Kefka - The Esper Finally Revealed?

[Nalien]

I'm pretty sure Ferdiad is "our" Kefka in this game, especially since he wasn't killed and had a special cutscene hinting at his return. Given Diabolos' return, it's even a greater chance as of 3.1.

I think Regula van Hydrus might be our Kefka... What, he isn't insane? Yet...

What is the Garleans biggest weakness? Their inability to use magic. A similar story to Final Fantasy VI, no? Magic was dead, until the Gestahlian Empire revived it. They did that by infusing soldiers to grant them magic, and that's what drove Kekfa insane.

Now, we have the Garlean Empire sitting happy at Azys Lla, where the Allag did all manner of research... I can totally see a plot where by, the currently composed Regula, attempts to infuse Garleans with magic to overcome their one weakness, but the process results in an absolutely broken madman who then goes "I'ma try and absorb the Warring Triad too!", perhaps... Effectively, our "Kefka" would be the Kefka we didn't see in Final Fantasy VI...

Of course, they could not do that, but after Nael van Darnus being such a strong nod to Sephiroth... I'm incline to think Legates will have some reference built into past villains... Arguably the boat has sailed with Final Fantasy III, but I think Goldor could fill the shoes... He certainly already looks like a Legate, though he was just a minor villain... We already have two Legates who references the villain of the game for their Legion (Nael being VIIth Legion, Regular VIth for reference...), so why not keep that trend? Yes, I'm counting Gaius van Baelsar (XIVth Legion) as a reference to Final Fantasy XIV, how could I not? He so perfectly encapsulates the game, where Final Fantasy XIV relies on nostalgia for a large part of its content, Gaius did exactly the same, even out right copying Nael to a degree...

[Februs]

Of course, they could not do that, but after Nael van Darnus being such a strong nod to Sephiroth... I'm incline to think Legates will have some reference built into past villains... Arguably the boat has sailed with Final Fantasy III, but I think Goldor could fill the shoes....

I was actually thinking more along the lines of Garland. This may be a bit of a stretch, but for the sake of fun time theory forming, I'm gonna roll with it.

To my recollection, Garland's past incarnations had two distinct personality types. The first, and most common, is that of a general nurturing a strong obsession with war and conflict (as seen most strongly in Dissidia). He was consumed by the notion of an unending cycle between opposing forces (good vs. evil / light vs. dark... sounds familiar, right?). This obsession with combat would be a good fit, and it would not be difficult to see him go straight off the deep end if he gets caught up with the whole Ascian/zodiark vs. Hydaelyn thing. I could picture him becoming so infatuated with that conflict that he seeks to escalate it for the sake of consuming the planet with it.

The second, and less known, incarnation of Garland is found in FFIX, in which he is an older man (some kind of artificial life form, actually) who is obsessed with the mission of merging the world crystal of Terra with that of Gaia. His end goal is to revive the planet of Terra by invigorating it with the youthful and abundant energies of Gaia by slowly replacing all of the Gaian souls in the lifestream with Terran souls, and then awaken the souls of the sleeping Terrans so they can live again. During this plot Garland seeks to eliminate all Eidolons (Summons/Espers/Eikons/Primals) because he fears their power getting in the way of his plans (not unlike the current agenda of the Garlean empire). The entire plot surrounding Kuja and Garland in FFIX revolves around the utter destruction or enslavement of Primals and the conflict between two world crystals (similar to hydaelyn and Zodiark, though no distinct personalities are shown in FFIX).

Either version of Garland you take, or mix of both, has room to tie in quite nicely as a legatus, I'd say.

[Nalien]

I was actually thinking more along the lines of Garland. This may be a bit of a stretch, but hey, since we're theorizing and going off into wild speculations, why the heck not, right?

Garland was Final Fantasy I though. If the theory is right, I'd expect;

