Revelations from Final Coil [SPOILERS]

[Alberel]

So... there's a fabled T12 cutscene floating around on the interwebs that explains pretty much everything regarding the events of 1.0 but SE keeps taking it down whenever anyone posts it so I'm not gonna give any links.

I don't see any reason why we wouldn't be able to discuss it, however, so I'll outline the events below and what I feel are the main revelations from the scene.

Needless to say there are huge spoilers here so stop reading now if you don't want this spoiled.

The scene starts within the flash of white light that everyone across Eorzea claims the Warriors of Light and Bahamut vanished into. The truth of the scenario is that The Twelve had appeared before Louisoix, calling him into another dimension. Recall that the swords the Archons summoned to imprison Bahamut had shattered. These were different; not only that, they were made of solid crystal identical in appearance to Hydaelyn.

So first point: The Twelve are real.

Louisoix looks up at the crystals and opens his palm as though the Twelve are giving him something. He then closes his palm and starts to grow in power. The white light vanishes and he is back at Cartenau standing beneath Bahamut's megaflare exactly as it was in the final seconds of the End of an Era video. He glances down sadly at Bravura impaled in the ground before him then erupts in white light and flies into the megaflare, stopping its expansion with a great seal identical in appearance to the one above the arch at the Sanctum of the Twelve.

Second point: I think it's fairly safe to assume that The Twelve gave Louisoix their aether and essentially turned him into a demi-god.

A battle ensues between him and Bahamut with Louisoix's body beginning to crack and burn with aether the harder he fights. Louisoix eventually overpowers Bahamut and flies right through his chest, leaving a gaping hole. Louisoix's body then burns up entirely and dissipates into pure aether. Bahamut, meanwhile, turns to crystal and shatters with an explosion that entirely decimates Cartenau.

In the aftermath pure blue aether rains down on Eorzea (presumably from the Twelve and Louisoix) which explains how the land was able to recover so quickly from the devastation.

Third point (sort of): Considering that the boss of T12 is Louisoix having turned into Phoenix (and I mean turned into, not summoned, Alphinaud is quite clear about this and it's not the same as what Iceheart did) we may have more of an understanding of what a primal actually is. Louisoix was not tempered by bahamut, he took on no draconic features like Nael did and says quite clearly in the scenes that he defends Bahamut of his own will. He instead channeled so much aether his physical form was entirely consumed and 'transcended the limits of Man's existence' (again, Alphinaud's words). Is a primal the husk of a person that essentially became pure aether?

Fourth point: Bahamut's shattered remains frozen in crystal around the coil areas were clearly the remnants of the Bahamut that Louisoix killed. The Bahamut being summoned by the fragments of Dalamud (using the extracted prayers of all the Meracydian dragons in stasis pods around the Final Coil) was a new Bahamut.

Fifth Point: We have confirmation that Bahamut is the primal of the dragons. The Meracydians summoned him to defend against the Allagan invasion as per Louisoix's very own words.

There are further revelations from T13 but I won't go into them here. Hopefully since this is just a discussion thread and not a link to any of the actual videos the mods won't take this down. That is what this lore forum is for after all...

So, has anyone interpreted any of this differently to me? Curious to hear other people's thoughts.

[Hyrist]

Disagree with third point - in that your insinuating that Louisouix is not tempered or at least mind-addled by Bahamut:

The Coil 13 description clarifies that he is not of the right mind during the beginning cut-scene of Coil 12 - however with no voice-over references an limited individuals that have gone through that far, we're limited in the capabilities of the full details of the after 12 cutscene - mainly by SE's dutiful use of S&D orders and Copyright pulls.

It's only a week in, more details will come out of it as more people clear it. However, given the nature of the Primal Louisouix became, I doubt we've seen the end of him.

[Anonymoose]

There's a lot of text that accompanies not only the cutscene, but the Coil quest that it interrupts, that makes a lot of this much, much more clear.

Few assumptions are needed, in the end.

The truth of the scenario is that The Twelve had appeared before Louisoix, calling him into another dimension. Recall that the swords the Archons summoned to imprison Bahamut had shattered. These were different; not only that, they were made of solid crystal identical in appearance to Hydaelyn.

So first point: The Twelve are real.

I don't want to say that's inaccurate, but I feel that it may be too concrete. If the prayers of those on the battlefield and Louisoix's desire for the realm to be reborn could twist the aether in a way that he was transformed into Phoenix, there's plenty of cause to believe that the Twelve were included in these prayers as well, most saliently in the form they just saw their power represented moments ago before Bahamut broke the spell. I still currently believe that there's some truth to the Twelve, but I've yet to see anything that externalizes them completely from the effects of prayer and aether. Again, your interpretation may be correct, but I'm hesitant to commit to a concrete explanation just yet.

