Garuda Story Mode Question

[Belhi]

That is ridiculously brutal.

I mean, that was what always hit me about FF14. Sure it has the anime tropes and the cat ladies, but when push comes to shove the story writers don't hold back on reminding you of what real sacrifice means. It ain't clean and it ain't romantic.

This really hit home after the initial encounter with Ifrit when we were told that all those people we had "saved" had been summarily massacred when we left. And then during the Warring Triad story-line, Yshtola reminded us that it would have been our duty to euthanize the servants of primals that were stuck defenseless in Allagan preservation pods if given the chance.

It would be nothing short of a miracle, or a sure sign of benign psychopathy, if our Warrior of Light didn't end up with PTSD after all the stuff we put him or her through.

You sir, should level DRK.....

[Kyran-Varlsen]

You sir, should level DRK.....

As long as it's more interesting than Paladin, I will look into it.

On another story mode question for Garuda: Why does she look like a hyur/elezan woman with wings when her followers are Ixalis? her followers call her beautiful, but is this a sign that they consider themselves ugly? It's the same with Zurvan, he has the face of a handsome hyur yet his followers are reptilian creatures with more teeth than good skin on their faces.

Maybe these gods were created by Kith races (such as Hyur or Elezan) and then adopted or were forced upon the Ixal and the followers of Zurvan who then just ran with it.

When it comes to the Primals like Ifrit, Titan, Leviathan, Ravana, Bismark and even Susano there is no disconnect from follower to gods due to appearance because these primals represent a manifestation of power or a cultural point of reverence. But with Primals like Garuda and Ramuh, it seems a developer blurp to just design them to look so alien to their followers that they could be Hyur gods. Lakshmi also kinda falls into this despite the fact she looks far more like her followers than Garuda, and I say this because she has no snake features (fangs, scales) upon her that we can see (though she may have a tail under her billowy dress).

[Anonymoose]

[Garuda's] followers call her beautiful, but is this a sign that they consider themselves ugly?

"It's okay. Everyone's furry for Krystal fleshy for Garuda." - Ixali Proverb

[Zohar_Lahar]

When it comes to the Primals like Ifrit, Titan, Leviathan, Ravana, Bismark and even Susano there is no disconnect from follower to gods due to appearance because these primals represent a manifestation of power or a cultural point of reverence. But with Primals like Garuda and Ramuh, it seems a developer blurp to just design them to look so alien to their followers that they could be Hyur gods. Lakshmi also kinda falls into this despite the fact she looks far more like her followers than Garuda, and I say this because she has no snake features (fangs, scales) upon her that we can see (though she may have a tail under her billowy dress).

Ramuh is implied to be sylphs' interpretation of Rhalgr (as the old man of the woods)

[Kyran-Varlsen]

Ramuh is implied to be sylphs' interpretation of Rhalgr (as the old man of the woods)

Yah, it seems that the game's lore goes deep enough to explain why these Primals look the way they do. My mistake was not realizing Garuda had been explained later due to a new addition to the Ixali Origins story.

[Anonymoose]

Ramuh is implied to be sylphs' interpretation of Rhalgr (as the old man of the woods)

This opens an old wound, lol. Like, it does seem clear that Ramuh is a skewed, aged Rhalgr adoption. That much is easy; look at The Spire.

But it bothers me so much that a Crystal of Light was somehow a primal's to give away. I wonder if the "Old Man of the Wood" was actually a former Warrior of Light that gave his Crystal of Light to the Sylphs, it being of their element and all that, and this Archon simply got caught up in the Rhalgr-incarnate mythology. I can buy that Ramuh knows so much because the Sylphs believe him to be intelligent, and so he is, but a Crystal of Light? A sliver of Hydaelyn's power gifted to Her chosen? A primal's to give away?

[Remedi]

This opens an old wound, lol. Like, it does seem clear that Ramuh is a skewed, aged Rhalgr adoption. That much is easy; look at The Spire.

But it bothers me so much that a Crystal of Light was somehow a primal's to give away. I wonder if the "Old Man of the Wood" was actually a former Warrior of Light that gave his Crystal of Light to the Sylphs, it being of their element and all that, and this Archon simply got caught up in the Rhalgr-incarnate mythology. I can buy that Ramuh knows so much because the Sylphs believe him to be intelligent, and so he is, but a Crystal of Light? A sliver of Hydaelyn's power gifted to Her chosen? A primal's to give away?

That always bothered me, when hraesvelgr told us that primals are essentially what we imagine given form it really irked me because of our past iteration with Garuda and Ramuh.
I think you might be onto something however with that wol (or echo gifted) theory, but I wonder, what actually happens to echo gifted ppl turned into primals? when they are desummoned to their will cease to exist? or the simple existence of tempered is an anchor for their beign to this world?