Unukalhai: Primals and Eikons

[Alice_89th]

Zantetsuken, as well, seems to have it's own brand of worshipers. Most people argue that the sword persists without worship, but that's not necessarily true. The Extreme versions of Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan used the bodies of a mortal host to sustain their strongest forms. So, too, does Zantetsuken. The sword feeds off the aether of its wielder, and has been doing so for hundreds of years.

I got the impression that it feeds of the aether of the shroud, and uses people their desire to get stronger as 'worship'. The Host it chooses is very much an unwilling host, it seems like anyone that picks up the blade can be affected. As shown when you retrieved the sword and you went unaffected (possibly echo related) and some poor woodwailer guard ended up as host instead.

[Februs]

Snip

If you follow the FATE lore, than the person who defeats Odin is the next in line to be the host. In the case of the Dark Divinity Trial lore, the WoL is protected by the echo so they cannot be tempered. The original Ifrit fight outlined it pretty well. We belong to Hydaelyn, so no other god can have us. Therefore, the next available person who does not possess the echo is the new host. It can also be theorized that the new host is strong, as the FATE lore seems to imply that the sword seeks out strong hosts after each death (Ie: the guy who lands the final hit is the strongest guy in the mob). That last bit has never been explicitly confirmed though.

That said, we do not know (with certainty) that the host of Zantetsuken is unwilling. We don't know anything about the origin of the sword or who used it first, but Odin willingly took up the blade. He needed power to fight against the Allagans and save Urth. The sword gave him what he wanted.

The Woodwailer is an unknown factor; however, I'm not so quick to assume he/she is unwilling either. Given that we don't know anything about the person who made off with the sword, we can't say for sure that they did not want the sword. Further, it's not impossible that he/she was tempted by the power of the sword. The original FFXIV legend of Odin says that he actually withstood the influence of the sword for a long time before it finally overcame him. It was actually described as a curse, rather than a tempering. It implies that the blade tempts people to use it. The Woodwailer may have simply succumb to the temptation of wielding that tremendous power.

It's also possible that they were flat-out tempered by Zantetsuken. Tempering makes the victim a slave to the god's will, but it also makes them completely devout to that god. We've seen it a couple of times. Tempered don't always act like mindless puppets. Sometimes they act like zealots. A religious zealot would be more than willing to pick it up the sword and use it if they thought that was their god's will. Given that Zatetsuken's "religion" is all about strength, power, and combat, it would follow that a tempered victim would seek out the strongest weapon around.

I definitely agree that the desire for power is the faith that the blade seems to sustain itself on, though, and the Shroud is physically effected by his presence; so, it's not impossible that the bulk of the aether is sucked directly from the land.