About Minfilia's past

[kuma_aus]

So with 3.2 I started reading a little about Minfilia's past and the events from starting in Ul'dah in 1.X. One thing that caught my eye was in the Tales from the Calamity, it sorta explains why Minfilia changed her name but I was still a bit confused about this. I think I remember it was also explained in 2.X+ around the time when F'lhaminn was being introduced, but since I didn't play 1.X I think I didn't really understand what was being discussed.

So from this story released during ARR aniversary it says,

Her father’s Garlean spymasters still sought Ascilia for her father’s betrayal, but no one would seek “Minfilia,” an Ala Mhigan orphan adopted by an Ul’dahn woman seeking to fill the void left by her lover’s death.

What is this telling us exactly? I'm guessing it means that Minfilia's farther betrayed some Garleans and now they were searching for his daughter for revenge. Is there more information I can read about what Minfilia's farther did?

[Anonymoose]

It's kind of a complicated tale that 1.0 started and never finished. Some backstory:

In Version 1, you came to your starting city of choice and get the Echo just as you get there. However, you don't know what it is or where it came from. Some disembodied voice just whispers, Hear... Feel... Think... and then you wander around for a few days having visions, thinking they're present-day reality, and confusing people. You'll see something in a vision, and mention it to someone, and that'll trigger their memory, which triggers another Echo, allowing you to see bits and pieces of an important event from ten years earlier.

In 1562, the Sharlayan Council was getting ready to bail on the Eorzean colony. Their peace talks with the Empire fell though, the Garleans were moving on Silvertear Falls; it was bad. A long-standing prophecy had convinced Louisoix that that a Calamity was approaching, however, so he ordered the members of the Circle of Knowing to scatter and find its likely cause so that it could be forestalled.

Thancred was tasked with Ul'dah, where certain well-established members of the sultanate were (foolishly) hoping for war, thinking they could win and profit. Thancred believed, before it became clear that the beast tribes planned to summon primals, that this war would be the cause of the Calamity (as did his allies). In response, some of the younger members of the city hoped to stage some crisis and then put a stop to it and become heroes, pushing aside their elders in the eyes of the people. Their plan was to free a Goobbue from its magickal fetters mid-parade and "save" the people from its rampage. F'lhaminn and her boyfriend, Niellefresne, were in on it.

Ascilia, and her father, Warburton, show up just as the parade is beginning. Warburton was an Ala Mhigan who joined an Imperial spy ring, successfully convincing them he had embraced Garlean rule while secretly feeding information to the Resistance. As a double agent, he had stolen information on the Primals from the Empire, and was rushing to pass it off to the Resistance in Ul'dah so they would know what was coming.

Instead, Warburton got trampled to death by the Goobbue. Thancred (who puts too much pressure on himself and then doesn't tell anyone he's overwhelmed, opting to cover it up with arrogance and charm) blames himself, because he would have noticed something was up beforehand if he wasn't too busy trying to charm the pantalettes off of a few ladies nearby.

But there's another twist. The mage in charge of holding the goobbue in fetters in the first place? Imperial spy. Ascilia gets caught in the middle as Niellefresne tries to resurrect her father from the dead using Thaumaturgy while the spy tries to make his escape. Nielle gets killed by a mysterious assassin, but to this day his body hasn't aged because he was holding the resurrection dagger. Believing Warburton was his ally, the imperial spy tried to take Ascilia and run, but ultimately leaves her behind. F'lhaminn takes her in because she's guilty and alone. Thancred looks after her because he feels responsible.

TL;DR
The Garleans would well-know the name Ascilia, daughter of the missing (double) agent who died in Ul'dah, as reported by another spy.

[Zohar_Lahar]

Didn't Minfilia give her father's journal to Urianger (and by "give" I mean make me do it)? I could've sworn a quest had a quest item called "Warburton's Journal."

[Rocl]

Can we bring up the fact Ascilia (Minfilia) is the only person who saw Niellefresne murdered? WHY HAS THIS NEVER BEEN A THING MENTIONED.

[Theodric]

So, uh, how old is Thancred?

[Anonymoose]

So, uh, how old is Thancred?

Seventeen in the Echoes of 1562, twenty-seven in 1.0, and thirty-two now.