The True Nature of The Echo

[myahele]

^^

Thanks for that info. Very interesting indeed and I do agree that it's premature for that declaration since the world is still in chaos.

[Enkidoh]

^^

Thanks for that info. Very interesting indeed and I do agree that it's premature for that declaration since the world is still in chaos.

Yes, but then, you also have to remember, these are the same leaders who threw a big celebration after van Darnus was defeated originally, and, well, we all know how that turned out.

[Catapult]

Guys ... this is creeping me out.

Relevant lore:

In an age of shadow some fifteen centuries past, a colossal flood consumed the realm, ushering in the Sixth Umbral Era. When salvation was thought beyond reach, a band of heroes known as the Twelve Archons stepped forward to banish the darkness. Tales of their bravery have been passed down through the ages, and the tradition of Hatching-tide now serves to preserve the memory of their selfless actions.

The festival was founded several years ago, before the realm fell to ruin in the wake of the Seventh Calamity. An eccentric Miqo'te named Jihli Aliapoh is said to have been visited in her dreams by the Twelve Archons of eld, descending from the heavens atop beautifully bedecked eggs. They spoke unto her a declaration of their return, and she now works tirelessly to see her dream someday turn to reality. Each year countless eggs are gathered and painted in an array of colors with splendid patterns. Though most serve merely as decorations about town, a select few chosen by Jihli and her Dreamers are reserved for Hatching Hour, a grand ceremony in which the chosen eggs are used to summon the Archons back to Eorzea.

And then there's this:

Summoning the Zodiark Esper in FFXII. Note especially what happens starting at 0:12.

Twelve Archons, "shadowy figures". Twelve Ascians, who we know prefer to work in the shadows. A summoning involving eggs. This can't be purely coincidence, right? Could the "Dreamers" be a few selected by the Ascians to receive some form of the Echo or Echo-like power, in order to manipulate them through these so-called prophetic dreams?

I kinda want to give you a cookie for picking up on this. I'm in the processing of joining the conspiracy theorists that claim the archons of the 6th Umbral Era were ascians. Such an approach would claim that history has misrecorded their significance. The books likely heralded them as persons encouraging the formation of Grand Companies to stay the coming doom, when in fact it was military conflict that escalated that doom in the first place.


It might also be a good time to drop a reminder of this post, back from when we had seen the End of an Era, but before ARR's release:

4. Do the Twelve exist? Are the Archons from the Circle of Knowing actually the Twelve? Are the primals and the Twelve one in the same (er, twelve in the same)?

More info on the gods of Eorzea and how both the Twelve and the primal fit into the whole celestial scheme of things will be revealed in ARR, but even then things will remain hazy. I mean, it’s religion. It’s hazy by design. In one age, a guy who single-handedly kills a microchu to save a girl is a good Samaritan. The story gets told by a thousand different people, each time changing just a little, but each time becoming more epic (the microchu becomes an ochu, the ochu becomes ten ochus, the girl becomes a princess, and so-on). In the next age, he’s a hero. In the next, he’s a saint. In the next, he’s a god, smiting ochus with levinbolts from high atop a snowy peak. And what of those people who possess magic or technology that is beyond the comprehension of the commonfolk? Would they not appear as gods? And what about those powerful entities who fancy themselves as gods, and use people gullible enough to follow them to obtain what they desire (power, gold, etc.)? And what of the actual gods, who normally don’t give a hoot about the ants crawling about their realms, but will intervene when it amuses them? Hopefully the story in ARR will help categorize who falls into what slot.