The True Nature of The Echo

[Enkidoh]

The thing is, at first Ifrit believes the player to indeed have been tempered by another Primal (he rattles off Garuda, Titan and Leviathan specifically), then towards the end of the scene, he tells the player that "the Paragon warned of the godless blessed", meaning they are not tempered at all, because after all, only a Primal (ala, a 'god', can temper), and it just seems that the Primals only know what the Ascians tell them, and hence, because they don't know any different, assume that the Echo is simply tempering.

It should also be noted Ifrit calls the Echo specifically 'the taint', which is not how the Primals usually refer to tempering. I have the whole dialogue from that scene saved incidentally, including the snarky comebacks by my Path Companion.

(Note: my Path Companion was a female miqo'te GLA so the exact words from the Companion in that scene were most likely different depending on what race and gender they were. But it's most likely the basic context of the dialogue was consistent regardless of what Path Companion you had)

Amalj'aa: "O mighty Ifrit! Lord of the Inferno and Champion of the Sun! Thy humble servants have summoned Thee forth from the boundless aether, that Thou might cleanse these heathens' souls of their transgressions with Thine holy flames!"
Path Companion: "Wait! Does the god fear what we might have to say?"
Path Companion: "My companion and I walk the Path of the Twelve. It has brought us to you in the name of peace - peace to all Eorzea."
Path Companion: "As you know, the Garlean Empire threatens that peace, and would take our lands for it's own. What you may not know is that the Empire has offered it's "protection" to the city-states, on the condition that they surrender to Imperial rule... and aid in the extermination of the beast-tribes."
Path Companion: "Know that this is the very opposite of what we want. Yet alone, we cannot hope to best the might of the Empire, and nor can you. That is why our leader, Lady Minfilia, proposes an alliance, that we might use our combined strength to drive the Garleans from our lands, and secure lasting peace for Eorzea."
(Ifrit jumps up and prepares to fire his tempering spell)
Path Companion: "Wait! You must listen to-"
(Ifrit casts his blue flames on everyone in the vicinity, knocking the prisoners to the ground but the player and their Path Companion are unharmed, and look confusedly at each other)
Amalj'aa: "Throughout history, your kind has repaid our gestures of goodwill with naught but acts of injustice. How are we to take your utterances as true?"
Amalj'aa: "We cannot! The heathens must die, their blood a gift to Lord Ifrit!"
(The now tempered prisoners stand up zombie-like and linger near the player and the Path Companion ominously)
Path Companion: "This is not good."
Path Companion: " Gods, the flames must have done something to their minds! We must find a way to bring them to their senses, perhaps a moment from their past?"
(A battle then occurs against the tempered prisoners. After defeating them, by simply dealing enough damage they 'give up the will to fight', the player then has to fight amal'jaa, before Ifrit jumps down and ends the battle)
Ifrit: "You avow yourselves blessed by gods, yet lack the capacity to summon them to your aid."
Ifrit: "To which do you kneel mortals?"
Path Companion: "I kneel to whomever I desire-but Primals are not to my taste!"
Ifrit: "Fools. Blind to the grace of those who would grant you protection and bless you with their fortune."
Path Companion: "Between myself and my companion, I have all the protection I need."
Amalj'aa: "Blasphemy! Death to the heathens!"
Amalj'aa: "Mind your tongue when speaking to the Lord of the Inferno, lest we cut it out!"
Ifrit: "Your blindness is born of ignorance."
Ifrit: "I smell the taint upon your soul. Is it Garuda... or Titan? Perchance... Leviathan?"
Path Companion: "Whatever you smell on me, it is not the scent of a Primal."
Ifrit: "Vex me not, mortals. The Paragon warned of the godless blessed."
Ifrit: "There can be only one true god in this world, and those without cannot be allowed to roam unchecked."
Ifrit: "Yet the Paragon has entreated that I spare you, and so I shall-on one condition."
Ifrit: "Vow that you shall forsake the summoning of another. Do so, and you sins shall be absolved. Refuse me, and your soul will burn for eternity."
Amalj'aa: "On your knees heathens! And give your oath! In the name of Ifrit, Almighty Lord of the Inferno!"
Amalj'aa: "Almighty Lord of the Inferno!"
Path Companion: "You're not serious?! You think me alluring enough to attract a god do you?"
Path Companion: "But how?!"

It's interesting reading this dialogue because in hindsight, Ifrit not only alluded to Zodiark in his 'one true god' comment (at the time, I actually thought Ifrit was referring to himself), but that not only does he not find the idea of people being able to resist his Tempering particularly suprising (nor do the amalj'aa, who simply call the player and the Path Companion 'heathens'), he assumes it's because the player and their Path Companion are already tempered by another Primal - only to then throw that idea out the window by referring to them as 'the godless blessed', and calling the Echo 'the taint', suggesting to him it's against the 'true order of things'. And then there's the comment (that was not carried into ARR) that the player can summon their own Primal with the Echo. Because this particular point was never raised again in 1.0, it can simply be considered retconned I guess though.