Quote Originally Posted by Zetsumei_Tsunarashi View Post
So this part of the quote is something I've been zeroing in on lately in my thoughts. It kind of sounds like Yoshida is saying that people may look the same, for the same reason that say Norvrandt is the same shape as Eorzea. The same aether was used in the creation of the shards, so that same aether also comprises the people of Norvrandt as well. In essence it's sort of saying that genetics isn't necessarily what makes people look like they do in XIV, but moreso aether is what governs that. Or rather, aether takes the place of genetics in XIV. So like for example, the Solus clones are actually copies of Solus's aether moreso than they are copies of Solus's DNA.

Since aether returns to the lifestream on death, it could be that aether simply gets recycled and when people are born there's a chance that aether from someone who died can be used in the creation of a new life. If aether is what determines the appearance of people rather than DNA, it would mean that the appearance of people has nothing to do with what their parents look like. So even if we see people we recognize it doesn't mean that they necessarily had the same parents etc.

More crazy ideas for this forum ! \o/
Aether is basically the DNA of life for FF14 world by now considering all the lore that was presented since 2.X about Aether and how it affects life. Not to mention after death the person's Aether returns to the Aether that flows through the planet and eventually is reborn again.

Despite the split in worlds for 10,000 years, majority of the Aether for the First and Source still remains the same and due to this the possibility of plucking a Aether similar to another person in the Source is still possible even if result the counterpart being born in different time zones.

Only real difference between two people of the same Aether/DNA would be their life experience and personality that developed through their different life experiences.