The Ascian Theory

[Belhi]

I don't want to risk spoiling anything but from a purely conceptual stand point I think the answer to who the Ascians are lies in the nature and source of the Echo. In many ways I have come to suspect that in reality the difference between the Ascians and the WoL is experience and loyalty. The Ascians have suggested several times that much of their abilities come from their own use of the echo. Comparatively the WoL barely has any mastery over their echo. Theoretically speaking though I suspect that the WoL has much of the same potential to do what he Ascians do, however wether they would be willing to go that far is another question. Whatever the origin of their souls, they seem to have transcended their mortality now.

There loyalty to Zodiark is another question we lack an answer to so far. It could be they were just viable candidates that were 'scouted'. We learn the lesser Ascians seem to have been originally. As for Elidibus being different, I suspect that is as much in the role they play in the conflict. Think chess pieces. You want different pieces for different uses. The role Elidibus plays is in serving Zodiark is substantially different.

[HeroLogarin]

Continuing from that, he is also the only Ascian that has been revealed to be wearing a white robe, usually something a Prophet of a religion would do, while the other Ascians where the black robes. From what I've read there is a hierarchy within the Ascians, from Ascian Overlords to lesser Ascians. I haven't played through the rest of realm yet, but from what I noticed, there are about 10 Ascians that appear in a cut scene when they reveal the statue of Zodiark. What if there are more than we realize, but they stay in the void because they are not needed, like soldiers in a garrison preparing for commands. They can live forever, can move between bodies but the lesser have to return to the void before taking another host, and they have immense power. If I was Zodiark, I'd have an army in my back pocket if I would need it on the day that I was reborn.

[HeroLogarin]

Part of this theory rose from the question of how many Ascians are there really? I've noticed some refer to FF12 with Ivalice and I'm trying to avoid connecting it to other games. Was wondering if the Ascian hierarchy could be similar to the style of hierarchy like KH with the Nobodies, but I could be up the wrong tree on that one.

If you guys have seen or heard anything about this back in 1.0 would be awesome to know. Is Travanchet still in the Limsa Lominsa story line?

I'm going to add these parts that I mentioned into the theory to make it easier to read :P