Presence beneath Lake Silvertear, will we ever learn what it is/was?

[Jonnycbad]

Will we ever learn of Midgardsormr's pact with Hydaelyn and the presence beneath Silvertear that was sealed that he was guarding for 10,000 years? Also the mysterious unnamed primal that stopped gaius?

From a Gamerescape interview with Koji back in 2018:

Gamerescape: Speaking of stuff we talked about before that may have fallen through the cracks… Do you have any updates on the so-called "Mysterious Primal"? There was the idea that right after Gaius took Ala Mhigo, he was going to keep going, but a primal halted his advance. It could have happened in ’57; could have happened in ’62.

Koji Fox: That was related to the whole, “What lies deep beneath Silvertear!?” Yes, something stopped his advance. And then there was the trailer beam, tons of primals shooting out. And then there was the seal. What is it sealing? What was going on in there? A lot of this is where the 1.0 story was supposed to go, and there’s a lore reason for that.

When the Calamity happened, it caused a lot of changes to Hydaelyn. Whether that was enough to seal off something that was already sealed, but the seal was getting weak, or… That I don’t know. There could be something like that. The hint was that Gaius was stopped for a reason, and that it was a powerful force. There’s a presence. It wasn’t just Midgardsormr there, it was more of a force, and I can’t say anything more, for now.

[Baxcel]

It was a 1.0 thing.. I don't remember the entire thing but it was a seal on the aether or something of the like that kept the Primal from being summoned.. in the 1.0 cutscenes you can see on YouTube when Midgar and the airship died an crashed into it a font of aether was released and the essence of the Primals as well?

I need to look over it again so grain of salt lol

[Alleluia]

I thought they might tie this into the Myths of the Realm somehow, but I'm pretty sure they didn't? So... yeah, we still need some answers there.

Myths related speculation:

Maybe when Middy finally wakes back up, he'll tell us he was protecting the Phantom Realm or something. Cus the 12 apparently regulated the aether of the source from there somehow (and the instrument they left behind still will... or something), so it would make sense if the location needed protection. I guess? Even though I doubt Gaius could have gotten in and we know the allagans were in Mor Dhona with apparently no trouble and... yeah.

[Cleretic]

I find the way that this keeps going really surprising, because it's not just a 1.0 mystery that's never re-established as a mystery in the live game, but we already have an explanation in the live game. In fact, it's the exact same source that gave us the mystery in the first place!

If you talk to Erik, the scholar (lowercase) from the Monk quests, when you don't have a Monk questline actually going, you can ask him about a whole bunch of stuff. Most of this wasn't updated from 1.0, and it was one of these infodumps that established the Thing Beneath Silvertear Lake as an actual material mystery and in-universe thing. It's this infodump that got updated for ARR; I'm truncating a fair amount here as he retells the Battle of Silvertear, because the good part is afterwards.

But let us put aside dragons and empires, and speak instead of mine own latest discovery at the lake!

The aether of the area is in an extremely chaotic state. I had long thought this to be a result of the Battle of Silvertear Skies, but have learned that this is not the case!

The disturbances I have observed do not all derive from a single source. Beyond the imperceptible aether emitted by the Keeper of the Lake, there are even stronger aetherial waves coming from deep below the earth to the east.

I studied them in great detail, and learned that they are coming from a massive tower that was buried deep below the earth at the time of that battle─the Crystal Tower!

To think, I had stumbled upon this legendary structure─the very height of Allagan civilization and technology! The shifting and grinding of the earth caused by the Calamity woke the tower from its slumber of some five thousand years.

And, having since slowly risen from its earthen tomb, the tower pierces the skies once more!

You must someday gaze upon it with your own eyes. It is truly a sight to behold. Yes, I can still recall the thunderous applause of my colleagues when I presented my theory of the tower. They were a great deal more grateful than you, that much is certain.

There is a team of scholars who specialize in the study of all things Allagan. They are known as the Sons of Saint Coinach. At present, they are focusing their efforts on testing the validity of this theory. I very much look forward to news of their findings.

