So what does Minfilia do anyway? [Main Quest Spoilers]

[Radishlaw]

Having played through the main quest recently, there is a character that seems out of place to me - Minfilia. I guess she is important in 1.0 or something? I am not legacy so I don't know.

I mean, she doesn't seem to do much in the story. So she is the leader of Scions? I don't see why. All she does is talk and give out missions. She have a knife but never used it, even when in mortal danger. (Where did the one the main character melded for her go anyway?)
It seems the biggest part she's in is getting kidnapped by the Empire - even then it's just because the main character was not there to be captured.

Look at everyone else in Scions.
Louisoix was bad ass as seen in "End of an Era" trailer. His grandchildren seems to talk a lot but at least one helped reform the Scions and another have something to do with Bahamut(not sure since I'm not there yet)?
Papalymo is THM with monocle, he get a pass; Yda can probably tank Livia as seen in CM; She and Y'Shtola help recovered the Ironworks guys, whom did their thing with Maggie; their boss Cid does he airship thing and is generally awesome; Thancred is the weakest final boss ever but he is badass with he knives thing. Urianger's words may need a translator to understand, but I heard he willingly act as bait to draw out the Empire's plans in 1.0. Even Tataru is a savvy HR person who link you up with the Grand Companies.
In comparsion to all of them Minfilia just doesn't compare; I guess the "High Priestess" is some kind of of middle manager, answering to Hydaelyn or something? But what power she got seems to be just a phone number compared to the main characters' Skype/other IM where you got sight, sound, vision and the whole works. Maybe she's in that position because she got connections (her gatherfather?), or just a power grab when her organization merged with others after the Calamity?

The above may seems a long rant but I am really unclear on the role Minfilia in ARR, I hope one of the loremongers here can tell us how she is badass or something.
Thanks in advance!

[Conradus]

Having played through the main quest recently, there is a character that seems out of place to me - Minfilia. I guess she is important in 1.0 or something? I am not legacy so I don't know.

I mean, she doesn't seem to do much in the story. So she is the leader of Scions? I don't see why. All she does is talk and give out missions. She have a knife but never used it, even when in mortal danger. (Where did the one the main character melded for her go anyway?)
It seems the biggest part she's in is getting kidnapped by the Empire - even then it's just because the main character was not there to be captured.

Look at everyone else in Scions.
Louisoix was bad ass as seen in "End of an Era" trailer. His grandchildren seems to talk a lot but at least one helped reform the Scions and another have something to do with Bahamut(not sure since I'm not there yet)?
Papalymo is THM with monocle, he get a pass; Yda can probably tank Livia as seen in CM; She and Y'Shtola help recovered the Ironworks guys, whom did their thing with Maggie; their boss Cid does he airship thing and is generally awesome; Thancred is the weakest final boss ever but he is badass with he knives thing. Urianger's words may need a translator to understand, but I heard he willingly act as bait to draw out the Empire's plans in 1.0. Even Tataru is a savvy HR person who link you up with the Grand Companies.
In comparsion to all of them Minfilia just doesn't compare; I guess the "High Priestess" is some kind of of middle manager, answering to Hydaelyn or something? But what power she got seems to be just a phone number compared to the main characters' Skype/other IM where you got sight, sound, vision and the whole works. Maybe she's in that position because she got connections (her gatherfather?), or just a power grab when her organization merged with others after the Calamity?

The above may seems a long rant but I am really unclear on the role Minfilia in ARR, I hope one of the loremongers here can tell us how she is badass or something.
Thanks in advance!

Being a leader doesn't mean you have to be personally bad-ass. Being a good leader means you can effectively direct others. "Talk and give out missions", as you put it. How many Germans did Eisenhower personally kill?

[Sapphidia]

I thought the whole point of Minfilia was that she was one of the only other people with the Echo? Initially I thought all the Scions had it, but I'm not so sure now. I'm pretty sure Minfilia has it though, and thus her general prescience is part of the reason she's at the top of their food chain, so to speak.

[Toranja]

She does play in part in convincing Eorzea to fight instead of surrendering to Ultima's power. She's good with words.

And she does seem to have an Echo on par with the main character. Not all Echos are equal.

[Enkidoh]

Minfilia's role makes more sense if you were a 1.0 player - she was originally the leader of a secret organization called the 'Path of the Twelve', a research guild of Echo users who were not only trying to study it but also to use it for the betterment of Eorzea, while providing a place of sanctuary for those who possessed the power. Echo users who joined the Path were called 'Walkers' (hence the name 'the Path of the Twelve - Minfilia believed the Echo was granted by the Twelve and hence they were directed by divine providence to use the Echo's power for the benefit of everyone in Eorzea).

