What's up with Bahamut?

[TheMightyMollusk]

Aside from Bahamut, Enkidu, Thordan, and the Bozjan queen whose name escapes me just now, we have no irrefutable evidence that any of the primals ever actually existed beyond folklore before being summoned.

Good King Moogle Mogg is a strong maybe, since he's just a bigger moogle; Ravana's physical form seems to be based on an Allagan construct (seen in the Fractal Continuum as a boss), but it's never really addressed; and Susano may or may not count as a primal at all, if there's any real difference between a primal and a kami.

And Alexander is a weird case, because the primal is based on the folklore based on the primal because time loop shenanigans, I don't want to think about it too hard.

[Enkidoh]

Good King Moogle Mogg is a strong maybe, since he's just a bigger moogle;

He's more than that - he was revealed during a Moghome quest that he was actually the first chieftain of Moghome (Chieftain Moggle), and the story about him "dropping a golden rope" to let the moogles escape to the surface is a cultural memory of the transporter between Halo in Mourn (in the Dravanian Forelands) and the Churning Mists - he even had a personal guard that the Mooglesguard were based on.

So the moogles on the surface remembered this historical figure in a somewhat vague and haphazard way, they knew he was a monarch, that he pressured moogles to escape by using a 'golden beam/rope' transport them to the surface from a place high in the sky when an apocalyptic event occured, that he was attended by seven guards/retainers, and that he had 'Moggle' in his name, but that was all they knew, and after the 'Paragons' visited them, they pretty much filled in the blanks, resulting in King Moggle Mog the XIIth.

Personally I think this was to finally put to rest the questions at the time still surrounding him about whether he was a 'Primal' or not, given he wasn't considered a god, which is what the meaning of Primal was meant to represent, but it did make it clear that his whole story was based on a real historical figure.

And of course, we saw this idea further continued with Shiva's real history.

[Cleretic]

Aside from Bahamut, Enkidu, Thordan, and the Bozjan queen whose name escapes me just now, we have no irrefutable evidence that any of the primals ever actually existed beyond folklore before being summoned.

Good King Moogle Mogg is a strong maybe, since he's just a bigger moogle; Ravana's physical form seems to be based on an Allagan construct (seen in the Fractal Continuum as a boss), but it's never really addressed; and Susano may or may not count as a primal at all, if there's any real difference between a primal and a kami.

And Alexander is a weird case, because the primal is based on the folklore based on the primal because time loop shenanigans, I don't want to think about it too hard.

Alexander is a BAFFLING mess of time travel paradoxes, because what you forgot to include is that he's also based on the Enigma Codex's descriptions of an impossible machine (which may itself be based partly on the folklore). So it's a primal, based on blueprints for a machine, based on folklore, based on the primal. And then of course we have to add in the Tycoon, which is a machine, based on the primal, based on blueprints for a machine, based on folklore, based on the primal.

All that just makes you look back fondly on Ifrit, who's literally just 'angry fire god'.

Although some other amendments: The Queen's name is Gunnhildr! Also, speaking of Ifrit, there is mention in the Tales from the Shadows stories of a fire spirit in the days of Amaurot named Ifrita; it's not clear if or how she's related to modern Ifrit, but there's clearly the hint that she is. Also, Susano is a primal, but is one created entirely by accident, based on the kami.

[Beddict]

Aside from Bahamut, Enkidu, Thordan, and the Bozjan queen whose name escapes me just now, we have no irrefutable evidence that any of the primals ever actually existed beyond folklore before being summoned.

Garuda is another one. The Ixal are a chimera race created by the Allagan Empire originally known as the iksalion, and designed as soldiers for the Garuda Airborne Division led by a female general. The iksalion were indoctrinated to unfailingly obey specific individuals, and it's presumed that their indoctrinated loyalty to the female general eventually became worship, their past fading into myth as the general became known as Garuda. Azys Lla also faded into myth after the fall of the Allagan Empire, and is now the Ixali promised land, Ayatlan. Source is the quest An Unwanted Truth and Encyclopedia Eorzea Vol. I Page 249.