Crazy Personal Headcanons

[Lyth]

It is possible to use the Echo to read memories at will, and we learn as much on Elpis:

'There are two ways to see the past. The first entails peering through the walls of the soul in the moment a subject is recalling a memory. The second requires no subject, and is instead a process of piecing together an event from ripples left in the ambient aether. As memories are etched upon the aether of the soul, so too are they etched upon the aether of the world. In this way can history be preserved. Such memories are given to fading, however, and can prove challenging to visit.'

That's likely why you can't really lie in Amaurotian society. Any 'memory' that you verbally report can be cross-matched against the aetheric signature on your soul when you recall it to confirm its validity. And even if you don't say anything, the memory of the world itself is a witness. Granted, it's not completely foolproof if you have a means of altering memories, but I got the impression from Emet's remarks that Kairos' functionality wasn't strictly in line with the rules.

Narratively, though, it's primarily there to help you empathize with various characters and understand their motivations, much like your typical manga flashback.

[RyuDragnier]

It is possible to use the Echo to read memories at will, and we learn as much on Elpis:

'There are two ways to see the past. The first entails peering through the walls of the soul in the moment a subject is recalling a memory. The second requires no subject, and is instead a process of piecing together an event from ripples left in the ambient aether. As memories are etched upon the aether of the soul, so too are they etched upon the aether of the world. In this way can history be preserved. Such memories are given to fading, however, and can prove challenging to visit.'

That's likely why you can't really lie in Amaurotian society. Any 'memory' that you verbally report can be cross-matched against the aetheric signature on your soul when you recall it to confirm its validity. And even if you don't say anything, the memory of the world itself is a witness. Granted, it's not completely foolproof if you have a means of altering memories, but I got the impression from Emet's remarks that Kairos' functionality wasn't strictly in line with the rules.

Narratively, though, it's primarily there to help you empathize with various characters and understand their motivations, much like your typical manga flashback.

I'm hoping the "piecing together an event" becomes more common place with the echo. So less random "Oh by the way here's what this person remembers for some random reason" and more "Okay, relax, breathe, think of the event I want...now show it to me Echo."

[Kranel_San]

Here are some of my crazy personal headcanons that I thought would make more sense

1. Some extreme and savage encounters are canon while others are a combination of normal and their harder difficulty with few normal-difficulty encounters being canon. For example, I consider Thordan ex, Hades ex, Zodiark ex, Exdeath savage, and Kefka savage to be the canon over their normal counterparts.
   Meanwhile, I consider Shinryu, Innocence, ShB WoL canon encounters to be a combination between the extreme and normal difficulty
   And then we have O12N, Bahamut, Ultima weapon encounters are canon as they're in normal (No Omega didn't transform into some abomination and Bahamut didn't become super Sayan)
   
   
2. Instead of being one consistent job. My WoL label himself as an adventurer who keeps learning and trying out new jobs whenever possible. As a result, my WoL is an all-rounder who uses every job actions and even enhances some actions further based on the knowledge gained from other jobs.
   
   
3. Azem's crystal does not summon random guys out of nowhere, but instead, it gives me the advantage I need. For example, against Meteion it summoned a solid ground for me to stand and move freely on while also enhancing my abilities. Against Zodiark, it summoned seven solid clones of me to fight. Against ShB WoL, it just freed me from the rift.

[SannaR]

Here are some of my crazy personal headcanons that I thought would make more sense

1. Some extreme and savage encounters are canon while others are a combination of normal and their harder difficulty with few normal-difficulty encounters being canon. For example, I consider Thordan ex, Hades ex, Zodiark ex, Exdeath savage, and Kefka savage to be the canon over their normal counterparts.
   Meanwhile, I consider Shinryu, Innocence, ShB WoL canon encounters to be a combination between the extreme and normal difficulty
   And then we have O12N, Bahamut, Ultima weapon encounters are canon as they're in normal (No Omega didn't transform into some abomination and Bahamut didn't become super Sayan)
   
   
2. Instead of being one consistent job. My WoL label himself as an adventurer who keeps learning and trying out new jobs whenever possible. As a result, my WoL is an all-rounder who uses every job actions and even enhances some actions further based on the knowledge gained from other jobs.
   
   
3. Azem's crystal does not summon random guys out of nowhere, but instead, it gives me the advantage I need. For example, against Meteion it summoned a solid ground for me to stand and move freely on while also enhancing my abilities. Against Zodiark, it summoned seven solid clones of me to fight. Against ShB WoL, it just freed me from the rift.

1. Is definitely how I see it when I need to have a way of explaining how exactly we get some things or remember some things. 2 and 3 make a lot of sense.