I think it's fairly safe to assume that The Twelve gave Louisoix their aether and essentially turned him into a demi-god.

In Living on a Prayer Louisoix carved the symbols of the twelve around Eorzea where the gods "slumber" and had people make a pilgrimage to pray to them. This filled what was left of the aetheric streams of Eorzea with their prayers, and then he used a summoning ritual to combine the stream and prayers into The Twelve, the same as one might do for a primal. His plan was to die mid-cast to prevent their full summoning and thus prevent them from rising as primals. When he summoned them, the aether took the shape of Dalamud imprisoning Bahamut and returning to the skies, as the people prayed for.

Lou explains that when Bahamut broke this spell, all of the aether summoned was essentially free-floating in the air. All of that aether, combined with the desperate hopes of those on the battlefield and his own zealous wish that the land be reborn, is what transformed him into Phoenix. He doesn't confirm or deny that the Twelve were in any way involved, and doesn't bring them into the transformation in any way. Louisoix, by the power of aether and prayer, became a primal.

Perhaps the Twelve were involved, perhaps not, but, again, I wouldn't state it as concrete just yet. Perhaps this is how Garuda was made, as well, for instance. I once theorized that the Ixal's shape was her doing and Sashtasha HM confirms that it's possible, even if it's not confirmed true or false. Perhaps, given centuries, Louisoix would take on a more and more birdlike form with each summoning, and those who summoned him, repeatedly tempered over generations and generations, would take on a beastlike appearance of their own...

In the aftermath pure blue aether rains down on Eorzea (presumably from the Twelve and Louisoix) which explains how the land was able to recover so quickly from the devastation.

Louisoix was not tempered by bahamut, he took on no draconic features like Nael did

The Bahamut being summoned by the fragments of Dalamud (using the extracted prayers of all the Meracydian dragons in stasis pods around the Final Coil) was a new Bahamut.

Louisoix relinquished the power willfully. If I'm interpreting what he said correctly, believing Bahamut destroyed, he returned the aether to the land and prepared to dissipate with it, but he underestimated Bahamut's tenacity (again) and the remnants of the primal's being dragged his essence in and cut off the aether's return to the land, dramatically warping the restoration of Eorzea and leaving Bahamut's crystallized "heart" beneath the earth, acting as his "core" despite most of him being torn asunder. Most of Bahamut's form was in pieces, but the core survived and clung to the aether, sucking up all that it could and using some of it to resurrect tempered copies of Louisoix and Nael from their fallen essences. Nael's restoration was botched a bit - the form beneath the armor was not his own, he says, and may have been someone he was thinking of at the time of his death. This form them then became draconic as an extension of Bahamut's power. Louisoix, by contrast, was warped in a different way. He instead retained features of his briefly-primal form, Phoenix, that became evident when he engaged the party in battle.

Louisoix states very clearly, however, that he was in Bahamut's thrall and that Ali's conviction is what got through to him and helped him overcome it. He also reveals that Dalamud's technology was so advanced that, even broken, the pieces tunneled and burrowed to reconnect, restore themselves, and regenerate Bahamut. The whole point was to keep Bahamut (1) healthy and (2) powerless. Seeing as the only part of him that truly survived was his "heart," the internment hulks sought it out and began to restore him from it even though the rest of his form was still in pieces and never returned to the aether because he was never truly killed. The coils were also sustaining the immortality of the enslaved Meracydian dragons that kept Bahamut summoned, forever kept alive but tortured so that they'd call out to him, thus also filling him with their rage.

We have confirmation that Bahamut is the primal of the dragons. The Meracydians summoned him to defend against the Allagan invasion as per Louisoix's very own words.

I found this interesting since it implies that the Meracydians were dragons. I'd always assumed they were people, but perhaps not. Perhaps it was both, for that matter, who knows? Remember the Scourge of Meracydia from T5? We assumed that the dragons were enslaved and used against the nation... but to scourge can also mean to punish. Perhaps the Meracydians were dragons that were enslaved as punishment for their resistance to Allag's expansion.

So, Bahamut is at least the primal of the Meracydians. This might not be true for all of dragonkind as a whole, though. The wandering races have many different gods and many great ancestors, who's to say the Dravanians worship the same entity the Meracydians did? Perhaps the Dravanians remember the Meracydians and, though perhaps they do not worship Bahamut, they will not suffer the wandering races to exist, knowing what they're capable of and how flawed they truly are. I recall a certain bearded primal having similar doubts. Perhaps we'll need to prove our races' worth to the likes of Nidhogg, by the end. I assume he's one of the Kings we'll face in 3.0; SE's been alluding to his role in the Dragonsong War and the threat of his return for quite some time.

