What caused Eorzeans to lose their memory of the 7th Umbral Calamity?

Topic title.

I made a new character and saw this mentioned by Baderon but I cannot remember why this happened.

They remember the calamity that happened, they just cant remember what the faces of the adventurers who helped with the battle of Cartneau. As Momodi put it, it's like they are standing in front of a brilliant white like and so their faces are blacked out. (Which btw gets resolved for the 1.0 Legacy Players at the end of 2.0 Everyone but 2 people who had remembered them during the story finally remembers them when they're leaving the Praetoreum after defeating Gaius). It was caused to Louisouix flinging those said adventurers into the future basically (or time rift for 5 years) and it was a bit product if said spell.

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Originally Posted by Rannie

It was caused to Louisouix flinging those said adventurers into the future basically (or time rift for 5 years) and it was a bit product if said spell.

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I've always wondered why. As in, why a spell to presumably push several people into the future would also cause very specific and localized amnesia. And not just about the 1.0 player characters either; Una Tayuun has amnesia about herself.

Like, what vagaries of aether manipulation would cause such a side effect?

It's a story handwave to avoid having to identify the original player characters who were the original Warriors of Light (as 1.0 players transferred their character data into ARR), and thus who have a special 'Legacy story' that merely added a few extra details to the 'normal' story that referenced their pre-Calamity accomplishments. Stating that "no one remembers who they were" is a simple way of avoiding having to go into too much detail about identifying who they were for new players (and thus cuts down on the writing task required if they had two completely seperate stories). It's simple narrative pragmatism.

So, Louisoix did it I guess? ;)

Well there was a lot of aether use going on at that point in time Louisouix tried to invoke the power of the 12 to contain Bahamut which failed plus the fact that Bahamut's Aether was just plain out of wack in on it self.

What bothers me is that if you're not a legacy character, what happened to the original heroes?

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Originally Posted by Iscah

What bothers me is that if you're not a legacy character, what happened to the original heroes?

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Apparently they are somewhere out there doing things[?]
I dont think it was explained

I figure they're either still stuck out of time or when they came back said Deuces! And retired to live out their remaining lives at Costa Del Sol.

Canonically even if you are not a legacy player, you're still one of them. They just never retconned it into the actual script, it was retconned in *later* after the script was written.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

What bothers me is that if you're not a legacy character, what happened to the original heroes?

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They're the legion of conveniently echo-imbued adventurers that constitute the playerbase besides yourself?

When I saw there were already numerous replies to this thread, I braced myself for at least one person being utterly convinced that the fuzzy memory was "confirmed" to be because everyone had just had their souls rejoined with a sundered shard from the Seventh Reflection, lol. (Sometimes the surprises are pleasant!)

I'm with Enkidoh; at the time, I don't think anyone thought it was much deeper than "plot contrivance handwaved with aetherial craziness". Could they go back and connect new writing to that and try to retroactively explain it? Sure! It could even be something to do with the soul shenanigans, I suppose. But even this whole, "Now the Warrior of Light is confirmed to be 9/14ths of their true self!" is making me hold my chocobos. What happened to the Lifestream being an unstoppable soul blender? How many exceptions are there? I need more information.

For the time being, though, it does just look like being at Ground Zero for the Seventh Umbral Calamity + the site of Louisoix's spell and the battle between Phoenix and Bahamut is plenty to mess with your mind a bit.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

What bothers me is that if you're not a legacy character, what happened to the original heroes?

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Going by Una Tayuun, they just re-emerged somewhere else and are doing something else. They're still Warriors of Light, just not Hydaelyn's Champion.

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Originally Posted by redheadturk

Canonically even if you are not a legacy player, you're still one of them. They just never retconned it into the actual script, it was retconned in *later* after the script was written.

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People can write their own personal backstory however they want, but "canonically" is a strong word. Strictly speaking, if you didn't get the opening where you appear in front of Amdapor Keep, you weren't sent away from Carteneau by Louisoix. If you don't have the Mark of the Twelve tattoo, you weren't there at all. You were recently woken to the Echo on a carriage or a boat when the story started. Those two stories just eventually converge at becoming Hydaelyn's Champion.

This is according to the developers, so I used canonically due to that.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

But even this whole, "Now the Warrior of Light is confirmed to be 9/14ths of their true self!" is making me hold my chocobos. What happened to the Lifestream being an unstoppable soul blender? How many exceptions are there? I need more information.

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Is there some line I missed that's leading people to assume we're 9/14 instead of 2/14?

It seems a bit of a leap to assume that just because a shard merged with the source that the separate chunk of WoL soul from that shard automatically sought out and merged with the source WoL.

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Originally Posted by Jandor

Is there some line I missed that's leading people to assume we're 9/14 instead of 2/14?

It seems a bit of a leap to assume that just because a shard merged with the source that the separate chunk of WoL soul from that shard automatically sought out and merged with the source WoL.