The reason we haven't heard anything about the Mysterious Thing Beneath Silvertear for so long is because it's very much not mysterious in-universe anymore, nor is it beneath Silvertear: it's the most obvious visual landmark in Mor Dhona.

I always put this as one of those things that results from 1.0 being sort of mythologized thanks to being near impossible to check. What at the time was a very small mystery gets elevated by the obscurity of the original source meaning that we miss stuff like emphasis. Meanwhile, the actual solution is exactly as small as the original mystery, so it gets completely skipped over.

EDIT: It is worth noting that Erik was added post-launch, after Yoshi-P took over and the process of developing ARR was going on behind the scenes. It's reasonable to assume that the original plan for Silvertear might've been different since Allag was basically a footnote back then, but in terms of the game world as it exists now? Yeah, we've had this answer for ten years.

[Alleluia]

Why would Midgardsormr be protecting the crystal tower's burial place as part of his pact with Hydaelyn, though? ... Though now I say it, I suppose the elpis timeloop might explain that retroactively. She knew it'd be important and asked him to protect it, maybe? You don't get that from that quote, though, regardless. A bit silly to be shocked people still bring it up, even with that quote, b/c Koji was still giving coy answers about it in 2018. Implying there's something to give coy answers about. So I don't think its fair to say we've had the answer for ten years and everyone just keeps sleeping on it.

[JepMZ]

I never really see it as mysterious. It's the place with highest concentration of aether. It's probably the planet's biggest node in its network of aether currents. It's probably where Hydaelyn created you know who's since their creation mythos talks about the whorl. This lake is probably the said whorl. We already know magic is aether.

If they going to add a new story to it adapted to all the lore changes, I'd say Hydaelyn and Emmett knew it's a natural spot with access to the most aether, so she tried to have someone guard it since it's a big potential candidate for a calamity to occur. Of course, the dragon failed during the allagan times, but it's something.

[Luizgazen]

I personally believe the "mysterious presence" and what Middy was charged with protecting are separate things, the former being the Tower, since it is directly stated in-game and thus irrefutable truth, and the dragon's charge being the Shadow Realm, since he arrived in the Source and formed his covenant with Hydaelin entire eras before the tower was built.

[P0sitr0nic]

Why would Midgardsormr be protecting the crystal tower's burial place as part of his pact with Hydaelyn, though? ... Though now I say it, I suppose the elpis timeloop might explain that retroactively. She knew it'd be important and asked him to protect it, maybe? You don't get that from that quote, though, regardless. A bit silly to be shocked people still bring it up, even with that quote, b/c Koji was still giving coy answers about it in 2018. Implying there's something to give coy answers about. So I don't think its fair to say we've had the answer for ten years and everyone just keeps sleeping on it.

Thats likely the only answer we will ever get. It was important to protect because it was used in their future to go back and tell them it was important.

[Alleluia]

Thats likely the only answer we will ever get. It was important to protect because it was used in their future to go back and tell them it was important.

Well I hope, if that's the explanation they're going with, that Middy or someone else outright says it at some point. It would be satisfactory.

[Cleretic]

One more thing to bring up about this that I think is important to note: If you all recall, we did have an entire storyline pretty recently set around Silvertear Lake as the main locale. The fact that this plot hook never came up during it suggests two things to me:

1. The writers well and truly have no intentions to use this plot hook any further. If there was any time it would've come up, it's in a storyline about a bunch of nerds studying anomalous scientific phenomena in and around Silvertear Lake; if they didn't take that opportunity, they never will.

2. Whatever the answer to that mystery is, we either already have it, or will never get it.

I still stand by 'this was just the Crystal Tower', but I do think it's worth outlining that situation: this is a dead plot thread (probably long dead, judging by the fact the quoted Koji answer in the OP was only really in a 1.0 context), and should be speculated about as such. That doesn't mean 'stop talking about it', that means we're more in the realm of archaeology and history than active investigation.