Are crossover events canon?

[Belhi]

There's no Shantotto in XIV lore. There is a Shatotto, no "n" in there, who was supposedly the original owner of the Stardust Rod. That's all the information we have on her.

... it is quite obviously a shout-out to Shantotto, but it's not the genuine article. Probably maybe.

Oh I never noticed the n was missing.

We do know more about Shatotto from the BLM quests since you literally using her Soulstone, which you need cause channeling Black Magic without a proper BLM soul stone is extremely dangerous

as in the magic can literally cook the caster from the inside out.

Shatotto was the one who first devised the method which was the basis for Black Magic. She is basically the originator of Mhachi Black magic.

[KylePearlsand]

Snip

You could argue this is where Iroha's story ends since Hydaelyn did not allow her to return to Vana'diel.

[Cilia]

Shatotto was the one who first devised the method which was the basis for Black Magic. She is basically the originator of Mhachi Black magic.

Ah, well I meant the royal "we."

Just kidding. I did forget that Shatotto was the original owner of the BLM soulstone. Didn't know the rest, though. Considering I'm more of a Dork Kn- err, Dark Knight fanbo- err, Dark Knight, while I did find the THM quest intriguing I've not finished it and focus more on my "Main Class." Since I reached the apex of what I can do as a solo player long ago, I've started playing other classes - maxed SMN, MCH, and NIN. Really need to get back into crafting, but I hate the excessive quantity of items you need now.

Digression aside, Shatotto and Shantotto are not the same.

You could argue this is where Iroha's story ends since Hydaelyn did not allow her to return to Vana'diel.

Maybe. Iroha is quite unique in that she's never sent back to Vana'diel and thus stuck in Eorzea. So she could show up later. Popular theory is that she's going to be the one who introduces us to SAM, but I'm not quite sold on that yet.

[Alberel]

I recall a comment a long long time ago stating that we would get some kind of explanation on the wider universe of the franchise at some point and that the crossover events would make more sense then.

Given the situation with Iroha now being trapped in our world I'm wondering if she might actually have some significance in the future. It would be entirely possible for the devs to use her character to continue one tiny thread of FFXI's story in FFXIV, since XI's story is now finished.

[Fenral]

I don't think that is going to happen. Anything FFXIV could say about the multiverse as a whole can have no bearing on earlier or later games (like FFIX's mothercrystal, it would still have to let the other games keep their own crossover rules), so I'd honestly rather they didn't try at all to explain the deliberately unexplained. There's already no one rule that could possibly explain everything... unless they go the Dissidia route and have all the "crossover" characters pulled from some specific MacGuffin that doesn't have any actual connection to the games in question.

Say whatever you want about Nomura and his love of crossovers, he's always been very careful not to try and set anything in stone about the 'verse. It's better that way, I think.

[Mholito]

I recall a comment a long long time ago stating that we would get some kind of explanation on the wider universe of the franchise at some point and that the crossover events would make more sense then.

I believe we've already got that explanation in the form of the lore text for the Wind-up Brickman:

One unexpected side effect of the Calamity has been the significant increase in aetherial rifts appearing throughout the realm. As a result, strange creatures not of this world have been popping in and out of existence without warning. one of those being the bizarre brickman.

[Niwashi]

I think it's perfectly valid for each game to have it's own rules regarding to what extent it is or is not connected with the others. As an MMO, this game is going to have events, and more crossovers, than a lot of the single player games will. Therefore, it's sort of made to fit within Hydallyn lore, that there can be periodic aetherial rifts or whatever.

According to FFXIV, Lightning showed up in Eorzea a few times. According to XIII, she did not. What's (at least somewhat) cannon to one game doesn't have to be cannon to the other, even when talking about a cross between the two. A more extreme example is that a game like Dissidia can bring together characters from a lot of games because Dissidia's own lore allows that sort of flexibility without regard for whether the games those characters come from would allow it. (XIV at least makes some vague attempt at explaining crossovers.)

With the single player games in the series, crossovers aren't event-based, like some of the ones we have here. They're simply characters, beasts, features, or themes that resemble those from earlier games. That type of crossover (which also exists here of course) is generally considered a parallel evolution sort of thing, not actually the same thing from one game to another, nor even related (in-universe), just looking similar. In any cases that are given in-universe background explanations, they'll be different in each game where they appear (like the chocobos origin in Ishgard). That also explains why things may often be similar in different games, but not necessarily exactly the same.

(Of course, we as players recognize the reason for so many similarities being SE's attempt to tie the various games of the franchise together, but that's going on in our own universe, not any of the in-game universes.)

[Kaiser-Ace]

I don't think that is going to happen. Anything FFXIV could say about the multiverse as a whole can have no bearing on earlier or later games (like FFIX's mothercrystal, it would still have to let the other games keep their own crossover rules), so I'd honestly rather they didn't try at all to explain the deliberately unexplained.

They could always just canonize The Great Multiverse Theory where The Void is the oy thing linking the worlds to each other. <troll face>

[Fenral]

They could always just canonize The Great Multiverse Theory where The Void is the oy thing linking the worlds to each other. <troll face>

You think you want to provoke me, but you have wisely changed your mind. Now you are backing away slowly, relieved at your personal restraint in avoiding that dreadful mistake, and the rest of the Lore forum thanks you for your discretion.

[Kaiser-Ace]

You think you want to provoke me, but you have wisely changed your mind. Now you are backing away slowly, relieved at your personal restraint in avoiding that dreadful mistake, and the rest of the Lore forum thanks you for your discretion.

Bah, just a wise crack Fen. I know you hate that theory as bad as I hate the "Cause Allag" mcguffin in Eorzea.

Tbh, I myself think that would be a universe lore mistake. Not to mention, I lose my favorite wise crack that way.