Aether and Hydaelyn

[TinyRedLeaf]

I think aether is to Hydaelyn what blood is to mortals. Aether is, in effect, the Lifestream itself, and I think it has been referred to as such in some instances.

To put it another way, "aether" is simply the franchise's way of interepreting popular, real-life myths about magic and the source of its power. In real life, for example, we have myths about "leylines", as well as popular superstitutions regarding the flow of "chi"/"ki", the basis of practices like fengshui. It's a common meme that turns up frequently in many manga and anime stories, like Mushishi, a great show that has just ended its second season over the past week. The Mushishi mythos features something known as "kouki", for example, which is literally a glowing river of life consisting of extremely basic organisms that predate even Earth's single-cell lifeforms.

I don't, however, think of Hydaelyn as a primal (and by inference, I'm leery of all the theories out there suggesting that player-characters have been "tempered" by her). She's the mothercrystal, and Zodiark is her shadow. And I think the relationship between the Dark and Light Crystals, and the primals, are somewhat more complicated than many of us think. I don't have any proof, in any case, but I'm content for now to see what else turns up in the storyline.

[Kicha]

If anything, we know that aether is not only found on Hydaelyn if Dalamud was used as a way to collect aether from the sun and beam it down to the crystal tower.