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As for whether or not we have the worth of '8/14' of an Ancient's soul before the end of 5.0, Emet himself states that we have been '7 times rejoined'. In the scene at the bottom of the Ladder, he basically says that souls on the Source do benefit with some sort of reinforcement from the Rejoinings, and that the survivors of all the Rejoinings would be 'equal to' the Ascians.
In further reference to the 'shards' that have rejoined us being the shards of our original self's soul, Hythlodeaus says that our (& Ardbert's) soul colour is very distinct (and implied unique) and have the same 'hue'. If we just had random soul shards spliced onto ours, I doubt it would be the exact same as Ardberts' because then we'd no longer be 'the same person'.

Put more succinctly:
i) Emet calls us 7 times rejoined.
ii) Emet claims that the survivors of the Final Rejoining would be 'equal' to the Ascians, meaning that soul reinforcment does occur, and that we have 8/14 of an Ancient's soul by 2.0
iii) Ardbert is a shard of our soul, having the same 'soul colour'. In order for our 'soul colour' to remain the same after 7 other shards have merged onto it implies that the shards were also of the same colour. Ardbert rejoins us, so 8/14 becomes 9/14.

Also add in the fact that when you first meet Ardbert within the inn at the Crystarium, he specifically mentions being drawn there and to that room (english version). Soooooooo yeah I dont see that its hard for the other shards of the WoL to seek them out and merge together. Especially if said soul is still in the lifestream and what not.

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Originally Posted by MrThinker

Put more succinctly:
i) Emet calls us 7 times rejoined.
ii) Emet claims that the survivors of the Final Rejoining would be 'equal' to the Ascians, meaning that soul reinforcment does occur, and that we have 8/14 of an Ancient's soul by 2.0
iii) Ardbert is a shard of our soul, having the same 'soul colour'. In order for our 'soul colour' to remain the same after 7 other shards have merged onto it implies that the shards were also of the same colour. Ardbert rejoins us, so 8/14 becomes 9/14.

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Fair enough, that does all seem fairly conclusive.

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Originally Posted by Jandor

Fair enough, that does all seem fairly conclusive.

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Id like to add Hythlodaeus is also able to see Ardbert and he literally says his and our soul were once one

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Originally Posted by Sathona

Id like to add Hythlodaeus is also able to see Ardbert and he literally says his and our soul were once one

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Yeah I remember that bit, thought it was quite neat, especially the voiced WoL near the end. Just wondering when the confirmation for the other 7 bits of soul was.

I wonder if there was a bug or something when I did ARR. Because some of the lines from Cid when he got his memory back and comments from people post Pratorium made it sound like they were remembering my character as a 1.0 WOL, but I didn't make my account until well after 2.0.

Did he specifically say he remembered you the isle and Van Darius and how he thought you had ended it all that day?

I'm a little late to this reply, but Emet-Selch does not necessarily call our soul seven times rejoined. It's one of the many ambiguities I'm trying to work out.

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A vaunted hero of the Source, seven times rejoined.

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Is he talking about us or the Source itself? It's grammatically unclear. I need something stronger to slap a, "Yeah, that's definitely canon." stamp on it.

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7回は統合された、原初世界の命。
A life of the 7-times-rejoined Source.

L'énergie de sept reflets a déjà réintégré le monde primitif. Toi qui es son héros, j'ose espérer que tu vaux mieux que tes semblables.
The energy of seven reflections has already been reintegrated the Source. You - its hero - I dare hope are better than your ilk.

Du bist das Produkt von sieben Vereinigungen, von sieben Katastrophen. Man kann fast schon von Leben sprechen.
You are the product of seven Rejoinings, and seven Calamities. You can almost speak of life.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

I'm a little late to this reply, but Emet-Selch does not necessarily call our soul seven times rejoined. It's one of the many ambiguities I'm trying to work out.
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Everyone who was born on the Source is seven times rejoined. We're just the *Hero* of the Source. so we're the best of the half-awake souls in his eyes.


"You, the greatest of the half-soul'ed" is probably what he means.

The memory loss extends to more than just the faces of the Warriors of Light. Not one single individual ANYWHERE mentions anything about HOW Bahamut was defeated. No one remembers the Phoenix, or the final battle. There are definitely memory shenanigans going on, but I don't think it's ever explicitly explained who did it, or how, or why.

I mean, even if everyone at Cartineaux died or was transported elsewhere, Bahamut and the Phoenix were both big enough to be clearly viewed from quite a distance away...

The person who restores people's memories of you if you are a 1.0 WoL is Hydaelyn herself. After Ultima weapon is defeated, everyone hears her in their heads and remembers who you are.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

What bothers me is that if you're not a legacy character, what happened to the original heroes?

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https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki...l_Fantasy_XIV))

According to this wiki page, it stated "The characters created since A Realm Reborn are just adventurers who travel to a city-state to start their journey, making the warriors of Carteneau as heroes who perished in the battle."

Louisoix would still have done his thing, but its likely he didn't save the Warriors of Light in time.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

I'm a little late to this reply, but Emet-Selch does not necessarily call our soul seven times rejoined. It's one of the many ambiguities I'm trying to work out.

Is he talking about us or the Source itself? It's grammatically unclear. I need something stronger to slap a, "Yeah, that's definitely canon." stamp on it.

