Questions about the Thirteenth shard [Spoilers]

[Kalise]

So during the MSQ... [Spoilers]


Emet-Selch reveals that his plan is to rejoin the shards to revive Zodiark at full strength and then sacrifice the remaining lives on the Source to bring back his kin that died to fuel the original summoning.

However, it's noted that the Ascians have "Made a void of the Thirteenth", meaning it cannot be rejoined. Would this not have had an effect on the plan, given that Zodiark can thus only be at best 12/13ths of his full strength?

Also, is the Thirteenth in a state similar to what the First would have been in had Minfilia not stopped the Flood of Light, only instead of being engulfed by Light, it is engulfed by Darkness? (Meaning the reason for the lack of the rejoining is no large unbalance on the Source happening simultaneously, as is hinted at for the First's rejoining being a combination of the Flood of Light on the first and the release of Black Rose on the Source)

Finally, as all the shards are linked (At least, to the Source), shouldn't the Thirteenth be having an effect on the Source's aether, much like how the First's situation was thinning the aether?

Or is the situation with the Thirteenth that it essentially doesn't exist as a shard any more? (Despite still housing a ton of Voidsent and having a link to the Source allowing for tears in the void to occur so that said Voidsent can travel to the Source)

[ReiMakoto]

The 13th can no longer be rejoined by a calamity, but if Zodiark was to wrest back control (aka after one more rejoining) he would have the power to just forcefully rejoin all remaining shards including the 13th.

The 13ths aether is effecting the source, there are voidsent practically everywhere in the source.

[Anonymoose]

This question has been coming up a lot since we first heard his plan given voice that way in-game.
"Shouldn't the plan have been possible from the start?"

We've been told the aether on the Thirteenth was annihilated. How can anyone ever be whole again?

We have a few avenues of speculation, but on the surface it seems strange nothing has addressed this head-on.

Perhaps the Ascians have faith Zodiark has the power to "undo" something. Recall that Nabriales says during the Chrysalis that time itself bows before Zodiark. Or perhaps we've been misled (or the team has retconned something and we've been "mistaken" until now). The First's aether wasn't annihilated, we're "fixing" it right now. Or was that only because the Flood was incomplete? Would it have been annihilated if that last circle around Norvrandt had closed? Perhaps Elidibus air-lifted the "Shard of Darkness" from that dimension when he got Unukalhai and Cylva. (Sure would have been my priority if I were him.) (...Sabik?)

Who knows! I have to assume the story will address it at some point. The team has done so well polishing the world lore when needed.

[Kalise]

The 13ths aether is effecting the source, there are voidsent practically everywhere in the source.

Though, that's not really to do with the aether affecting the source. Given that Voidsent aren't being created on the source via people being corrupted by an abundance of Dark aether (Much like how someone on the First might become a Sin Eater if they were to spend a lot of time in the Empty)

Voidsent on the Source come from the Thirteenth, via tears in the Void between shards. Either opened naturally, or forcibly (I.e. People on the Source performing rituals)

Heck, we've not even really noted any interactions of Voidsent ever even creating more Voidsent on the Source in the same way we see Sin Eaters on the First corrupting people's aether towards light causing them to turn into Sin Eaters. We only see them summon things into a host body (Typically dead bodies

We've been told the aether on the Thirteenth was annihilated. How can anyone ever be whole again?

More than that, how can the Thirteenth sustain Voidsent at all if the aether has indeed been annihilated.

I mean, unless we're to believe that aether corrupted beings such as Voidsent/Sin Eaters can both survive without any aether AND can persist the length of time since the incident on the Thirteenth happened without having eaten each other to extinction by now?

Recall that Nabriales says during the Chrysalis that time itself bows before Zodiark.

Though, recent revelations could lead to this being reference to the fact that the Ascians/Ancients are/were timeless beings able to live for eons. And with the implication that Elidibus (Or his predecessor?) is the heart of Zodiark it could very well be that a statement such as this might just be one of those numerous references to the fact that we, and our shards, are mortal and thus destined to turn to dust.

Who knows! I have to assume the story will address it at some point. The team has done so well polishing the world lore when needed.

Hopefully! Would be nice to get a little more of a look into the Voidsent. Perhaps after going to the Moon? (As I recently took a break from FFXIV to play FFI through to XIII, going to trips to the Moon is a surprisingly frequent plot point in FF games...)

[Raiya]

The 13th as of now is currently unable to be rejoined because it's flooded with darkness but that being said it's not impossible that the 13th could be salvaged at some point if something like Eden were introduced that could potentially reverse this, the empty is basically full of UMBRAL (light) alligned aether but the aether is still there, as we've seen in the Eden storyline so far it's possible to restore the balance by reintroducing the elements using a Primal of said alignment to convert the aether then dissipating it. As Aether in the 13th is essentially ASTRAL (Darkness) alligned it's possible that down the road it could be salvaged by doing the opposite but the challenge would be that you'd need to create a foothold on the 13th to begin with so that those going there dont get corrupted into voidsent. That and of course the other problem being that the voidcourt (Diablos/Cloud of Darkness etc) who were corrupted into their current forms by Auracite would need to be permanently disposed of as well to have a chance of properly reversing the damage.

[LineageRazor]

I suspect that "annihilated" is basically shorthand for the much-more-complex explanation that is has been rendered into such an active, chaotic state that it is now completely incompatible with life. Like saltwater, the Voidsent may thirst for it, but they cannot drink it.

Or, at least, that's the explanation they'll retcon in now. When they originally wrote "annihilated", they likely really meant annihilated. The story has greatly evolved, since then...

[Zohar_Lahar]

As aether is indicated to be matter/energy in the FF14 setting, I generally would think the laws of thermodynamics still apply here unless explicitly shown otherwise. Thus for the Thirteenth Shard's aether to be gone, the question is "where did it go?" If voidsent are aether starved, why can't they die?

[Eloah]

It's been hinted at in game that although the 13th cannot be rejoined, yet, it is not an entirely lost cause. Think about it this way, the 1st was about to be completely engulfed in light, but was "able" to be rejoined. It stands to reason that the same was possible for the 13th, but because of poor planning things just went awry.

[foussi]

As aether is indicated to be matter/energy in the FF14 setting, I generally would think the laws of thermodynamics still apply here unless explicitly shown otherwise. Thus for the Thirteenth Shard's aether to be gone, the question is "where did it go?" If voidsent are aether starved, why can't they die?

Hmm judging from how umbral/astral works, I guess the aether still exists but is basically super dispersed and in a state where it can't be used, like moving to fast to stay in the body.

[Iscah]

The 13th can no longer be rejoined by a calamity, but if Zodiark was to wrest back control (aka after one more rejoining) he would have the power to just forcefully rejoin all remaining shards including the 13th.

That's not a fact. It was fan speculation when we were told pre-Shadowbringers that the Eighth Calamity would be the last, and we were trying to make sense of what that would mean.

In the end, it seems more likely to be a reference to the nature of Black Rose and that the world in that timeline was damaged to the point that there may not be anything left of humanity to guide to a Ninth Calamity.