10th Anniversary Amano key art [6.5+ Spoilers?]

[Absimiliard]

1. Cosmos. The overarching Final Fantasy deity that they have shown through the fighting games of which FF14 has also been included with a character crossover.

I don't know that I'd refer to Cosmos as any kind of overarching deity. She was just another creation of the Lufaine, an advanced manikin imbued with the appearance and memories of Cid's late wife for the purpose of keeping Chaos in check. Unfortunately, being weaker than the woman upon whom she was based, she could not properly subdue him. Her warriors referred to her as a goddess largely because they'd been lied to about her nature, as were they that of Chaos.. It wasn't until after many cycles in World B she took on the mannerisms players saw from her in Dissidia; she learned to care for her summoned warriors, which ultimately lead to her giving her power to them and thus being killed by Chaos.

Her death wound up being permanent. Part of her essence returned as Materia in Dissidia NT, but this incarnation has no recollection of its former life and very little of its previous strength.

[WellGramarye]

I don't know that I'd refer to Cosmos as any kind of overarching deity. She was just another creation of the Lufaine, an advanced manikin imbued with the appearance and memories of Cid's late wife for the purpose of keeping Chaos in check. Unfortunately, being weaker than the woman upon whom she was based, she could not properly subdue him. Her warriors referred to her as a goddess largely because they'd been lied to about her nature, as were they that of Chaos.. It wasn't until after many cycles in World B she took on the mannerisms players saw from her in Dissidia; she learned to care for her summoned warriors, which ultimately lead to her giving her power to them and thus being killed by Chaos.

Her death wound up being permanent. Part of her essence returned as Materia in Dissidia NT, but this incarnation has no recollection of its former life and very little of its previous strength.

I honestly didn't play Dissidia, but she's specifically called a Goddess in Theatrhythm so I assumed it applied the same. Besides, her story is an overaching story that includes the first 15 main line Final Fantasy games. The main point is any character presented in FF14 wouldn't be the exact characters as they are in the original material they are being inspired from.

[Absimiliard]

I honestly didn't play Dissidia, but she's specifically called a Goddess in Theatrhythm so I assumed it applied the same. Besides, her story is an overaching story that includes the first 15 main line Final Fantasy games. The main point is any character presented in FF14 wouldn't be the exact characters as they are in the original material they are being inspired from.

She has nothing to do with most of those games. The Dissidia games are in their own self-contained world, and the events transpiring therein do not in any way interact with other Final Fantasy titles unless otherwise noted by said titles. This is further reinforced in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (itself nothing more than an alternate take on FF1), which does invoke Dissidia, but it does so in a way that makes it clear it's just one of many different realities unfolding concurrently with one another.

As much as a lot of us would've liked for many of the games to have overlap, most of'em just don't. The only characters I can think of that are the same entity across most Final Fantasy titles are Shinryu, Omega, and Gilgamesh. Even then, there are some exceptions where we get versions of those characters that explicitly aren't their mainstream counterparts -- like FFXIV for the latter two, whereas Greg seems as if he might actually be the Gilgamesh.

[SilverArrow20XX]

I don't know that I'd refer to Cosmos as any kind of overarching deity. She was just another creation of the Lufaine, an advanced manikin imbued with the appearance and memories of Cid's late wife for the purpose of keeping Chaos in check. Unfortunately, being weaker than the woman upon whom she was based, she could not properly subdue him. Her warriors referred to her as a goddess largely because they'd been lied to about her nature, as were they that of Chaos.. It wasn't until after many cycles in World B she took on the mannerisms players saw from her in Dissidia; she learned to care for her summoned warriors, which ultimately lead to her giving her power to them and thus being killed by Chaos.

Her death wound up being permanent. Part of her essence returned as Materia in Dissidia NT, but this incarnation has no recollection of its former life and very little of its previous strength.

Though Cid was Lufenian, it was Onrac that he worked for, so they aren't exactly creations of the Lufaine. The Lufaine are probably one of the enemy nations they were developing Chaos to fight against, since one of them used Omega, which is a Lufenian weapon in Stranger of Paradise.
Cosmos probably wasn't weaker than Cid's wife ether. Cid's wife was able to keep Chaos under control because he loved and trusted her as his mother. Not because she was strong.

[Absimiliard]

Though Cid was Lufenian, it was Onrac that he worked for, so they aren't exactly creations of the Lufaine. The Lufaine are probably one of the enemy nations they were developing Chaos to fight against, since one of them used Omega, which is a Lufenian weapon in Stranger of Paradise.
Cosmos probably wasn't weaker than Cid's wife ether. Cid's wife was able to keep Chaos under control because he loved and trusted her as his mother. Not because she was strong.

He was working for Onrac, you are correct. None the less, it was Lufenian technology being used. Technology I kinda doubt the people of Onrac fully understood, which may explain why everything went so far off the rails.

The game explicitly refers to Cosmos as being weaker than Cid's wife. Bear in mind that Lufenians were immensely powerful because of their technology, so much so that one from a less advanced civilization wouldn't be out of place mistaking them for gods. Most of them also had a latent talent for magic that bordered on the insane. Suffice it to say, Cosmos's ability to placate Chaos at all was due almost entirely to her resemblance to that woman. Doubt she'd been near as effective without that edge. After all, Chaos loved his momma.

At any rate, to note, I was not implying Cid's wife could control Chaos through sheer power. Neither of them could. He obeyed them out of sheer love. What I am saying is that Cosmos did not possess sufficient power to subdued him through direct means, although the people of Onrac did try to imbue her with that kind of strength.

