Who/what is Mimidoa referring to when you turn in the Pharos Sirius (hard) quest?

[Rau]

This bit specifically:

Mimidoa: Wouldn't you agree, 'nitiate? Hmm...speakin' of rememberin', you remind me o' someone. Somethin' about the eyes... Oh, aye! Yer the spittin' image of a lad as once helped me drive back an army o' the undead. A right tough bugger, he was. Like you, only taller.
Mimidoa: Never did find out what happened to him, but lookin' at you, I'm guessin' he settled down an' sired himself an heir or two. Ahh, it brings a tear to me eye seein' you carryin' on the family tradition. I'm much obliged to ye, lad. Much obliged!

The only event I can think of is when the MSQ where we fended off Siren and undead sailors, but I don't think Mimidoa was there, nor was it long enough before 3.1 where Mimidoa would literally FORGET us.

[Ruri]

This bit specifically:


The only event I can think of is when the MSQ where we fended off Siren and undead sailors, but I don't think Mimidoa was there, nor was it long enough before 3.1 where Mimidoa would literally FORGET us.

He was there but in a trance or something from Siren so he didn't remember you clearly. At least that's what I think he means.

[Lucke]

It's supposed to be a joke. He's talking about you but his memory is shot so he thinks it was someone else.

[Fenral]

It's possible that Mimidoa was really drunk at the time and got his memories so mixed up he's remembered the date of your first Siren encounter as 20-someodd years earlier than the historical fact, or it's just a misguided attempt to fill in the Warrior of Light's otherwise entirely blank backstory. Trying to turn us into Bartz or something...

EDIT: Waaaah, swooped. Yeah, probably just drunk.

[Kaiser-Ace]

Actually, they referenced Mimidoa's age effecting his memory.

It's likly the old sod has Alzheimer's Syndrome and simply is unable to remember that we helped him kill the siren less than half a year prior.

To him it seems to be alot longer and it makes him think we're the child (or possibly grandchild) of the person he's trying to remember.

To be such a light hearted cut scean it references a preaty sad revelation about Mimidoa.

[Anonymoose]

It's not only a joke, it's a running joke. In Version 1.0, Mimidoa was at the center of the quests for the combined BSM/ARM guild storyline. In it, you keep hearing tales of sirens, though Mimidoa claims he and the great Mistbeard hunted them all down in a great purge. He claims that's how he lost half of his hearing, and every time you see him, he says you remind him of this crew member or that crew member, but they were [funny comparison that's not much like you].

Eh? Where'd ye crawl in from? I don't recall sendin' for no 'nitiates. Eh? [YOUR NAME]? I once knew a [YOUR NAME] back when I served on the Cloud Dancer. <He was a strappin' young lad wi' teeth as white as a princess's paps / She was a buxom young lass with eyes as big an' round as ogre pumpkins. Ye ain't <him/her>, though. Nose ain't quite right... And who are ye, again?

To challenge the sirens, he makes you make special earplugs and takes you to an island, where you find lots of people passed out, drained of energy, really thirsty, and missing valuable items... only for you to be overcome with an Echo vision of what the "sirens" really are ... three of his female students throwing crazy parties with Mimidoa's record player. He thinks you're too out of it to remember, tells the girls to cut it out, and returns to town with claims of how you two pounded some sense into the sirens and saved the Lominsans.

The entire thing plays out again in A Realm Reborn (Quest: History Repeating), and Legacy players are supposed to remember it and think he's a delusional blowhard ... until the Siren shows up ... and his earplugs actually work ... and it turns out he really was part of Mistbeard's crew ... and he really, really hates sirens. It's a really convoluted way to tell a joke, but if you had the pieces to put it together, it was pretty freakin' funny.

TL;DR That's just Mimidoa - an old, scrambled lalafell with tall-but-true tales.
Everyone reminds him of this person or that person save for some distinguishing feature.

Even when you remind him of you.

Ye reminds me of a <lad/lass> I once had makin' me gramophone parts. [YOUR NAME] was <his/her> name. Nice enough <lad/lass>. None too bright, though.

[Zohar_Lahar]

Wait a minute....there are gramophones in Eorzea?

[Fenral]

Wait a minute....there are gramophones in Eorzea?

Yes! Schizo tech makes it hard to pinpoint an exact era, and in some places it actually shot ahead during the Umbral Era, but Eorzea's technological level is currently around the late 19th-century Earth mark. The rural areas we spend most of our time in are still fairly underdeveloped, so it tends to look more like a medieval fantasy setting than it actually is.

[Grayve]

Wait a minute....there are gramophones in Eorzea?

Link pearls are basically radios, don't forget. The Garleans dropped them before with messages extolling The city states to surrender.