Wait, so why did the Archbishop... (SPOILERS)

[Anonymoose]

In all likelihood, Thordan never actually told them of his true intentions beyond, "I want to stop the Dravanians,"

This was my first impression as well, that Thordan outwardly expressed only that he wanted to end a millennium mired in war against the dragons by becoming the mythological version of Thordan with his Knights Twelve from the scriptures in order to finally end the stalemate with Dravania. That's what I'm going to stick with for now; I think the Ascians would have accepted that without a second thought about what he'd do if he actually accomplished his goal. And who's to say they'd let him? I bet they'd simply offer the dragons just enough power to resist him in a brutal, chaotic struggle that leads to Calamity. The sunset of the Allagan Empire was built on Darkness, and yet they just turned the tide by coaxing Tiamat to summon Bahamut.

[Cilia]

Perhaps the Ascians were willing to roll the dice on him [A] not turning on them and [B] causing enough chaos to bring about Zodiark's return before resistance ended. Or maybe I'm just wrong in assuming that resistance would end.

To [A], Lahabrea makes it pretty clear he never expected Thordan to betray him. He seems shocked and incredulous that he's doing so.

To [B], there's no way to know exactly. Going into the realm of theory, if the Warrior of Light died fighting the Knights of the Round and Thordan went on a "conquest of peace," doubtless the beast tribes would all summon their primals in response. If anyone fought back, there would be deaths. If it escalates to a war with Garlemald, that's an even higher death toll. All of that works in the Ascians' favor.

[lololink]

Maybe they expected Thordan to unleash the 8th umbral era, they seem to be eager to trigger that one as if it was the final one, others have occurred millennia from each others and now they try to trigger it while it has only been 5 years since the last one.

[myahele]

Maybe they expected Thordan to unleash the 8th umbral era, they seem to be eager to trigger that one as if it was the final one, others have occurred millennia from each others and now they try to trigger it while it has only been 5 years since the last one.

Aren't we still in the 7th Umbral Era though? Thus far all the Umbral Eras represented an element, except for the current/7th Umbral Era? I do know that the GC leaders all claimed that we're currently in a new Astral Era in the end of 2.0... but that seems to be more of a PR move.

[Anonymoose]

... but that seems to be more of a PR move.

The cycle of Calamities is surely concrete, but the cycle of the eras? Ehhh... Exactly where one starts and exactly where one ends seems up to the people of the time. In this cycle, the Seventh Umbral began with the Calamity itself, but would you have called B.S. if they'd called it in ten years earlier with the fall of the Keeper, appearance of the primals, arrival of the Reaper, and sounding of the Echo? Some knew then and there that Calamity was coming and moved to try to prevent / forestall it. Likewise, does it end when all foes are defeated? When the aether is in balance? When it has been X days without primal summonings or Ascian machinations?

The GC leaders seized momentum and claimed that the defeat of the XIVth Legion was proof that things weren't just going to get worse forever, that things weren't hopeless, and that any attempt to raise us up from Calamity wasn't just doomed to be undone by the next unfortunate event.

GE: So, officially, it’s the Seventh Astral Era… but there’s still… a lot of stuff going on. Who are the Grand Company Leaders that they can just be like, “Okay, it’s over, we’re done!”

MCKF: This is a very political thing. Basically, five years ago, you had half of your world destroyed because Louisoix stepped in and tried to stop things and only half stopped things. A lot of people did pass away during the calamity and their livelihood as been destroyed and they have to rebuild and go into the shroud to move felled trees and rebuild their farms and it got a lot of people down. If you look at some of the NPC dialogue, one thing we did in 2.0 was, we thought you know if my life had been destroyed I’d be all depressed, I’m just trying to rebuild things and get back on my feet. SO we’ve tried to put that kind of text into these regular NPCs. You have all these people in these nations that are very down. They had this big war with the Garleans, they won all these great battles, it was the first time in thousands of years the Grand Companies were formed and then “hey we made… DIDN’T make it” so basically the GC leaders were waiting for something good to happen and they grasped onto that and said “ok! umbral era is over mission accomplished we’re done!” to hopefully bring peoples spirits up. It’s a morale thing, you can’t have your people depressed all the time, they won’t be productive thinking “why should I farm? Another Bahamut is gonna just destroy my fields”

GE: So we have that quest line, Chronicles of a New Era.. so we ARE in a new era then?

MCKF: Yep. When they announce it, that’s it. But it’s weird because if a new player picks up the game and starts today they’re still in the Umbral Era, it’s in that time bubble.

[SOURCE]

[Allyrion]

Aren't we still in the 7th Umbral Era though? Thus far all the Umbral Eras represented an element, except for the current/7th Umbral Era? I do know that the GC leaders all claimed that we're currently in a new Astral Era in the end of 2.0... but that seems to be more of a PR move.

The cycle of Calamities is surely concrete, but the cycle of the eras? Ehhh... Exactly where one starts and exactly where one ends seems up to the people of the time. In this cycle, the Seventh Umbral began with the Calamity itself, but would you have called B.S. if they'd called it in ten years earlier with the fall of the Keeper, appearance of the primals, arrival of the Reaper, and sounding of the Echo? Some knew then and there that Calamity was coming and moved to try to prevent / forestall it. Likewise, does it end when all foes are defeated? When the aether is in balance? When it has been X days without primal summonings or Ascian machinations?

The GC leaders seized momentum and claimed that the defeat of the XIVth Legion was proof that things weren't just going to get worse forever, that things weren't hopeless, and that any attempt to raise us up from Calamity wasn't just doomed to be undone by the next unfortunate event.

Thusly, it was a totally legit PR move.

[Dualblade]

Its a GREAT PR move...but even without that Elidibus, when saying Lahabrea et al were trying to rush things, that it was for the 8th rejoining. Which would correspond with, if we hadn't gotten in the way, the 8th Umbral Era. So yes we pretty much are in the 7th Astral Era.

[Itseotle]

Also, isn't it stated somewhere (trial of the braves maybe?) that after each umbral era the warriors of light come forth to banish the darkness?

[myahele]

Each asteral/umbral era has corresponded with an element.

I wonder if the 7th Astral era is light and benefits Hydaelyn, while the 8th Umbral era is Dark and benefits Zodiark?

[Anonymoose]

I wonder if the 7th Astral era is light and benefits Hydaelyn, while the 8th Umbral era is Dark and benefits Zodiark?

That's a specific I've pondered in the past, as well. People thought that, as the Divine Chronicles predicted, there would be six cycles, one for each element. Throughout the Sixth Astral Era, they figured it was finally over... until a huntsman stumbled upon a tablet containing the Seventh Verse of the prophecy. Some dismissed this new addition, and 1,500 years out from the last Calamity, some dismissed the entire thing as superstition... until Dalamud fell.

But if there's a seventh cycle, one might wonder if we're following the same cycle as the week (which has eight days, six elements + two polarities). In that cycle, Astral comes first (so too with months), but umbral eras precede astral ones. One might ask, "Is this then the Umbral Era of Astral (Light) and we need to end this before the Umbral Era of Umbral (Darkness)?"

As possible as that is, I've been thinking (for now) that this is instead akin to the religious scripture of the Seven Hells, whereby one must pass through the six elemental hells before arriving before the Black Warden at the Seventh Gate and that this is the final era, win or lose. I think if the next Calamity hits, it's not the eighth cycle, it's just over. Perhaps that's what the mythology of the Seven Hells has foreshadowed the entire time. Perhaps Zodiark is the Black Warden, in a way.