What is Zodiark?

[Februs]

Snip.

One thing we do know about Middy is that he was charged with guarding a seal that was placed on silver tear lake.

Why he was guarding it is unknown, though it has been widely assumed it is because that is part of the deal he made with Hydaelyn. The exact reason as to why Hydaelyn wanted it kept sealed, though, is not 100% clear.

Why his preferred method of "guarding it" was to take a nap on top of it, is also unknown (seems like a crummy guard dog, if you ask me).

Why he woke and became involved in the battle with the Garleans is also unknown.

It would have seemed more logical for him to have not gotten involved, as the Garleans had no agenda involving the lake and would have likely just flown right by to kill and conquer Eorzea. After all, even if the Garleans had known what was sealed in the lake, they would not have been interested in it. They don't exactly have a high opinion of "false gods." Nor would they have wanted to put a loaded gun into the hands of every beast tribe that they would eventually have to deal with when invading Eorzea... though, one possible reason for why he became involved with the explicit purpose of interfering with the battle in order to protect Hydaelyn's champions from certain defeat and death, as per his contract. Given the end result, though, I'd say he failed miserably at that bit.

What we don't know is if that role is restricted to guarding, and if that guarding extended to keeping tabs on the state of Zodiark. It is entirely possible that Middy also served as a early warning system for Zodiark's awakening, a first line of defense against it, or had nothing to do with it at all. It's hard to say. However, given the Ascion's plans to create as much wanton destruction as possible with the goal of releasing Zodiark, it would seem that the seal requires destruction of some variety in order to break, similar to the one Middy was guarding.

Hydaelyn is also an interesting character, as we don't really know much about her and she seems to have an apparent lack of character. Notice that Hydaelyn's dialogue is almost exclusively restricted to the same lines repeated over and over. The instances of her actually speaking are far and in between, and she rarely says anything overly revealing about herself or her goals. She also tends to ignore other echo users. On frequent occasions, Minfilia pleas with Hydaelyn to speak with them and give them wisdom, only to be met with silence and inaction ... It makes me awfully suspicious about what her agenda in all this is.