Latest FFXIV plot analysis

[Mihana]

Rydin that whole read seems like it came from someone hyped up on crack or something, no offense. I'll go the whole basis of the cutscene and everything here.

The cutscene that played was of present day. What we see happen is rather like a flashback, the Echo taking place. The Hyur male finds himself amongst a different party there facing a giant Malboro. As they defeat it one of the magitek machineries of the Empires crashes and unintentionally takes our Echo-minded friend for a ride. The airship is the one and same we see in Mor Dhona. The scene that plays out here is actually a replay of the battle that happened that fateful day.

Midgarsormr, the guardian of Silvertear Falls Lake (Check the Monk AF Storyline NPC he tells the whole thing.) rose up out of the lake as the Garleans were attempting their assault on this area. As the story goes, the dragon brought down the massive dirigible but the cereleum on board ignited and caused an explosion that killed the guardian along with it. With that it either summoned or released the Primals which shot across the sky. Perhaps they'd had been sealed away, maybe they had been there to aid Midgarsormr with their power. Either way its death seems to have released them.

Since the dragon appeared, the empire chose to retreat from the realm. Through storylines (I wish I knew what ones.) we learn that the empire has gotten their hands on Allagan technology and at the same time, used it to take control of Dalamud. It's also strongly speculated that Dalamud is really a massive man made moon. My own theory is this:

With the emergence of Midgarsormr and the Primals the Empire retreated to form a new plan. They see the Primals as a possible threat against their plans to conquer the realm thus desire to rid Eorzea of these Eikons (Garlean term for the Primals.). The real plan is that is deep underground in Mor Dhona lies a massive crystalline structure, the Crystal Tower. Mor Dhona has already been speculated via storylines to be the epicenter of all atherial magic, could be because of that tower. Using Dalamud the Empire plans to either crash the moon into the realm to unearth that tower, or perhaps when it's close enough it causes a chain reaction that will bring the tower to the surface (Think like the odd structures we see in the 2.0 concept art.) for them to enter.

The constant attacks on the realm we see now may be meant as a diversion to keep the Grand Companies from interfering with their overall true intentions. The magitek devices we see in the dungeons could even be what the Empire is using to track the flow of aether in hopes to find the exact location of the tower, I think that was mentioned before it's what they do...

There we go, figured out how to hide it.

[Rydin]

Rydin that whole read seems like it came from someone hyped up on crack or something, no offense. I'll go the whole basis of the cutscene and everything here.

Awww... come on... how many crack heads write plot analyses???
And I guess only crackheads are witty and clever

The cutscene that played was of present day. What we see happen is rather like a flashback, the Echo taking place. The Hyur male finds himself amongst a different party there facing a giant Malboro. As they defeat it one of the magitek machineries of the Empires crashes and unintentionally takes our Echo-minded friend for a ride. The airship is the one and same we see in Mor Dhona. The scene that plays out here is actually a replay of the battle that happened that fateful day.

I just can't accept that. There isn't one good reason why a) a Guildleve (AKA guild TASK) would be set in the past, b) The Echo would be performed on a guildleve plate or c) The adventurers guild would require that you be a part of the super secret "Path of the twelve" and thereby have Echo abilities to do leves

Occam's Razor has taught us that if all evidence points to these events being in the past... They're probably in the past

Every single guildleve is something that needs to be done... not some joyride into the past.... To even suggest that is quite a stretch

Midgarsormr, the guardian of Silvertear Falls Lake (Check the Monk AF Storyline NPC he tells the whole thing.) rose up out of the lake as the Garleans were attempting their assault on this area. As the story goes, the dragon brought down the massive dirigible but the cereleum on board ignited and caused an explosion that killed the guardian along with it. With that it either summoned or released the Primals which shot across the sky. Perhaps they'd had been sealed away, maybe they had been there to aid Midgarsormr with their power. Either way its death seems to have released them.

Yea.. this is true... I just like saying he was old and ready to die...

Since the dragon appeared, the empire chose to retreat from the realm. Through storylines (I wish I knew what ones.) we learn that the empire has gotten their hands on Allagan technology and at the same time, used it to take control of Dalamud. It's also strongly speculated that Dalamud is really a massive man made moon. My own theory is this:

You are thinking of "Two Vans are better than one"
But thats the thing... they didn't retreat from this event...
they have maintained a presence in Mor Dhona ever since...
I contend that this is NOT what halted the Empire's attack
There is an Echo scene where the The Legatus is chastising Cid for defecting while in a special cave near silvertear falls... the empire never left Mor Dhona....
I do think this battle prompted Ishgard to close its doors though
Bozja Citadel seems much more likely to be the reason for the empires retreat
Although they didn't withdraw at all... they still occupy Ala Mhigo

With the emergence of Midgarsormr and the Primals the Empire retreated to form a new plan. They see the Primals as a possible threat against their plans to conquer the realm thus desire to rid Eorzea of these Eikons (Garlean term for the Primals.). The real plan is that is deep underground in Mor Dhona lies a massive crystalline structure, the Crystal Tower. Mor Dhona has already been speculated via storylines to be the epicenter of all atherial magic, could be because of that tower. Using Dalamud the Empire plans to either crash the moon into the realm to unearth that tower, or perhaps when it's close enough it causes a chain reaction that will bring the tower to the surface (Think like the odd structures we see in the 2.0 concept art.) for them to enter.

