The Road to 5.0

[Anonymoose]

she does absorb other shards only because she lost too much light in a calamity and is forced to take the shard back in to "survive"

I've been trying to figure out where this started for ages.

We know only that a sufficient confluence of (presumable aetherial instability-related) chaos will "blow out" the "barrier" between a reflected dimension and the Source, causing the reflection to be essentially "deleted", reduced to pure aether, and rushed back into the Source dimension.

"Hydaelyn is knowingly eating them to survive." is quite a leap from that known point. (i.e. a valid theory, but just a theory)

Kudos to whoever called it from so far out if it proves to be true, but until then, that's a big ol' [citation needed], imho.

They seek to tear down the barriers which surround the Source.

For there is but one way to restore the balance and save our home: the Ardor. Calamitous destruction with the power to break down the barriers between planes, and see our worlds rejoined.

And so, to prevent this fate, they joined hands with the Ascians and came to the Source. Here, they intend to bring about another Umbral Calamity, for only through such unbridled destruction may the barriers between planes be broken down, and the First and the Source made one.

Alisaie
The Warriors of Darkness spoke of how the Ardor had the power to “break down the barriers between planes,” that our worlds might be rejoined. I would ask that you research this for us.

(Later...)

Urianger
Though their copious use of allegory defieth any single interpretation, the oracles paint a most disturbing picture─one of worlds parallel to our own, apart yet linked, reduced to ruin with every Umbral Calamity...

Alphinaud
"Seven times have they succeeded."
Then of ten and three, only six worlds remain.

Urianger
Aye. All is as my lady Minfilia spake unto thee.
As for what becometh of these reflections when they and the Source are rejoined...
Frail flesh undone in Umbral fires,
Each soul surrend'reth to Her call,
To flow unto the endless sea,
There to endure as one and none.

Alisaie
Then...then if the Warriors of Darkness succeed, everyone in their world will die?

Urianger
In essence, aye. The verse speaketh of the renunciation of the flesh, and subsequent return to the Lifestream. However, this fate may yet be preferable to the alternative, for if the First were to fall to transcendent Light in the manner the Warriors of Darkness described, it would give way unto a void wherein none may know either life or death. Far better to die, they reason─for in death there is life. The essence of a soul which returneth unto the Source may be born anew. Saved. Such, at least, is their belief, I surmise.

[Cilia]

I don't know where that notion comes from either. No mention of Hydaelyn "losing Light" has ever been made.

Just for a quick rundown, here's my basic understanding of the overarching mythos behind Zodiark, Hydaelyn, and Calamities. Someone correct me if I've got a detail wrong.

Aeons ago the two existed in harmony, but eventually Zodiark began to covet power, which upset the balance. In an effort to preserve the balance, Hydaelyn cast Zodiark out - His aether drained and split up among the Thirteen Shards, kept separate from the Source by Hydaelyn's walls but existing in parallel, and his physical form becoming Hydaelyn's moon.

Zodiark's agents, the Ascians, seek to cause Rejoinings - Calamities, as we know them - which break down the dimensional barriers separating a Shard from the Source, returning Zodiark's aether to fuel His resurrection. This not only causes the Shard to cease to exist, the damage that must be done to Hydaelyn to break down one of Her walls greatly weakens her - She has been losing power over the ages if Matoya's Crystal Eye is any indication - though if what we've been told is true, by returning the aether from a Shard to the Source the souls there enter the Source's Lifestream.

The reason the Ascians (or at least Elidibus) want to maintain balance is that, if a Shard edges to close to one extreme, it will render the Shard unsuitable for Rejoining. Too much Dark compresses the aether within into a singularity (see: the areas of the Void we traverse in the World of Darkness), while too much Light bleeds it away into nothingness (like the Burn - an aether-bleached wasteland).

Rejoinings don't cause Hydaelyn to "lose Light" and thus necessitate the consumption of a Shard for survival... as far as we know. Their intent is to weaken Her, but in order to break down the walls She has put in place between the Shards and the Source, not so She will need to "eat" (for want of a better term) a Shard to survive.

... that's my understanding of FFXIV's basic cosmology, anyway.

[KageTokage]

I'm starting to wonder if there's a a way for a shard to be rejoined without a calamity being caused, because those cryptic words in the 4.4 trailer feel like they're implying that the first shard might be beyond saving and becoming a threat to the source somehow. Considering the ongoing problems the XIVth has been causing after becoming a void of darkness and breeding hostile voidsent who constantly seek to invade the source, I'd think that a shard that becomes a void of light could cause problems of its own.

