Quote Originally Posted by Carin-Eri View Post
Perhaps Dynamis?
I mean, I don't disagree that it's a possible solution but...

There are some issues with Dynamis:

1. The Shard, like the Source, is still aether rich despite its denizens being of thinner aether (unlike Ultima Thule which is the opposite).
2. Dynamis is a McGuffin that only works in certain circumstances and when the plot needs it to. That isn't to say it _couldn't_ be used but it's ill-defined and the writers have chosen to not explore it in Dawntrail (much like other concepts they have decided to ignore...or forgo to make the plot work).
3. We also don't know the process for which new Dynamis based lifeforms are created. Again, it just kind of exists and is reactive to emotions.
4. If it is based on emotions, how come people die on the Source (or any Shard for that matter) if they believe hard enough (especially after the events of Endwalker)? How are they not able to live in perpetuity because "I REFUSE TO DIE". The only strong case for this would be the Warrior of Light but...we're basically a demi-god with plot armour that exceeds the limits and constraints of the world building in may ways. The WoL is not a good benchmark to define what is possible of others in the world building. You then turn Dynamis into a belief system and...there goes any sense of tension in the story because you just render any death as "Hauchefaunt died because he didn't believe he could live (hard enough)" or any other such nonsense when a character is dying or has died. (I mean, Guloul Ja Ja died, surely he wanted to live hard enough to protect his people? No? That's not how that works? Okay.)

I would argue that using Dynamis to create bodies and maintain the lives of the Endless would be incredibly boring and would be more of a determent to the overall quality of the world building because, not only has Dynamis been used to destroy the literal embodiment of Despair, saving the "people" of Living Memory with it would only posit the answer to almost EVERY conflict as "why didn't we use Dynamis to resolve this" or "why didn't we save them with Dynamis"? (Granted, the writers in Endwalker sufficiently shot themselves in both feet and an arm for introducing this concept in the first place, but I digress.)

I'd much rather prefer the more grey area of forcing the memories onto a cleansed soul and stuffing it into a robot or other corporeal body (see Ala Mhigo the dugeon's body swap fight, or Endwalker) (or robots in a similar vein to Otis) than saying "Dynamis did it". (I mean, the Regulators already do part 1, and Otis existed for like....400 years as a sentient being without any actual signs of being obsolete aside from when he took on too much lightning energy which killed him but that's an exceptional circumstance.)