• Legate of the Ist Legion to have some plot involving four fiends, perhaps ending with the Eikon Chaos, Walker of the Wheel being released...
• Legate of the IInd Legion to involve Pandemonium/Hell (we have an instance in the dats call the Seventh Gate of Hell...), and another Eikon, Mateus, the Corrupt.
• Legate of the IIIrd Legion... Not sure, a mad man obsessed with gold (gold plated Magitek... Hmmm)? Just someone ruling over a troubled dominion (Garlemald has plenty...) which is rebelling, similar to the Saronia section of FFIII? Xandes and Cloud of Darkness are already directly in the game, so I'd imagine we'd have to go for something like that...
• Legate of the IVth Legion probably gets tempered by the Eikon Zeromus, the Condemner.
• Legate of the Vth Legion... Probably takes up Allags Void research? ExDeath is likely to end up being Exodus, the Judge-Sal, so it might be nice to reference Enuo instead...
• Legate of the VIth Legion, see last post.
• Legate of the VIIth Legion. Nael van Darnus. Summoned a meteor. Did the whole walk through fire thing. Even had a Latin choir accompany his final fight...
• Legate of the VIIIth Legion, Time Kompression!
• Legate of the IXth Legion, takes up the Allags automaton mantle? Creating a soulless army, perhaps even trying to harness Primals somewhat (another thing Gaius did...), more of a Brahne than Kuja or Robo-Garland.
• Legate of the Xth Legion, probably has daddy issues.
• Legate of the XIth Legion... That's a whole can of worms I don't want to open...
• Legate of the XIIth Legion, probably designed their equipment... I don't actually remember much of XII TBH...
• Legate of the XIIIth Legion... IDK...
• Legate of the XIVth Legion is already dead.
• Legate of the XVth Legion can form a boy band and go on a road trip...

Could certainly go more in depth to individual ones, can certainly have a lot of fun with the concept... Makes me wonder how long Garlemald will be around for... Will we be skipping over some Legions? I probably wouldn't mind that, some of them have some real potential, but others seem fairly weak (though perhaps I'm lacking imagination). I mean I can't see the IIIrd Legion being particularly impressive at this point, but a passing reference stating that they discovered the gold alloy resists magic, or that they're in charge of dealing with rebellions within Garlemalds expanding boards, and I'd say that fits with the theory. It would perhaps be too formulaic to go through the entire Legion doing this, as I've just done... A few here and there would be great though.

Either version of Garland you take, or mix of both, has room to tie in quite nicely as a legatus, I'd say.

Yeah, a Garland copy works well for either the Ist Legion or IXth Legion. I'd go with the Ist Legion though, just because I don't recall Final Fantasy really having any other villains on a similar level... Then again, I suggested a Goldor copy for the IIIrd Legion... That's more because Crystal Tower already spent the rest of Final Fantasy IIIs material, though...

[Kuwagami]

• Legate of the XIIth Legion, probably designed their equipment... I don't actually remember much of XII TBH...
• Legate of the XIIIth Legion... IDK...

FFXII => depends. Could be yet an other legate with links to ascians, more specifically an ascian who wants to tackle the plans of the other ones and let the world go as it pleases without any deity ruling it (that would involve annihilating Hydaelyn and any other god, primal and whatever else there is as well if it is what it takes to let the world away from any godly influence) (so, a Vayne-like legate). Or a legate who wants to change the Empire from within and works with us in order to do that (Larsa-like)

... or one of the judges, who are almost all psychotic murderers (must protect the empire at all costs hurr durr) except one, who (spoiler)

killed his king and betrayed his kingdom, while framing his own brother for this. All of this to reduce the war costs and lives lost by the country he came from and loved. True heroes are unsung. He ultimately helps you because Larsa is a way better bet than Vayne for anyone who isn't a complete moron.

FFXIII => Someone who got an obscure mission from a god, and they have to determine by themselves what to do. In the end, they become crystals and... Oh wait, Ysayle is already dead

[Februs]

snip.

All of this made me smile with nostalgia. Fantastic make up, and your Primal predictions are awesome. Chaos, especially, would be a fantastic addition... though, I'm not sure I'd want to see him as a Primal. The Eidolons in FFXII were actual deities and have strong ties to the zodiac braves/lucavi, and supreme gods. Primals just seem too limited, by comparison. They are much too reliant on outside influences, and have no mystery. I think SE has made a couple of very subtle hints within FFXIV that implies there are forces at work that are older and have much more depth that are at work. Ie: Ascians, Zodiark, and the Warring Triad, as well as a few references to "Demons" (decidedly not Primals) in contrast to holy beings. I'm much more interested to see where that part of the lore takes us rather than the endless repetition of the same old "Primal threat."

If the Legate theory pans out, though, I'm really looking forward to a couple of entries.

• Legate of the IIIth Legion: For reasons you've already mentioned.
  
• Legate of the VIIIth Legion: Time Compression. Ultimicia's in-game incarnation. I don't necessarily see this legate being Ultimecia, per say, but rather being influenced by a similar character. I can picture a sorceress making serious political headway (similar to the way Ultimecia/Edea worked her way into the Galbadian Empire as an adviser) within the Garlean Empire, and using them as a means of furthering her own sinister plot. It's also worth noting that Omega Weapon makes an appearance in FFVIII, so it's possible that they can wiggle him back in with this Legate, since he's kind of been pushed aside at this point. Doomtrain would also be a notable Eikon that could fit in with this lore... though I can see them making Doomtrain into a dungeon rather than a Primal, If they did it right, I think it would make for a nice raid.
  