Close, but I get the feeling Conquering Eorzea isn't the plan anymore...
possibly never was.... Eorzea will just be collateral damage
In which case, I don't think they see them as a threat to their "invasion plan"
instead I think the primals (Or maybe even destroying the primals) are the key to whatever power is there...
You're right, Crystal tower could very well be the means for accessing or even harnessing that power though

The constant attacks on the realm we see now may be meant as a diversion to keep the Grand Companies from interfering with their overall true intentions. The magitek devices we see in the dungeons could even be what the Empire is using to track the flow of aether in hopes to find the exact location of the tower, I think that was mentioned before it's what they do...

This I agree with completely

[Davorok]

Midgarsormr, the guardian of Silvertear Falls Lake brought down the massive dirigible but the cereleum on board ignited and caused an explosion that killed the guardian along with it. With that it either summoned or released the Primals which shot across the sky. Perhaps they'd had been sealed away, maybe they had been there to aid Midgarsormr with their power. Either way its death seems to have released them.

Since the dragon appeared, the empire chose to retreat from the realm.

With the emergence of Midgarsormr and the Primals the Empire retreated to form a new plan. They see the Primals as a possible threat against their plans to conquer the realm thus desire to rid Eorzea of these Eikons (Garlean term for the Primals.).

Perhaps the Garleans had captured those Primals but they were released when Midgarsormr destroyed the ship?

Apparently there exist Greater and Lesser Primals, and the Lesser ones can be Summoned by the Beastman Tribes (and eventually by us via Free Companies), so perhaps the Empire's original plan was to capture all the Lesser Primals because only they stood between the Empire and total domination.

What the Empire didn't count on though was that their actions awakened the Greater Primals (as well as us, "The Woken Ones) which stopped the Empire in their tracks. SO now they have decided to use Meteor to destroy even the Greater Primals or at least unlock the power of the Crystals in order to destroy the Greater Primals.

That is my guess anyway.

[Zantetsuken]

Perhaps the Garleans had captured those Primals but they were released when Midgarsormr destroyed the ship?

Apparently there exist Greater and Lesser Primals, and the Lesser ones can be Summoned by the Beastman Tribes (and eventually by us via Free Companies), so perhaps the Empire's original plan was to capture all the Lesser Primals because only they stood between the Empire and total domination.

What the Empire didn't count on though was that their actions awakened the Greater Primals (as well as us, "The Woken Ones) which stopped the Empire in their tracks. SO now they have decided to use Meteor to destroy even the Greater Primals or at least unlock the power of the Crystals in order to destroy the Greater Primals.

That is my guess anyway.

Your explanation seems to be the most logical one for the explosion of Primals at the end of the opening movie. --but why was the empire bringing them to Mor Dhona?


Side Topic 1: The Wandering Minstrel's (that is,YoshiP's) cryptic hint: "Yester with thine eyes, morrow by thine hands" has me wondering if he is referring to the loss of the echo post-2.0 or perhaps that the entire 7th Umbral is being experienced via the Echo -a dream within a dream.

Side Topic 2: The references of Dalmud's swelling from 10 years ago in the Dalamud Nigh article seemed to indicate nothing happened:

I finally came upon that which I sought: a reference to a blood-red Dalamud from ten summers past. On the night in question, an archer on duty at a guard station in the East Shroud noted that the lesser moon was giving off a reddish glow and promptly reported the development to Stillglade Fane. This anomaly, however, proved to be fleeting; by the time dawn broke, Dalamud had reverted to its normal hue, with scarce more than a handful of souls having borne witness to the baffling occurrence.

But perhaps that was just from the perspective of the Eorzeans. Apparently it was the catastrophic misfire of Meteor that hit the Bozja Citadel instead of Eorzea/Mor Dhona. Were those falling lights in the sky our echo-experience of the first Meteor attempt?

This is a great thread though. One of the forum's best.

[Rydin]

Thanks for this, I find the whole storyline to be very wordy, full of poems and quite hard to follow.

Sort of reminds me of Tavnazia.

Thank you for posting this, Rydin. The world/lore/plot is the most important part of my gaming experience, so <3 this thread.

You guys are welcome.... thank you for appreciating it....

If you weighed a couple hundred tons I would like to see how fast you moved ...

Hahaha... like the wind.... lol

Side Topic 1: The Wandering Minstrel's (that is,YoshiP's) cryptic hint: "Yester with thine eyes, morrow by thine hands" has me wondering if he is referring to the loss of the echo post-2.0 or perhaps that the entire 7th Umbral is being experienced via the Echo -a dream within a dream.

Echo-ception!!!!

Side Topic 2: The references of Dalmud's swelling from 10 years ago in the Dalamud Nigh article seemed to indicate nothing happened:


But perhaps that was just from the perspective of the Eorzeans. Apparently it was the catastrophic misfire of Meteor that hit the Bozja Citadel instead of Eorzea/Mor Dhona. Were those falling lights in the sky our echo-experience of the first Meteor attempt?

This thought actually crossed my mind... Dalamud hasn't gone anywhere...
But somehow they learned they couldn't control where it landed... and Bozja Citadel suffered as a result...
I'm thinking it was a smaller scale test... Dalamud could destroy Eorzea...
The test could have been with some smaller heavenly body, which is why it only took out the citadel
So they though "WOW... if we can't control this little thing... we definitely wont be able to control Dalamud"

This is a great thread though. One of the forum's best.

Thanks Z