Where's the aether? (Spoilers)

[NegativeS]

We know that, in the beginning, each ancient Etheiran had their soul divided across ten and three reflections (and the Source) by Venat. So aetherically dense were these ancients and their world compared to how we are now, compared side-by-side we are mere faded specters of a will.

With each reflection Rejoined to the Source, so too does the life on that reflection perish in a world-consuming cataclysm. However, the souls of these lost lives do not immediately seek their Source counterpart to rejoin with--instead, we know that they enter the Lifestream again to be born anew. This was the sole goal of Golbez in the 6.X patches, who attempted to force a Rejoining by literally breaking down the barrier between worlds--the ramifications of which would still be unknown, as previous Rejoinings have only resulted in the reflection's aether flooding the Source, not the world itself actually colliding with the Source.

However, despite seven reflections having been Rejoined up to our current point in the story, there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the Source and the reflections. We've traveled to two (three if you count Alexandria) thus far, and despite their obvious problems, the people there seem no more or less 'complete' than us. You'd think, the Source having been rejoined seven times, the denizens and worlds of Norvrandt, the Void, and Alexandria would be as faded to us as we were to the ancient Etheirans of Elpis. In fact, they pose just as much a threat to us as any being from the Source does.

So, the aether from Rejoinings isn't going into the people of the Source or its new life, nor does it seem to be suffusing the world. Hydaelyn certainly wasn't getting any of it (or she wouldn't have been on death's door since the end of ARR).

So, uhhh... where's the aether?

[Kes13a]

there must be enough of it to create a sea somewhere.....

[kaynide]

There might be some misunderstandings;

The souls of these lost lives do not immediately seek their Source counterpart to rejoin with--instead, we know that they enter the Lifestream again to be born anew.

As far as we know, the rejoining does cause the souls to merge onto their source counterparts. Whether it happens on that particular souls next birth or not I'm not sure, but considering our character had 7 and then 8 "souls worth" of aether post Shadowbringers, I'd say evidence leans towards soon after a calamity.

This was the sole goal of Golbez in the 6.X patches, who attempted to force a Rejoining

My understanding was that Golbez was not trying for a rejoining- he was just trying to cause mass-death of everyone in the void since they essentially could not die.

previous Rejoinings have only resulted in the reflection's aether flooding the Source, not the world itself.

The "Source" is the actual world itself. (the non-reflection world)

[NegativeS]

As far as we know, the rejoining does cause the souls to merge onto their source counterparts. Whether it happens on that particular souls next birth or not I'm not sure, but considering our character had 7 and then 8 "souls worth" of aether post Shadowbringers, I'd say evidence leans towards soon after a calamity.

This confuses me, though. If we, 7- or 8-times-rejoined, were faded specters to the complete ancients, why were the 0-times-rejoined denizens of the First and Thirteenth exactly the same as us?

The "Source" is the actual world itself. (the non-reflection world)

Sorry, by 'the world itself', I meant the reflection. As in, the reflection's aether is returning to the Source, not the literal planet that is the reflection colliding with the Source, like what seemed like what was about to happen at the end of the Void quests.

[kaynide]

This confuses me, though. If we, 7- or 8-times-rejoined, were faded specters to the complete ancients, why were the 0-times-rejoined denizens of the First and Thirteenth exactly the same as us?.

I forget the specifics in game, but my understanding is the sundering caused certain races to develop across all shards and the source itself. So that’s why we all look the same.

If you are talking power or strength or literal levels or why some random dude on the 1st can put up a reasonable fight against you, it’s because it’s a video game. (As unsatisfying as that is)

If the events in game were to be treated as “real”, we can see instances where our heroes do extraordinary things, especially with regards to taking down the Lightwardens- something probably suicidal to the average joe on the source. I don’t know if that’s necessarily because of having more aether or being lucky or just being a highly experienced adventurer, so fair point.

[EusisLandale]

If you are talking power or strength or literal levels or why some random dude on the 1st can put up a reasonable fight against you, it’s because it’s a video game. (As unsatisfying as that is)

They did to an extent explain that in Endwalker. Being Aetherically thin grants better access to Dynamis, so despite being weaker in one regard the reflections are stronger in another and balancing out.

[Basteala]

They did to an extent explain that in Endwalker. Being Aetherically thin grants better access to Dynamis, so despite being weaker in one regard the reflections are stronger in another and balancing out.

To expand on this, some jobs care about aether more than others (and some, arguably, about dynamis more than others). For the sake of argument, a shard where people have lesser aether might have say....more potent dancers or dark knights (or their respective equivalents), but potent mages would be in very short supply.

Think about it. How many good mages were there on the First? Or on the Thirteenth for that matter? On the First, the only real cases we see from a caster standpoint that I recall were very specifically bred for generations to be the ultimate mage, and all that work seemingly paled compared to some of the greatest mages we've seen on the Source.

[Musashidon]

i mean if we are going to question anything how did venat make all those suns/moons i mean unless the sun/moon was like 13/14 times larger and she just split them into pieces also.

[Jeeqbit]

there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the Source and the reflections.

This does bother me to a degree. Why aren't people on the First smaller? Why is there not a clarification that using magic is harder for them due to lack of aether?

You'd think, the Source having been rejoined seven times, the denizens and worlds of Norvrandt, the Void, and Alexandria would be as faded to us

The Void can be explained by the joining of beings merging together. Alexandria can be explained because its people originated from The Source. But Norvrandt can't be explained so much unless they at least struggle with magic and summoning.

the aether from Rejoinings isn't going into the people of the Source or its new life

I think it's supposed to be going into people on the Source. Krile even questioned at first why her aether wasn't weaker after learning she was from a shard.

[TBerry]

This does bother me to a degree. Why aren't people on the First smaller? Why is there not a clarification that using magic is harder for them due to lack of aether?

If you split STEPHENSON 2-18 into 13 evenly massed stars, chances are they are still bigger and more massive than our sun. Probably even enough mass to create 13 black holes.
It's probably enough aether to not make any difference at all.