Sundering stuff established in the Q&A

[Rannie]

Hey he may get a minion... I want him as a minion... that was said in the live letter. And he did say he holds off on people in the game who aren't finished (minus the scions obviously) to have minions made of them.... so *crosses fingers*

[Rosenstrauch]

As an aside, it is pretty weird in hindsight that Elidibus had such glaring memory issues when Venat, sitting in the heart of the aetherial sea, did not. But it's also pretty weird that Endwalker introduced Kairos, a fantastic device that can irresistibly erase and rewrite memories, and then just sort of discarded it after the Elpis climax.

Not gonna lie—I'm not terribly enthused at the idea of Kairos coming up as an explanation for that, though. I can only imagine one character having any reason to use it on him, and it would just feed into this even more.

[Absimiliard]

As an aside, it is pretty weird in hindsight that Elidibus had such glaring memory issues

That we at least have a proper explanation for. The truth of the matter is that the Elidibus we interacted with wasn't actually Elidibus. That was a primal constructed using what remained of him within Zodiark, but it wasn't him in the true sense. A great many things were either lost or changed in the transition, though he did apparently regain access to many of his lost memories after being defeated.

[KizuyaKatogami]

As an aside, it is pretty weird in hindsight that Elidibus had such glaring memory issues when Venat, sitting in the heart of the aetherial sea, did not. But it's also pretty weird that Endwalker introduced Kairos, a fantastic device that can irresistibly erase and rewrite memories, and then just sort of discarded it after the Elpis climax.

Not gonna lie—I'm not terribly enthused at the idea of Kairos coming up as an explanation for that, though. I can only imagine one character having any reason to use it on him, and it would just feed into this even more.

Honestly, especially now after EW, 5.3 has so many issues i can’t even address them all, but yeah i guess they needed some way to rush Elidibus out of the picture for whatever reason and replace him with fandaniel and zenos as antagonists, which clearly did not go very well. The memory issues were their way of doing that. Doesn’t make sense in the slightest but sigh.

[EaraGrace]

To be honest there is a conflict in YP's answers around the races and the sundering. In his answer to the sundering and the Unsundered surviving. He stated that she "Let them survive" implying the attack killed the others. But if that was the case then, his answer around the races evolving over time is in conflict to this.

To be honest, it may be that they are going to delve into some aspects in the future.

My personal headcanon is that the Sundering killed everyone, bar the unsundered and then she utilised concepts to recreate life on all of the shards. This is why the other races ultimately look the same and also why she referes to WOL and co as her children. It would also explain the disparity between the races, as we know that the Ancients creations... are not exaclty logical.

I believe the phrase specifically was “let them live Unsundered” which obviously would point things in a different direction.

As an aside, it is pretty weird in hindsight that Elidibus had such glaring memory issues when Venat, sitting in the heart of the aetherial sea, did not. But it's also pretty weird that Endwalker introduced Kairos, a fantastic device that can irresistibly erase and rewrite memories, and then just sort of discarded it after the Elpis climax.

Not gonna lie—I'm not terribly enthused at the idea of Kairos coming up as an explanation for that, though. I can only imagine one character having any reason to use it on him, and it would just feed into this even more.

There may be an explanation with the Q and A info we now have. Zodiark maintained the souls used in his creation, whereas Hydaelyn by design used everything possible, including the soul aether of those who volunteered. In 5.3 the reason for Elidibus’ deterioration is posited by Y’shtola to be the effect of all those voices overwhelming him, drowning him out. Venat however would not have that problem, as hers was the only voice left.

And I think the memory concept stretches back to 2.0, with the memories of the WoL being wiped due to the surge of aether, (or for legacy players, Hydaelyns aid).

[Iscah]

I feel it's more that they built Elidibus up to be too good an opponent previously, and they couldn't find a way for the protagonists to convincingly beat him so his ability had to be undermined instead.

(And then took a further jarring shift with Tales From recasting him as an "adoring younger brother" type to the group, which is... what.)

Additionally, his presumed role in Pandæmonium means that he doesn't get to appear in the credits "passing the torch" scene with the others, because they can't officially show him as an ancient and identifiably Elidibus yet.

[Skyborne]

I feel it's more that they built Elidibus up to be too good an opponent previously, and they couldn't find a way for the protagonists to convincingly beat him so his ability had to be undermined instead.

(And then took a further jarring shift with Tales From recasting him as an "adoring younger brother" type to the group, which is... what.)

Additionally, his presumed role in Pandæmonium means that he doesn't get to appear in the credits "passing the torch" scene with the others, because they can't officially show him as an ancient and identifiably Elidibus yet.

Elidibus in 2.x: Scheming manipulator who always seems to be a step or two ahead of the heroes, mysterious, seems to have more going for him. May or may not 'help' us. Told Nabriales to not harm Minfilia, and attempted to put a leash on Lahabrea.
Elidibus in 3.x+: Essentially takes over Lahabrea's role now that he's gone, sets the stage for the 8th calamity with multiple backup plans. Attempts to take us out directly afterward, with no room for negotiation.
Elidibus in 5.x+: reeeeeeeeEEEEEEEeeEEEEEEeee I am an amnesiac hero running on fumes, I will now proceed to drop everything and just throw myself at you, ungabunga. I am also not actually Elidibus, but a copy of him reconstituted from Zodiark goo. Please be sad and clap. Though, to be fair, he actually had the smartest plan of just dropping us into the Rift to suffocate and die. Not his fault Emet-Selch decided to help us.

[Iscah]

Elidibus in X.x

Prettymuch.

It also was a really big deal at the time that Urianger was able to outsmart Elidibus at his own game in 2.X, and now that's kind of ruined too. :/

---

(I'm a little unclear whether he counts as "really Elidibus" or not once reconstituted, though. I would tend towards not, but we've never had any hint of him being elsewhere.)

[AlexionSkyllark]

The player races are descended from Sundered Ancients. Non-Hyur developed their inhuman traits over time to compensate for deficiencies created by their essence being broken unevenly and trying to recover - for example, Miqo'te grew bigger ears because of loss of hearing.

Now... good luck forum, trying to explain how Lalas came to be. What did they compensate when reducing their size and blowing out their cheeks?

[Anvaire]

To be honest there is a conflict in YP's answers around the races and the sundering. In his answer to the sundering and the Unsundered surviving. He stated that she "Let them survive" implying the attack killed the others. But if that was the case then, his answer around the races evolving over time is in conflict to this.

To be honest, it may be that they are going to delve into some aspects in the future.

My personal headcanon is that the Sundering killed everyone, bar the unsundered and then she utilised concepts to recreate life on all of the shards. This is why the other races ultimately look the same and also why she referes to WOL and co as her children. It would also explain the disparity between the races, as we know that the Ancients creations... are not exaclty logical.