[Speculation Discussion] Our Primal

[KaMuiSouZou]

Pulling some interesting quotes for everyone to look at and give references to the discussion:
---Papalymo, Yda and even Dunstan (a wildling) seem to know what the echo is in Beckon of the Elementals (last Gridania quest). They say this after the skies turn cloudy and the sky explodes - Dunstan: "So it has begun, then. I pray it is not the beginning of the end." Yda: "They're falling towards the lake, Papalymo. Are you thinking what I'm thi-" Papylymo: "Do you even need ask? We should have stopped it and we didn't. It has begun. The winds of change have already swept over Eorzea. We are only just now realizing it. The Echo has sounded..." Yda: "You and I might still be able to stop it."
---Similarly, Y'shtola and Thancred seem to be aware as well. Y'sthola is horrified when the clouds start gathering in Never the Twain Shall Meet (tho she is a bit preoccupied by Travanchet afterwards) and in Calamity Cometh Thancred starts running outside before the clouds gather when he realizes you used the echo, saying "You... That was your doing. The Echo... But that would mean..." When he walks back in he says "So this is the danger that threatened Ul'dah. Only, the shadow of this threat menaces not Ul'dah alone, but all of Eorzea." This is also in reference to what Corguevais and Ascilia said in the beginning of Calamity Cometh - Ascilia: "You don't know anything! You'll see! It's something much worse than the Empire!"
---In Fade to White, Minfilia says "After years of naught but rumors, the past several moon have seen the hill of reports on my desk grow into a veritable mountain. Why the sudden influx? And why now, of all times? Which of the Twelve is waking men anew? Which... if any at all?" She also mentions that "Were you not witness to the skies turning dark and showering the land with a storm of stars? Some of our brothers believe those who partook in this celestial event were "touched" by the Twelve, and that that is how they came by their gift."
---Later in Fade to White Minfilia says (on those with the echo who learned the truth) "Of those few who have... not one is willing to speak of what he saw at the end of the Path. It is as if they all bore witness to a truth too terrible... or too shameful to be told."
---We also know from Fade to White that the Path of the Twelve started 10 years ago (therefore since the battle at Silvertear Falls).
---In "Lord Errant" Ifrit says "I smell the taint upon your soul. Is it Garuda... or Titan? Perchance... Leviathan? Vex me not, mortals. The Paragon warned me of the godless blessed."
---From "Futures Perfect" after the Gaius fight when talking to your city NPC (in my case Y'shtola) she says "Yet you have also been blessed... been woken. If you would only seek the One who gave you that power, you could be granted so much more. And it is for this that I will continue to search." Your Path Companion then says, "For whom!? Who is the "One"? She pursues a power more potent than the primals... And I must find it first!"

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First of all, Yoshida mentioned at one time the 3? basic storylines in ARR. Does anyone remember what they were/when he mentioned it? It was fairly recently... I think they were 1-The Garlean Empire, 2-The Primals and 3-The Echo? I dunno if the echo story was considered a separate arc or not but it could answer some questions, so if anyone knows, it would help a lot!

Anyhoo, my take on this:
Other walkers believe it's the Twelve and Ifrit implies it could be another primal, but due to the last quote it seems to be something different. Like others have mentioned, an Elder primal seems possible (if Siren is the voice we hear, either she's an elder primal or she works under an elder primal). Bahamut and Odin are the two elder primals confirmed so far, but since the entire echo/main story was made before the Seventh Umbral era/Dalamud (Bahamut), it could be Odin... but perhaps it's neither elder primal nor the Twelve but a different/higher being?

As food for thought I'd like to remind everyone of the Ascians aka the "shadowless." The truth to the echo is noted as being too terrible or shameful to speak of, worse than the Garlean Empire, something that can be stopped (and was preventable), is more potent than the primals and is what the original story is all leading towards. The ascians are slowly introduced throughout the main story - one appears in Toll of the Warden, and they are referenced several times in the Limsa storyline. Travanchet, who doesn't have a shadow and has the same music play when he and the Ascian appear, is in league with them. He steals the seal rock key aka a horn which is very similar to the horn Corguevais uses in Calamity Cometh to summon/control monsters. (I went back to check and Corguevais has a shadow, even after he reveals his "true nature." But perhaps he'll turn into an ascian/be controlled by the ascians/work for or with the ascians later like Travanchet?) Corgeuvais was looking for the message that Ascilia's deceased father was meant to give Ul'dah (this message could be the truth of the echo). When Niellefresne looks at the girl's father's body he is stabbed and killed. (Also... Ascilia... Ascian? haha that may be nothing though). And in Gridania Dunstan seems to know something about the echo. So perhaps it's connected to wildlings/elementals as well. It would give more meaning to why an elemental seems to be on the cover of the Collector's Edition box.

tl;dr
I'm not saying the Ascians were the ones who gave us the echo, but I think they will play a big part in the original intended story of ver 1/the echo. How are they connected to the primals? No idea, just throwing this stuff out there...