Thanalan's desertification and Amh Arang

[Zohar_Lahar]

Just as the seventh Calamity turned Coerthas into a glacier, it is implied Thanalan became a desert in the third Calamity (the solar flare one).

Which brings my attention to the First. As the fall of Dalamud did not happen in Norvrandt, Il Mheg has a climate similar to Coerthas in 1.0. Yet, at the far south, Ahm Araeng looks like even more of a desert than Thanalan, despite the cycle of calamities presumably not shaping it like the Source.

So is this an oversight or did some of the earlier Calamities bleed over to the shards?

[Cilia]

I don't remember it ever being stated or suggested anywhere that Thanalan's desertification was the consequence of a Calamity...

At any rate, there are any number of possible explanations that don't involve Calamities having some kind of bleed-over effect; perhaps it's something to do with the Flood of Light, or a natural occurrence due to other factors we don't yet know. It's pretty presumptuous to declare a Calamity was responsible, is it not?

[Cybylt]

The Shadowbringers preview site says Amh Araeng was a harsh and lifeless region before the flood was stopped in it so I don't think it's the flood making it a desert. It seems most likely that's the natural state of the region.

[Crushnight]

I believe Thanalan's desertation was just stated due to large amount of fire aether i think it was originally theorized that it was due to Ifrit being repeatedly summoned, but then we learned about previous calamities and with one being a calamity of fire it made sense this was the catalyst for Thanalans' shift in climate especially after what we know happened to Coerthus.

With that said i think it is up in the air about what happened so a similar event that wasn't a calamity could've happened on the 1st to change the region or it could've always been that way since the 1st would have different climates due to having less devastation happening until the flood.

[briarth0rn]

Is there a source on the 'Thanalan turned into a desert due to a calamity' idea? I hear people say this a lot, but I'm not sure where exactly it comes from.

[MikkoAkure]

Is there a source on the 'Thanalan turned into a desert due to a calamity' idea? I hear people say this a lot, but I'm not sure where exactly it comes from.

It comes from Encyclopedia Eorzea:

Recent discoveries of the skeletons of large plant-eating fauna in the Grand Wake have some scholars convinced that Thanalan's modern-day deserts were once a lush grassland lost in the fires of the calamity that ended in the Second Astral Era.

That being said, the encyclopedia is written in-universe and isn't necessarily correct about everything. Considering how much (randomly thrown in from different places in the real world) desert flora exists there, the area must have at least always had a propensity for dryness. Thanalan could also be like the real world Sahara which alternates between desert and grassland depending on the climate

[Enkidoh]

It comes from Encyclopedia Eorzea:


That being said, the encyclopedia is written in-universe and isn't necessarily correct about everything. Considering how much (randomly thrown in from different places in the real world) desert flora exists there, the area must have at least always had a propensity for dryness. Thanalan could also be like the real world Sahara which alternates between desert and grassland depending on the climate

I'd indeed take that statement with a generous grain of sodium chloride (it even outright says that "some" scholars believe it desertified in a previous Calamity in the distant past, meaning it's not even a popular theory shared by all in universe) - at worst it's a retcon as 1.0 had a quest where it was mentioned that Thanalan was in the past a forest but gradually became increasingly dry and arid, with any attempts at regrowth hindered by vermin eating new shoots (and that was hindering active attempts by Ul'dahns trying to reestablish vegetation in the region):

U'bokhn: "Never heard of the Desert Shade, have you? See, there? You've only proved my point. Well, I'll enlighten you. It is a group of concerned souls fighting for the ecology of Ul'dah. We do what we can to stop these arid lands becoming even drier."
U'bokhn: "I hail from Gridania, myself. Couldn't believe me own peepers first time I laid eyes on Ul'dah. Never knew there to be landscapes without the merest trace of green."
U'bokhn: "Willing to wager you didn't know this whole area used to be forests either, did you? Aye, well, it was. It pains me heart to think of them trees and shrubs and whatnot, slowly drying up and dying. And look at this hellish-hot, barren wasteland left in the wake of it all."

Of course that quest did not actually mention what exactly caused Thanalan to dry out, and more specifically, when, but U'bokhn definetely gave the impression in that quest that it was at least within fairly recent memory (remember, diminishing water resources was what caused the war between Ul'dah and Sil'dih, scant centuries in the past, far far less than the countless millennia that have undoubtably passed since the Third Calamity.

I guess though the other side of the coin is that the Encylopedia Eorzea is actually correct after all with the 1.0 quest retconned in turn... but then only the writing and lore teams know the real truth.

[JeanneOrnitier]

Even if it is true that Thanalan is the way it is because of a Calamity (I'm not sure either way), there's still 12,000 years of history on the First for something to happen to Amh Arang to make it a desert too.

[Grimr]

I like to think it is because of ifrit's influence that thanalan is bone dry. But it is calamity related I'm sure. (though i wonder if the burn was influenced by some primal like ifrit more than it's aether being taken to asz la. Although part of eastern thnalan is subject to monsoon or showers that is a direct result of the falling of dalamund/bahamut calamity.

Speaking of the burn why would they even need to take the aether away from the burn to asz la when they had three primals locked away. Plenty of aether to siphon off them.

[Vulcwen]

I like to think it is because of ifrit's influence that thanalan is bone dry. But it is calamity related I'm sure. (though i wonder if the burn was influenced by some primal like ifrit more than it's aether being taken to asz la. Although part of eastern thnalan is subject to monsoon or showers that is a direct result of the falling of dalamund/bahamut calamity.

Speaking of the burn why would they even need to take the aether away from the burn to asz la when they had three primals locked away. Plenty of aether to siphon off them.

Afaik, it's not that they took the aether to asys lla, they took the land itself there. Asyz Lla is made from land that used to be at the Burn. Draining the aether there was to cut the foundation of the land, so it could be lifted.
They just never turned off the draining system after it was no longer needed.