What is the extent of the WoL's powers?

[SannaR]

I think with the whole language bit it's not just spoken but also written as we seem to do fine reading things unless the story pulls a "this is even older/different dialect than you're used to" thing in where we need someone to translate. Or like with Alpha they're a construct of an alien that for whatever reason doesn't know Eorzean even though the thing that made them has learned it. Not that I didn't mind Middy playing translator.

[Acelyn]

I believe the WoL has hidden abilities that aren't known yet and also not hooked to the echo, I feel the echo is just a booster for our natural abilities and even without it because of how much we've been through we'd still be powerful enough to stand against most enemies.

a few places in the story point out that our character is an anomaly, mostly from hw scenes, even if somehow hydaelyn tricked us i'd bet our own inner being has been worked out enough to be its own beacon, which is what alot of our former enemies have been alluding to.

[LeonTrifang]

I believe the WoL has hidden abilities that aren't known yet and also not hooked to the echo, I feel the echo is just a booster for our natural abilities and even without it because of how much we've been through we'd still be powerful enough to stand against most enemies.

a few places in the story point out that our character is an anomaly, mostly from hw scenes, even if somehow hydaelyn tricked us i'd bet our own inner being has been worked out enough to be its own beacon, which is what alot of our former enemies have been alluding to.

The crystal lady secretly being evil is an entirely different thread of its own lol. However, I’m on the “Crystal Lady is pulling us like puppets and is secretly evil” side tbh.

[Dualblade]

Given everything the story has given us, there is only one conclusion to make: That on top of the Echo and Blessing of Light, the WoL is ALSO an Allagan robot, thus once more making everything in Shadowbringers about the Allagans again.

[Mixt]

Well, if we wanna go into the pure speculation field i have my own hypothesis, though it lacks conclusive evidence in either direction.

I call it the "Spirit Bomb On Legs" hypothesis

The things that led me to come up with the idea being as follows.

1: I seem to recall something about the official explanation for how Limit Breaks function is by having a group pooling their strenght into one guy, though some individuals can pull them off solo (I'm looking at you Godbert) correct me if i'm wrong here.

2: Emotions and beliefs of intelligent beings can do funny things with Aether, with Primals being by far the biggest and most obvious example, and as Shinryu proved worship is not a needed component there, the dying hatred of a large number of people worked just as well. Other emotions should also be able to have effects.

3: The Echo has this whole thing about tearing down the barriers of the soul and enabling interaction between the spirits of distinct individuals

Question: What happens if a large quantity of positive emotion like Hope, Gratitude, ETC (Like say, entire nations worth?) is directed at a meatbag/Not A Primal being with The Echo/An Open Soul?
Does anything happen?

4: Sudden large jumps in combat ability coinciding with meeting, helping and gaining the goodwill of large numbers of people, like say, going from getting stomped flat by Zenos to standing on even footing with him in a very short amount of time. Doesn't say much on it's own, but combined with the above points it makes me somewhat suspicious.

Hypothesis: Blame The Echo for giving the WOL a Spirit Bomb type boost drawn from the collective wellspring of all those who look up to them.

Conclusion: Untestable, requires additional data points.

[Kalise]

Well, if we wanna go into the pure speculation field i have my own hypothesis, though it lacks conclusive evidence in either direction.

I call it the "Spirit Bomb On Legs" hypothesis

Well, I think one flaw in this particular hypothesis is that for the most part, the WoL isn't the one getting all the praise.

Like, for ARR, it's the Scions as a group that are thanked, with people acknowledging the role the WoL had in things, but it's mostly hope and gratitude towards the Scions (Give or take a few points in the story where the Scions were not particularly well liked)

For HW, it's Aymeric who's the shining beacon of hope for the nation.

For Gyr Abiania it's Lyse, the Resistance as a whole and to an extent Raubahn (The Iron Bull of Ala Mhigo).

For Doma it's Lord Hien.

Those in the know, are thankful to the WoL for all they've done (Aymeric really wants to be your husbando for example) but generally the WoL doesn't champion themselves as a beacon for the nations they save, they're content to just be part of the Scions and do what they need to in order to save the world. Meanwhile the leaders are the ones to rally the hope within the nations and are who everyone directs the majority of their gratitude to.

[Lium]

Those in the know, are thankful to the WoL for all they've done (Aymeric really wants to be your husbando for example)...

Off-topic, but I wondered about that. Is Aymeric's reaction to you the same regardless of gender? Does he still invite you to a somewhat romantic dinner, and do other NPCs wonder if he's in love with you if you're playing a male character?

I sort of had the same questions about Lyse in SB. Because there was heavy insinuation that Lyse liked the WoL. I mean liked liked. Are these interactions the same regardless of gender?

[Iscah]

I sort of had the same questions about Lyse in SB. Because there was heavy insinuation that Lyse liked the WoL. I mean liked liked. Are these interactions the same regardless of gender?

For a female character, I think it can more easily be read as a close friendship without needing to be romantic. At least I don't remember getting the impression that it was meant to be romantic.

[Grayve]

For a female character, I think it can more easily be read as a close friendship without needing to be romantic. At least I don't remember getting the impression that it was meant to be romantic.

I never thought it was romatic until I read about that on the forums. People that want it to be romantic will read what they want into it.