[SPOILERS] Minfillia' Fate in 3.2

[Kaiser-Ace]

Unless we somehow make Hydaelyn stronger, the crystal will absorb more lives to keep herself alive, I'd wager.

Or we can go with Nebralius' plan and just send everything back to oblivion by destroying Hydaelyn and Zodiark both. (Still not sure how this would effect The Void if his plan worked.)

[Kallera]

...

Listen, I get that you've thought all this through with everybody's best interest in mind. But why doesn't this world have a place for Minfilia? Every argument in support of this easily boils down to "If it saves the world, then it's okay Minfilia had to die (or at least be put out of commission for the foreseeable future)." What the hell is that? I don't want to hear that again.

The future is not something we just choose. It's not a binary choice between following Hydaelyn's will or letting the Ascians run rampant. The future is something we create, and it should have more possibilities than that. So why not create the future that we want?

I think Cillia brings up a good point. The difference(whether among readers in lore forum or with the characters in the story) seems to be either acting on the answers we do have, or looking for the answers we don't. Could that be the context for Minfillia's message to "Seek"? This zero sum game played to its conclusion seven times, with at least one (assuming Derplander's vision is real) acheiving what was viewed as the current goal: the removal of the Ascians and maintaining Zodiark's banishment(if not making it permanent). What if there is another answer?

It would be hilarious if someone came to the conclusion that the reason the seventh umbral era failed, yet the rejoining suceeded, was because Louisioux teleported us five years into the future, causing a big twist up in destiny in the WoL's fate and identity. Instead of dying(and possibly fueling whoever the WoL should have been at the end of the era), we end up becoming the WoL ourselves at the start of the era.

[Belhi]

Just looking at the Journal it seems to suggest that The Word of the Mother actually drew on the power of your crystals to commune with you. I don't think Hydealyn is in a position to do squat anymore. We are at the end of Hydealyn's war and she has pretty much lost. I think Hydealyn's final act that has played out since the start of ARR is to set us up so that we can fight on without her. I will be very curious if we can still draw on the Blessing of Light since its pretty clear Hydealyn doesn't have the juice to protect us personally anymore.

I do like Alphinaud and Tataru's attitude at the end. Screw fate and all that Junk.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

I don't deny the theories that the mothercrystal may not be a good or benevolent being, but seeing how the theme of crystals and crystals being "good" in past Final Fantasy games, the odds of the mothercrystal being bad is very slim.

[Kaiser-Ace]

I don't deny the theories that the mothercrystal may not be a good or benevolent being, but seeing how the theme of crystals and crystals being "good" in past Final Fantasy games, the odds of the mothercrystal being bad is very slim.

Being "Not Bad" isn't the same as being "Good". She can have a " Divine Plane" where it all works out in the end, but that won't stop her from sacrificing her "Children" for "The Greater Good" which is all fine and good till you or someone you care about is the next offering.

[Belhi]

Being "Not Bad" isn't the same as being "Good". She can have a " Divine Plane" where it all works out in the end, but that won't stop her from sacrificing her "Children" for "The Greater Good" which is all fine and good till you or someone you care about is the next offering.

I don't think she is purposely sacrificing her children. Its not like she was simply wearing Minfilia as a meat suit. The Word seemed to be as much Minfilia as it was Hydaelyn. Its also worth noting Minfilia volunteered for it. The Journal actually refers to it as her choice. Interestingly it also raises the question in the Journal on why she went to such extremes to pass on that message.

[Berethos]

The Word seemed to be as much Minfilia as it was Hydaelyn.

That was the impression I got as well.

She does speak as if they came together as a sort of joining, rather than Hydaelyn consuming Minfilia and the latter being lost to the former.

Of course that raises additional questions if true - possible that the combined version is essentially a new entity of sorts? And what would that mean for us?

[Belhi]

That was the impression I got as well.

She does speak as if they came together as a sort of joining, rather than Hydaelyn consuming Minfilia and the latter being lost to the former.

Of course that raises additional questions if true - possible that the combined version is essentially a new entity of sorts? And what would that mean for us?

The echo makes things funny. We really have barely touched on it but by far the Echo makes us more 'unnatural' than anything else, including the Blessing of Light. Theoretically we could do the same thing the Ascians do and possess other people if our body died.

Since the end of 2.0 there has been a really strong sense that we are the last play Hydaelyn has. She knows she is on the point of losing. I think everything she has done since we stepped on the field, and perhaps even before that, has been preparing for her diminishing. Midgardsormr's test would make a lot more sense if the whole point of it was for us to be able to grow strong enough to use the blessing without needing Hydaelyn. After all, as the Ascians said, Hydaelyn has sacrificed a great deal of her strength protecting us.

It occurred to me that in a way what Hydaelyn might be doing with Minfilia is effectively passing off part of her existence into another vessel. I feel there has to be more than just needing a mouth piece for one message. Why create the Word if that was all that was needed? Surely Minfilia could have carried the truth to us without needing to be bound to Hydaelyn. One possibility is in Minfilia she is creating a sort of 'heir'. If she is growing so weak that she cant sustain herself, perhaps by turning Minfilia into a kind of avatar of the light sustains a sentience for the Light that Hydaelyn represents.

Long term I suspect our end goal will be restablishing some kind of balance. How that would work however is anyone's guess.

[CyrilLucifer]

Its also worth noting Minfilia volunteered for it. The Journal actually refers to it as her choice.

I've gone over this in the other thread, but there are times when a choice isn't truly a choice. Adequate pressure and perception of responsibility makes it an obligation.

Minfilia did not have a choice here, not really.

Belated Edit: I actually believe this is a cultural issue.

Since I know quite a few of you here on this board enjoy non-FF Japanese games, I'm going to pull out the "SMT: Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abaddon" topic when it comes to sacrifice, choice, and its perception in western vs Japanese culture, since the entire game revolves around it. tl;dr, they're very, very different. It's those same cultural boundaries that made 2.55 seem really off to some of us.

Edit 2: here we go. It's relating to America specifically, but it describes exactly why there may be such differing perceptions:
http://telebunny.net/toastywiki/inde...TheAmericanWay

[AdamuKun322]

When we do save Minfillia this needs to be playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc2iwgW98sk. It's the Heroic Theme from Heavensward.