[Spoiler] Isn't Dark Knight using Akasa ?

[Cleretic]

The point about new zones and areas in the map are a good one; FFXIV is generally very good about revisiting old lore and places instead of abandoning them for the new thing. Like the primals, they will often re-contextualize and add to with additive retcons, but that's in part because this is a MMO.

Spoken like someone who definitely wasn't super invested in Gelmorra or Silvertear Lake. They do drop interesting setting hooks sometimes, it's just that it's more often 'quietly file a side thing back into nonexistence' rather than 'yeah this big thing is no longer a thing anymore'.

I just want to point out this was originally a thread about how dynamis could be intregrated into the story as a concept and how it could maybe be applied to old lore retroactively, for people who are interested in the subject.

And it has quickly devolved into people coming in and saying "actually dynamis is shitty writing and I do not like it". You're free to have that opinion, but it is a shame it has completely overshadowed the original point of the thread.

Honestly, the lore subforum's had a lot of that going on lately, a few people consistently stomping into discussion about any part of the story they don't like, going 'IT BAD' and derailing the entire discussion. I'm getting rather tired of it, because I really am ready for a good talk about what was actually laid out.

[RyuDragnier]

I'm getting rather tired of it, because I really am ready for a good talk about what was actually laid out.

Same here, it's getting real old real quick. I've almost put several posters in these subforums on ignore, something I've never had the urge or wanted to do before now. I don't like that it's getting to this level either, it's reaching the point to where I see certain posters and want to just instantly disregard anything they state, which isn't healthy for discussion of lore.

[Iscah]

Likewise, it's never definitively stated what Elidibus uses to power his Limit Breaks. There is, however, this unresolved bit of dialogue from your showdown with him (Hope's Confluence):

What of it?! I have my mission! I am Elidibus! And it is my duty to steer mankind and the very star upon their true course. This I swore to... to someone. We spoke, and I swore... what? What did I...?

Ah, poor old amnesic Elidibus. I really can't help but wonder if his Warrior of Light, his summoning magicks, and his 'Limit Breaks' all draw inspiration from a certain chance encounter on Elpis, countless years before. I'll laugh if he makes that promise after discovering the cause of the terrible cry from within the earth that set off the Final Days. Perhaps in a place in the depths with lots of Creation magic.

I'm not sure that adds up. The promise he's struggling to remember simply seems to be the vow he would have given when he joined the Convocation, except his memory has failed to the point he can't even remember them.

As for the Warrior of Light, we were specifically told in 5.3 that the incarnation Elidibus drew on is a Vrandtine legend - likely a previous life of Ardbert's soul-shard. That legend is the idea that Elidibus is manipulating everyone into thinking about and then drawing strength from their faith, so it makes sense that his "primal born of that faith" takes the form of their collective mental image of the hero.

[Cilia]

Honestly, the lore subforum's had a lot of that going on lately, a few people consistently stomping into discussion about any part of the story they don't like, going 'IT BAD' and derailing the entire discussion. I'm getting rather tired of it, because I really am ready for a good talk about what was actually laid out.

On topic... I concur that DRK, WAR, and DNC may be manipulating dynamis to some extent, though I'd caution against saying it's absolutely true. The only thing I can say for certain is (probably) dynamis manipulation is Limit Breaks, since those are implied to be so; the Ancients in Ktisis using Limit Breaks is pretty easily explained as them temporarily pushing back against the lockdown restrictions. (Gameplay and story segregation / integration, amirite?)

[KariTheFox]

I think it's worth pointing out that when it comes disciplines like dancing, they are not really being studied extensively by the leading aethorologists of the world. Dancers just say they are manipulating aether through thier dance because that is what they understand "energy" to be. It might be aether, it might be dynamis. I don't think enougn in-universe research has been done on Dark Knights or Dancers to know.

Though I like to imagine some Hannish alchemist writing a paper theorizing that Dancers are using akasa, and it failing peer review because they had no way of proving it at the time.

[Lyth]

From the Flame in the Abyss (Lv. 58/Heavensward):
Ahhh, I think I'm beginning to understand this whole “darkness” concept, kupo!
Harnessing the power of your emotions or some such, yes? I'm reminded of an ancient legend about a moogle named Mog─rather simple name, I know, but those were simpler times, kupo! Anyway, Mog had a penchant for dancing, and─

Wait, wait. What does dancing have to do with the dark arts?

Everything, kupo! Everything!
The point is, your master was absolutely right when he told you to “submit to the flame.” You just never figured out what he meant by it.

I think that should answer OP's question.

Part of the resistance to Dynamis comes from the broader Lore forums wanting to flex on the writers in an attempt to demonstrate that they're smarter and more knowledgeable about game lore. Part of it also comes from the fact that Dynamis is coded as emotional and irrational, and those things are scary. What I find fascinating is that most of Azem's current travelling companions have years of formal education under their belt and carry doctorate equivalents, but the idea that there might be something out there that contradicts the fundamental assumption/axiom that underpins all their theories is met with 'Huh, I didn't know about that. Tell me more.' Odd that genuine scientific curiosity is so rare, and that it's so much more common to become emotionally attached to your dogmas.

