Theory about Sophia in Eorzea

[Anonymoose]

I have the suspicion, however, that there will be nothing as simple and off-hand as "Sophia and Azeyma are one and the same." I suspect that SE has plans for the Twelve in the future that are much more complicated and involved than just the occasional off-hand, "Oh, yeah - this one Elder Primal was actually one of the Twelve."

At the very least, that sounded like it was the plan under Team Tanaka.

Each of the twelve is related to an element, and that will most likely come into play. Whether or not you’ll be able to meet these deities is still under wraps (Iwao laughs). <...> there are some SERIOUS revelations about the deities during the game.

Then again, that's a quote from an age where sorcerers in heavy armor was "We'd love it to be possible, thought it might not necessarily be useful." rather than "Even with glamours, we're going to rigidly control who can wear what." (one of few lingering gripes with the change in direction).

But I'd like to be more thorough that in my last post; while the Miqo'te diffusion bit was off (as we have a good picture of Allag's role in this now), it's definitely possible for Meracydian culture to have become uprooted, conflated, and refashioned from its original form in a way that forgets its own origins when emulated in Eorzea. At this point, I'm nigh certain that what we see after a Calamity is happening in reverse: people discover a depopulated Eorzea anew ... coming from places that were populated by migration out of Eorzea in the first place (our very own "Out of Africa" parallel). The seeds of faith in the Twelve, which were born on Eorzean soil, could have blown far and wide. Some faiths in distant lands grew from those seeds, and produced seeds of their own. What seeds return to us on the winds of time might have evolved, so to speak ... much like how Belah'dia is, but is most definitely not, of Meracydian design.

[Eloah]

Whilst Nald'thal is depicted as a man carrying scales, his ancient symbol is the cowrie.

Where is Nald'thal depicted as a man with scales? Nald'thal is two people, not one person.

[Anonymoose]

Where is Nald'thal depicted as a man with scales? Nald'thal is two people, not one person.

Nald'thal is the single manifestation of the deific twins Nald and Thal. He is most often depicted as a discerning merchant holding a balance. His symbol is the cowry, an ancient shell currency.

In-game, though, you get the two statues.

I'd like to go back to the "seeds of faith" issue for a second, though. We can go back and forth about how related Sophia and Azeyma (and Azim) might be until the catoblepas come home, but clearly the motifs found in these seeds of faith are flowing down through the ages.

Compare:

Sophia

The Balance

The horns alone give me pause, never mind that Azeyma is theoretically based on Egyptian sun goddesses; pretty much anyone related to the Eye of Ra, especially Wadjet, Bast, Shekmet ... even even Maat, Ra's daughter, whom interestingly is associated with order and holds the balance scales. (Hells, even Qarn has a little bit of the Ancient Egypt thing going on.) And Egypt associated divinity and royalty with the winged sun. The big head could be a literal representation of the GODHEAD via the mofits of the sun disc, with the wings coming right out of the face.

[Griffey]

Interesting, and of course the Balance is fire-aspected too and associated with Azeyma and Nald'thal.

Could this mean the gods of Meracydia have their origins in astrology? We also have the Bole and Sephirot tree motifs.

[myahele]

I find it interesting how her worshippers simply referred her as "goddess" yet now she's named Sophia. I can't help but wonder if her name was purposefully named "Sophia" by the Allagans in order to differentiate her from Azeyma, whom they once worshipped.

At the very least the belief of the concept of a goddess might have fueled her power. By naming her Sophia, people will at least know its not "their goddess"

And for the reason Anonymoose said, I do think that Sophia is based on the Egyptian goddess Ma'at. The skin color and clothing of both her and her adds look very similar to some ancient egyptian statues, too.

[StarDrake]

I find it interesting how her worshippers simply referred her as "goddess" yet now she's named Sophia. I can't help but wonder if her name was purposefully named "Sophia" by the Allagans in order to differentiate her from Azeyma, whom they once worshipped.

There's a good chance this is largely a meta-joke back to the Warring Triad having names at all; in the pre-production phase of FF6, each god did have a name (Sephiroth/Sephirot/"Sefilos", Sophia, and Zurvan) but these weren't actually ever mentioned in the game as published.

It's possible it means something, but it may also just be an in-joke. I'd be wary of reading too much into it.

[RobinMalvin]

There's a good chance this is largely a meta-joke back to the Warring Triad having names at all; in the pre-production phase of FF6, each god did have a name (Sephiroth/Sephirot/"Sefilos", Sophia, and Zurvan) but these weren't actually ever mentioned in the game as published.

It's possible it means something, but it may also just be an in-joke. I'd be wary of reading too much into it.

Possibly, but Sephirot is so likely based on Kabbalah's Tree of Life Sephiroth, and his adds and attacks are even named after it's spheres. I'm inclined to believe that SE is deliberately design the Triad based on real life ideals/deities, which may possibly shed some light to the true nature of eikons.