Remnants of former ties to the Path are the fact the Scions' HQ is called the 'Waking Sands' (which was the Path's original headquarters, albeit located in Ul'dah - the 'Waking' part refers to how Echo users were stated as being 'woken' to their abilities), the fact Minfilia's position is called 'antecedent' (in 1.0 she said she was stated as being acting antecedent, hence it was was presumably a temporary role), and assisting the city states in matters that were outside the capabilities of 'regular' agencies - ala, sending the player on convoluted quests, usually involving matters with the beastmen and the Primals, due to the player's Echo-given ability to speak the beastmen languages which are otherwise unintelligible. Even the doorgirl, Tataru, served in the same role with the Path in 1.0, greeting the player at the front door to the Waking Sands in it's original location in Ul'dah (it was located where the Hall of Flames is now located).

In ARR though, if you spoke to Y'shtola just after joining the Scions, she mentions that after the Calamity, she and the Archons searched out Minfilia and others with the Echo for assistance, and hence Minfilia agreed to amalgamate the Path with the Archons' own secret group of Sharlyan scholars the Circle of Knowing, thus forming the new organization, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn.

Presumably because the Archons lost their leader (Louisoix) during the Calamity, it must have been decided it was easier to have Minfilia retain her position of leadership in the new organization, this time with her title upgraded from just 'acting antecedent' to 'antecedent'.

As for the scope of Minfilia's power, in 1.0 she stated clearly and shown all too well, that her powers with the Echo were nowhere as potent as the player's (she can only view past events from a person's memories, and not understand unknown languages, unlike the player who has both). This basically showed the scope of the Echo is rather inconstant in that some people have more potency in it than others, Minfilia seeming to have gotten the short straw in that regard.

Not to mention she was one of the focal points for 1.0's story line for Ul'dah. She was once called Ascilia and her Father Warburton was killed about 15 years ago. Right around the time Thancred first showed up in the city. Her father ended up getting killed saving her from a rampaging gobbue a thaumaturge lost control of due to the leader Nef something if memory is correct he was a leader or worked with the alchemist guild. Also she was one of the first to receive the echo during the TRUE meteor shower, the one we see aways when Hydalean. Speaks to us.

Btw her father was pretty much a spy for Ul'dah and reporting about the Garleans invasion of Ala Mhigo when he was killed that day.

That's right - I completely forgot about that, but then, that point was only shown if you played through the original Ul'dah storyline - it was never shown if you started in Gridania or Limsa Lominsa. But it's still an important point to note. Thanks for reminding me of that Rannie.

[Sebastien]

Unfortunately, having the power of the Echo did not grant her the ability to dress or color-coordinate properly.

[Rannie]

Not to mention she was one of the focal points for 1.0's story line for Ul'dah. She was once called Ascilia and her Father Warburton was killed about 15 years ago. Right around the time Thancred first showed up in the city. Her father ended up getting killed saving her from a rampaging gobbue a thaumaturge lost control of due to the leader Nef something if memory is correct he was a leader or worked with the alchemist guild. Also she was one of the first to receive the echo during the TRUE meteor shower, the one we see aways when Hydaelyn speaks to us.

Btw her father was pretty much a spy for Ul'dah and reporting about the Garleans invasion of Ala Mhigo when he was killed that day.


Edit: you're very welcome. I figured it would be good to add. I did play the U'ldah story line in 1.0 it gave me a burning hatred for Thancred taking all the credit but he's better now

[Duelle]

She was once called Ascilia and her Father Warburton was killed about 15 years ago.

See, this makes me feel like ether I wasn't really paying attention or the Echo's role in 1.0 was so disjointed from the story that it just gave the wrong impression of events. I thought the mess with Warburton was playing out in the present and I was seeing bits and pieces of what was happening while I was doing a trillion leves to level in between story missions (like how Thancred and I enter the city for the first time as per the cutscene and after I grind out a couple of levels I hear from Momodi that he had been exiled from Ul'dah -- which through the Echo is implied happened after his encounter with Niellefresne and the other heirs).

[Naria]

To be honest I'm a bit surprised by the leadership role Minfillia has in ARR. I recall her being pretty ineffective as a leader in 1.0, and only mildly improved in ARR. The Circle was a much better organized and more competent group then the Path, though to our knowledge much smaller. I presumed it has something to do with Minfillia having access to better resources than the remnants of the Circle, or the Circle's grief over Louisoix--not to mention his long shadow. Not that Minfillia seems to really be calling a lot of the shots in the Scions-she may be giving us orders but Alphinaud seems to be the one running the show by the end of the main questline.

[Nialle]

They really need to flesh out these people in ARR -- otherwise all us folks who weren't in 1.0 are out of luck when it comes to knowing who they are and why they're even important. :/