Most ambitious summoning?

[Carin-Eri]

That's just it, though. Most everyone who ever summons a primal does it usually as part of a collective for a grand purpose such as defending their entire people or putting an entire people down. These most basic of precepts are even present in the eldest two primals, Zodiark (defend people) and Hydaelyn (destroy people).

Then there's Zenos. Summoning Shinryu with leftovers(why were there leftovers anyway, didn't they say that it took all of the mothercrystal just for the Ragnarok in the first place?). Using one, single primal to travel that same distance as all other primals summoned for the Ragnarok. Then continuing to use said primal as a keystone in the WoL combating Meteion.

Ambition's definition as a verb is: "To seek after earnestly; aspire to." And Zenos did that more than anyone, even serving to highlight the earnest pursuit of simple pleasure as a bulwark against all encompassing despair.

And he succeeds in his ambition. The goal may be small, but there is literally no one else in the story who has a smaller goal when it comes to using/summoning a primal. And there are precious few primals that actually succeed their summoner's ambition. And fewer still done with audacity.

Edit: (Although it is sort of fun to think about how similar Zenos's purpose for summoning Shinryu was to Gilgamesh's accidental summoning of Enkidu. Ultimately, the ambition of both was to be with their friend.)

One has to acknowledge how he went about the whole thing too. He marched up to probably the largest gathering of the nations in one place claiming to be an associate of the Scions. Whilst I have no doubt whatsoever that he had absolutely no interest in trying to win a popularity contest, its probably fair to say that everyone present in Old Sharlayan at that moment either feared or hated him (or both), and he almost definitely would've known that.

Yet he managed to convince a group of people who'd likely sooner he'd remained dead to help him get what he wanted.

[ICountFrom0]

Also the Ifrit example wouldn't have been a primal..

Using ifrit to keep a volcano from exploding, was the very first primal ever made.

[Cleretic]

And he succeeds in his ambition. The goal may be small, but there is literally no one else in the story who has a smaller goal when it comes to using/summoning a primal. And there are precious few primals that actually succeed their summoner's ambition. And fewer still done with audacity.

I mean, success is also not part of ambition. If it was, our list of contenders for 'most ambitious summoning' would be way shorter! (I think it's like... Ilberd's Shinryu, Zodiark and Hydaelyn, Anima, maybe that first historical Titan summoning; I had Tsukuyomi on this list but I'm not sure I'd call it a success).

If anything I feel like Zenos' Shinryu should be on a different list of least inspired/ambitious/considered primals; he didn't turn up to Sharlayan planning to summon a primal, he didn't have a plan at all and just happened to have a fitting trick when he heard the situation. Given both the aether and strong ideals required for summoning a primal, it's rather exceptional when someone can crack out a summon basically on a whim or by mistake. Ambition isn't exactly a requirement of primal summoning, but it's rare it's not part of the recipe, so those rarities are exceptional.

Using ifrit to keep a volcano from exploding, was the very first primal ever made.

Ifrita was not a primal, she was just a concept swiped from the libraries. Primals are an alternative, cranked-up and less regimented (and later, intentionally corrupted) form of creation magic, they are not the same thing.

The first thing we know of that's actually called a primal was Zodiark. However, there may have been others before him; I'm personally of the theory that Quetzacoatl from Akadaemia Anyder was a primal, but it was a pretty wimpy and unambitious one as far as the category takes us.

[Lyth]

I wonder. I don't think that the story has given us the complete picture on the differences between Concepts and Primals. For example, the 'Primals' that help power the Ragnarok are technically made with Creation magic. Yet their banter seems very similar to their Summoning magic counterparts.

I do think the two approaches do have more differences than what we've been shown. For example, Creations were largely viewed as subservient and disposable, while Primals are worshipped, despite the physical 'forms' being the same. My gut feeling here is the difference will eventually be revealed to be that Creations are rooted in intellect and aether manipulation in the traditional sense, while Summoning draws on emotion and faith, which may carry an as yet undisclosed dynamis component. But that's one of the reasons why I want to see what the Meracydians thought about the art. Summoning is one of Final Fantasy's most iconic techniques. Is it really just 'derivative Creation magic'?

As for the topic, it depends. 'Ambitious' in this context has to mean 'difficult'. 'Audacious' could be either 'risky' or 'disrespectful' in context. If it's the latter, you could make a good case for Ilberd's battlefield summoning of Shinryu on the bodies of the fallen, Zenos' summoning of Anima using the remains of his father whom he murdered, and Fandaniel's destruction of Zodiark to usher in the Final Days. If it's the latter, then both the original summoning of Zodiark and Hydaelyn were both in uncharted territory with significant risks involved. Of course, the Amaurotine leadership were playing 4D chess with each other the whole time (the ramifications of which are still pending in Pandaemonium/Myths), so it's hard to say how much risk any of them were actually taking.