Quote Originally Posted by Nitelancer View Post
I don't know. I just know that in this MSQ they explained that people's memories are separated from their souls to create the endless, so memories and souls are two separate things. But what makes a person alive? Is it their memories or their soul? I say the soul, whatever that is. I think we are supposed to be a fragment of one of the ancient's soul.

"Azem [ˈæz.ɛm] is a character from Final Fantasy XIV. The forgotten fourteenth seat of Amaurot's Convocation of Fourteen before the sundering of Etheirys, they were associated with the sun. They were an adventurer in spirit, yearning to explore the world to discover its wonders and help its denizens. "Azem" is a title rather than a given name, a position otherwise known as the Traveler, and tasked with exploring the larger world of Etheirys and becoming intimate with its myriad peoples and cultures...This greater part of their soul would eventually be reincarnated as the Warrior of Light..."

https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Azem
In that case Hermes would like to have a word with you. His dilemma (or part of it) was that Ancient treated living magical creatures as lesser beings based on the soulless argument and disposed of them without second thought. Meteon was one of them too. Was she not alive then? What about Ultima Thule citizens after the omicron gatherers side quests?
Ardbert is also part of the original Azem’ soul. Is he the same person as our WoL? We clearly are shown as two independent individuals. At least I would say so.
During the Endwalker MSQ the memory and souls and their behaviour in the lifestream were attempted to be explained as a different type of aether essentially, which carries the identity, if you want. Not every soul is even reborn as is, it seems to depend on its individual quality, which adds up to confusion. And not to forget that it is all not an absolute knowledge, but the current scientific in-world explanations. They were wrong about Echo and blessing of Light for example, as they simply didn’t know better.
It is clear at least that it is something that can be used to track down a person and recognise if you can see it. Almost like a unique signature or DNA. But it alone does not make the same person. We are not Azem. We are never treated by those who knew them as such, we only remind of a person who once was.
We also are shown how beings without that “signature” bit seem to be the same as you would expect any other living person be. If you were not *told* they lack a soul hence are not people - how would you tell? They dream, they are self aware, they form new memories, they have free will, etc. They don’t have a traditional lifecycle as most, but they are also not the first to differ like that. Ancients also didn’t die naturally, they only were choosing to enter the lifestream to “sleep” and be reborn later. So why do we suddenly base all our perception of Endless on the concept that doesn’t seem to matter?