Crazy Personal Headcanons

[Enkidoh]

The only reason the Echo existed was for exposition dialogue and flashback sequences. Every other time it's invoked, and even instances where it's used to give only exposition, it comes at a cost. It's frankly a liability, and it doesn't surprise me that after Venat "teaches" the WoL how to "use" their Echo in Elpis (a scene that infuriated me to no end), we get NO other instances of the Echo throughout the entire rest of Endwalker.

Not true, at least, outside the EW main scenario - the EW role quests feature at least one Echo scene in them (at least, the tank one does - it's how the WoL determines the identity of the Blasphemy they're hunting as formerly a padjal).

Also Fordola's Resonance power is equally a hinderance/curse as it is a help - she doesn't even experience actual visions like the WoL does, only snippets of memory as still images shuffling quickly and uncontrollably like a broken Powerpoint presentation (she also seems to get some emotional feedback from the target as well, as when she experiences the WoL's memories, she's reduced to a quivering heap wailing "HOW ARE YOU STILL HERE? AFTER ALL THE TRAUMA AND DESPAIR YOU'VE EXPERIENCED??"). Ardbert and his friends (when they're the Warriors of Darkness) also clearly suffer discomfort when they experience the same Echo vision as the WoL in the first encounter with them.

So it is definetely a curse as well as a blessing, but I disagree that it's better or more powerful for the few antagonists that can use it (rememeber, the Echo is simply a sliver of the Creation magic/aetherial manipulation powers the Ancients possessed, watered down by the Sundering - every Echo user is the reincarnation of an Ancient/possesses an Ancient's soul, other than Zenos and Fordola whose powers were bastardized copies of Krile's Echo - the later I actually have a theory about why the Resonance worked with them, is because they were both unwoken Echo users themselves anyway, as in, they're both reincarnated Ancients too - it's why Zenos kept having dreams of the Final Days of Amaurot even long before he got the Resonant procedure.).

But that's enough thread derailing from me. :P

[Jandor]

You would think the WoL would be more inclined to try and get a handle on their echo, seeing as the Ascians and Zenos have repeatedly told us we kinda suck at using it.

Even if you didn't believe those guys, when Venat teaches you that neat 'reading the land' trick you'd think the first thing you'd do after would be to sit her down and ask her how to solve the migraine and falling over mid-battle issues you've been having.

[Rannie]

I'm starting to think our WoL likes the headaches and not being able to control them... >.<

[Lucida3b]

You would think the WoL would be more inclined to try and get a handle on their echo, seeing as the Ascians and Zenos have repeatedly told us we kinda suck at using it.

Even if you didn't believe those guys, when Venat teaches you that neat 'reading the land' trick you'd think the first thing you'd do after would be to sit her down and ask her how to solve the migraine and falling over mid-battle issues you've been having.

Personally it isnt too hard to understand why before though we never really tried to learn more since it's mysterious and the only ones that know about it are, Zenos and ascians.

[KageTokage]

I do question just how much the Garleans managed to glean about the Echo from the Resonant research.

It's implied all of the data from their various projects was being relayed back to the capital, so perhaps there's still some secrets to be found there...assuming someone else hasn't made it off with it already.

[Lucida3b]

True, if we presume they only really had krile wouldnt most of the data relate to Krile's iteration of the echo?

[RyuDragnier]

You would think the WoL would be more inclined to try and get a handle on their echo, seeing as the Ascians and Zenos have repeatedly told us we kinda suck at using it.

Even if you didn't believe those guys, when Venat teaches you that neat 'reading the land' trick you'd think the first thing you'd do after would be to sit her down and ask her how to solve the migraine and falling over mid-battle issues you've been having.

It could simply be that to control it is a form of meditation, where you know what you want to see and must open yourself to it with the land answering you. However, peering into somebody's soul may in fact be more difficult and taxing, and thus requires the "opening" of the individual thinking of the memories and the WoL wondering just what caused whatever is happening.

[Enkidoh]

It could simply be that to control it is a form of meditation, where you know what you want to see and must open yourself to it with the land answering you. However, peering into somebody's soul may in fact be more difficult and taxing, and thus requires the "opening" of the individual thinking of the memories and the WoL wondering just what caused whatever is happening.

Thing is, 1.0 actually indeed had you learning to control the Echo at will - the first thing Minfilia does upon joining the Path of the Twelve in 1.0 (Minfilia's predecessor organization to the Scions), was that she asked you to "use the power of the Echo" as a test to see if you were truly awoken to it or not, and from then on, at points in the story the game would actually prompt you to "Use the power of the Echo?" in order to trigger an Echo vision. This was changed (and possibly retconned) in ARR however where Minfilia actually laments "it's a shame we cannot use the Echo whenever we wish", which made me facepalm when I heard her say that, and Echo visions occur automatically without any input from the player.

I suspect the meta reason for the change though was the... disturbing implications having such a power to use whenever you wish would have, namely, being able to influence someone's soul and actually peek into, and interfere with, their memories would come across as basically mind rape, even if it was for benign purposes. Having no control over it would soften this image somewhat, making not just the person whose memories are being shown but the Echo user themself as a victim of circumstance.

Either way, we've gotten way off track here.

[Lyth]

It is possible to use the Echo to read memories at will, and we learn as much on Elpis:

'There are two ways to see the past. The first entails peering through the walls of the soul in the moment a subject is recalling a memory. The second requires no subject, and is instead a process of piecing together an event from ripples left in the ambient aether. As memories are etched upon the aether of the soul, so too are they etched upon the aether of the world. In this way can history be preserved. Such memories are given to fading, however, and can prove challenging to visit.'

That's likely why you can't really lie in Amaurotian society. Any 'memory' that you verbally report can be cross-matched against the aetheric signature on your soul when you recall it to confirm its validity. And even if you don't say anything, the memory of the world itself is a witness. Granted, it's not completely foolproof if you have a means of altering memories, but I got the impression from Emet's remarks that Kairos' functionality wasn't strictly in line with the rules.

Narratively, though, it's primarily there to help you empathize with various characters and understand their motivations, much like your typical manga flashback.

[RyuDragnier]

It is possible to use the Echo to read memories at will, and we learn as much on Elpis:

'There are two ways to see the past. The first entails peering through the walls of the soul in the moment a subject is recalling a memory. The second requires no subject, and is instead a process of piecing together an event from ripples left in the ambient aether. As memories are etched upon the aether of the soul, so too are they etched upon the aether of the world. In this way can history be preserved. Such memories are given to fading, however, and can prove challenging to visit.'

That's likely why you can't really lie in Amaurotian society. Any 'memory' that you verbally report can be cross-matched against the aetheric signature on your soul when you recall it to confirm its validity. And even if you don't say anything, the memory of the world itself is a witness. Granted, it's not completely foolproof if you have a means of altering memories, but I got the impression from Emet's remarks that Kairos' functionality wasn't strictly in line with the rules.

Narratively, though, it's primarily there to help you empathize with various characters and understand their motivations, much like your typical manga flashback.

I'm hoping the "piecing together an event" becomes more common place with the echo. So less random "Oh by the way here's what this person remembers for some random reason" and more "Okay, relax, breathe, think of the event I want...now show it to me Echo."