Are the Primals really Primals?

[Bombast]

No, if there is one thing characteristic of Ishgardians, it is their devotion to Halone, the Fury. If the Archbishop of the Holy Sea ever sought to summon anything forth in their defence, it would be this warrior maiden associated with the first moon (astral ice) of the Eorzean Calendar.

I wonder who that could be?

I can't think of any event more fitting that leads to them opening their gates.

Every day, this makes more sense. And it fills me with glee.

I want to Ishgardian's to summon her so bad it hurts.

[Darske]

Another thing to note about primals, specifically Odin, is that despite being slain over and over again, Odin always re-appears. We could perhaps interepret this as his aether coalescing on its own, without the need for followers. And on the subject of Bahamut, perhaps this is why he was bound rather than simply slain over and over, because a Primal of sufficient power can force itself to exist in the material plane.

But what exactly might be the difference between a normal and an Elder Primal? Is it as simple as "a primal that is strong enough can will its aether to coalesce"? If a normal primal ingests enough Aether, can they attain this level of self-sustainence?

And most intriguing to me, and possibly relevant to the Ishgard/Shiva theory, is the question of "What happens if a Primal is summoned, but its followers aren't being troubled by humans?" If the source of the worshipper's problems was, say, dragons, would the Primal have any ill regard for the rest of the world?

[Zorzi]

But what exactly might be the difference between a normal and an Elder Primal? Is it as simple as "a primal that is strong enough can will its aether to coalesce"? If a normal primal ingests enough Aether, can they attain this level of self-sustainence?

Wasn't there supposed to be wandering primals in the overworld that when defeated could be summoned by FCs or something? I vaguely remember this being addressed recently and said it would come when it makes sense for the story. I wonder if this is where the storyline is headed what with the primals getting more and more powerful.

[TinyRedLeaf]

"What happens if a Primal is summoned, but its followers aren't being troubled by humans?" If the source of the worshipper's problems was, say, dragons, would the Primal have any ill regard for the rest of the world?

As Minfilia and Thancred explained early in the story, the mere physical existence of a primal is trouble enough, as it would constantly drain aether from the world to sustain itself. So, even if the primal doesn't directly threaten other people, like Ramuh for example, it would still have to be tackled eventually for the sake of Eorzea's environmental well-being.

Furthermore, primals are, in a sense, the physical manifestation of intensified extremism among the people who summoned them. Their summoning comes as a result of a growing feeling of existential threat; an extreme backlash against looming danger. Couple this with the tempering that all followers are subjected to, I doubt that any primal would stop at just the original intruders that prompted its summoning. The temptation to grow its influence would be too strong, I reckon.

[Duuude007]

It would seem that there are "TIERS" of primals regarding their powers, manifestation and dependence on energy to summon them hence,

tier 0 : "Mother" Hydaelyn and her alter ego, "Father" Zodiarc
tier 1 : Elder Primals, aka Odin n Bahamut
tier 2 : Ifrit, Titan, Garuda, Leviathan, Ramuh, Shiva
tier 3 : King Mog XIII

Don't forget Elder primal Belias "egi" from the SMN quests.

I'd also like to point out that King Moggle Mog isn't a primal at all.

[source]

So far the primal battles have focused on four or eight adventurers battling against a primal. However, Good King Moggle Mog XII looks to even the score as the battle will pit 8 adventurers against 8 enemies at once!
(Though, keep in mind that Good King Moggle Mog isn't a primal!)

[Catapult]

Mortal's Question: Oh, Deep Thought. What is a Primal? Like, what is it really?

Deep Thought: Hmm, I'll have to think about that.

[Akoree]

Oddly enough whenever people start speculating about Primals, nobody ever brings up the cinematic intro of 1.0 where we see tons of Primals seemingly being "unleashed". I haven't seen any discussion about it since 2.0 and given a few of the theories in this thread I think it would be important to point it out as it confirms certain things such as Primals not taking the appearance of their followers but already having a shape of their own.

Here's the video.

Also, aren't Moogles pretty unique even amongst "beastmen"? Given how they, according to their own legends, descend from the heavens. Sounds to me like their ability to give form to an other entity could be due to their unique nature, I imagine we'll learn more about this in future content updates though.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Deep Thought: Hmm, I'll have to think about that.

The answer is 42.

[Catapult]

nobody ever brings up the cinematic intro of 1.0 where we see tons of Primals seemingly being "unleashed".

Here's the video.

Well, it might be time to dig out what we know about that once more.

The Midlander accidentally gets tossed onto the back of one of these machines, and gets carried up into the sky, where he witnesses the Garleans fight with the dragon Midgardsormr in the Battle of Silvertear Skies. Though the great dragon is able to destroy the Garlean flagship, he perishes in the process, and the seal which he protected (guarding the concentration of aether beneath Silvertear Lake) is broken, allowing the beast tribes access to this energy, which they use to freely summon their primals (as taught to them by the mysterious paragons).

That seal might be important.
We've been talking about the Allagans sealing Odin, and Binding Bahamut, capturing primals within the Ultima Weapon.
We've also discovered Allag's fascination and association with Dragons.

I'm starting to wonder if Midgardsormr was a servant of Allag - the protector of a seal in which the six elemental primals were bound as a concentration of suspended aether.
Perhaps even held in place by the energy of the sun (rather than the land), as collected by Dalamud and fed to it via the Crystal Tower.

Did Ferne drop us a few subtle hints which we ran straight past, distracted by the shiny stuff?

...I think I might need a bit more than a Darksteelfoil hat here.

[Akoree]

To me, it seems likely that there is some sort of link between all the major landmarks present within Mor Dhona, starting with the seal protected by Midgdarsormr, the Allag's Crystal Tower as well as the newly arrived chunk/blade/starship (or at the very least, Dalamud-related aetheric disturbance) to the north-east. The fact that the Scions of the Seventh Dawn have made it their new home and that they are slowly growing it pretty hints that the zone may become central to the story.

I do like the idea of the seal being an advanced form of the Ultima Weapon (or at least a container in which they could place Primals after their capture), its a longshot but it could definitely make "sense" with what we currently know. =)