Why does no one remember Dalamud?

[PorxiesRCute]

There used to be two moons in the sky. Then one of them hatched and a dragon came out. But the weird thing is, no one outside of Eorzea seems to have ever noticed Dalamud's existence.

Two minor exceptions:

1. There's a Red Chocobo FATE in Bozja where an NPC says "It's the second coming of Dalamud!" Perhaps delving into Cid's backstory reminded the devs it existed?

2. One Xaela tribe, the Dalamiq, is said to worship Dalamud. We never see them in-game. Otherwise, everyone on the Steppe talks a lot about the sun and the singular moon.

How is it the second moon that existed until only five (canonical) years ago has had zero impact on Hingan, Yanxian, Hannish, and Turali culture?

[Enkidoh]

Uh, just because people don't constantly bring it up now doesn't mean they're not aware of it - it's happened, they know it fell, and yes, it affected everyone, but the more important thing is they survived and continue to live, which is more important. The annual Rising event is all about this - celebrating Eorzea (and by extension, Hydaelyn's) survival and rebirth after Dalamud's fall (and meta wise, FFXIV's ressurection after the disaster that was 1.0).

And it's not like Eorzea can ignore it anyway - there are literal pieces of Dalamud scattered all around Eorzea after all (*cough* Binding Coil of Bahamut *cough cough*).

[PorxiesRCute]

Sure, it doesn't have to be part of every single conversation, but like I said -- there's tons of discussion on, say, the Azim Steppe of Xaela mythology revolving around their sun and moon gods. What role did Dalamud play in that? We have no idea. And, canonically, it's only been five years since it fell. You'd think it would come up, like... ever.

The Rising is specific to Eorzea, noplace else observes it.

[Cleretic]

Five years ago in real life was 2019. What was the most important world event to you that happened in 2019? For me it was probably the Australian election that year, but that's because I'm both Australian and politically active, the global number one is probably the fire at Notre-Dame.

How much do you, as a real person in real life, talk about the fire at Notre-Dame in 2024?

Five years is actually a long time when it comes to casual conversation topics; chances are, even the Azim Steppe's just sorta talked out on that point. There's more recent and more important things to discuss.

[Tahli]

Strange that people are missing the point.
Yes obviously every character knows it crashed 5 years ago, and may not be talking about the crash on a daily basis. But for a major celestial body that has been as present as the larger moon for THOUSANDS of years, yes it really is weird that there aren't more folk tales, cultural traditions, or things named after it that we can see in the world.

[PorxiesRCute]

Five years ago in real life was 2019. What was the most important world event to you that happened in 2019? For me it was probably the Australian election that year, but that's because I'm both Australian and politically active, the global number one is probably the fire at Notre-Dame.

How much do you, as a real person in real life, talk about the fire at Notre-Dame in 2024?

Five years is actually a long time when it comes to casual conversation topics; chances are, even the Azim Steppe's just sorta talked out on that point. There's more recent and more important things to discuss.

Covid started in 2019.

Just saying.

And the point isn't just that Dalamud fell five years ago. Like Tahli says, the point is that for thousands of years, until only five years ago, there were two moons.

If the IRL moon suddenly crashed into the Earth one day, I really don't think all evidence of its existence (outside of the one place it crashed into) would disappear from our culture and collective memory.

[Cleretic]

Covid started in 2019.

Just saying.

I did think of bringing up covid, but that's actually a bit of an unhelpful example because that wasn't just one moment, that was the start of a very long-term thing that's still ongoing. In Eorzea, sure, that's true of Dalamud, but off in Othard? Sure, it happened, might've even been a big deal at the time, but today, the fact that the tiny secondary moon isn't there anymore isn't an especially important issue on the day-to-day.

Yeah, they probably have started spinning up some stories! You just didn't ask, and they're not that interested in talking about it right now. They've got a life, and that life probably didn't revolve around Dalamud.

[Tahli]

quote

A lot of art and culture does revolve around the natural world that they see around them, though. There are obvious ones like Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te. Even aside from that, you would think to see depictions of it just as much as the larger moon still in the sky, no?

[Cleretic]

A lot of art and culture does revolve around the natural world that they see around them, though. There are obvious ones like Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te. Even aside from that, you would think to see depictions of it just as much as the larger moon still in the sky, no?

I would, if they had any art of the moon at all!

That's sort of a thing there; we don't really see a lot of art and culture in-game, just because the game never really has the aim to put much focus on it. Weirdly, the main exception I can think of is actually fairly recent, we saw a lot of the Yok Huy's art comparatively-speaking because it was fairly important to their story. We honestly rarely see any art that isn't, like, statues or portraiture, unless you count fashion and food (which I would if it were deliberately framed as such, but it rarely is).

So yeah, I would expect 'oh yeah that second moon is gone' to be a prominent figure in their art! Art that we don't see.

[Turnintino]

The simplest explanation is just that it's rarely relevant.