Quote Originally Posted by Kesey View Post
Lets not forget that Nald'thal are twins who count as one god
As believed by Ul'dahns (or at least the dominant religious authority in Ul'dah). Most other Eorzeans believe Nald'Thal to be one singular god with two aspects. Having said that, there's also a widespread belief that the "dual aspect" is due to two separate aspects of Nald and Thal manifesting as a single deity, so they were presumably distinct; the disagreement seems to be whether they are currently separate or singular.

This is fairly common in mythology, so it's realistic world-building in that sense. I wouldn't be surprised if the game reveals that Nald'Thal was based on two separate people who were nevertheless very close (probably twin siblings, given how "obvious like anvil" the story has been), but there's also the possibility that the "two separate aspects become one" thing was created out of nothing, and the Nald'Thal inspiration was something else entirely, like some examples in mythology. Generally these are still two different deities, but they become associated together because, well, it makes a better story.

Of course, diegetically the belief by Ul'dah that Nald and Thal are separate deities is seen as similarly unusual as the belief by Gridania that the Elementals are all aspects of Nophica. So I'm a bit more curious about how this belief came about from the initial Nophica-inspiration.