Light, Darkness, Balence, Gravitation

[Cilia]

OK, here we go.

On The Crystal Tower, Light, and Darkness
-It could be said that an excess of Light led to the Allagan Empire's fall. Since the Allagans had want of nothing, they were totally bathed in the light - which led to their complacency and belief they were above everything else. With nothing to strive towards, they had little spirit because they never suffered through anything. This led to further reach - they conquered most all of Hydaelyn - but a stagnant culture that eventually brought about their downfall. If a game teaches you anything, it's that characters (and even players) can and will suffer though anything thrown at them to reach their goal, but the Allagans no longer had any goals to reach for. It's the driving theme of Answers - our suffering becomes our strength.

The only thing that could happen to such a "perfect" society is stagnation and collapse, which is exactly what happened. I don't personally believe anyone ever said we should live like the Allagans, but their tech would make things a lot easier for everyone... but if we had it, we might fall for the same mistakes unless we learn from their example. If that's even possible, considering how "perfect" their society was.

That said, even Xande alludes to the Cloud of Darkness, so Eorzea / Hydaelyn probably don't follow III's cycle of a Flood of Light and then a Flood of Darkness. Probably. III's World of Darkness is also a sort of parallel dimension, while here it's in the Void - implied to be a sort of terminus for the Final Fantasy multiverse. The Cloud of Darkness we fight could very well be the same one from III and Dissidia...

On Elidibus and the Balance
-Hard to say whether or not he's just talking out his ass. As we can learn from Allag's example, too much Light can be a bad thing (if that's what happened). Still, all of Elidibus' comments on the balance have been excessively enigmatic - the only thing he's said on the subject can be summed up with "If you knew what we knew, we'd be best buddies" and "The balance is shifting, which is bad for our goals." The former is just him trolling you, the latter is him complaining that their goals are getting harder to accomplish thanks to you.

On its own, the latter has little significance. Combined with Lahabrea's post-Ultima Weapon monologue, though, it does indeed imply that a balance must be maintained (if not tipped towards Darkness, for whatever reason). Still, we have yet to see adverse effects thanks to an aetherial imbalance between light and darkness, so it comes back to it being hard to tell whether or not Elidibus is talking out his ass.

On Light-elemental Primals and Tempering
-This gets into the very heart of aetheric science, I think. Hydaelyn as an entity has the elemental alignment of "Light," but what is Light in aetheric terms? Well... if Zodiark requires a "chaotic confluence of aether" to be reborn, then it can be presumed that Darkness is "all elements," while Light is "no elements." By that token, well... Ifrit implies that your soul belongs to Hydaelyn in the same way tempered souls belong to him, as after his unsuccessful tempering effort he notes that mortal souls can only harbor one blessing (for comparison's sake, let's call Ifrit's tempering the "Blessing of Fire"). Since you already have one Blessing, you can't get another... sort of? Makes a continuity snarl with Midgardsormr sealing the Blessing but not the Echo...

Anyway, perhaps it's a trait that Light is simply a sort of "filler" element that doesn't affect the personality of the Blessed. It's implied you still have your free will despite Hydaelyn "tempering" you, and it would explain how the Knights of the Round were able to retain their free will even in Primal Mode apparently without the Echo. The Primals are intentionally perverted false gods, though, so perhaps it's simply a facet of their summoning ritual the Ascians devised to further aetheric consumption? A way to divert followers from Hydaelyn's truly divine grace?

Too many questions, not enough answers.

I think that covers most every question asked. Nothing to respond with but more questions, but that's what keeps me playing. Sorry if I missed anything; kinda tired.