Hydaelyn, The Shards & How They Work

[Erudito]

A theory on the origin of the divide:
“Light and Dark were given form when Man was born.” Something akin to those words were spoken by Ramuh in the few moments he was with us.

This, if observed more broadly, leads me to believe that the rise of darkness was because of man (the intelligent races I think they refer to themselves) just caused a mess as we of in real life are wont to do.

Imbalance caused by their rise lead to a rise in darkness (war, tragedy, death in excess) which led to a split. I would very much like to know WHY split the world into reflections and source. I mean, could nothing else be done? Hopefully we learn more of this come Shadowbringers.

[MrThinker]

A theory on the origin of the divide:
“Light and Dark were given form when Man was born.” Something akin to those words were spoken by Ramuh in the few moments he was with us.

This, if observed more broadly, leads me to believe that the rise of darkness was because of man (the intelligent races I think they refer to themselves) just caused a mess as we of in real life are wont to do.

Imbalance caused by their rise lead to a rise in darkness (war, tragedy, death in excess) which led to a split. I would very much like to know WHY split the world into reflections and source. I mean, could nothing else be done? Hopefully we learn more of this come Shadowbringers.

This theory would fall under the 'Life before the Sundering' category. Extrapolating from this, how can we reconcile what we were told by Hydaelyn (Zodiark wanting more power) with this assumption(that men were the cause of the 'divide')? For this line of thought, I believe a good solution would be that Zodiark wanted to rule over men, that is why he wanted power, and the reason he was gaining in strength were because people were worshipping him.
Referencing the statue of Zodiark on the moon, it can be theorized that before the split, there was a so called "Church of Zodiark(TM)". We already know that belief plays a pivotal role in the formation of beings like primals, so who is to say it doesnt affect the powers of Hydaelyn and Zodiark? Zodiark granted the strongest and most devout of his acolytes the gift of the Echo, and after the sundering these people would become the basis of the Ascians.

[Enkidoh]

Referencing the statue of Zodiark on the moon,

What statue? There was... a rock with a very pareidolic effect in the 'stinger' scene upon completing HW's scenario (where Elidibus annoints Evil!Derplander as the WoD), but it's such a blink-and-you'll-miss-it situation I don't regard it as anything other than a rock that shadow effects make it look odd. If you mean instead that odd statue in the Chrysalis... that's not even on the Moon at all, but is a pocket dimension that the Ascians inhabit (the art book stated that it's formed from the thoughts and memories of the Ascians, and appears light and consistant where the mind is strong, but unravelling and in shadow where the mind is weak, paraphrasing the artist's quote on the subject), so that doesn't count.

We do know Zodiark is at least somewhere on the Primary Moon (which, all evidence seems to suggest is named Menphina, at least by Eorzeans anyway), but exactly where He is is anyone's guess. Even the game has been rather inconsistant on the subject - Hydaelyn Herself even briefly suggested at one point Zodiark wasn't even on the Moon at all - She mentioned in ARR's ending that "In the depths of the Abyss, resideth the Dark One, watchful ever" and that the "Darkness remains in forgotten corners of the world" (paraphrased again). So, we take from this what we can?

The fact is, we just know so little about the whole celestial mechanics of Hydaelyn, Zodiark and the paralell universes created by their split to really craft a definite theory on the subject, not helped by even Hydaelyn being very vague on the subject, and most of our primary sources... being sociopathic immortal beings whose very MO is to lie.

[MrThinker]

So I just re-watched that scene, and took multiple screenshots of that blink-or-you-miss-it moment, and it DEFINITELY looks like a statue of Zodiark, half buried in the moon ground. Unfortunately I don't know how to link pictures onto this forum from my PC.

As for Menphina being the Eorzean name for the Moon, it makes sense since she is the moon goddess, but I'd really like an official source to claim it as so.