[Alberel]

Hah ok, so it seems there's a few details I'm missing. Thanks for the clarification. Either way I'm glad there's finally a thread here to discuss this.

With regards to the Twelve then: If Louisoix's intent was to die before the Twelve fully materialised and the ones in the video were actually summoned then he failed. Those crystal forms they took looked pretty complete to me. Louisoix also previously expressed a fear that the Twelve summoned as primals would be just as much a threat as Bahamut yet these were clearly benevolent, appearing more as a vision like we receive from Hydaelyn through the echo. Louisoix even looks surprised to see them... I understand the reluctance to concretely say they're real, and maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit, but the similarities to our encounters with Hydaelyn can't have been coincidence.

Perhaps this is how Garuda was made, as well, for instance. I once theorized that the Ixal's shape was her doing and Sashtasha HM confirms that it's possible, even if it's not confirmed true or false. Perhaps, given centuries, Louisoix would take on a more and more birdlike form with each summoning, and those who summoned him, repeatedly tempered over generations and generations, would take on a beastlike appearance of their own...

I had been considering this since Sastasha HM and was wondering if the Ixal may once have been the Vanu or a similar race. Given Garuda's propensity for destruction it's not hard to see why the Ixal may have been exiled by the rest of their kind in Ayatlan.

I found this interesting since it implies that the Meracydians were dragons. I'd always assumed they were people, but perhaps not. Perhaps it was both, for that matter, who knows? Remember the Scourge of Meracydia from T5? We assumed that the dragons were enslaved and used against the nation... but to scourge can also mean to punish. Perhaps the Meracydians were dragons that were enslaved as punishment for their resistance to Allag's expansion.

So, Bahamut is at least the primal of the Meracydians. This might not be true for all of dragonkind as a whole, though. The wandering races have many different gods and many great ancestors, who's to say the Dravanians worship the same entity the Meracydians did? Perhaps the Dravanians remember the Meracydians and, though perhaps they do not worship Bahamut, they will not suffer the wandering races to exist, knowing what they're capable of and how flawed they truly are. I recall a certain bearded primal having similar doubts. Perhaps we'll need to prove our races' worth to the likes of Nidhogg, by the end. I assume he's one of the Kings we'll face in 3.0; SE's been alluding to his role in the Dragonsong War and the threat of his return for quite some time.

Considering that Ishgardian heretics are capable of using 'Dragonblood' to turn into Aevis' it's possible the Meracydians and Dravanians were once human or at least different to their current forms. Is it not also possible that the Dravanians actually are the Meracydians, freed from enslavement at the collapse of the Allagan Empire? Or does Dravania predate Allag?

[Morningstar1337]

So basically Louisoux is Phoenix!? I wonder if this means that we'll see more of him then?

[Exodus-E]

So basically Louisoux is Phoenix!? I wonder if this means that we'll see more of him then?

More like Louisoix BECAME the primal Phoenix. He wasn't used as a vessel, he wasn't a primal from the beginning; no no, he actually turned into a primal.
As for whether we'll see more of him in the future, I *really* doubt it, given that he has no believers (since he was relatively new), and the only people that know about his existence are less than likely to summon him (you and the twins).
Kind of like how it's unlikely we'll see Bahamut again in the future either (since he, along the beings that summoned him are all gone now).

[Mirron]

I'd be surprised if we never saw either of them again. Especially Bahamut. He's just too popular to really have him be kept hidden away for the rest of the game. I could be wrong though, and it's not really a lore reason for their return, but it still seems unlikely just because they are some of the more recurrent/noteworthy of summons.

[Nutz]

I'd be surprised if we never saw either of them again. Especially Bahamut. He's just too popular to really have him be kept hidden away for the rest of the game. I could be wrong though, and it's not really a lore reason for their return, but it still seems unlikely just because they are some of the more recurrent/noteworthy of summons.

I understand that train of thought, but if XI is any indication (it rarely is I suppose) they won't be reused. As popular as Bahamut is and as popular as CoP was Bahamut didn't really get any more use than what they originally intended (which was quite a bit less than here if I recall correctly). Phoenix (from the same EP) was barely more than mentioned.

[Mirron]

True, though I'd say Bahamut factors in decently heavily enough in regards to XI's storyline, and I don't think he's done in XIV yet. I could be entirely wrong though, and it's a purely meta reasoning on why he is/isn't going to appear again. Then again I don't know that we have enough lore justification to say he won't appear again either, since it's entirely plausible that he could receive worship again after his appearance.

[Grayve]

Amazing. I can't wait till these are left up by SE, so those without the skill to do coil can watch them.