What are the differences between the Echo and having Hydaelyn's Blessing? [Spoilers?]

[Naria]

It seems like anybody can either be born with the echo (us, minfilia, others) or given it somehow via the Sahagin priest method.

I'd like to point out that while there is a lot we don't know about the nature of the Echo we haven't actually seen anyone in game who was born with it. Rather every Echo user is "awakened" or given it a some point. For the ARR player character this is the opening of the game. It was similar for the 1.0 player character, although it took them about 20 lvls to figure out what as going on (and the forums a lot longer). In 1.0's Ul'dah storyline we also saw (in an echo) how Minfilia gained the Echo as a child. There were a lot of npcs with the Echo in 1.0 and a number of them would tell stories about how they suddenly gained the ability.

One thing that is bothering me about 2.5 is that it seems like Minfilia has the ability to understand Nabriales even when he is speaking Ascian!speech. In 1.0 she stated that her manifestation of the echo did not give her this ability. I wish they had kept the old way of doing voice overs to be a bit clearer. Have they retconned Minfilia's Echo, or is her Echo evolving now?

[Tenkuu]

In 1.0's Ul'dah storyline we also saw (in an echo) how Minfilia gained the Echo as a child.

I have to wonder, did Minfilia gain her Echo in that crypt? Going by the Tales from the Calamity, she seemed to gain the Blessing of Light a few years after that.

[Rannie]

I have to wonder, did Minfilia gain her Echo in that crypt? Going by the Tales from the Calamity, she seemed to gain the Blessing of Light a few years after that.

Going by how the echo is always linked with that meteor shower and it happened that day (the real meteor shower that even Thancred saw) in the crypt, I would have to say most likely so, though it could have been more at the moment when you had triggered the echo within the echo and caused it to awaken in her thus causing the meteor shower >.<