'll look into it at some point. I really miss the PS1/PS2 era since it seemed like I could get my hands on a new solid RPG every couple of weeks. Now so few are translated and released here in Europe. :(

I can't tell if my memories of 1.x Minfillia are actually accurate in assuming that she at least more or less knew what she was doing and lived up to the role she had carved out for herself back then, or if it was just the lack of the butt-gap dress that made me think so by comparison. With the new clothes coming up, will I be reevaluating her again, I wonder...

Had a wild though

Hydaelyn has been growing weaker that we know and something has corrupted the Mother Crystal (2.1? 2.2? end?)

If Zodiark has corrupt the Mother Crystal as a means to an end and Minfilia and Hydaelyn are now one and the same


What if the reason for the warrior of light being more powerful is that Hydaelyn has given us the last of her power she can give to WOL and is using Minfilia as a vessel (like lady Iceheart and Shiva) to escape the aetherial realm and what we are trying to do is rescue Minfilia from Zodiark

The fact that Minfilia is clearly bound in chains that link to the Mothercrystal (evocative of fate itself, perhaps) does seem like it might coming back around to "Maybe Hydaelyn's not infallible". The quest name is already a bit of a red flag. As It Once Was. Isn't that the kind of thing the Ascians are always saying? "All will become one, as it once was, and always should have been"?

But...does anyone else feel like it might be way too late for that, story-flow-wise? Like, the waning crystal at the end of 2.00 was the first time I thought, "What is that? Is there a dualism? Should there be balance? Is Hydaelyn overstepping Her bounds?" And we had a great talk about it. Back then. In 2013. And it's been infallible Light vs. moustache-twirling deathmask blackrobes for another two years aside from the one guy who says "Balance is important, but also Zodiark's coming back and you're all going to die probably."

Are we now back to, ohohoho, maybe Hydaelyn's not all kittens and rainbows after all, guys? Why suddenly go that way now? I'd prefer at this point that Minfilia was just agreeing to entwine their fates. Minfilia's a survivor with the Echo and a friend to the Warrior of Light. Where better to... uh, hide a horcrux or whatever. Have any of these previews shown her not in the aetherial-sea-room-thing from the intro? Perhaps that's what she's chained to.

I love moral gray areas. I love complex stories. But I just feel like that ship sailed a pretty long time ago when it comes to that part of the story (barring the open door for rewritten realities, fallen worlds, etc.). Idk. I just hope it's not groan-worthy. As much as I've speculated and rooted for interesting things like this in the past, I've still gotta believe in the Crystal after everything in the interim. Don't you make a fool outta me, Hydaelyn.



DISCLAIMER: This is the category of story development that I usually predict wrong. I see the truth for a second, very early, and wrongly dismiss it because bad flow or so lame. Like every time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ageofwar

Minfilia and Hydaelyn are now one and the same

---

This is what I'm guessing!

If Minfilia and Hydaelyn are now one and the same, you do know what that means, right?

It means she can communicate with us whenever she wants. She'll constantly be in our head watching us. She won't need a linkshell to harass us any longer.

Please no.

I agree that the set up for a fallible Hydaelyn really hasn't had the set up it needs and frankly such a reveal in a mid-cycle patch seems an odd place for flipping things around. I don't mind misdirect, betray and greys in a story as long as they are set up right and make sense. Really a switch around now feels like it would be kind of out of the blue.

Ive said earlier but I actually think if Minfilia is somehow chained to Hydaelyn, Minfilia may have willingly put on those chains for some reason. What ever Hydaelyn said shocked Minfilia. I think Hydaelyn needed something from Minfilia and she new she had to step in and put herself forward to deal with it.

I don't think Minfilia is an avatar of Hydaelyn but I could easily see her becoming a conduit or anchor for Hydaelyn in her interactions with the world. Hydaelyn has been growing progressively weaker and sacrificed a lot to give us time to mature into the threat to the Ascians we have become. It could be that she is reaching a stage that without a mortal connection her ability to interact with the physical world is failing. Do remember that when Hydaelyn spoke with Minfilia it was the first time either the WoL or Minfilia had heard anything from her since the Ultima weapon.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CyrilLucifer

Please no.

---

I mentioned on Twitter yesterday that, if this is the case, then we have a 95% chance of this theoretical Minfilia/Hydaelyn (let's call her MAXfilia for the sake of argument) referring to you exclusively as "my child".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CyrilLucifer

If Minfilia and Hydaelyn are now one and the same, you do know what that means, right?

