What of the Dragons of the First?[Theory]

[RenewalXVII]

I mean, it's just semantics at this point: there's Dragons as defined by FFXIV, and dragons as we the players understand them. Everything called a Dragon in FFXIV on the Source is strictly a descendant of Midgardsormr. But there are plenty of things that could possibly fit our real world conception of dragons that don't fit that strict definition, and so would be defined by Eorzeans as scale-kin or pseudodragons or whatever, even if we the players could get away with calling them dragons. The difference is entirely academic, though non-Midgardsormr dragons aren't necessarily going to have any of the capability that "true" Midgardsormr-descended Dragons do.

[polyphonica]

This may be a "don't think about it too hard" issue, but if the planet was divided into shards, what does that mean for the universe around each shard? In the trailer (and on the Shadowbringers loading screen), we see that after returning the darkness to the First there are stars in the sky. That means either one of two things: either the planet is enveloped in some sort of field so that only its shards exist out of "phase" with the rest of the universe (but you can still see the rest of the universe out there), or the entire universe was "sharded" into different alternate timelines as well.

If it's the former (only the planet is affected), then the question would be what happens when someone from outside the planet crosses the "field" -- do they just end up on the Source automatically and it's like the shards don't exist, or do they get automatically "sharded" into 14 copies? If someone from one of the non-Source shards were to travel to space, would they eventually cross the field and rejoin the "source" universe or would they just basically cease to exist once they exit the affected area? (Is it even possible for inhabitants of Hydaelyn to leave the planet and so be disconnected from its aether, or is the entire universe similarly full of aether?)

If it's the latter (alternate universes), then it would mean that Midgardsormr would actually exist in all 14 alternate timelines, and so he could decide independently to go to the planet in each timeline. The evolution from that point would still be different obviously.

I guess another possibility (aside all the above), since we know the Crystal Tower is the key to cross shards, is that the Allagans may have connected to the First themselves in the distant past. It could be that some experiments from Azys Lla might have been sent over (or made it over accidentally).

In any case, there's definitely a lot we don't know at this point about how all this works.

[Daralii]

This may be a "don't think about it too hard" issue, but if the planet was divided into shards, what does that mean for the universe around each shard? In the trailer (and on the Shadowbringers loading screen), we see that after returning the darkness to the First there are stars in the sky. That means either one of two things: either the planet is enveloped in some sort of field so that only its shards exist out of "phase" with the rest of the universe (but you can still see the rest of the universe out there), or the entire universe was "sharded" into different alternate timelines as well.

If it's the former (only the planet is affected), then the question would be what happens when someone from outside the planet crosses the "field" -- do they just end up on the Source automatically and it's like the shards don't exist, or do they get automatically "sharded" into 14 copies? If someone from one of the non-Source shards were to travel to space, would they eventually cross the field and rejoin the "source" universe or would they just basically cease to exist once they exit the affected area? (Is it even possible for inhabitants of Hydaelyn to leave the planet and so be disconnected from its aether, or is the entire universe similarly full of aether?)

If it's the latter (alternate universes), then it would mean that Midgardsormr would actually exist in all 14 alternate timelines, and so he could decide independently to go to the planet in each timeline. The evolution from that point would still be different obviously.

I guess another possibility (aside all the above), since we know the Crystal Tower is the key to cross shards, is that the Allagans may have connected to the First themselves in the distant past. It could be that some experiments from Azys Lla might have been sent over (or made it over accidentally).

In any case, there's definitely a lot we don't know at this point about how all this works.

The question's compounded when you consider that Zodiark is/is in the moon in the same way that Hydaelyn is/is in the planet. Does the moon sit in the same phase-alignment bubble that the world does, or do the shards just not have a moon? We obviously haven't seen the First at night, and it hasn't been in any of the scenes of Derplander parting the clouds.

[Lambdafish]

Puks are technichally a small species of dragons that aren't related to Middy, Also some might consider Drakes to be a type of dragon as well.

Drake's are descendants of midgardsormr, and I think Puks are too. The vast majority (if not all) dragons seen in heavenward are either Nidhogg or Hraesvelgars brood, and any dragons seen before that (I.e merycidian dragons) are either bahamuts brood or tiamats brood.

