Personally I've long held onto the idea that The Twelve, The Primals, and The Elementals all have a common link of some kind. And that link may very well rest withen, as the Ascians put it, The TRUE nature of the Echo. We know little about the primals and elementals, even less about the Elder Primals and The Twelve, and next to nothing about the Echo. So it's possible that the closer we get to the Ascians the closer we will get to understanding The Echo. Which also has a verry real risk, that once we find the truth with the Echo it may turn out that we are fighting for the wrong side. After all as little as we know about it, we still know more about the Echo than we do the Natures or Identitys of Hydalin and Zodiark. The Ascians how ever seem to not only understand the echo but also how bestow it AND how it really operates .

For all we know The Ascians them selves could be the Twelve and Hydalin could be what happened to Zodiark after the Fall of The Divine Era.