Major plot hole with Heavensward ending (Spoilers, duh)

[PArcher]

We don't know what kind of powers the celestial dragons have. For all we know, they are akin to (living) gods, and so wouldn't follow all the mortal rules.


Edit: wasn't Odin revealed to not be a Primal, but an eikon? While we don't know just what the eikons are, we do know they aren't actually primals like the Garleans believe

[lololink]

Odin is a Primal and an Eikon, Eikon means false god for garleans so all the primals are Eikons.

[Edellis]

Eikon is just the Garlean term for Primal. They're on another continent, makes sense.

I think the OP's problems have been explained away already, but yeah basically, when Niddhog's eyes were first taken, he was still alive. The dragon eyes seem to be a pretty endless source of aether it seems, I don't think they can be "drained" in the same way say a crystal could.

[Allyrion]

Odin is a Primal and an Eikon, Eikon means false god for garleans so all the primals are Eikons.

Eikon is just the Garlean term for Primal. They're on another continent, makes sense.

I think the OP's problems have been explained away already, but yeah basically, when Niddhog's eyes were first taken, he was still alive. The dragon eyes seem to be a pretty endless source of aether it seems, I don't think they can be "drained" in the same way say a crystal could.

I'm guessing you all haven't started the extreme primal quest line.
The term predates the Garleans and the story makes a distinction between Eikon and Primal.
We do know Eikons are not the same as PArcher said, but may be related or similar.

Edit: wasn't Odin revealed to not be a Primal, but an eikon? While we don't know just what the eikons are, we do know they aren't actually primals like the Garleans believe

I'm not sure this is stated outright unless it's further into the EX Primal quest which I haven't done yet.
Odin is seemingly different, at any rate. It wouldn't be hard to believe he's actually an Eikon (maybe the only one we've met).

[Kaiser-Ace]

Now this is a completely baseless assumption, but it seems to me that TRUE Eikons are God Like beings independent of summoners.

What do all primals, even Bahamut and Phoenix, have in common? Summoners, Prayer + Crystals summons a godlike being in the image of the summoner's desires.

Which of our "Primal" foes hasn't fit this pattern? That would be Odin who apparently uses The Zantetsuken to Summon himself using the last schlub that picked it up as a catalyst.

And what exactly Alexander is remains to be seen. But it seems Eorzians throw the word Primal around as carelessly as the Garleans throw around the word Eikon.

But based on our revelations of the Primals Bahamut and Shiva I'd say we have a way of definitively identifying what a primal is now. That being a glorified aethyric construct that is summoned using your perceived image of the being you're calling.

(Hey I was right for once)

[Catwho]

It makes perfect sense if you had 50 DRG from 2.x - Estinien was already struggling to contain the power of the Eye beforehand. Getting a second eye was too much for him.

[Jonnycbad]

Eikon is a synonym for primal. Primal is what eorzeans call them, and Eikon is whay Garleans call them; however, the Garleans are well versed in Allag technology/history thus, they probably learned the term from researching Allag. Eikon is an archaic spelling of Icon which an an object of worship. As mentioned several times in the story indirectly primals aka Ifrit, Titan, etc are gods of the beast tribes made manifest by prayer+crystals but those gods may have never actually existed. The people of Ishgard prayed for thousands of years for the knights 12 to save them from the war. Those prayers contains images/thoughts/desires/beliefs of what the knights 12 looked like, their abilities, their intelligence, skill, size, etc. Combined with the power of the eye (instead of crystals) these prayers manifested and the heavens ward literally became the summation of alll those prayers.

[Jonnycbad]

Odin is different. Nobody knows his story, it hasn't been revealed yet. What we do know is that Odin is not the primal, but Zantetsuken is. We know not who summoned him, or keeps him summoned. His power source may be those huge aether crystals in Urth's fount. Perhaps he is summoned by the prayers of those fallen in battle to avenge them or something.

Again Eikon is probably the more accurate, objective/scientific term used by Garleans and Allag. Primal is a contemporary term for summoned creatures, used by modern Eorzeans who have no idea anything about primals. Remember Allag and Garleans study and research them and they likely know more about what theh are (similar to what the wyrms) know. I seriously doubt they refer to different things. A real world example would be
Primal: spirits/angels/gods (more religious sounding)
Eikon: apparition/illusion (more scientific/atheistic)

[WyrahFhurrst]

Eikon is a synonym for primal. Primal is what eorzeans call them, and Eikon is whay Garleans call them;

You clearly haven't gotten to the Heavensward Extremem Mode Primals yet if you still think that. We are specifically told that the Garleans call all Primals Eikons because they learned it from reading Allagan texts and making the assumption that Primals and Eikons are the same thing, but we are informed that they are not, in fact, the same. Primals, as we have been told, are summoned by the needy with great quantities of aether. Eikons, however are far older, and we are told Odin is one of them, as are the Warring Triad.

[CGMidlander]

I bet Nidhogg was just waiting for a chance to screw with Estinien after all his smack talk about "being in complete control of himself".