The Dark Divinity 3.0

[Februs]

Some spoilers if you haven’t done the Dark Divinity Quest line to its current completion, and I apologize for the wall of text, in advance. I'm adding what we already know about Odin, for those who need a refresher, as well as a theory on what Odin really is.

The main question, though, is: Where are they going with this?

[Februs]

What we know:

1. Odin freed himself from his imprisonment by cutting his own way out and has been wandering around Gridania.

2. Many adventurers have come across and defeated the elder primal in combat, but he keeps coming back for some unknown (to the idiot NPC’s) reason.

3. He has no known worshipers.

4. His history and origins are widely unknown. Though, there are some murky references to being an ancient warrior from a bygone era that killed some lady named Urth and a ton of her followers before being defeated himself by an allagan warrior and sealed in Urth’s fount.

5. After the Dark Divinity Trial (this is where those teeny tiny spoilers creep in) it is determined that Odin’s sword remains after every defeat, and it is theorized that Odin’s essence remains in the blade. His body is pure aether (maybe, I’ll get to that) and dissipates upon defeat, but his sword remains, so he never truly dies. He just bides his time until he can rebuild a body… or possess one.

[Februs]

The Theory of Odin (a few more spoilers, if you haven’t completed MSQ):

It is a fact that the FATE incarnation of Odin take the form (and adopts a subname) of the person who lands the killing blow on him after each defeat, and the Dark Divinity quest ends with a solider stealing Odin’s sword and disappearing. I think it’s safe to assume that they are implying that Odin simply possesses the bodies of those who come into contact with his sword and fashions their bodies into one that suits him. The reason he has yet to attain power that matches his reputation is likely because he’s borrowing inferior bodies for possession.

During the Odin FATE, Odin can be heard saying “Here I stand – A God amongst man. Yet, here I remain – a mere man amongst Gods.” Put this into context of the 3.0 MSQ, which, spoilers, deals with mere men attaining the status of Gods. A certain king attains such a divine power that he is actually capable of slaying an Ascion. Further, after we defeat this king, a certain villain makes comments about how we have become too powerful and that “our powers are encroaching on the realm of Gods (Paraphrasing a bit).”

It is conceivable that Odin is, or was at one time, no different from the warriors of light. He was an insanely powerful warrior who fought opponents so strong that he eventually attained a strength to match the Gods, raising himself to such powers that, upon reaching his end, he gained the ability to separate his soul from his body and impart it into his sword. He transcends the flesh and attains Godhood.

The question is, did he attain this power alone, or was he taught this skill? After all, housing a soul in an object is not so different from what the Ascions or lucavi (for those of you who played tactics) did and do.

Further, there is the mystery of Odin’s motivation. He comments during the FATE that he is still searching for Urth. This is strange as it is said that he already killed Urth and all of her followers…So why continue the search? This killing is implied to be the basis for Odin’s sinister reputation, but if he hasn’t actually killed her, then what gives, and who was this allagan warrior who sealed Odin in Urth’s fount?

[myahele]

Interestingly enough, Odin is an Eikon, something that's beyond even a Primal:

It may interest you to know that the term “eikon” and the beings to which it refers precede the Garlean Empire by eras. You see, it is the name by which the Allagans called godlike beings, the Dark Divinity Odin among them.

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Lo...er:Gods_of_Eld

So that might explain his uniqueness among primals. As far as I know, Odin is his Sword and will then temper anyone who wields it. From there he slowly saps the environment of Aether for himself.

[Februs]

Interestingly enough, Odin is an Eikon, something that's beyond even a Primal:

So that might explain his uniqueness among primals. As far as I know, Odin is his Sword and will then temper anyone who wields it. From there he slowly saps the environment of Aether for himself.

I have read the dialogue, and spoken to that little spawn about it during the extreme Rav and Bis trials (you can ask him to elaborate after the initial conversation); however, he never once offers a different definition for the terms "Eikon" and "Primal."They both mean, simply, "God like beings." If anything, it only seems to imply that "Eikon" is the term that the Allagan and Garlean Empires use to refer to Primals. Keep in mind that, in past dialogue of the 2.0 MSQ, Gaius Van Baelsar refers to all of the Primals in Eorzea as "Eikons,"on a couple of occasions. It has only been in recent dialogue in which the Eikons are referred to as a stronger class of primal. So, if anything, we can stretch that term only so far as to extend to Elder Primals, including Bahamut, Odin, Alexander, and (if we're lucky), future primals such as Ark or Ozma.

I have, however, found it extremely odd that Odin is referred to as an elder primal and eikon in the dialogue of the game, yet has no independent Raid and a relatively weak Trial. The lore about him constantly trying to find Urth is the only explanation for why he has no raid, but it's a poor one, in my opinion. He should have a raid, or, at the absolute least, a Savage level Trial.

He is certainly unique among elder primals though, not only from a game mechanic perspective. Unlike Bahamut and Alexander, he has no followers who worship him. His sword seems to act as his medium and temper/possess those who come into contact with it, but the only other primal who uses a human body as a medium is Shiva, and she is not an elder primal. Nor does she completely possess and destroy the will of her host as Odin does, or seems to.

[Belhi]

During the 14th anniversary they mentioned that the story of Odin is a bit different to 'official' version in Eorzea. Odin was a Hero who came south to protect Urth, who was infact an enemy of the Allag. To try and combat the Allag he found and wielded a cursed sword Zantetsuken but eventually succumbed to it becoming the Odin we know today.

Odin is however an example of a rather unique primal and goes to show our understanding of Eikons is still limited. Further it raises the question where the sword originally came from. There is also the question on why Odin's original personality seems to be dominant still after several body swaps if the sword itself is the primal.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-Panel-Wrap-Up

[Kaiser-Ace]

It's worth noting that Urth didn't seal Odin, The Allagan Summoner Wiyu sacrificed her life to cast the spell that sealed Odin in a Crystal Prison.

[Shirobi]

Interestingly enough, Odin is an Eikon, something that's beyond even a Primal:

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Lo...er:Gods_of_Eld

So that might explain his uniqueness among primals. As far as I know, Odin is his Sword and will then temper anyone who wields it. From there he slowly saps the environment of Aether for himself.

Eikon is just another word for primals. This was confirmed in the dev chat.

[Shirobi]

Odin, Urth, and (Presumably Wiyu) are not dead, they are somehow connected to the Warring Triad which were locked inside the ship near Helix.

The thing locked inside Urth's Font was just the sword.

[Kaiser-Ace]

Odin, Urth, and (Presumably Wiyu) are not dead, they are somehow connected to the Warring Triad which were locked inside the ship near Helix.

The thing locked inside Urth's Font was just the sword.

That's taking a leap of faith on the head cannon train.

Though it is an interesting idea that the sword was sealed in the crystal rather than Odin's body.

But for now Primals are Primals and Eikons are Eikons. Unakale seems to have been hinting at the idea that Eikons are fundamentally diffrent beings at a basic level.

While Primals are simply a summoner's thoughts given form using Aether as a catalyst (Totally called that one BTW) while Eikons seem to be living beings who don't need to be summoned. Thus why they could potentially be far more dangerous.