Regarding the 'soul' of an Eikon/Primal

[WhiteArchmage]

I'm actually more interested in Ramuh, since he actually sticked around long enough to talk to us as a soul ball not unlike the Ascians, which heavily implies he's more aetherically complex than just "thoughts and memories made flesh"

(Also Shatotto's described as an actual simulacrum and not the original. Basically her memories up to a point put inside a crystal... though considering what I just said, then Ramuh's "core" could be similar to that.)

[RyuDragnier]

For Ramuh, I think it's because the Sylphs themselves think of Ramuh as a wise protector. Akin to how "ghost" Hyth was able to see through what was going on in because Emet had a stray thought that Hyth would see through it. The Sylphs probably thought "Ramuh will know what is going on and the best course of action to take!" Which of course creates a Ramuh who indeed is smart and wise enough to see how he effects those around him and to talk with the Scions.

[Cleretic]

For Ramuh, I think it's because the Sylphs themselves think of Ramuh as a wise protector. Akin to how "ghost" Hyth was able to see through what was going on in because Emet had a stray thought that Hyth would see through it. The Sylphs probably thought "Ramuh will know what is going on and the best course of action to take!" Which of course creates a Ramuh who indeed is smart and wise enough to see how he effects those around him and to talk with the Scions.

Yeah, that's always the thing about primals you have to ask: is this unexpected thing they're doing actually out of place for the people that summoned them? Because it's always entirely possible that they summoned a primal that seems to be able to do the impossible just because they think they'd be able to do it. Ramuh's intelligence is already evidence of that (he's not the only primal smarter than their summoners, but he's the first one where that's a plot point); could he not simply do things similar to what the Ascians can do because the Sylphs went 'yeah Ramuh would be able to do that'?

[Lyth]

During the Aglaia storyline, when you visit Rhalgr's Reach, G'raha comments that Rhalgr has a lot of similarities to Ramuh. It's possible that the Sylphs met Rhalgr at some point and simply modelled their bearded one after him. I wonder if there's a similar explanation for Godbert's existence in the field of comparative mythology. I'd love to see a showdown between the three.

[UkcsAlias]

I'm actually more interested in Ramuh, since he actually sticked around long enough to talk to us as a soul ball not unlike the Ascians, which heavily implies he's more aetherically complex than just "thoughts and memories made flesh"

Wasnt he summoned as the 'wise' leader, instead of summoned as a warrior? A leader is a lot more capable of going into conversation.

[RyuDragnier]

During the Aglaia storyline, when you visit Rhalgr's Reach, G'raha comments that Rhalgr has a lot of similarities to Ramuh. It's possible that the Sylphs met Rhalgr at some point and simply modelled their bearded one after him. I wonder if there's a similar explanation for Godbert's existence in the field of comparative mythology. I'd love to see a showdown between the three.

I still think that the only reason why Godbert is so powerful is because the entirety of the Hildibrand questlines are told from Nashu's eccentric self, so everything exaggerated is her exaggerating it. After all, Julyan being a horrible cook yet being able to make an anti-zombie powder makes no sense...unless of course it's a different type of cooking, namely Alchemy, that she's good at.

[WhiteArchmage]

Wasnt he summoned as the 'wise' leader, instead of summoned as a warrior? A leader is a lot more capable of going into conversation.

I meant more that he hangs around after the fight unlike most of the Primals we face, with the exception of Susano who is also an outlier in that they summoned themself from the aether from the Kojin relics and the passive belief of the Kojin in the kami. His temperament can be chalked up to the Sylps, but I don't recall other Primals stayng past our battles.

Of course, this assumes that it's not just a quirk of their summoning as Cleretic mentioned. After all, just because we haven't seen a "soul" of another Primal doesn't mean it doesn't exist and it was just never relevant to the plot, and that "soul" could be just a simulacrum of one and not an actual "soul" plucked from the Lifestream.