Quote Originally Posted by Alenore View Post
I'd really love a quote saying Hydaelyn is in the aetherial realm. Right now it's a but fuzzy, but from what we know, the world is Hydaelyn as in "Hydaelyn created the world" (which also fits with other FFs lore).
The 2.3 story has a section where Minfillia gives us exposition on the concept of aether and how it works. One of the points was that when a being dies its aether returns to the aetherial realm. We know that Hydaelyn is the source of aether and that she regulates the lifestream (and the return of corrupted aether to her is what harms her) so from there it is a fair assumption that she is in the aetherial realm.

Hydaelyn the world and Hydaelyn the mothercrystal are not the same thing. If they were the same then aether wouldn't return to another dimension, it would return to the planet itself, which it doesn't in XIV's universe.