It Hydaelyn sundered herself, why doesn't First Hydaelyn handle the flood of light?

[Jonnycbad]

If Hydaelyn is a Primal of Divine Light, and she can empower Minfilia with the capability to stop/contain The Flood of Light, doesn't that mean that Hydaelyn has the power to stop it herself? In Heavensward, Source Hydaelyn directs Minfilia to the First using the Aether of the 6 crystals of light given to her by the WoDs and WoL. We know Hydaelyn is weak due to her helping us with Ultima Weapon and from enduring 7 calamities, but the reflections of Hydaelyn on the other shards shouldn't be as weakened? That said, if Hydaelyn can empower Minfilia to stop the flood, why can't First's Hydaelyn simply mitigate the flood herself? If you say she doesn't have the power over that kind of light then explain how Minfilia does it when she received the gift as Word of the Mother directly from Hydaelyn? [

[LilimoLimomo]

She didn't sunder herself; there's only a single Hydaelyn.

[Cleretic]

It's difficult to say what, if anything, her doing that actually means or does in any form, because she's a freak situation in the context of the already wack-as-hell context of the sundering. So any answer we can possibly give is a presumption on top of a presumption.

That said, my theory lies in comparisons to Zodiark. If this is true (it's hard to know how much weight to give it, being a single line that's never called to anywhere else), plausibly she's in much a similar situation to him, with pieces spread out within the core of each shard's aetherial sea. There are defintiely differences in their symptoms, but presuming that Zodiark's appearance is something of a physical manifestation of something that's more metaphysical with Hydaelyn, we can start making some inferences.

Zodiark was a goddamn mess. We can see what parts of him were still not reattached; he's missing most of a wing, several tentacles, a number of apparently individually-disconnected arms, basically every part of his torso below the ribcage. Unlike human beings, who got effectively split into smaller versions of themselves, it seems like the form of the sundering that Zodiark (and by extension Hydaelyn) was hit with more just cleaved off parts of them. Parts that may not even be independently operable, let alone of any notable power by themselves.

I think that, maybe the alleged First shard of Hydaelyn just wasn't powerful enough to stop anything. After all, Source Hydaelyn lacked much ability to do anything without us to lead a charge. Hell, she might not even be anything more than the Zodiark shards, just an inert body floating in the aetherial sea.


Alternatively, I can put forward an even bigger reach of a theory. I don't think this is true, because if it was then something in-game would've said it, but consider:

Being subject to the sundering herself, Hydaelyn had thirteen shards. We know very little of what Hydaelyn did post-sundering, but the largest thing we know she did involved using some amount of her own power to create beings that she'd give specific charges, based on the people who sacrificed themselves so that the Hydaleyn plan could happen.

Perhaps it's not a coincidence that there were thirteen of them. And that, of all the characters that could've been the one to give this specific piece of information, it was one of those thirteen.

[Zero-ELEC]

This is, of course all speculation, but I always figured that Hydaelyn's shards were inert. As in, they had no will of their own, inherently. Assuming Hydaelyn's sundering is like Zodiark's, when Fandaniel took control of Zodiark, he didn't seem to take control of him across all of the shards, so presumably Hydaelyn's "heart" (will) stayed on the Source. Assuming each of her sundered shards is in each reflection, she might have been able to use her shards as a connecting point to interact with the various reflections (how she granted the Blessing of Light/Traveller's Ward to people automatically, how she was able to bring souls from one lifestream to the other, how she sent Minfillia to the First, etc.)

[Iscah]

The most likely answer is that this is a poor translation or some other kind of writing error. There is never any other mention of "other Hydaelyns" existing; there is just the one at the centre of the aetherial sea, who can somehow reach into all the other shards and move souls between them.

[Anonymoose]

In the earliest tellings of the sundering story, it was specified that "the power" of Light and Darkness was distributed throughout the dimensions. The most recent tellings specify that Zodiark was divided throughout all the moons' prisons. Several mentions in the middle actually leave out "Herself" in the list of things She sundered - listing only Zodiark, the planet, and everything on it. (The Watcher's speech being a notable exception.) "Herself" and "the planet" are sometimes used synonymously or to imply one another. I don't recall off the top of my head if the newest stuff ever gets this specific but I'll keep an eye out during reviews.

I suppose a possible explanation for the ambiguity is that She deliberately sundered the power of Light (as a counterweight to Zodiark's Darkness) without sundering her own mind/individuality. It's possible the act couldn't be completed if She became 14 copies of Herself in the middle of performing it; it's possible She didn't want to risk Her various selves drifting into 14 slightly different entities over the eons.

[Lyth]

...

When Ardbert's team came to the Source, they had been deceived by Elidibus into believing that the only way to save their world was to destroy ours. Minfilia's decision to give up her friends and past life to save the First was what set the Warriors of Darkness on the right path again. It had to be a member of the Scions, as their Source equivalents. You could argue that had anyone else intervened in Minfilia's stead, then Ardbert wouldn't have had the growth that he needed in order to save us in turn during Shadowbringers.

The Hydaelyn question depends on what sort of impact Her absence will have on both the lifestream and the stability of the remaining shards in the future. If things start to destabilize over time in Her absence, that may explain a limitation around Her involvement.

[PorxiesRCute]

How is this even a question? If Hydaelyn does have conscious, sentient reflections of Herself on the other shards, they are much weaker than She is. Even the Hydaelyn we know needed Minfilia as Her voice just to carry on a conversation with us. Hydaelyn's shards, if they exist, are too weak to do anything.

[Jonnycbad]

She didn't sunder herself; there's only a single Hydaelyn.

Literally look at the image in the OP.

[Jonnycbad]

How is this even a question? If Hydaelyn does have conscious, sentient reflections of Herself on the other shards, they are much weaker than She is. Even the Hydaelyn we know needed Minfilia as Her voice just to carry on a conversation with us. Hydaelyn's shards, if they exist, are too weak to do anything.

The source Hydaelyn is weak becsuse she had to shield us from Ultima. The shard versions didn't. Moreover, source Hydaelyn has endured 7 calamities and the Ascians say she gets weaker with each one which is why Matoya's crystal eye is said to be a stronger crystal if light than ours. In other words, the scions concluded Hydaelyn was stronger in previous eras because she didn't have as many calamities to endure. No calamities have befallen shards that have not yet been rejoined, so 5hos3 Hydaelyn shards should be fine.