I've been reading this thread all day. Enjoying it immensely. I just have a few things to add, sort of, bare with me since some of these may pertain to older posts.

First, in terms of the old C.E. artwork I can't even remember where I read it (it was atleast a year ago.) but there was a pretty healthy debate about the woman on the cover. I think concluding that it is Garuda purely on the feet is not the firmest of reasoning. Granted the feet are a good reference point, but given the overwhelming belief in Siren being our benefactor/puppeteer it would still make far more sense contextually if it were Siren, and the piece is indicative of an adventurer being touched and Awoken by Siren.

Moving on to the Labyrinth of Bahamut. Just throwing out the idea that the labryinth may actually turn out to be remnants of Dalamud after Bahamut has broken free of it. in the End of an Era video we see the key that Yoshi mentions falling out of Dalamud (and actually it looks more like it is one of the deific "swords" more than a key, leaving the potential for more than just one.) but we also see Dalamud break into fragments, a large portion of which being the underside, it could easily have fallen to the ground and become a sort of maze of wreckage.

The third thing I wanted to bring up, on the link between the 12 and Primals; By the very nature of the word Primal suggests to me something that is not very far along in it's advancement, the primals may be budding god-figures that haven't had time to become fully fledged deities. And given the snippets of information we have had it's possible that all of these beings are playing some sort of Battle Royale power struggle with each other utilizing mortals as they see fit. (this could also fit into the changing of ages as being the downfall/rise of another being.) It's possible that the 12 while seeming like a pantheon of gods may actually be just an alliance of these beings. The Archons then might be agents for the 12 or might even be avatars for the 12 themselves.