
Originally Posted by
Daroshi
I'd be delighted to hear more variation on theories
I have a few theories about her that may all be true, may all be false, or may be a little of column, little of column b. I suppose I can just throw 'em all down, lol.
1) Iceheart is mostly just an adventurer with the Echo who has more information that most people.
She tells us her birth name and a little history, and acts holier than thou, but doesn't seem as informed as she could be if she was something more human than human. One big hint to me is that nobody seems to recognize her name, meaning she either slipped through the Path of the Twelve's dragnet or she was woken later. Currently, I believe the latter.
2) She used a modified summoning ritual to summon the Essence of Frost into her Echo-unleashed soul.As far as we know, Saint Shiva the person simply died long ago. Given what we know about the nature of life and death, this implies that her soul was borne through Lifestream back to the Aetherial Realm and has since been part of the cycle. She may have been the first heretic, but was there any hint that she was a primal before then? It sounded to me like they were saying that Iceheart harnessed the zealous belief of the Heretics to her own end, using their zeal to power her transformation. I think the fact that it was Shiva's soul was incidental; that she mainly sought to harness the essence of the Land as her own - deiformed Frost.
My theory is that the Ascian ritual summons an essence without an anchor, creating a glorified elemental that exists solely for self-preservation by aetheral consumption and manipulation of its environment. By modifying the ritual and summoning the essence into a soul (whose boundaries have been removed by the Echo), the essence can be more easily controlled, and also relinquished. The soul becomes a vessel for the essence. For all we know, to some degree and for some civilizations, it may even be that this is how the ritual was intended to be performed.
3) Iceheart herself may be a pawn.
The final quest of Patch 2.3, the Ascians discuss how they need to "nurture the strength of the gifted" to bring about Zodiark's return. They specifically mention the five essences you've humbled so far - Inferno, Vortex, Crag, Whorl, and Levin. Lalabrea then says, "Divine seeds were ever wont to quicken in Eorzea's fertile soil. We need only lead men to the field, and by their eager hands shall a new deity arise." In 2.4, Shiva rises and is defeated, and Nabriales expresses disappointment that Lahabrea will be most pleased. In 2.5, Nabriales says, "I suffered the overweening presence of Lahabrea that men might host the power of gods, only for you to undo my hard work." To me, all of that sounds like they played a big role in the rise of Iceheart, even if she herself doesn't know it.
4) If all of these are true, Patch 2.5 (Pt. II) will include a "What have I done?" moment for Iceheart.We see in the trailer what looks like Iceheart disabling Ishgard's magickal defenses. Even if Ishgard is being manipulated by the Ascians, if she is, too, then it can't possibly serve anything good. The Ascians are the bringers of chaos and that's exactly what all-out-war will bring.
I harbor suspicions that this is all about The Rejoining - causing enough discord to use the destruction to make whole what was one shattered.