A new perspective on the Ascian Plan! *Spoilers*

[Kairei]

So I was just watching the last bit of Dialogue between Elidibus and Urianger and noticed something that slipped past me before. Elidibus says, "I would speak of fate, Archon. Yours, mine -- the fate of this very star."

'Star'. This word stuck out to me. Why would he refer to Hydaelyn as a star? We know now that the FFXIV universe has stars, constellations, moons, and at one of the Fanfest Lore panels Fernehawles spoke of the Allagan having spacetravel technology, so it appears that the universe of FFXIV has a space design that mirrors our own in basic design.

I say all this to repeat again, why did he use the name star in that sentence? It made me think, that mayhap he was not speaking of Hydaelyn, but in fact the star that provides life and light to Hydaelyn. All along Elidibus has told us that if we knew what he knew, that we would be on the Ascian's side. So what if...

[Kairei]

What if the sun to the FFXIV universe is on its last cycle before going supernova? What if 'Zodiark' is a type of world destroyer that would feed Hydaelyn as fuel to the sun that would somehow create a reaction to stabilize it? Now say that in this solar system that Hydaelyn is in, there are other planets, with their own lifeforms and civilizations. It could indeed be seen as the 'greater good' to sacrifice Hydaelyn to save the other planets. The storyline could be that when we find out, we have to try and find an alternate way to prolong the life of the sun, as an alternative to destroying our planet.

I know all of this is a bit of a stretch based off of one little word, and for all I know, in Japanese the word they use is the word for 'planet'. But I thought I would post my little hypothesis here and let you guys run with it. It would certainly provide an understandable perspective on the 'Destroy Hydaelyn for the greater good' line the Ascians keep giving us.

[Kaiser-Ace]

By that theory what makes Hydaelyn any more worthy of destruction than the others? And I could swaer I remember the word "Realm" used in the EN dub.

[myahele]

Hmmm, that's interesting.

We know in some FF each world exists in a planet and there's a concept of a universe with potential life.

It very well is possible that Hydaelyn/Zodiark could be a foreign ...thing. Afterall, as Ramuh said, in the beginning there was no light/darkness.

Also, it seems as if Stars are important in FF14's world. The Heart of Sabik (Ultima's core) is named after a star in the Zordiark constellation, the Astrologians saw a star shining bright which meant that Midgardsomnr and crew were acting, and more

[Hypie]

With Star could als well be meant the Planet where we Life. In older Speech there is no difference between planets and stars. they all called "star".

[Kairei]

Perhaps Hydaelyn possesses a quality or resource the other planets do not? Or is uniquely positioned to be the ideal choice for sacrifice? Or perhaps even Hydaelyn has the youngest civilization of the planets in the system. Lots of ways they could run with that.

Go back and listen to it, they say Star, not realm. Like Hypie said though, they may have been using the word Star in a very archaic sense. Thought it was worth a discussion though!

[Viridiana]

In older Speech there is no difference between planets and stars. they all called "star".

This is still true in Korean, which is very, very similar to Japanese. Getting told that the most distant star in the solar system is Pluto kinda left me scratching my head for a while. >_>

[Veritas-Ancora]

Midgardsormr's coming was beckoned by a star that the people of Coerthas saw and researched, that's why Ishgard came to the city-states.

My guess is that the fate of the "Star" has nothing to do with Hydaelyn but Midgardsormr.

[WellFooled]

With Star could als well be meant the Planet where we Life. In older Speech there is no difference between planets and stars. they all called "star".

This is my first thought as well, even in modern English, Star can mean "any heavenly body".

[Rennah]

I'm glad to see others jumping in to note that "star" and "planet" mean the same thing here, but I also want to throw in my two cents - "star" is certainly not intended as our common English use of the word. I can almost guarantee you (though admittedly I haven't looked into it) that the word used in Japanese was "hoshi" which, like others have said, can refer to either. It was just a translation choice and doesn't in any way mean he was literally speaking about a star; he was just talking about Hydaelyn, and star was a slightly more eloquent way of putting it that's still true to the original word choice. Hoshi is, in fact, the word ALWAYS used in FFVII media to refer to the Planet, for what it's worth, so there's certainly precedent for it. My guess is that "planet" in this context would have sounded too sciency, so the localization team opted for something with a more archaic sound.