It means she can communicate with us whenever she wants. She'll constantly be in our head watching us. She won't need a linkshell to harass us any longer.

Please no.

---

not necessary, particularly if Hydaelyn had give us even more power than we had (last act of desperation?)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mjollnir

This is what I'm guessing!

---

I can't get over the angelic look of Minfillia new look

we know that Y'shtola was in the life stream and that Thancred was there for a briefer time than Y'shtola, maybe even access to the Mother Crystal

In the 2.55 cut scene, Minfillia says "No" to Hydaelyn

I believe the chat went something like this:-
Hydaelyn "Leave the warrior of light and return to Y'shtola"
Minfillia "NO!"
Hydaelyn "Your path is now different from the Warrior of light and I require your assistance, go back"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ageofwar

I believe the chat went something like this:-
Hydaelyn "Leave the warrior of light and return to Y'shtola"
Minfillia "NO!"
Hydaelyn "Your path is now different from the Warrior of light and I require your assistance, go back"

---

I believe the chat went something like this:-
Hydaelyn "It is the prophecied time, you must leave your companions and give up your life and soul to become my mortal vessel"
Minfilia "NO!"
Hydaelyn "Ascilia... I am.. your.. MOTHER"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mjollnir

I believe the chat went something like this:-
Hydaelyn "It is the prophecied time, you must leave your companions and give up your life and soul to become my mortal vessel"
Minfilia "NO!"
Hydaelyn "Ascilia... I am.. your.. MOTHER"

---

Wow. Warburton was kinky.

I imagined it as something more like:
Hydaelyn "My strength wanes. My connection to the world grows weak."
Minfilia "NO!"
Minfilia thinks "Perhaps I can an use the Antitower to anchor Hydaelyn's connection"

Do remember Minfilia was connected to the Students of Beldasion who studied the echo. It wouldn't be suprising considering echo users links to the Mothercrystal for the Students of B to be connected to the study of the Mothercrystal that went on in the Antitower.

Let's be honest, this way Minfilia would be playing a proactive and important role. Extra points if it is portrayed as a burden in some way. With the inclusion of Krile I've been starting to wonder if we will see echo user allies start to play a more prominent role. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see another potential ally echo user introduced at some point in the next few patches.

I still want to know what particular traits the WoL's echo has. Really the character's own echo and use of it is one of the least developed parts of the WoL's story. What specifically is it that made Hydaelyn single out the WoL? I have to think the WoL's particular echo is part of it if every echo user's echo is a little different.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Belhi

Minfilia thinks "Perhaps I can an use the Antitower to anchor Hydaelyn's connection"

---

one small point.

why after talking with Hydaelyn does she run back along the tunnel to were Y'shtola has collapsed the tunnel and has used a forbidden teleportation spell

I don't believe Minfilia has gone evil. However, there are a number of factors that lead me to believe she may have been possessed by Hydaelyn...

1. Crystal chains. In the artwork for the patch, Minfilia is shown chained to the Mothercrystal. Chains typically represent being forced to do something - be it slavery or prison.
2. White clothing. Associated with Light, Hydaelyn's element, and also giving off an air of intrigue and mystery. Simple, but not unexpected of a goddess like Hydaelyn, who doesn't make a big deal out of herself.
3. Closed eyes. In both the artwork and the model, Minfilia's eyes are closed. Even Y'shtola, who is physically blind, keeps hers open. As the eyes are considered the "windows to the soul," I believe this has significance.

Hence, I have a really, really bad feeling about this. Either Hydaelyn's in there with her, or Hydaelyn has subsumed Minfilia's soul and is using her body as a vessel.

... can I beat the shit out of some sense into her? That usually works in these kinds of stories, right?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ageofwar

why after talking with Hydaelyn does she run back along the tunnel to were Y'shtola has collapsed the tunnel and has used a forbidden teleportation spell

---

Conjecture: Y'shtola's spell caused a rift to the lifestream that Hydaelyn was able to maintain long enough for Minfilia to return back to at her command.

This is very interesting and i believe it might just be Hydaelyn using Minfilia as a vessel mainly because of the image they put for the main scenario preview.

http://img.finalfantasyxiv.com/t/261...3fecf0366c.png


Also they recently released the dungeon preview and the antitower description really got me thinking what we may find there...

