Hi, I'm new to this forum as a whole but you guys seem to know a lot about the story of this game so I figured there was no better place to ask my lingering questions. I'm done with the whole MSQ btw, so don't worry about spoilers

I'm sure this has been brought up many times before but I really wanted some clarification on the time traveling aspect of FFXIV, truly this is the singular aspect that intrigues me the most in the whole story. Right so first of all I see everyone saying how the whole trip to Elpis created the time loop in which the whole story is built upon. My question is how could there possibly be a time loop in this universe, considering Graha Tia's original timeline? In Graha's timeline, both Zodiark and Hydaelyn exist and everything is pretty much the same, however in that timeline the WoL died without ever travelling to Elpis. Based on that it's safe to say that Hydaelyn and Zodiark would have been summoned regardless of the WoL's actions in Elpis, right?

Unfortunately, there are some issues here, and these issues are the root of all my problems. How did Elidibus "remember" seeing us in Elpis before sending us back there? If the only reason he sent us is because he remembered seeing us there, then that's a time loop. How did Argus, who never trusts anybody to ride on his back, trusted us with no issue? The easy explanation for both of these is that they simply mistook us for Azem, seeing that our souls are the same.

But then we get to the Pandaemonium raids and we learn that Azem told Themis that we were coming. But how could he have known that? I've seen theories that Azem has the power to see the future and that would, indeed, answer all the problems.
What do you think? Is there a time loop? And if so how is it possible, given what I said about the alternate timeline?