What are the gods for?

[shadowclasper]

So the latest raid seems to imp,y the gods are around to moderate and control the flow of aether much as the ancients once did, perhaps to help moderate things despite a weakened zodiatk who was supposed to be doing that.

Leave him to keep the dynamic out while they handle all the spot gaps and functions of the world perhaps

[Cleretic]

So the latest raid seems to imp,y the gods are around to moderate and control the flow of aether much as the ancients once did, perhaps to help moderate things despite a weakened zodiatk who was supposed to be doing that.

Leave him to keep the dynamic out while they handle all the spot gaps and functions of the world perhaps

That's not what the Twelve or Zodiark do as far as we're told. You're closer with Zodiark, but still not quite there. You've got most of the idea, but I'd say you're a smidge off.

Zodiark wasn't 'regulating aether' so much as just providing a big ol' coat of the stuff. This plugged the spaces where the planet's usual environmental aether was weak, which was where the corrupted dynamis was getting through. When Zodiark died those areas sprung leaks once again, as well as causing some other problems since it turns out the world had evolved around that coat being there as a default (see: Studium Fisher questline).

Meanwhile, the Twelve were regulating things, but they weren't regulating aether necessarily. That was probably sort of an element, especially with someone like Halone where her domain was purely elemental, but with domains like Byregot and Althyk they have a fundamentally different task that doesn't always involve aether in linear ways. Their task was essentially, after the Sundering, to make sure the planet and the stuff living on it has the best chance to keep going.

There actually are beings whose role is an environmental regulator, though, according to Elpis: the Elementals!

[Lyth]

Fandaniel specialized in celestial matters. He identified that transformation events during the Final Days first happened in locations where the celestial currents that surrounded Etheirys were weakest. In retrospect this makes sense, because Aether interferes with Dynamis. Zodiark was conceived as Darkness-aspected creation magic because Darkness governs movement and growth. The original idea was to accelerate the celestial currents around the star in order to create a planetary barrier against the Final Days.

You do have to ask yourself why a star specifically needs someone to manage its aether at baseline, though. Was this also true for Alphatron or the Dragonstar? Did they have 'caretakers'? It may be that maintaining separation between the shards requires some active management at present. But that doesn't mean that it will always be necessary in the future.

As for the Twelve, we don't really have any information on their purpose just yet. Menphina and Halone do explain that prayers offered to the Twelve also cultivate our bonds with the star because they share a common link. Perhaps that redirects our aether back into the star and the lifestream. But it's hard to say for certain what the significance of this is.

[AlexionSkyllark]

I really hope the Twelve don't disappear after the Alliance Raids are over.
Would be such a waste of potentially interesting characters.

But since they are kind of bound to Hydaelyn, they might fade away just like her.

Ever since I read that "endured by the will of the star" phrase, I can't stop thinking about this. When Krile said "We all know too well who's that - Hydaelyn" I said out loud in my room "BUT HYDAELYN IS DEAD SO..."

Yeah. There's a part of me that's not small thinking the whole trial thing is the gods wishing to go out with a bang, doing battle with the already mythical hero who's easily the strongest person to have ever lived, having one last fun, before fading away into the Aetherial Sea.

I'll be sad as HELL tho if this happens. As an Ishgard simp, I reallly don't want their goddess to die

[Necrotica]

Ever since I read that "endured by the will of the star" phrase, I can't stop thinking about this. When Krile said "We all know too well who's that - Hydaelyn" I said out loud in my room "BUT HYDAELYN IS DEAD SO..."

Yeah. There's a part of me that's not small thinking the whole trial thing is the gods wishing to go out with a bang, doing battle with the already mythical hero who's easily the strongest person to have ever lived, having one last fun, before fading away into the Aetherial Sea.

I'll be sad as HELL tho if this happens. As an Ishgard simp, I reallly don't want their goddess to die

But in what way has Hydaelyn ever been the will of the star? She was created to stop the will of the star made manifest aka Zodiark. Hydaelyn is the will of Hydaelyn. Did she ever claim to be the will of the star? Aside from Krile being a tempered thrall is there anything to back up the claim?

[AlexionSkyllark]

But in what way has Hydaelyn ever been the will of the star? She was created to stop the will of the star made manifest aka Zodiark. Hydaelyn is the will of Hydaelyn. Did she ever claim to be the will of the star? Aside from Krile being a tempered thrall is there anything to back up the claim?

Good question. I believe tho that since Hydaelyn chained Zodiark in the moon, that she kinda took that mantle for her, at least formally speaking. But if we're saying that Zodiark is the will of the star made manifest then... well... he's also dead, so the implications are the same.

[Rosenstrauch]

I don't think I'll ever be happy with the whole "the Twelve are really Ancients!" thing, but I'd laugh if it turned out that all of Krile's speculation was a misdirection and 6.5 revealed that Zodiark created them.

Either way, if we're supposed to be bidding farewell to all things Ancient, I guess it's Götterdämmerung time.

[Iscah]

But in what way has Hydaelyn ever been the will of the star? She was created to stop the will of the star made manifest aka Zodiark. Hydaelyn is the will of Hydaelyn. Did she ever claim to be the will of the star? Aside from Krile being a tempered thrall is there anything to back up the claim?

She has claimed to be the will of the star at least as often as Zodiark has claimed it, and he's rather silent on the subject.

Really the question goes back further than her. What is the intended function of the "will of the star", and why did Zodiark need it to do his magic celestial barrier thing? Were there other functions he was supposed to perform, and was he still performing them in his dormant state, or did Hydaelyn take up the job when she took over as the primal at the planet's heart?

The position itself is a nebulous one, part of the vaguely defined things that the ancients did to halt the Final Days as described in Shadowbringers, which was largely overturned by Endwalker, where it seems that the barrier was the single necessary defence against Meteion's onslaught. Ultimately, for all I can deduce, Zodiark only needs to be the will of the star because the script already said that he was, and they can't take it back.

[Necrotica]

There is something in the world that decides what gets souls and what doesnt.

At this point in lore that is the only thing I am willing to recognize as a legitimate God and not a magical construct.

[Iscah]

There is something in the world that decides what gets souls and what doesnt.

We don't know that. It could simply be a natural law of the universe that X happens when you fulfil conditions Y and Z.

It has only been talked about as a thing that happens, with no suggestion of a sentient force behind it.