"Throwing wide the gates" really sounds like it could be referring to removing the barrier between the first and the Source to cause a rejoining, perhaps to "save" what souls remain in that world by allowing them to return to the lifestream instead of being trapped in a state between life and death and also to avert a calamity from an overflow of light bleeding into the source.

[Kusanagi7]

i wonder if we will be able to stop this upcoming calamity i know we keep winning whatever comes our way i have this sneaky feeling we wont be able to stop it.

[KageTokage]

I feel like we'll definitely stop the coming calamity, but likely by causing a rejoining before the first is completely consumed by light.

The problem is that Ascians won't even need to directly cause calamities on the source to further their schemes anymore if they realize they can keep forcing us into situations where we have to cause a rejoining to prevent a calamity, as we're still pushing them closer to their goal, but mitigating damage to the source, making it a lose-lose situation for us in the long run. This would certainly explain why they referred to us as the key the Zodiark's revival a long while ago, too.

I'm honestly hoping that things don't play out how I'm thinking they're going to, simply because I like surprises, but everything seems to line up a bit too nicely to me.

[Alleo]

I've been trying to figure out where this started for ages.

We know only that a sufficient confluence of (presumable aetherial instability-related) chaos will "blow out" the "barrier" between a reflected dimension and the Source, causing the reflection to be essentially "deleted", reduced to pure aether, and rushed back into the Source dimension.

"Hydaelyn is knowingly eating them to survive." is quite a leap from that known point. (i.e. a valid theory, but just a theory)

Kudos to whoever called it from so far out if it proves to be true, but until then, that's a big ol' [citation needed], imho.

Oh well must have read that somewhere and thought it was the case, sorry. x_x (And if it was true I would not call it knowingly eating them but kinda being forced to do so)

Maybe I saw it as her losing Light because she is growing weaker by those Calamities and her power needs to come from somewhere. Is her power Aether? Or is her power a special kind of one and thus seemingly the Light. (Or is Aether the Light and too much Aether in a world is bad for its people too?) She did get stronger when we gave her some crystals of Light back. And she was able to take back in the Light that was threatening the first shard, which imo should only be possible if she uses this as her power.

[Anonymoose]

Oh well must have read that somewhere and thought it was the case, sorry. x_x

A number of redditors and streamers present this theory as fact to the exclusion of others, so that's my first suspect, lol.

Is her power Aether? Or is her power a special kind of one and thus seemingly the Light. (Or is Aether the Light and too much Aether in a world is bad for its people too?) She did get stronger when we gave her some crystals of Light back. And she was able to take back in the Light that was threatening the first shard, which imo should only be possible if she uses this as her power.

This is a little less clear, at the moment (as far as I know, anyway). To give you the best impression I possibly can will require essentially giving my own version of one of Minfilia or Urianger's PowerPoint presentations, lol.

I posit that there are sub-types of aether governing its behavior and capabilities, and that how aether might be converted from one "energy spectrum" to another is unclear, but that they are not compatible with one another. A number of phenomena suggest this to be true, even if the specifics are unclear.

Take, for example, the Eorzean belief that mortal death triggers a division of a living being's body (their corporeal form) and soul (their spiritual form). However, let's only consider this superficially. Eorzeans have a habit of being thematically accurate at best. They also believe that while the body breaks down into aether to nourish the Land, the spirit moves on to the afterlife to dwell in the halls of the Twelve, when as far as we know it moves through the corporeal rivers and out into the empyrean realm (the aetherial sea) to be shorn apart into uncountable pieces to flow back into the world and be reborn as life anew.

At the risk of digressing too far, this seems to explain how we are able to defeat Ascians. They transcend death and maintain their spiritual integrity without a corporeal frame, resisting the return to the Sea. Therefore, we bring a mimicry of Sea to them - a profusion of aetherial energy that shears their souls apart. But moving on.

When one casts magicks, they deplete an aetherial wellspring connected to their physical form. Alchemical potions called "ethers" (which can be made from elemental crystals) can restore this, or it will regenerate naturally with one's physical vitality as they consume food and rest. However, there are also magicks which tap a spiritual energy called "anima," (such as forging soulkin quasi-souls or teleportation) which can only regenerate with time (or the spiritual high from successfully defending a hamlet <ribs Legacy players>).

Take, for example, a primal summoning, which necessarily requires [corporeal aetherial energy] (land; often, but not exclusively, crystals) and [spiritual aetherial energy] (spirit; faith, prayer, willpower, desire). This forges a temporary physical-world housing for an "essence" drawn forth and materialized from the Sea. Suggestions so far point to the idea that most, if not all, summonings of this nature are actually creating a beacon to which are drawn all the uncountable pieces of a once-living thing whose soul has already been shattered, re-manifesting them as, at best, a shade; an overpowered elemental presenting itself as the thing it is believed to be. Disrupt the integrity of this being, and it simply dissolves into mist, its physical body flowing back into the land, the rest back into the Sea.