[KageTokage]

Perhaps not a headcanon so much as it is a theory, but with all the myriads of...questionable experiments the Garleans were conducting in the research facility beneath the imperial palace, I'd be surprised if tampering with the void wasn't one of them given their people's history with the Reaper job, and perhaps that has something to do with both how Zenos got his avatar and why the tower is still radiating that unpleasant aura.

[Rulakir]

I suppose mine is that Etheirys will eventually return to being whole without Hydaelyn. It may take thousands upon thousands of years, but I believe that the sundering will naturally correct itself over time. The only exception is the 13th, but I'll be surprised if we don't handle that situation before the end of the game's run.

[KageTokage]

I suppose mine is that Etheirys will eventually return to being whole without Hydaelyn. It may take thousands upon thousands of years, but I believe that the sundering will naturally correct itself over time. The only exception is the 13th, but I'll be surprised if we don't handle that situation before the end of the game's run.

This honestly makes really wonder if/how they'll touch on the reflections other then the 13th going into the future, because while they can't reasonably devote an entire expansion to each, having them all of them relegated to a single expansion where we perhaps need to somehow "reinforce" the boundaries keeping them from rejoining with the Source in order to prevent disastrous consequences for all would feel similarly awkward after how the First was handled.

[Enkidoh]

This honestly makes really wonder if/how they'll touch on the reflections other then the 13th going into the future, because while they can't reasonably devote an entire expansion to each, having them all of them relegated to a single expansion where we perhaps need to somehow "reinforce" the boundaries keeping them from rejoining with the Source in order to prevent disastrous consequences for all would feel similarly awkward after how the First was handled.

Well, to be honest, apart from the First and the Thirteenth/Void, there's only four Shards left anyway, the others were all Rejoined. So I assume SE probably would just quietly ignore them for simplicity's sake.

[RyuDragnier]

This honestly makes really wonder if/how they'll touch on the reflections other then the 13th going into the future, because while they can't reasonably devote an entire expansion to each, having them all of them relegated to a single expansion where we perhaps need to somehow "reinforce" the boundaries keeping them from rejoining with the Source in order to prevent disastrous consequences for all would feel similarly awkward after how the First was handled.

They'd likely have an expansion for each Shard, and I have a feeling you're right on the money for what we'll have to do. Hydaelyn Sundered the world and Zodiark altered the aethercurrents...since Zodiark being gone currently has the Aethercurrents repairing themselves back into their original state (as shown by the FSH Studium questline), then Hydaelyn being gone means there's nothing keeping the shards separated anymore, they're going to combine. Probably not today or tomorrow, but over time they will...and with possibly the biggest Calamity the world will have ever seen.

In one such scenario, The First and 13th will likely have to be repaired before anything is done. A task easily done due to the excess energy in both. The First has too much light, not enough darkness. The 13th has too much darkness, not enough light...have their energies bleed into each other just enough, and they'll stabilize themselves.

[Rulakir]

This honestly makes really wonder if/how they'll touch on the reflections other then the 13th going into the future, because while they can't reasonably devote an entire expansion to each, having them all of them relegated to a single expansion where we perhaps need to somehow "reinforce" the boundaries keeping them from rejoining with the Source in order to prevent disastrous consequences for all would feel similarly awkward after how the First was handled.

I think the First only worked because it was on the precipice, 9/10 of it had been consumed by the flood so only Norvrandt was left. There's no reason that we know of why the remaining shards (excepting the 13th) wouldn't be full planets and players would rightfully wonder why we could only visit one continent. It's possible one (or more) of them could've obliterated itself similar to any of the worlds in Ultima Thule, but that's not dissimilar from what happened on the First so it'd still feel like a repeat of sorts. Were one embroiled in a world war it could not be safe for us to leave our destination, but they're wanting to move away from war stories (probably for the best).

Personally, I'd rather everything became whole again but I've never liked the sundering, which was compounded given the context of EW. The possibility that everything will eventually right itself brings me a measure of peace. At the very least, my 'crazy personal headcanon' is my WoL merges with all their other shards before returning to the aetherial sea so they can be fully cleansed as Azem and rejoin all their old friends.

Hydaelyn Sundered the world and Zodiark altered the aethercurrents...since Zodiark being gone currently has the Aethercurrents repairing themselves back into their original state (as shown by the FSH Studium questline), then Hydaelyn being gone means there's nothing keeping the shards separated anymore, they're going to combine. Probably not today or tomorrow, but over time they will...and with possibly the biggest Calamity the world will have ever seen.

Only if they all happened at once and assuming there are no mitigation efforts that can be made. I don't know what a rejoining without having to polarize a shard looks like either, maybe it's not as violent as what the Ascians were having to do.