Quote Originally Posted by MikkoAkure View Post
One thing that throws the wrench into that assumption is Severa, who has a third eye even if it’s a dun one despite Arenvald having told us it doesn’t happen and Alma and Ramza not having one either. But we don’t know how it affects her and she’s a side-story side character so who knows if we’ll even see her again.
See, I think it's very simple: Severa is a Garlean at least in this perspective, Arenvald is a Highlander. Severa got a bunch of Garlean genes and so ended up more or less with their phenotype; Arenvald didn't. It might be that it's a more recessive gene, which would lead to more of an association with 'pure-blooded' Garleans... or, maybe the Garleans being racial purists is factoring in here and they're bigging that part up.

We've also got the factor of Cocobusi in the Thaumaturges' Guild questline, who was deficient in aetheric capacity; it's not that he can't manipulate it, it's that he can't manipulate it much. This seems to be a congenital thing, just a freak incident of birth, as he's the only one of his family who can't do it.


Following that logical train rather than one of deliberate genetic manipulation, I'd put forward the theory that aetheric manipulation is controlled by a certain part of the body; maybe a specific organ, maybe a gland, maybe a system like the circulatory system that has a lot of moving parts. (it may not even be a physical part of the body, magic could get weird like that.) If that were true, then if that part of the body were underdeveloped, it would lead to a situation like Cocobusi. If that part of the body were damaged, it would lead to a situation like Thancred. And if that part of the body was altogether absent from birth, it would lead to a situation like the Garleans.

Or we're looking at three different root causes of the same outward symptom and they're not actually related in the underlying, like how approximately seven million different problems could all cause you to start coughing.