But back to the point.

We have confirmation that the "elemental" energy spectrum (the six elements + two polarities) is distinct from the (upper-case) "Light-Dark" energy spectrum. It's entirely possible that the souls of the great crystals are composed of aether that is incompatible with simply drawing elemental energies from the land, or pure life-force from the Sea.

Perhaps they must necessarily reclaim Light and Dark energy from the "reflected" dimensions into which they were scattered. Perhaps the "Crystals of Light" are unique because they are manifestations of the land's energies with a fragment of Her power at their core, allowing Her to empower Her champions beyond mortal limits and manifest "divine intervention" in the physical world, albeit at catastrophic cost.

Those that believe Hydaelyn is knowingly "consuming" the worlds to survive might even disagree on how She re-generates from this. Is it the aether of their planet, destroyed when the dimension was deleted, that allows Her to retain Her form without compromising the physical integrity of the planet in the Source dimension? Is it the pure life-force of all the souls who perished in the process? Or did She simply re-claim what Light was trapped there?

Do the Ascians require Dark energy to resurrect Zodiark? Are they targeting Dark-heavy worlds and only went for the First out of necessity because it was collapsing? Why does a rush of aether into the Sea make Hydaelyn - living in the Sea - weaker, but empower Zodiark, who, as far as we know, is trapped in a rift in the moon? Are the Ascians preparing to circumvent his imprisonment by consolidating Dark energies and summoning his reincarnation? How is Elidibus going to use the Warrior of Light to ensure that this happens? (to "forge the final key"?)

Please look forward to it.

[Alleo]

A number of redditors and streamers present this theory as fact to the exclusion of others, so that's my first suspect, lol.

Haha, yeah could have taken that from a streamer.

Also thanks for your answer, it does still gets a bit confusing, especially the concept of what exactly Light and Darkness is (like what exactly would count as an action towards helping the Light or Darkness) I really hope that we get some clear answers for all of this. Its nice to have a bit of speculation left (I am honestly for example never a fan of "this is how the afterlife is" because it just destroys ones imagination a bit) but not for these important facts. Especially since we need to know what happens if we want to stop some theoretical twin dooms.

I am a bit sad that our WoL seemingly never really started to look for answers since he/she kinda is the one with all the burdens on their shoulders. Maybe we will get that soon but I had hoped for more informations in HW with the WoD.

(Also I wished there was an easier way to get to all the lore informations. I do have the lore book but its huge and its starting to get a bit hard to remember everything from the game. I re-watched the WoD in german again and did notice that Hydaelyn was simply not able to influence other shards and need "Ascians" too. The crystals we gave her, just gave her enough strenght back to free Minifilia as her mouthpiece and sent her to the shard to solve the problem. So this makes it seem that either she always need her own agend on each world/shard and can never truly interact with it [and we as the source might be different with that] or that she is just that weak so she needs one. I lean towards the first. But still hard how much I forgot after that time x))

SE can we please have some ingame liberary where we could read all these facts up?

[Theodric]

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it turns out that both Zodiark and Hydaelyn need to be opposed for the sake of the planet's stability and the continued existence of mortals and free will. It's a common theme in many of the Final Fantasy games, after all. Including many of the 'side' titles. FFXIV has also proven very adept at making many antagonists and situations very nuanced and far from simple. This goes for both minor and major antagonists alike.

I doubt very much that the situation with Hydaelyn and Zodiark will be much different. Especially with how vague and evasive Hydaelyn can be combined with the dubious circumstances surrounding Minfilia's 'ascension'. I expect that we'll end up with a situation where Zodiark and Hydaelyn need to be merged anew to bring back true balance. Hydaelyn will want to be the dominant force. Zodiark will want to be the dominant force. Yet neither of them can be allowed to do that and must come to some sort of compromise.

[ObsidianFire]

Hydaelyn has had "Ascians" of her own this entire time. Us. Only she seems to have a very different relationship to us then Zodiark does to the Ascians. And both Hydaelyn and Zodiark have Emissaries at this point too. Interestingly enough, Hydaelyn's has never claimed to have balance as her goal like Zodiark's has. Only, Hydaelyn's Emissary has acted much more obviously in accordance to what it is saying. Zodiark's Emissary's actions look more then a bit out of step with how it talks.

As far as I can tell, neither Hydaelyn or Zodiark can directly influence what happens on the Shards. Both of them need "avatars" to carry out their will. Zodark's avatars have been doing so continually for ages. Hydaelyn's only seem to pop up around the time of calamities.