Do othardians have the capacity to use the Echo?

[Cilia]

To answer the original question: hypothetically. There's no reason to believe Othardians can't manifest or be granted the Echo based on their geographic location. It's a gift from Hydaelyn, not a genetic condition. While there are no recorded instances of an Othardian having the Echo, that no Othardians could be granted or manifest the gift seems... far-fetched.

On track with everyone else, "May you walk in the Light of the Crystal" seems to have become a general well-wishing phrase. Since I didn't play 1.0 - 1.x (and can't be bothered to look up the transcripts; this doesn't seem that important), I can't say if it was used in that scenario. However, as I recall the GC leader (Raubahn, Kan-E-Senna, or Merlwyb) explains to the Warrior of Light that their vision of the Battle of Cartenau is a result of the Echo, and identifies it as a gift or whisper from Hydaelyn during the Lv 15ish first meeting with them. This implies that knowledge of Hydaelyn and Her role as Mother Goddess has some root in common parlance, though to what extent I could not say since I don't recall anyone other than the Scions and the Ascians speaking about Her outside of that one instance.

At least the GC leaders definitely know about the Echo, given their lack of hesitation to throw the Warrior of Light at whatever primal is bothering them this week during the 2.x series. That said, the superstition that Echo users have some kind of dark gift persists; Teledji accuses Minfilia and the Warrior of Light of trying to use it to influence his mind when charging them with regicide and conspiracy.

[Enkidoh]

As far as answering the original question of whether Othardians can be awoken to the Echo, one thing needs to be remembered though and again it comes back to events depicted in 1.0. Before the Calamity, Gaius was dropping linkpearls over the Eorzean citystates in a propaganda war 'encouraging' the Eorzeans to submit to Garlean rule and assist them in eradicating the beast tribes (and by extension, the Primals).

Where this fits into our question is that Minfilia told everyone in the Path that this 'new' Garlean tactic meant those awoken to the Echo were now in extra danger as to the Garleans, as the Echo sometimes gives the ability to speak any language, including that of the beast tribes, in the eyes of the Garleans, the ability to communicate with the beastmen made you a beastman yourself, and thus a heretic to be hunted down and destroyed.

In fact this so unnerved Minfilia she actually entertained the idea of joining forces with the beastmen against the Empire (luckily she soon abandoned that idea, mostly due to the whole 7th Umbral Era story changing things and the Grand Companies being formed to combat the impending Garlean invasion). This was also before the Empire discovered the immunity to Primal corruption (tempering) that the Echo grants it's users which is why they suddenly changed their whole opinion on the Echo (which only occurred after the Calamity).

What this means for Othardians granted the Echo is that until the end of SB's story Othard is still under the Garlean jackboot, freedoms are greatly restricted. Thus with Garlean spies everywhere like the Frumentari it would have been sadly likely if someone in Yanxia for instance suddenly appeared to be having 'visions', a Garlean hit team probably would have been dispatched to eliminate that potential 'beastman agitator'. Of course that would have changed once the Garleans gained that important intelligence about the Echo's immunity to tempering, leading to the whole Resonance research.

Not that would have eased the suffering of any discovered 'awoken' in Othard, instead of immediate execution they would have most likely been arrested and sent to a Garlean laboratory for experimentation by Garlemald's own Professor Hojo-rip-off.

Either way, being awoken to the Echo in Othard would definitely be possible, but sadly those granted that 'gift' in the Far East would find it is more of a curse than a blessing, putting their own lives in danger from the Empire.

[Anonymoose]

... what do people outside of Eorzea think Hydaelyn is?

Aside from some facts gleaned by the Sharlayans...? When I find one, I'll let you know! lol

What do you think, Moose?

In terms of how the Echo is triggered? Going back to a quote from Koji (in reference to the Starshower people see upon awakening), it sounds like a deliberate act by Hydaelyn right then in that moment.

Whenever Hydaelyn thinks she’s found somebody, it’s like, “Okay, this guy, I need to give him the power.” <angelic choir> Starshower!

Since I didn't play 1.0 - 1.x (and can't be bothered to look up the transcripts; this doesn't seem that important), I can't say if it was used in that scenario. <...> This implies that knowledge of Hydaelyn and Her role as Mother Goddess has some root in common parlance, though to what extent I could not say since I don't recall anyone other than the Scions and the Ascians speaking about Her outside of that one instance.

In 1.0, even the Sharlayans referred to the Echo's origin as a mysterious source to be sought. No "Walk in the Light of the Crystal", or even "the Light" or "the Crystal", or "Mothercrystal" or anything in the entire game. The best I can come up with is that the Baldesions provided Minfilia with information on Sharlayans records (and especially the Antetower) in the downtime while the Warriors of Light were missing, and she in turn shared the information with the GC leaders. You'd want to keep them in the loop right? And they'd already know about the Echo considering Louisoix was both their battlefield tactician and the guy throwing very specific enlisted soldiers at the primals.

[Othardian Musing]

You dance around an interesting point here: the Empire fought primals on Othard for years. If there were any that Hydaelyn gifted the Echo to in order to fight primals and Ascian machination all the way back then, they somehow all failed to leave evidence of it and slipped the Empire's notice, entirely. Perhaps they never had a Minfilia figure to help them come together and find out what they had, or perhaps they never existed at all.

As always it comes back around to, "Until we have examples, all we have is absence and the general sense that 'Well, if not ... why not?'"

[WhyAmIHere]

Thanks everyone that's posted, I can say I learned some pretty cool bits of lore.

At this point I'm kinda hoping we can see someone from Othard that has the Echo, and how that's impacted them. I know it's not likely, due to [SPOILERS], but I am still hopeful.

[silentwindfr]

the answer is simple, do they can have the echo? yes, hyadelin is not only in eorzea, it's the whole planet then... they can have heard the call. Hyadelin itself have no reason to simply ignore people of a land because... they are not in eorzea.
plus the story of the 4.0 let think that anyone can receive it.... is not limited to people that did grow in eorzea. without spoil to much the event in the end of the 4.0 show it possible to acquire the echo from another way, even is not perfect, it means anyone can receive it, if it have the potential. wherever they are come from.