• Legate of the IXth Legion: I'm interested in the whole souless army thing (mechanized or otherwise), because it would seem to be a logical development for a military nation incapable of using magic. It also might have serious lore implications for the Mother Crystal, if they tap on any of the crystal content from that game. Given that Hydaelyn is the Mother crystal as well as the namesake of the planet, it would seem that they've already somewhat taken a few ques from the Gaia/Terra crystal lore. Notable Eikon/God like creatures to be included with this would be Ark, Ozama, and Necron... though that may be a little too much savage level content to put into one set of patches...
  
  As for Garland, there is room for overlap between IX's Legate and that of II's, since Pandemonium is also the Headquarters in which Garland resides. If I remember correctly, it served as the Hall of Terran souls on Terra, and Garland spent most of his time there.

[Nalien]

Chaos, especially, would be a fantastic addition... though, I'm not sure I'd want to see him as a Primal. The Eidolons in FFXII were actual deities and have strong ties to the zodiac braves/lucavi, and supreme gods. Primals just seem too limited, by comparison.

Well, the thing with that is that we already kinda know they're Primals. The Summoner questline introduced Belias-Egi as the essence of an Elder Primal/Eikon, indicating that the Allag Summoners battled Belias in some form. Even the Warring Triad, which were supreme gods in the same fashion, are just Primals now. That seem to be where the story is going with such creatures, though they could always mirror Shiva/Thordan, and have Primals based off something real. I kind of like the idea of the Ivalice Espers essentially being corruptions of the Twelve... Nald'Thal, the Traders becomes Zalera, the Death Seraph? Same theme I guess... Not too sure if that actually works for all of them though... The Twelve and Ivalice Espers do have a similar naming convention though... <Name>, the <thing>... Probably just the Thavnairian version of the Twelve or something, given the Zodiak Braves quest.

[Februs]

Snip.

That’s an interesting theory. The descriptions don’t exactly match, but the numbers fit. There are 13 in total. So, by this logic, my best guess would be:

• Hydaelyn is in opposition to Zodiark (pretty much established by in-game lore).
• Halone (fury/war) is in opposition to Zeromus (Judgment/Punishment)
• Menphina (love) is in opposition to Ultima (Divine ascension, Rebirth/reincarnation)
• Thaliak (knowledge/wisdom) = Zalera (Death, truth, judgment of souls)
• Nymeia (Fate, cosmos) = Shemhazai (Ruler of souls)
• Llymlaen (Navigation, Oceans) = Famfrit (Cursed, Oceans, Squalls, Chaos/Waste)
• Oschon (Mountains and Vagrants) = Belias (Guradian, but cast out to become a vagrant himself)
• Byregot (Building, Art, Architecture) = Hashmal (Master of Natural Laws, Creates Order)
• Rhalgr (Destruction, Thunder) = Adrammelech (Destruction, Power, Wroth)
• Azeyma (Inquiry, acts as Warden) = Mateus (Corrupt Protector for those who live in the underworld, kind of warden-ish.)
• Nald’thal (Transactions, commerce, trade) = Exodus (Balance, judge of value)
• Nophica (Matron, Godess of abundance/nurturing) = Cuchulainn (Originally god of purity and preservation of nature but was corrupted by the impurities he was tasked with keeping out of nature)
• Althyk (Keeper, Surveyor of change and god of Space and Time) = Chaos (Walker of the Wheel. God of the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Meditates to reduce the anarchy of life to nothingness)

I took the descriptions from the in-game dossier (identical to the guide), and did as close an interpretation of them as the descriptions would allow. Some of them fit really well (like Cuchulainn) but some are a bit of a stretch, or overlap with multiple gods (such as Adrammelech. He could easily fit with Halone just as well as Rhalgr), but I think it would roughly look like this.

The only weird thing with the lore is the repeated mention of genuine gods/demons (such as in the relic questline, or Diabolos, etc.) It's possible that all of the deities were true beings at one time and are now only pale imitations of their original forms (which kinda sucks, cuz that means we'll never see the genuine articles), but that still wouldn't quite fit with Hydaelyn or Zodiark, or the original 12, for that matter. They predate people, so no one would have been around to summon them into existence in the first place. It's all stuff we'll probably never see though. It seems the true gods are gone, and likely any demons that existed left with them, so we're stuck with the same old, same old, Primal threat.