Elidibus and the First Warrior of Light (Spoilers)

[Soge01]

Since Elidibus was the first WoL, did he travel two and from the Source and First, and maybe even other worlds spreading the legend of the WoL across them in order to inspire future generations of mankind to rise up and take his place so he could then subsequently guide them.

I ask this question because Elidibus as the WoL not only shows up in the picture book the head Librarian in the Crystarium reads to us, but his armor is also obtainable back in the early 2.0 Crystal Tower Raids as the "Armor of Light", save for his helmet which is replaced with a tiara.

[Anonymoose]

I harbor some doubt that we're actually supposed to run very far with that implication to begin with.

Mowen
This, my friends, is Norvrandt's oldest epic. The original tale of the struggle between good and evil. In a time when all lay shrouded in Darkness, a prophesied hero rose to deliver the world from its doom. Fighting in the name of the Light, the hero styled himself its foot soldier. And thus did he come to be known as “The Warrior of Light.” Curiously, in the centuries that followed, other heroes appeared who claimed the selfsame epithet, despite sharing no discernible connection with their predecessors. And in time, Warrior of Light came to be a name accorded to all men and women of uncommon skill and valor.

First things first, this all goes back to Final Fantasy I. The phrase "shrouded / veiled in darkness" and a prophesied hero being the world's only hope is the opening of that game. The armor of the Warrior of Light is the concept art for the Knight class from Final Fantasy I, which is also the cover of the Japanese game.

Where I think it goes sideways is that English was the only language that chose to omit a reference to "the Crystal"

クリスタルに導かれし光の戦士 - The Warrior of Light, guided by the Crystal
Krieger, gesegnet vom Licht und geleitet vom Kristall - The Warrior, blessed by the Light and guided by the Crystal
le Guerrier de la Lumière, béni du Cristal - The Warrior of Light, blessed by the Crystal

Whether we call them Zodiac Braves or Archons or Warriors of Light, the label always eventually get applied to people who are heroes but are not Hydaelyn's chosen, yet the associations remain. I believe that the stories are originally of Hydaelyn's champions, but that Elidibus is (by virtue of being connected to a primal summoned from a desire to save the world) able to tap into the spiritual vigor and zeal of any who wish to save the world, and that he is thus appropriating the guise generic hero as his armor, which is a fitting foil to us, who have adopted the cloak of darkness for Shadowbringers.

We do know that Elidibus sometimes curbed Darkness when it was ascending too high, and adopted the guise of fighting for the Light to bring out heroes and tap into their power. Hells, we saw kinda him doing it live in the Warring Triad arc. But the references to "The Crystal" and "The Light" in those lines make me doubt that Elidibus is necessarily the First Hero of Norvrandt.

[JeanneOrnitier]

I didn't get the impression Elidibus was literally the first WoL either, he just became a Primal in his shape same as Ysalye took Shiva's shape.

[ObsidianFire]

The thing with Elidibus is that he is already part of a primal when all that goes down: Zoidark. Which... really begs the question of what desire caused Zoidark to be summoned to begin with. And... I don't think it can be much different than the desire that Elidibus uses to make himself look like the WoL. That is.. saving a realm from destruction.

So I think Zoidark was summoned the same desire and Elidibus has been going around taking advantage of people having faith/belief in the idea of a world savior. Because that faith/desire helps keep Zoidark around, same as the faith/desire in oh... Bahamut and the Warring Traid, kept them around. Zoidark needs people to believe in the idea that gave birth to him. Which seems to be "save the world even if it causes you to sacrifice for the greater good".

Ironically, we spend a lot more time helping other people save their own world (even all the way back in ARR, we are fighting with other people rather than for them). And there are some sacrifices we aren't willing to make. So our brand of heroism doesn't give rise to people having faith/belief in the ideals that gave rise to Zoidark.

[TuskenRaider]

When we take a look into Elidibus' memories in Anamnesis Anyder, we see him looking at a vision of the original Warrior of Light and stating:

"Sundered though you may be, you fought for the world's salvation. For hope. Hope. It swells within me. Empowers me. Now, now I may carry out my mission."

Based off of this, it makes more sense to me that one of Azem's shards was the original Warrior of Light on Norvrandt. Elidibus just took inspiration from the WoL/Azem and used it to turn himself into that figure, similar to Archbishop Thordan VII turning into King Thordan.

[DPZ2]

The simplest explanation is that Elidibus, in trying to counter the Warrior of Darkness (us), uses a trope that has long been part of Norvrandt legend to pattern himself as the Warrior of Light.

I doubt that the book we see, with its artist's drawing of the fabled hero, is to be taken as a literal depiction of the original Warrior of Light on the First.

I point out that everyone who has read Sherlock Holmes books and stories has an idea of what he looks like. Actors who have portrayed him in movies and video games rely on artists' drawings, in particular those of Sidney Paget. Did Sherlock Holmes actually look the way he is was drawn? Without a photograph (which Conan Doyle does not provide), we will never know ...

[The last paragraph only slightly tongue-in-cheek, with apologies to Sherlockian's everywhere]

[Morningstar1337]

Come to think of it, Omega did try a simialr stunt in Alphascape (twice)

[Hank_Hotspur]

For years players have theorized if enough people believed in the ideal of the Warrior of Light if that would make a primal of us and now we finally see that concept in the game except it was hijacked and purposefully stoked by Elidibus

[Anonymoose]

For years players have theorized if enough people believed in the ideal of the Warrior of Light if that would make a primal of us and now we finally see that concept in the game except it was hijacked and purposefully stoked by Elidibus

I'm so glad I'm not the only one laughing at this, lol.
After we all beat the trial I sent a bunch of lore friends, "Hey. Hey. ... The Warrior of Light is a primal." and got a bunch of angry groans and boos.

And of course Rocl's favorite emoji:

[SilverArrow20XX]

When we take a look into Elidibus' memories in Anamnesis Anyder, we see him looking at a vision of the original Warrior of Light and stating:

"Sundered though you may be, you fought for the world's salvation. For hope. Hope. It swells within me. Empowers me. Now, now I may carry out my mission."

Based off of this, it makes more sense to me that one of Azem's shards was the original Warrior of Light on Norvrandt. Elidibus just took inspiration from the WoL/Azem and used it to turn himself into that figure, similar to Archbishop Thordan VII turning into King Thordan.

This was my interpretation as well.
The first WoL was a sundered being who Elidibus saw and admired. He later took the mantle of WoL himself at times when he needed to balance the scale.
Though that first WoL wasn't necessarily in Norvrandt. He could have been on the Source or any of the Shards. Elidibus can freely travel between them after all.