Minfilia and the Echo

[Kicha]

I was trying to do a search for it, but I didn't find it anywhere so I'll just ask here. When did Minfilia get the Echo? I was watching 1.0 Cutscenes, and in one scene when the Sylphs are talking to her, she can't understand them. I was under the impression that the Echo allows you to communicate all the beastmen tribes, or is this just a power that you had and not others? Did Minfilia not have the Echo yet and only got it sometime between then and 2.0? Or was this an oversight and we pretend it didn't happen that way?

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

I think it's likely an oversight because:

Spoiler:

Minfilia is a character Yosh-p created after he took over FFXIV whereas Ascilia was created by Tanaka's team. It is only in ARR that it is revealed that these character's are one in the same and this was likely only done as an afterthought. It's likely that Ascilia was never originally intended to be Minfilia.

A good plot hole for the lore team to fill though with future quests.

[Alenore]

Actually, the Echo isn't as strong with everyone. You may be able to understand all languages because of it, but Minfillia doesn't. She says you so when you meet her in 1.0.
He mastery of the echo is limited to "watching past events". At least, in 1.0.

[PArcher]

I thought someone explained that everyone with the Echo is different; there's different types/levels of Echo. Even Elde-whatever-his-name-is says that you are so "gifted" in the Echo, which heavily implies (if not outright states) that there are different ways it manifests and that some people are just better at it than others.

Minfilia doesn't have the ability to understand the beastman (or other languages/cultures in general as it may be) like you can, and I'm pretty sure most Echo users are like that as well. She probably has some other 'strength' in the Echo, perhaps a exceptional ability to lead, or maybe a heightened ability to sense other Echo users and tell what they are good at.

[Kicha]

I guess the thing that confused me was that in the 2.0 story, the way they explained the echo was that everyone who had it was able to comprehend all languages, and not just select manifestations of it. Thank you

[Enkidoh]

I think it's likely an oversight because:

Spoiler:

Minfilia is a character Yosh-p created after he took over FFXIV whereas Ascilia was created by Tanaka's team. It is only in ARR that it is revealed that these character's are one in the same and this was likely only done as an afterthought. It's likely that Ascilia was never originally intended to be Minfilia.

A good plot hole for the lore team to fill though with future quests.

That's actually not correct - Minfilia and the Path of the Twelve were always part of 1.0's storyline right from launch. Also, the current lore team are the same as those who worked on 1.0, all they've done is clarify details in ARR that the original storyline was always planned to lead up to but never ultimately did. As for Ascilia-Minfilia, it's anyone's guess whether they had always planned that to be a big revelation or simply retconned it, but I'm likely to believe it's the former (it also fits in with the revelation Ferne gave ages ago that the first part of 1.0's storyline was actually mostly set within the Echo and the player didn't even realize it). But I digress..

Anyway, Alenore is correct - Minfilia's potency in the Echo isn't as strong as the player's, in that she can only view past memories of other people and cannot understand unknown languages, where as the player has both (an opposite to this was shown also in 1.0 where at least one member of the Path of the Twelve stated he couldn't view other's memories but could understand unknown languages, such as those of the beastmen), which he had made into a profitable venture.) The Echo seems to be rather inconsistent with it's potency in some people.

Also as to when Minfilia received the Echo, it's unclear, but it appears she may have received it during, or immediately after, the Battle of Silvertear Skies in the year 1562 of the 6th Astral Era (when the Agrius crashed into Silvertear Lake and the Primals were freed. Certain members of the Path in 1.0 actually mentioned that event was believed to have been when the Echo first sounded (what they referred to as 'the Fall of the Keeper', and that even Minfilia believed that theory at first, but then she started having second thoughts. Of course it doesn't confirm or deny that's also when she received the power of the Echo, but it's a good a time as any as it does make sense.

[Icecylee]

Yeah, Minfilia's been here and in the plot since day one of 1.xx. Her stupid outfit in ARR is new, but the character was always here, and her version of the echo never gave her the universal translator. (There was actually a lot of minor characters in the path of the twelve HQ back in 1.x that talk about only having one power or another from the echo - making it that much more mysterious.)

[Anonymoose]

<snip>

Enkidoh's correct.

The Echo allows you to breach the wall of a person's soul, and hear the resonations of their past. You will be there in their memories, seeing things as they saw them. You may even interact with that which lies therein. However, the past is like a stone tablet. You cannot uncarve what is already written. As an unexpected side effect of the gift, it seems the ability to reach into the soul of another also allows some of us to understand their words without having to comprehend the sounds they utter. In short, the Echo has granted these fortunate souls mastery of every language existing on Hydaelyn. Unfortunately, that is the sum of our understanding of this gift from the gods... Why, we are not even sure the gift is from the Twelve. It is certainly true that many of those who hear the Echo also claim to have witnessed starshowers, but who is to say that even the starshowers are sent by them?

Minfilia isn't one of them.

There is something in there that I don't get, though. In both 1.0 and ARR, they mention how Minfilia was actually there for the Fall of the Keeper and was one of the few who survived. When did that happen? What was Warburton doing in the Revenants Toll area before he came to Ul'dah? I considered that maybe it took place after, but we see in ARR that when Thancred was investigating Ul'dah in 1562 is when he first heard evidence of the Amalj'aa preparing to summon Ifrit, which means it had to be after the seal was already broken.

Back to the Starshower, though.

In the Version 1.0 introductions, the 1562 Starshower was a very public event, especially if you watch the Gridanian version, but everyone who gained the Echo after claims to have seen their own personal little Instant Replay of the Starshower, as well. It's hard to know who saw which, or if any of them actually got the Echo after seeing the initial Starshower.

Her stupid outfit

I just tell myself that cupless-bra-over-a-tube-top thing she's got going on has been critical in her business negotiations since she hasn't had any Warriors of Light / Walkers of the Path around to strong-arm and/or intimidate the jerks who keep trying to push them around.

"You're suuuure you don't mind if we set up shop in the new Vesper Bay hamlet? Thank you sooo much!"

[Catapult]

For a while now, I've been working on the assumption that Warburton came to Ul'dah with information on the primal threat because he witnessed the Battle of Silvertear Skies and was asked to relay what he saw there, with Ascilia in tow the whole time. In doing so, things add up and I'm yet to find an alternate explanation.

It might be worth re-watching the v1.0 Ul'dahn cutscenes to see if she exhibits the symptoms of echo-jumps at any point. If she does, she may have been the very first person bestowed with the Echo.