Fandaniel and the Depths of Ascian Tempering

[Kesey]

The prospect of whether we (and other Warriors of Light) are Tempered by Hydaelyn is a topic that has been brought up many times in the past on these forums. Suffice it to say, if it IS a form of Tempering, then it's not a very good one, as individuals with the Blessing of Light have acted in direct defiance of Hydaelyn on a number of occasions. Ardbert and the Warriors of Darkness are examples. They worked directly with Elidibus in an attempt to trigger a Rejoining, which is about as far from the Will of Hydaelyn as you can get. Saint Ajora was another example, who summoned Ultima to Hydaelyn.

If you're going to go further and broadly say that simply having the ECHO is enough to become Tempered to Hydaelyn's cause, it gets even more absurd, as you then have to account for Ysayle and the Sahagin Priest, both of whom were responsible for summoning Primals. If all of these folks are Tempered, then it would seem that Hydaelyn has issued only one command: "Do whatever the heck you want, lol."

Speaking from a meta standpoint, I find it highly unlikely that the writers plan to drop a "Surprise! You were a slave all along and didn't know it!" bomb on the playerbase. The game plays hard into the notion that the player character is a superstar, the best of the best, and second to none, with the intent of appealing to players who want to dream of being such a paragon. To make us a chump after all that would alienate those people, and for what? To play a card that Bioshock played first?

But Ysayle claims to have heard Hydaelyn when she finds out she has the echo too. And we can't rule out elder primal tempering either because the story has yet to present us the opportunity to betray Hydaelyn. But a character who did get to betray Hydaelyn, Ardbert, flat out attacked her and she was able to control the situation. So free will still doesn't mean we are tempered, as elder primal tempering may function differently.

Also predestination will have you believe that free will is an illusion, because your path, your decisions, consequences are set in stone and can't be changed even if you feel you have the ability to change them. Who is to say that elder primal tempering is predestination? By Hydaelyn's blessing we are tempered to a path of destiny we can't walk away from even if we, in the depth of souls, wanted too or even tried too.