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Yes, just by itself, that line does not seem conclusive evidence. It is only when combined with the implications of what he says in the scene at the Ladder and other points that it becomes the most likely conclusion.

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Originally Posted by Emet-Selch

Remember, you are of the Source. Unlike the half-men here, you stand only to gain. Should you survive the remaining calamities, you would become our equal. A complete existence in a complete world.

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I may have not remembered what he said word for word, but that scene, in English at least, implies that all (surviving) life on the Source is reinforced by the Rejoining.

EDIT: Went back and watched the cutscene again to remember the actual quote, and changed it accordingly. Doesn't change the meaning that much.... right?

Is it possible Louisiox sent every one else mere minutes into the future? It was a heck of a battlefield between Pheonix and Bahamut and not many could survive that

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Originally Posted by Isutowaru

https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki...l_Fantasy_XIV))

According to this wiki page...

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The wiki isn't generally reliable for lore, since anyone can edit and add information they think is true - but may be misinterpreted, fanon or just making things up as they go along.

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Originally Posted by redheadturk

This is according to the developers, so I used canonically due to that.

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Find the source of that and get back to us. I can assure you there is not one. The odd 1.0 dialogue flag still keeps coming up. There was absolutely never any "retconning" of 2.0 players to actually be 1.0 players.

The only thing I can see is how they supposedly threw in dialog for the newer players doing the binding coil. However, I haven't ran that on my alt so I have no clue.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

The wiki isn't generally reliable for lore, since anyone can edit and add information they think is true - but may be misinterpreted, fanon or just making things up as they go along.

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Even worse, they take the usually-benign "any information is better than no information" wiki principle to an extreme, immediately reverting it if you try to remove misinformation unless you can provide a citation to the contrary...when it didn't require a citation to add it in the first place. "How about you prove that Thancred's favorite ice cream isn't mint chocolate chip?" Someone finally managed to get "ceruleum is made from draining crystals" off there, though, so maybe there's still a chance things like "the Fall of Ala Mhigo was the Third Great Hyuran Migration" will get hit from orbit one day.

It's a great resource in general, but FFXIV coverage (if not their citation policy as a whole) needs medicinal action ASAP.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

The wiki isn't generally reliable for lore, since anyone can edit and add information they think is true - but may be misinterpreted, fanon or just making things up as they go along.

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You're not wrong, but this is the only source I can find regarding the matter and thought it'd be interesting to point out. To add to your point, what I quoted hasn't given a source as well so I'm perfectly aware it could be wrong.

What you quoted is actually correct and canon, but it's from a source that isn't that easy to get to for most people. It's from the Zenos short story in the Chronicles of Light book.

Long story short... Zenos has always had everything come effortlessly to him and he has been bored for... basically his entire life. The only time he really wasn't bored was when he had to go looking for information about how to somehow manipulate aether to fight and kill a fighter from another Garlean province who managed to beat him. The WoL is just that on steroids for him.

Errrrr I think you may have posted that on the wrong thread Obsidian... the quote that iscah was referring to was a reply to the ffxiv wiki about the WoL and how 2.0 players differ from 1.0/legacy players. In which take what the wiki says with a grain of salt.

The dialogue in Coil accurately reflects whether your character is a legacy player or not. If you were a legacy player, Louisoix recognises you in T12. If you were not a legacy player, he does not recognise you as being a person from before the Calamity.

This has not changed with any recent patches.

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Originally Posted by Bright-Flower

I wonder if there was a bug or something when I did ARR. Because some of the lines from Cid when he got his memory back and comments from people post Pratorium made it sound like they were remembering my character as a 1.0 WOL, but I didn't make my account until well after 2.0.

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Originally Posted by Rannie

Did he specifically say he remembered you the isle and Van Darius and how he thought you had ended it all that day?

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I vaguely remember a scene near the end of ARR where my character and Cid shared a moment. Cid said something about how I was the reason for everything and his decisions regarding helping the Eorzeans over Garlemald. I can't remember details since it's been 5 years since I did that part. I'm not a Legacy player either, I started when ARR launched.

That was a scene both legacy and non legacy share. All it is is of you helping him regain his memories by using the echo and he recognizes you helping him during him trying to remember due to him being a pure blooded Garlean and having that third eye. Legacy players get a second cutscene with him saying, "It took a while for the memory to return, but I remember you. The floating isle, van Darnus... We ended it, that day- or so we thought. Listen- let's keep this between the two if us, for the time being.... " ETC listed as cutscene #4 with Lady of the Vortex.

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Originally Posted by Rannie

That was a scene both legacy and non legacy share. All it is is of you helping him regain his memories by using the echo and he recognizes you helping him during him trying to remember due to him being a pure blooded Garlean and having that third eye. Legacy players get a second cutscene with him saying, "It took a while for the memory to return, but I remember you. The floating isle, van Darnus... We ended it, that day- or so we thought. Listen- let's keep this between the two if us, for the time being.... " ETC listed as cutscene #4 with Lady of the Vortex.

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Ah, ok.

/10char.