Realization: Is the WoL a primal?!

[Pells]

If we were a primal, we'd be actively killing Hydaelyn by draining masses of aether. I'm not sure she'd be all that eager to support us if that were the case. Truth be told, she'd probably try to choose a champion for herself to slay us so that we aren't killing her with our mere existence, benevolent or not.

We are killing Hydaelyn. She's grown weaker because of the blessing she gave us, to the point that Midgardsormir had to bear the load for a little while.

[Berethos]

We are killing Hydaelyn. She's grown weaker because of the blessing she gave us, to the point that Midgardsormir had to bear the load for a little while.

He blocked off our access to the Blessing to test us, rather than taking her place.

Her being weakened due to the Blessing is more from things like protecting us against the Ultima attack, rather than us being a constant drain just existing (which is the case with primals).

[Kosmos992k]

Personally the thing that turned me onto this theory the most is something that I don't see brought up very often.

When doing the Zodiac Weapon Quests back in 2.X, as we conduct research into the Zodiac Weapons and the Zodiac Braves that used them, a point is made that such Legendary Heroes have been noted as appearing throughout history during times of great strife, with the Warriors of Light evidently being the latest incarnation of such. The idea of cyclical appearances, almost as if in response to the prayers of those who grew up on tales of such heroes, just feels very Primal-like.

Except for the entity called Hydaelyn who chose us to be her champion, just as she has surely chosen other individuals in times gone by to be her champion in times of darkness to bring light back to the world. There is a cycle of Umbral and astral ages, but the appearance of the Warrior of Light or similar champion is not the cause, it's an effect caused by the coming of Darkness. Hydaelyn is in control of who is chosen, not some wacked out faceless wish from the people for a savior to come.

[Shougun]

SE does have a long history of messing with a character origin story severely lol, I mean it could be helpful if our story was a bit weird (for random pointless lore reasons haha).

Issue with so much of "rare" miqote males? Not anymore~! Why can't we die? Got an answer for that! Can see the past, is that time travel? Nope, just someone's memory who's been there (mother)! Understand languages? Wow, she's so knowledgeable~ Who in the world was my character before I started playing them? Crystal powder, right before mother lined you up into a beautiful dear Hydaelyn Egi :3. Not a primal, but a crystal's prayer - WoL. Why do we seem to have limitless growth potential? No wonder, we slowly gain faith as we travel the land, our power building less due to physical limitations and powered through our spirit (literally). This is why MSQ offer so much exp, or quests in general, experience roughly equating to faith in your character (killing monsters works too but less people may hear of it). Our test where we lost our blessing was to see if we had enough strength to stand on our own (properly exist, and be more than a meek shade), something that he wasn't sure we could do. Hear, feel, think! Things a normal person doesn't need to be told to do, cause.. that's pretty basic commands actually and while someone may make a snarky comment on real life and "common sense gone", its clear in the game plenty of people hear, feel, and think - however we /need/ to be told to do it, a sort of guiding command for autonomous function, helping us to manage our nature beyond being a lifeless aether bound to flesh golem.

With interesting suggestions about unlocked Echo users like the Sahagin, something similar enough that a primal could eat it like a buu cookie - or that an echo user had the potential to house and use a primal's power.

I still wouldn't say we're a primal specifically as that'd make us our own enemy and our /current/ existence a bit questionable, but to say "we're just blessed" I don't think that is necessary or really sterotypically SE's style lol. Which is why I brought up FFX specifically (Dream Zanarkand, Fayth, and all that fun stuff), Chaos in FFVII, and then many other variations some due to planet some just due to weird circumstance (Genomes) - but "simple origin" isn't really a SE thing lol.

Just for fun could talk about the blessing in terms of L'Cie with a shift, maybe Like Louisoix, that with extraordinary success instead of being rewarded for your victories its actually leading you down a doomed path to primalhood. Would suggest all primals were really beings blessed and were beyond exemplary with their blessing, each now being the consequence of utilizing weapons of mass destruction - the good they did coming back around to seriously bite you in the kupo nut: which would be a pretty common theme in FF games (also explaining why every important and loved person ever does not become a primal, only the blessed may).

[sarehptar]

Something worth thinking about for people who are fans of the primal!WoL idea: even if we aren't technically primals by nature, we are starting to fill the same role.

Primals are summoned by beast tribes and people when they feel a great need, typically from very strong fear and a desire for protection from enemies. Besides aether, the key ingredient for a primal summoning is faith. The people of Eorzea are absolutely starting to turn to the Warrior of Light for the exact same reason the beast tribes and both sides of the Dragonsong War turned to primals. We keep protecting the people over and over, defeating their foes, saving the day, so on and so forth, and the people's faith in our abilities just continues to grow.

The Dark Knight storyline actually touched on this a tiny bit, in the sense that people are starting to turn to the Warrior of Light for anything, creating mounting expectations about our responsibility to aid those who won't (but should be able to) aid themselves.

I mean, is there much difference between the Ixal summoning Garuda to expel the Garleans and the Grand Alliance frantically calling us up every time someone invades? How long before this excessive faith produces something terrible?

(So no, we're not primals. But if we were to die now, for some reason, the people's faith in us could very well result in the creation of primal!Warriors of Light, just like the people's faith in Louisoix could have led to a summoning of Phoenix if the news got out to the world.)

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

I'd hands down like if we had to fight a primal that is a copy of us. Eorzean have such an unmovable faith in the WoL that I'd not discard the possibility of them being able to summon it if we get to dissapear for some time or something because some reason.

Gameplay wise, I know it'd be a pain to programm (because he doesn't have to just be us, but also use the skills of our class/job or, going further, having a skillset based in all the classes and jobs we leveled)

OMG That would be an amazing trial! Though I imagine that would be better served as some sorta solo trial. HOWEVER it had better be spammable! Having repeatable solo instances would be tight!

[Settiesama]

I mean, is there much difference between the Ixal summoning Garuda to expel the Garleans and the Grand Alliance frantically calling us up every time someone invades? How long before this excessive faith produces something terrible?

Huge major difference. Garuda wouldn't be a sucker for fetch quests and travelling across the world and back for other peoples convos.

What originally made me think about this topic was the fact that we are the most powerful single individual in the realm. What makes us so different than more seasoned characters that also possess the echo such as Yda or Y'shtola?

Neither Yda or Y'shtola possess the echo. Minfilia and Ysayle are examples of others who also did, Ysayle becoming her own version of Shiva, a Primal. Hydaelyn gives the Echo to people for different reasons; Minfilia to lead, Ysayle to bring ceasefire and peace between the dragons and Ishgard, and us to fight her battles and prevent Zodiark's awakening.

I think that comes down to personality more than anything. And if Fray had his way we wouldn't either.

That was a joke, and also why Fray did all that was explained in the level 50 quest. 'He' wasn't actually trying to stop us.

[Dualgunner]

Huge major difference. Garuda wouldn't be a sucker for fetch quests and travelling across the world and back for other peoples convos.

I think that comes down to personality more than anything. And if Fray had his way we wouldn't either.

[Averax]

I had this theory way back that the WoL only appeared during the Umbral Eras because people across the world would hope and pray for a WoL to return during the dark times, and so the Aether that flowed through the planet would respond with one.

[Settiesama]

I had this theory way back that the WoL only appeared during the Umbral Eras because people across the world would hope and pray for a WoL to return during the dark times, and so the Aether that flowed through the planet would respond with one.

Or.. Hydaelyn decides to choose someone to become the Warrior of Light (might even choose an unborn baby) during said times. Which is how it's explained in the game.