Equilibrium must needs be restored [heavy sppoiler]

[Fenral]

From the primals? Do we have any reason to believe that it's going anywhere aside from being torn from the land and then returned to it?

We do. Remember the readings we were taking before we stumbled across poor Wilred? I'm disinclined to believe that dropping aether levels are entirely unrelated to the Ascians' plot. There could be some sort of entropy involved in dissipating primals, but it's hard to know one way or the other right now.

[Cilia]

We do. Remember the readings we were taking before we stumbled across poor Wilred? I'm disinclined to believe that dropping aether levels are entirely unrelated to the Ascians' plot. There could be some sort of entropy involved in dissipating primals, but it's hard to know one way or the other right now.

Personally, I don't think there's much more to it. The summoning and sustenance of primals eats up aether, but any in reserve that was not spent is returned to the land upon the primal's defeat. So any spent aether is gone, but whatever was ready to sustain it is still there or returned.

It's sort of like filling up a gas tank, driving a bit, and then siphoning out what's left. The overall level is lower, but there is some left.

Aether levels have just dropped significantly due to the massive number of primals that were summoned during 2.x (which makes me shudder to think how much aether Bismarck used up, given he was around from when we first go into the Sea of Clouds at 50 to his canon defeat at 57 / 58).

[Anonymoose]

We do. Remember the readings we were taking before we stumbled across poor Wilred? I'm disinclined to believe that dropping aether levels are entirely unrelated to the Ascians' plot. There could be some sort of entropy involved in dissipating primals, but it's hard to know one way or the other right now.

Considering that they were in the Black Shroud at the time, I've (for now) just been assuming that it's connected to the Odin storyline, where O-App-Pesi theorized that Zantetsuken reforged its own wielder by consuming ambient aether over an extended time. I think Odin's more important than we've been led to believe; even the 3.00 story invoked the Dark Divinity when talking about the true eikons. The drop in ambient aether seems (to me) more likely to be related to eikons than primals, now that we know the difference. On one hand, that quest did specifically say they were studying the impact of primal summonings on the aetherial balance. On the other, they clearly didn't know anything about the difference between primals and eikons until this patch, anyway. I'm unsure whether the observation supports anything they were looking for or whether they found it incidentally. It might have been the Calamity itself that siphoned Eorzea's aether somewhere else ("Yet even as it enervates, the Ardor empowers our master.")

The summoning and sustenance of primals eats up aether, but any in reserve that was not spent is returned to the land upon the primal's defeat. So any spent aether is gone, but whatever was ready to sustain it is still there or returned.

This is also possible, though I've been thinking of aether as raw energy; not created or destroyed but changing forms. To use Garuda as an example, if a chunk of the Land's aether were trapped in wind crystals, and then those crystals were consolidated into her form, and and then she expended some of it using her attacks, I just assumed it was no different than releasing the power of the crystals into, say, a synthesis. Energy converts forms, wind shows up, aether is freed and returns to the land.

[Nadirah]

Unless we come full circle back to the Dark Crystal, in the aetherial realm, being Zodiark...

/facedesk

This is the section of future-prediction that I'm bad at, lol.

Try not to think about it *too* much. I'm still reeling from the headache that is trying to make sense of the Elder Scrolls canon, lore, and metaphysics.

PS: don't go there if you value your sanity.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

Maybe we all need to rest our brains for a while until the next patch?

[Ultimatecalibur]

I'm going to propose a theory.

One plot point, "The Rejoining," and the name Krile implies something to me: Sometime in the past the world was divided into two parts, a la FFV, in order to seal something dangerous away (Chaos maybe?).

This likely ties into the "True Power" of the Echo demonstrated with Ascian Prime.

The world is split, the Ascians seek to restore the split world, and the Elder Primals/Eikons are from before the world was split.

[Fenral]

I posted theory to that effect a little before Heavensward, and nothing so far seems to contradict the idea. In FF5, it was the Void sealed between worlds, but FF14's Void seems to be of the FF3 variety. It could be Zodiark, if Zod's a being and not a giant crystal, but if it's not...

At the very least, I suspect Krile (and maybe even Galuf) will show up in the current patch cycle, and give us some solid answers on what's up with the Students of Baldesion. My guess will be that it happens in the same patch we finally track down Minfilia.

[Advon]

(Responding to way back with the initial question) This theory may have been posited before but...what if the warrior of darkness is a primal?

I mean, an important distinction in Heavensward is that the primal does not need to be related to their base concept. (The Vanu Vanu Bismark not matching the scriptures, Shiva being based on Ysayle's ideal of Shiva instead of the person) All it takes is faith, aether, and an image of a being to create a primal.

Now, to the citizens of the city states, we're heroes, living legends, "The beacon of hope", etc.

But what are we to, say, the beast tribes? We, who aided their heretics, who slaughtered their people, and murdered their god, often in front of them. However justified we were, to them, aren't we destroyers, monsters? What if the warrior of darkness is a primal based on the image our enemies have of us?

[Balipu]

(Responding to way back with the initial question) This theory may have been posited before but...what if the warrior of darkness is a primal?


Now, to the citizens of the city states, we're heroes, living legends, "The beacon of hope", etc.

But what are we to, say, the beast tribes? We, who aided their heretics, who slaughtered their people, and murdered their god, often in front of them. However justified we were, to them, aren't we destroyers, monsters? What if the warrior of darkness is a primal based on the image our enemies have of us?

An intriguing concept. Just one question: Why would the best tribes summon us if we are so bad. Or do they pray that we would show up so they could kill us personally? If so, how much crystals do they use?

[WyrahFhurrst]

An intriguing concept. Just one question: Why would the best tribes summon us if we are so bad. Or do they pray that we would show up so they could kill us personally? If so, how much crystals do they use?

Well why do the Amal'jaa summon Ifrit, their spirit of fiery death? Why do the Vanu Vanu summon Bismarck, the spirit of sky islands sinking into the sea of clouds and being eradicated? The beast tribes summon spirits of their own doom all the time, I don't see how the Warrior of Darkness would be any different, if it was a primal.