Elemental Calamities

A plot point brought up in the backstory was that each of the earlier calamities was aspected to an element (e.g. Sixth Umbral Calamity = Great Flood = Water), yet the fall of Dalamud was unaspected (in spite of Bahamut's rather fiery entrance). I'm wondering what the aspected nature of the old Calamities means in regard to the Rejoining phenomena.

So were six of the thirteen Reflections of the Source each strongly aspected to one of the elements (like elemental planes in D&D), yet the shard rejoined with Dalamud's fall was normal? Where did Oha-sok even get all that water to flood the world after the Magi made the elementals too angry?

I don't know that we can do much but speculate - I can't recall anything that even resembles a hint of the not-darksteelfoil-hat variety.

One of my favorite "Hey, maybe!" ramblings was that the mythology Seven Heavens and Seven Hells were somehow linked into the fourteen dimensions and that the imbalance of Light and Dark's power and/or the general nature of the Ascian plan rocked the boat in an astral-clockwise rotation around the wheel ... but I have nothing to back that up; no reason to even suggest it, lol.

For what it's worth, Bahamut was allegedly all elements at once, all tilted towards Astral. (Encyclopædia Eorzea)

Oha-Sok is messy. I have no idea what was up with that Elemental, though I had another fringe theory that Oha spoke from the point of view of the aether itself; she spoke of how "we" were bound to do the bidding of the cities of the War of the Magi, and were thrown into a state of irresistible wrath that compelled all elementals to "keen" with her. That sounded a lot to me like how aether itself was over-utilized and careened out of balance until a Calamity struck, but it could just be a coincidence. (But then, does that mean that the literal elementals were enslaved in the War of the Magi? Wonder why we never heard about that again.)

Well, considering the Seventh Calamity involved Primal!Bahamut and Bahamut is traditionally a non-elemental/typeless summon spell in earlier FF games, I think the Seventh Calamity is specifically non-elementally aspected. But that's just my own assumption based simply on FF traditions so Moose's theory is probably more likely true from a an actual lore standpoint. ;)

It does raise the question of what the next Calamity (which the Ascians are studiously pursuing) would be. Non-elemental (or all-elemental) Umbral? What would that even look like?

Personally I'm curious how the early Calamities came about. I'm particularly interested in the Third Umbral Calamity, which the lorebook claims was brought about by the anger of the gods. Were the Twelve actually involved, and if so, does that mean they actually existed? Or is it just a case of poor fortune, possibly helped along by Ascian methods?

That makes me wonder. What exactly does a Calamity entail? I mean we got Bahamut whose damage is centered on a few nations within Eorzea which is counted as a Calamity. Then we get an entire Island vanishing along with the deaths of everyone on it, caused by Nabriales, and that's not counted as a Calamity.

Do we have any evidence of a Calamity having occurred someplace other than Eorzea? They always seem to begin here, but that's probably not why Val wasn't a Calamity, it more likely has to do with the fact Val disappearing didn't affect the world. at large

When Bahamut rampaged, sure, he mostly caused physical damage to Eorzea, but it's been mentioned that linkshell communication was cut off for a while due to the aether disruptions caused by him.

Oha-Sok is ... well ridiculous now, lol. She made it seem like the Elementals were singularly responsible for causing the Flood, but I find that highly unlikely. Though one of Oha-Sok's lines echoes oddly with what we know today:

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In joining light and shadow, ever do I ensure their eternal separation.

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; could it be the Elementals themselves were manipulated by Ascians!? Rather, that is, than Oha-Sok and the Elementals being the deliverers of the Sixth Umbral Era, they too were twisted to weaken the barriers between worlds.

If the Shards were truly elementally aligned I feel like we might've heard something about it by now from our First and Thirteenth or Ascian expositionary buddies; I'd just wager that we know more about the various dimensions and causing of "Calamities" now that previous knowledge is revealed to be naught but superstition. Dalamud charging Syrcus Tower and having it jam itself in the ground and cause massive earthquakes? Earth Calamity! Floodwater and rising sea levels? Water Calamity! etc. These designations could've simply come about from Lewphon or any other "modern day" historian making a decision on what to call them, nevermind if it's right or not.

So we know that so far our calamities have been elementally aspected (or told as such anyways), and we also know that each element can be astral or umbral. Going off the lore book's explanation of astral as more active and umbral as more passive, we can see what an astral vs umbral Calamity looks like. The Great Flood and Great Freeze are very much umbral, given they took months or even years to happen and marked slow declines. The fire and lightning calamites, by contrast, happened relatively quickly and resulted in widespread rapid destruction. Wind is a mystery and earth is likely astral given that it was entirely manufactured by mortal hand, instead of just instigated by it. Bahamut's "astral calamity" also fits this framework since it greatly upset the entire known world's aetherial balance in the course of 1 night. So an umbral calamity would be the opposite: a slow change in all elements (a la FFV). Maybe you wake up one day and notice the wind hasn't been blowing for awhile, or your morning fire is colder, or the plants seem to be dying, or all of those and more.

Calamities are always umbrally aspected by their very nature - they end an Astral Era after all and usher in an Umbral Era. Accordingly the Seventh Calamity was umbrally aspected - it was mentioned in at least one instance as the Seventh Umbral Calamity which all but proves it. Calamities are always destructive, regardless of how long they last.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Calamities are always umbrally aspected by their very nature - they end an Astral Era after all and usher in an Umbral Era. Accordingly the Seventh Calamity was umbrally aspected - it was mentioned in at least one instance as the Seventh Umbral Calamity which all but proves it.

