Midgardsormr and the Crystals

[Anonymoose]

the aether had to come from somewhere.

Twas gathered with Tupsimati, then left drifting and formless when Bahamut broke the summoning.

I wonder if the primal Phoenix was created due to Hydaelyn.

It's the twelve

To claim either of those as canon is too soon, isn't it? I think some important context ...text... might have been skipped.

The Knowns

When Louisoix performed the summoning, he knew that The Twelve, as we hoped they existed, weren't coming. He knew that even if they were more than eikons somewhere, in this realm they would (most likely) be aether-hungry, world-draining aetheric deiforms. He believed it so fully that he intended to kill himself to prevent the ritual from completing, severing the link after summoning their strength, but before they could manifest corporeally.

He gathered the zealous prayers of thousands of Eorzeans, saturated into the entire aetheric network of the realm by having them go on a pilgrimage to the stones of the Twelve, which he made himself, in a circle around Mor Dhona. He gathered an unprecedented amount of aether using Tupsimati's power, and cast the very type of summoning spell he was in Eorzea to eradicate. Except the ritual never even got to the point where Louisoix would have killed himself - Bahamut broke the spell. You can see the shock and horror on his face when it first happens, he has no idea what to do next, so he opens a rift in time using the waning power of Althyk, sends the Warriors of Light away, and embraces death...

And it doesn't come. The aether summoned by Tupsimati, still free-floating in the air from the broken spell, latches onto the prayers of thousands that Louisoix will save them. At the very same time, he himself is desperately wishing for the realm to be saved. [Aether + Prayer + Object of Prayer thinking about Rebirth = Phoenix]. It can't be a coincidence that people were praying he'd save the realm, and he was thinking about rebirth (and the legends associated with it: rising from the ashes to live again), and turned into a deiform phoenix - and nowhere is there a hint that it was any more than aether and prayer.

It could end up being the case that the Twelve or Hydaelyn were involved, but it's way too soon to say that. The only hint to "something more" is that, right before the transformation hits, Louisoix is surrounded by the twelve spires he just summoned (the things he was going to kill himself before they showed up for real). That could mean something big, or it could just mean that people were praying The Twelve would give Louisoix the power to do it, and the accidental ritual played out to the best of it's ability - kind of like how people prayed that Dalamud would be returned to the heavens, and giant symbols appeared and encased Bahamut in a makeshift aetherial Dalamud pretty literally, all the way to down the light spires acting as internment hulks (the same "internment hulks" surrounding him when he turned into a primal).

As for what Louisoix gives Alfie and Ali, I'm not sure. He talks about "an ancient art" that lets you summon a primal's power from its defeated essence. I thought he was literally bestowing on them permission to summon the closest thing he could offer to assistance: Phoenix-Egi (because they're Arcanists).