This isn't 100% confirmed I don't believe, but we can make heavy assumptions. Think of them like the legions of the garlean empire, many different types, all under one leader

[Anonymoose]

Neither drakes nor puks are dragons; they are scalekin that, when seen with the Horde, were minions subjugated by dragon magicks and forced to serve as cannon fodder.
(Note, however, that the puk model is occasionally modified / repurposed for young quadrupedal "shield / lesser dragons" like the Vigil heir.)

[MrThinker]

5.0 Preliminary notes Spoiler

Either that's a dragon or convergent evolution is being taken to some unbelievable levels here.

[Starblessed]

People need to get it out of their head that all "dragons" need to come from Midgardsormr. This is factually incorrect. Different aether, environments, lack of calamities would let things evolve at their own pace on the other shards that exist within the different dimensions surrounding the source that house them. Not alternate universes. Let's not parrot the theory of a youtuber. Besides, if what Solus has said is true, Hydaelyn is not the Mother Crystal and we can't trust what either of them have to say until we get the whole story. I hope that mount is the trial mounts for the expansion.

[Anonymoose]

People need to get it out of their head that all "dragons" need to come from Midgardsormr.

Easier said than done when we've only ever been told that Midgardsormr came to Hydaelyn "at the beginning of (assumed to be post-sundering) time" with seven eggs and all true dragons (in the FFXIV sense) are descended from his first brood. This was reiterated very recently in the Omega story arc, where Cid dubbed Midgy, "the ancestor of all dragons on Hydaelyn." Again, that doesn't mean scalekin don't exist in all dimensions; they probably do. And dragons could, as well. BUT we'd need official content to bridge the gap, not assumptions based on screenshots.

[Nalien]

Neither drakes nor puks are dragons; they are scalekin that, when seen with the Horde, were minions subjugated by dragon magicks and forced to serve as cannon fodder.
(Note, however, that the puk model is occasionally modified / repurposed for young quadrupedal "shield / lesser dragons" like the Vigil heir.)

This actually has me wondering about the impact Dragons have had on the evolution of scalekin on the Source... They've essentially domesticated them, compare it to something like the real world example of wolves and dogs... Their evolution was controlled as a result, but on the Shards? Potentially not the case, who knows what they could have evolved into with no "higher" species exerting any pressure on them. Puks in particular (4 legs, 2 wings) could easily have evolved to fill the Dragon shaped niche that, well... Dragons took on the Source... Essentially, the role of "apex" winged scalekin predator was filled by aliens on the Source, so the native winged scalekin species never evolved to fill that niche, but they easily could have on the Shards.

Heck, going back to the wolves/dogs idea, Puks might have been a whole lot more draconic in the past, but years of inbreeding by the Horde resulted in what we see today. Puks are essentially the Pugs of the scalekin world... Puk... Pug... Coincidence?! Absolutely.

That said, my money is still on the simply answer; Crystal Tower. There very much does seem to be a dragon egg sitting in Il Mheg, but "Why are there Dragons on the First?" is kind of overshadowed by "Why is Crystal Tower on the First?" IMO, and I imagine the later answers the former.

[Starblessed]

Easier said than done when we've only ever been told that Midgardsormr came to Hydaelyn "at the beginning of (assumed to be post-sundering) time" with seven eggs and all true dragons (in the FFXIV sense) are descended from his first brood. This was reiterated very recently in the Omega story arc, where Cid dubbed Midgy, "the ancestor of all dragons on Hydaelyn." Again, that doesn't mean scalekin don't exist in all dimensions; they probably do. And dragons could, as well. BUT we'd need official content to bridge the gap, not assumptions based on screenshots.

We have to remember to not take the words of a young mortal man whose knowledge of history is severely skewed and limited because the mere existence of the calamities utterly annihilate historical records, as it currently stands Hydaelyn is NOT what we've been lead to believe she is. And she's lied to us before. I doubt much thought will go into it but the dragons on the first, be they scalekin evolutions or primordial dragons native to the planet before the sundering, look cool.