Quote:

---

The Anti Tower

In all of creation, what greater mystery could there be than the fate of this very star? To sound the deepest depths, to study the aetherial sea itself─for these purposes and more was the Antitower built. Abandoned by her Sharlayan caretakers following the exodus, it has since been overrun by the magical guardians they left behind. Yet were one blessed with Her gift to brave these dangers and descend to the furthest reaches─to hear, feel, and think at the heart of this world─what would they find?

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Remus

This is very interesting and i believe it might just be Hydaelyn using Minfilia as a vessel mainly because of the image they put for the main scenario preview.

http://img.finalfantasyxiv.com/t/261...3fecf0366c.png

Also they recently released the dungeon preview and the antitower description really got me thinking what we may find there...

---

just seen the lodestone updates

hmmm crystal looks darker? and Minfilia has a white glow to her.

is the crystal zodiak and Hydaelyn is using Minfilia

It looks to be Hydaelyn, Zodiark is much darker, and purpler, lol.

http://i.imgur.com/2Kj91CB.png

Hydaelyn is definately using Minfilia, and I can't get behind Hydaelyn doing that, even if Minfilia is one of the laziest Scions, she's still one of 'the party'

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Belhi

I still want to know what particular traits the WoL's echo has. Really the character's own echo and use of it is one of the least developed parts of the WoL's story. What specifically is it that made Hydaelyn single out the WoL? I have to think the WoL's particular echo is part of it if every echo user's echo is a little different.

---

Honestly, this is really what I'm most interested at this point. I'm repeating things we've all argued a million times at this point, but what's once more for good measure?
The scene with Lahabrea at the very start of 2.0 for non-Legacy characters is a bit of a wrench for me in preventing hard theories. You see and interact with Lahabrea before you know of him, so it appears you're seeing the future events, yet in all other times we've been shown to use it to see the past cough unless it was our character's past somehow cough, which leads to more questions cough.

And we can also exert it outside our bodies, as shown in 2.5 in the form of the Blade of Light. Also, being able to manifest in Thancred's mindspace in Prae to physically kick out Lahabrea, that didn't seem to be normal resonance.

So we seem kind of like a jack-of-all-trades, a lot less specific than someone like Krile. What we can do with it just doesn't seem to have a hard limitation, since we literally will the Blade of Light into existence - hence, breaking the barriers of existence. It just might be different than what Krile and the Students consider "normal," which seems to be direct specialties, being limited outside of them. It seems doubtful that Elidibus is just approaching Echo users at random, he does seem to have better things to do with his time than come bug us. So why? On that subject, he seemed to take great pleasure at watching our battle with the voidsent. Again, why? We're not the only person who can whack level 50 Voidsent in Eorzea.

I guess just saying "we seem to have a variety of skills with the Echo" is not a very satisfying answer for me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CyrilLucifer

I guess just saying "we seem to have a variety of skills with the Echo" is just not a very satisfying answer for me.

---

Yeah, the Echo went from being a time-travel superhero power (1.0) to the kind of limitless 'powers' displayed by Neo in The Matrix in ARR and beyond. Looking forward to that explanation, but presumably we'll get it come patch 5.5.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chewy2nd

It looks to be Hydaelyn, Zodiark is much darker, and purpler, lol.

http://i.imgur.com/2Kj91CB.png

Hydaelyn is definately using Minfilia, and I can't get behind Hydaelyn doing that, even if Minfilia is one of the laziest Scions, she's still one of 'the party'

---

Its not beyond possibility that Minfilia willingly took on this role.

Upon further, late-night, benadryl-induced consideration, I'm actually hoping that Minfilia is bound to the aetherial realm somehow, manifesting in the mortal realm becoming difficult for her - but not because I want her out of the story. Quite the opposite.

It leads to an immense sense of tragedy for Thancred. Poor, dear, Thancred he was better when Lahabrea was in charge, who can no longer sense aether.

Would he be able to see Minfilia at all? Would he be able to interact with her? He seems so very desperate to find with her right now, at the end of 3.1, that I can't help but feel that whatever happens, 3.2 is not going to end well for him.

Oh, wait a minute. There was one particular line about Minfillia that struck a cord with me. It was when Elidibus was in the Antecedent Chamber being all smug. He mentioned something along the lines of "Was it also by Her hand that you survived the Ardor, I wonder?"

I am reminded that each persons gift of the Echo is different. Though some share similar traits like communing with others seamlessly, others show different, more unique traits. This might hint at Minfillias unique gift being a key note in all this.