Eorzea or Etheirys?

[XiaoShengwu]

the realm we currently exist in...which is it's name?
I've heard multitudes of people say Eorzea, but i've also been seeing far more mention towards Etheirys of late in the story...sooo which is it?

From what i've seen in terms of maps and lore references, Eorzea isn't even the realm per say, it's the region of the planet we're on. Aldenard, lslabard & Othard.

[Kranel_San]

Eorzea: The main realm we live in

Aldenard: The continent which Eorzea is in (Yes this part is confusing)

Hydaelyn/Etheirys: The name of the planet

[Ilisidi]

Is said Etheirys is the unsundered planet. While Hydaelyn is the source/the sundered one.

[JeanneOrnitier]

Eorzea is the name of the region made of the continent of Aldenard + surrounding islands like La Noscea.
Etheirys is the name of the planet. Hydaelyn is another name for it before the characters learned the name Etheirys in Endwalker.

[Brightamethyst]

Eorzea - A collection of allied city states located on the continent of Aldenard, on the planet Hydaelyn.

Hydaelyn - The name of the planet we live on.

Etheirys - What the ancients used to call the planet pre-sundering.

[Iscah]

Aldenard: The continent which Eorzea is in (Yes this part is confusing)

It's actually the other way around. Aldenard is the name of the continent, but "Eorzea" includes Aldenard, Vylbrand (the island where La Noscea is located) and also noted in the lorebook to include the Cieldales and other smaller islands.

[Renathras]

The best real world example I can think of:

Aldenard = Australia - the continent itself
Eorzia = Oceania - the region of the world that includes the continent and surrounding island/ocean expanse
Hydaelyn = Earth - the name of the planet
Etheirys = Terra - the name the ancients (Roman empire) called Earth

It's not perfect, but that's probably the best general overview.

I used Australia because there's not really another good "Oceania" equivalent for other continents in the real world. Like North America "includes" the Caribbean islands by default, whereas Oceania includes areas that are not typically considered part of Australia (the continent) itself. Likewise, Africa includes Madagascar, otherwise we could use the word "Africa without Madagascar" for Aldenard and with Madagascar (as our La Noscea in this case) for Eorzia.

...but anyway, maybe that helps?

[Ransu]

The best real world example I can think of:

Aldenard = Australia - the continent itself
Eorzia = Oceania - the region of the world that includes the continent and surrounding island/ocean expanse
Hydaelyn = Earth - the name of the planet
Etheirys = Terra - the name the ancients (Roman empire) called Earth

It's not perfect, but that's probably the best general overview.

I used Australia because there's not really another good "Oceania" equivalent for other continents in the real world. Like North America "includes" the Caribbean islands by default, whereas Oceania includes areas that are not typically considered part of Australia (the continent) itself. Likewise, Africa includes Madagascar, otherwise we could use the word "Africa without Madagascar" for Aldenard and with Madagascar (as our La Noscea in this case) for Eorzia.

...but anyway, maybe that helps?

[Listrella]

Eorzea is the continent where the 3 starting city states as was as Ishgard and Ala Mhigo are on. Eiteirys is the name of the planet as a whole.

[Enkidoh]

Eorzea is the continent where the 3 starting city states as was as Ishgard and Ala Mhigo are on. Eiteirys is the name of the planet as a whole.

It's not actually, as others have stated, Eorzea is not a continent, it's the region of the world that encompases the continent of Aldernard and the island of Vlybrand. Etheirys is the Ancient name of the world, before the original Final Days and the Sundering, after which people called it Hydaelyn. Think of it like how in our world the continents of Europe and North America are often called 'The West', it's a geopolitical region that is larger than a continent, but not a continent in itself.

Part of the confusion is unfortunately because of SE's original promotions for the original version of the game (version 1.0) always stated 'Eorzea' as the game's setting with the name Hydaelyn barely rating a mention (which, did make sense, given gameplay back then was restricted to Eorzea only and not Hydaelyn at large)., and this continued into ARR. And now with EW and the likes of Urianger immediately swapping to referring to the world as 'Etheirys' even when he has no reason or need to do so, it's made things even more confusing.