[RyuDragnier]

What I find fascinating is that most of Azem's current travelling companions have years of formal education under their belt and carry doctorate equivalents, but the idea that there might be something out there that contradicts the fundamental assumption/axiom that underpins all their theories is met with 'Huh, I didn't know about that. Tell me more.' Odd that genuine scientific curiosity is so rare, and that it's so much more common to become emotionally attached to your dogmas.

I attribute that to how many over the top things they've seen over the course of the game. They've seen body snatching ancient souls, have traversed worlds, learned that their "astral and umbral" polarities were "dark and light" respectively (they believed the opposite), have seen a long lost ancient civilization's city and its downfall, and have in general seen so many things to where they'd be fools not to believe something that may seem outlandish. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up in the Hildibrand questline and took it all seriously.

[KariTheFox]

I'm not sure how you can say dynamis "solved problems" when it was quite literally the cause of the final days. If anything it was an antagonistic force that our aether-based characters had to find ways to counteract.

Also, in the context of Endwalker, it was introduced very early on through the Elpis flowers and in Thavnair, and explored more throughout the Elpis questline before being central to the ending. And even prior to Endwalker, there was a looming question of what unknown force caused the Final Days; and then Endwalker goes on to introduce and explain a previously-unknown force that caused the Final Days; seems like decent enough set up and payoff to me.

[Lyth]

...

Dynamis doesn't get introduced in the eleventh hour, in this story, however. The Elpis flower and its associated musical motif shows up in the Level 80 quest 'The Medial Circuit', which is the fifth quest in. The term Akasha shows up for the first time in the Level 81 quest 'The Color of Joy'. You're given plenty of foreshadowing well in advance of any of these things becoming plot relevant. The story also very deliberately makes a point of feeding you lines such as Hermes' "A flower" and Hyth's "Perhaps when our time comes to return to the star, we shall remember the days we had lost,' which are very deliberately delivered in a throwaway fashion initially only for them to come back with a vengeance at the climax (they do cheat a bit by changing the delivery each time). It's amazing how even lyrically that bit of refrain that we've heard in the trailer for months, 'Our song of hope she dances on the wind, higher, oh higher/On wings of hope you rise up in the night' carries a whole other emotional impact when it contextually slams into you during your fight with the Endsinger.

I don't think that a formal discussion of Dynamis was at all necessary for resolution of this story. Even if you willfully ignore the running theme of the indomitable spirit triumphing against all odds that comes up in FFXIV time and again (didn't they literally spell this out for us with Alpha and Omega), this is a recurring theme in the wider Final Fantasy series as well. Many long term fans would have been more surprised if the montage of our friends praying for us didn't show up in the final fight, as part of the obligatory homage to FFIV. (Again, can I reiterate how much powerful storytelling in this game gets conveyed simply through sound? The simple inclusion of the sound of the Scions' gloves tightening makes the moment feel even more clutch.)

If you want to talk about hard vs. soft magic systems, it's worth looking at Amaurot's Creation magic first as an example of soft magic. This is actually the sort of thing that runs the risk of Deus Ex Machina, much more than Dynamis. But much like the Gandalf example included in your link, it really exists just to highlight a difference in power between the Ancients and ourselves. And we'll probably see the counterpoint/flaw to its use get demonstrated in the current raid series, given the identity of the one who was historically in charge of Creation Magic.

It's also worth remembering the zeroth rule: 'Always err on the side of awesome.' It's perfectly fine to have an epiphany at the climax. The highlight of Shadowbringers' climax was the Revan reveal moment: Emet's stunned look just after you rejoin with Arbert and Emet realizes that he's up against Azem. Despite having a predilection for hard magic systems, Sanderson does this all the time with plot twists in his work as well. Characters always break their limitations in the climax. Not because it was preordained in dialogue box 23 from ARR or in book one of the EE vol. 1, but because it's hella cool.

[Theodric]

I think people are free to interpret the story and its supposed 'themes' however they so wish. Especially when the game's themes change as often as the wind blows. ARR and HW were prone to gritty realism for the most part, with many lasting consequences all around for both antagonists and protagonists alike. It was from SB and beyond where the tone shifted towards some of the more controversial and predictably stale JRPG tropes.

No story is going to please everybody, though I think it does a lot of people a disservice to dismiss concerns about Dynamis being introduced so hastily at so critical a point. Many of us have invested in and played the likes of WoW. We've been at these crossroads before and seen large swathes of a story retroactively changed to suit the latest whims of what the writers think is 'cool' as well as increasingly contrived methods introduced to empower and keep certain characters alive.