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Quotations presented without speculation:

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Originally Posted by Encyclopædia Eorzea (p.014)

Up until Dalamud's fall, many Sixth Astral Era scholars convinced themselves that the fact there had already been six Calamities—each representing one of the six elements—was proof that there could not be a seventh and that the Sixth Astral era would last indefinitely. However, subsequent study of Garlean Empire legatus Nael van Darnus's Meteor project would eventually lead these scholars to the conclusion that the attack b y Bahamut was indeed a Calamity, though one represented not by any one element, but rather consisting of all the elements charged astrally.

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Originally Posted by Hinterlands Hunter-Scholar

If the scholar is right, and this “end of days” does indeed refer to the Seventh Umbral Calamity, then this supernatural horseman should already be among us, but I don't see any death and destruction around here. Well, no more than normal, anyway..."

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Originally Posted by Unei

Eras came and went. After millennia lying dormant, Dalamud was summoned back to the earth. Its descent triggered the Seventh Umbral Calamity, in the wake of which the Crystal Tower reemerged.

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Calamities can absolutely be astral or umbral, as can all aether. While I do admit what the Seventh Umbral Calamity would look like is speculation, there is some smidgens of clues in the game. Hydaelyn is weakening. She is less and less able to speak, let alone act or exert her power in any way. She is becoming more passive, which is the key word that designates umbral. Dalamud's descent clearly triggered a huge upset of aether in the short term. What the above quotes partially reference is that this imbalance was not just short term, but long term or even permanent. That's the Seventh Umbral Calamity.

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Originally Posted by subteraneanbird

Calamities can absolutely be astral or umbral, as can all aether. While I do admit what the Seventh Umbral Calamity would look like is speculation, there is some smidgens of clues in the game. Hydaelyn is weakening. She is less and less able to speak, let alone act or exert her power in any way. She is becoming more passive, which is the key word that designates umbral. Dalamud's descent clearly triggered a huge upset of aether in the short term. What the above quotes partially reference is that this imbalance was not just short term, but long term or even permanent. That's the Seventh Umbral Calamity.

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Do you mean the Eighth Calamity, or that the Seventh Calamity is still happening?

I'm new to lore crafting so please be gentle but Eorzea is very cyclic based when it comes to lore. It's frankly a pattern SE likes using. They like it when things come full circle. So, there's 13 shard worlds, right? And each Rejoining results in a Calamity of sorts on the Source world.

My theory is the first 6 Calamities were in fact Astrally attuned but now with Bahamut's release being the ultimate Astral Element Calamity; we will now see a turn to Umbral aspected Calamities, building up to a Bahamut-level ultimate Umbral Element Calamity. It may not be as visually epic as a giant dragon wrecking the place but it could easily be more devastating.

For instance...the Warrior of Light and others like him...loosing the Echo. Loosing that ability that allowed us to channel the Blessings of Light, that protected us from Primal influences. We would be forced to face Zodiark, not as a great champion bolstered by some god given magical blessing but as a regular men and women, as we were as the game began, before we were touched by Hydaelyn.

Of course it's just a theory and who knows if we'll ever really stop Zodiark I mean really this is the sort of thing they can dangle out of reach for years like with Blizzard and the Burning Legion. Finally let us stop him for the very last expansion of the game with the way they've been building him up so much.

Judging from the past Calamities, I think a Calamity has to at least significantly change the geography (physical or aetherial) of Eorzea, if not other continents.

Presumably the Seventh Umbral Calamity is Dalamud/Bahamut rather than the Battle of Silvertear Lake because Bahamut is flashier and more direct. Silvertear Lake did release all that aether and made it easier to summon primals, which continue to plague Eorzeans to this day, but Bahamut caused a greater immediate change.

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Originally Posted by subteraneanbird

The fire and lightning calamites, by contrast, happened relatively quickly and resulted in widespread rapid destruction.

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Nitpick: the Calamity of Fire was a drought. It was slow, painful destruction, not a sudden onslaught.

Anyway, my take on this topic is basically "not enough data". Do we even have a solid reason to think that the succession of elementally-aligned calamities is systematised in this way, rather than a pattern seen in retrospect? The people of Eorzea believe there are six basic elements, and this appears to be true in their world... but it doesn't follow that there is an inherent pattern of elementally-aligned calamities. Do we need to posit an elemental mechanism for the fact that there have been disasters every fifteen hundred years or so?

After all, the calamities that we know of are all very different in nature. Five of them are natural disasters, and two are man-made. Is it inherently implausible that Eorzea might suffer the occasional drought, flood, or ice age, even without a broader framework?

Moreover, we already know a mechanism for the calamities. When the Ascians succeed in destroying or rejoining one of the thirteen planes, it causes some great disaster on Hydaelyn, the central plane. I don't know the exact details - perhaps the rejoining of one plane causes a surge in aether, and if that aether is strongly elementally aspected, disasters linked to that element occur until the world is able to rebalance itself? - but it seems plausible enough on the face of it. It may be that the other worlds are themselves strongly elementally-aspected. It may be that the Ascians themselves are following some pattern, intending to subject Hydaelyn to elemental stresses in order to revive Zodiark. Without knowing the precise mechanics of Zodiark's return or the nature of those other worlds, I can't say much more.

From a historian's viewpoint, I'll just mention that people have a great tendency to assign cyclical or repeated, connected titles to things that happen. For us, it's often naming something a revolution, be it during it happening or in hindsight. Or giving different times arbitrary names such as "the middle ages" or "ancient history." For Eorzeans, the same could be the Calamities, and the Astral and Umbral Eras.

So essentially, it could just be people saying "Eh, this looks like a calamity, which number are we on again? Seven? Ok, the Seventh Umbral Calamity just happened."

To go with this, our current, seventh, Astral Era supposedly began when we Warriors of Light beat Baelsar and Ultima Weapon. And who decided that it happened then and in that way? The leaders of the city states. Politicians. People who could use the morale boost the people get from that.