[SilverArrow20XX]

He was working for Onrac, you are correct. None the less, it was Lufenian technology being used. Technology I kinda doubt the people of Onrac fully understood, which may explain why everything went so far off the rails.

The game explicitly refers to Cosmos as being weaker than Cid's wife. Bear in mind that Lufenians were immensely powerful because of their technology, so much so that one from a less advanced civilization wouldn't be out of place mistaking them for gods. Most of them also had a latent talent for magic that bordered on the insane. Suffice it to say, Cosmos's ability to placate Chaos at all was due almost entirely to her resemblance to that woman. Doubt she'd been near as effective without that edge. After all, Chaos loved his momma.

At any rate, to note, I was not implying Cid's wife could control Chaos through sheer power. Neither of them could. He obeyed them out of sheer love. What I am saying is that Cosmos did not possess sufficient power to subdued him through direct means, although the people of Onrac did try to imbue her with that kind of strength.

I took the "weaker" line to mean she lacked any personality or willfullness at her creation.

Lufenia has surprisingly very little mention in Dissidia, and I don't think it can be assumed it was their tech Onrac was using.
My thoughts were that the wars described in Dissidia are the same as those in the distant past described in SoP. Before Lufenia's tech pulled ahead and Cornelia was the global superpower. I assume Cornelia was the nation using Summons.

[Cleretic]

Lufenia has surprisingly very little mention in Dissidia, and I don't think it can be assumed it was their tech Onrac was using.
My thoughts were that the wars described in Dissidia are the same as those in the distant past described in SoP. Before Lufenia's tech pulled ahead and Cornelia was the global superpower. I assume Cornelia was the nation using Summons.

Yeah, the Lufaine were retconned into being a big thing in Angry Jack's Rage-A-Thon Ft. Frank Sinatra, they were literally nothing of note before then. Cid of the Lufaine was in Dissidia as a wink-nudge reference to FFI (specifically the remakes of FFI, the original version didn't mention Cid at all), not as a hint to some greater alien society responsible for everything bad in the series.

[Absimiliard]

Yeah, the Lufaine were retconned into being a big thing in Angry Jack's Rage-A-Thon Ft. Frank Sinatra, they were literally nothing of note before then. Cid of the Lufaine was in Dissidia as a wink-nudge reference to FFI (specifically the remakes of FFI, the original version didn't mention Cid at all), not as a hint to some greater alien society responsible for everything bad in the series.

I believe you are understating Cid's importance in Dissidia here. Whatever their reason for putting him there, he was quite pivotal to the plot. They also used it as an opportunity to expand on his and his people's backgrounds, although we can't say for certain the additions made there reflect things as they are/were in the original FF1 setting. Different worlds and all that. Even were those additions intended to be present in FF1 as well, it wouldn't have any bearing on the rest of the series.

As to the subject of retcons; Stranger of Paradise and Dissidia are both explicitly stated to occupy their own alternate realities, so neither actually have bearing on one another or on FF1. Both games indisputably took things from FF1 (far more so in the case of Stranger of Paradise, it being a reimagining and all), but that is where the connection ends. Even the arrival of characters clearly shown to hail from Dissidia in Stranger of Paradise turn out to be from an alternate version of that reality, and so they remain distinct even as verifiably Dissidian characters. Almost every Final Fantasy is wholly unrelated to the others despite how frequently we see shared characters, so it should come as no surprise those games are not exceptions.

As I mentioned in a prior post, there are a few exceptions: Greg is normally the same character each time he appears, and Omega and Shinryu are some of the time. On a tangentially related note, I'm pretty glad they didn't use the Omega and Shinryu for FFXIV. Doing so would've necessitated bringing them down to something more manageable, and that's kinda... nah.

Anywho, in the interest of not further derailing the thread:

What are the odds the woman in gold could be a visual representation of Etheirys itself? We know the planet has its own will distinct from Zodiark and Venat, both of whom were in many ways what one might call usurpers. With Zodiark destroyed and Venat deader than dead, mayhaps the world's own will finally gets an artistic representation?

[Cilia]

What are the odds the woman in gold could be a visual representation of Etheirys itself? We know the planet has its own will distinct from Zodiark and Venat, both of whom were in many ways what one might call usurpers. With Zodiark destroyed and Venat deader than dead, mayhaps the world's own will finally gets an artistic representation?

Prrrrrobably not? If Etheirys has a will, it's inscrutable and indifferent to the happenings on and around it. Etheirys didn't help the Ancients with the Final Days, despite their (ostensible) millennia of devotion to improving it, and would have been annihilated in the same. Kinda why Zodiark got summoned, y'know?

Having some greater power would be contrary to Endwalker's existentialist underpinnings, and it's a piece of artwork for the game's 10th Anniversary, in which Hydaelyn played a pivotal role; and as mentioned Amano's artstyle isn't 100% consistent, so that's totally no reason to think it's not Hydaelyn.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't see it as anything other than Hydaelyn given the context.

[Cilia]

It's Hydaelyn (Venat).

[Cosmos'] death wound up being permanent. Part of her essence returned as Materia in Dissidia NT, but this incarnation has no recollection of its former life and very little of its previous strength.

Well yes, but actually no.

Cosmos returns from the brink after her Warriors' victory in cycle 13 (Dissidia), but Shinryu traps her in a nightmare world along with Cid of the Lufaine where Chaos keeps winning until he goes insane from amassing too much power; a group of heroes arrive to put a stop to it by defeating Feral Chaos (Scenario 000 a.k.a. Confessions of the Creator, the postgame of Duodecim). Cosmos is still alive along with Cid in World B following the story's close, but given it's bound to collapse without the cycles to maintain it, she's probably still dead.