CG Midlander

[Mieck]

Looks like I'm a little late to the who then = who now party. I rewatched the Gridanian missions up to the point it joins the others on Thursday, but didn't get a chance to post anything. I was leaning to Hermit/Khrimm theory as well. But there are other questions that arise because of it.

There are instances of "tells" to indicate that we are witnessing the past. One obvious one is the guildmaster in the Woodworking Guild in Gridania. Her coat is always red, but there are two versions of it. This can be seen in the cutscenes for Souls Gone Wild. Also, I think I'm right in saying there is a point where one of the present-day children walks in through the door of the same guild and morphs into Fye.

Now, I know there's a practical consideration on this as to why (assuming these Acilia/Minfilia, Khrimm/Hermit theories only seem to advance a child character model into a present-day adult character model, and I'm not familiar enough with the Limsa storyline to see if Blackburn has a child counterpart. I must say that the Gridania storyline is much more upfront about the Hermit/Khrimm connection.
In the final set of cutscenes for the cleansing of your woodsin, the Hermit is there when you arrive in amphitheatre, and then when it switches to Dunstan/Fye/Khrimm, the Hermit is gone. Also of note is the escort to Lifemend Stump. The Hermit is chastising the children for being so silly to place something there that can't be fixed, and then in the Echo, you see Fye and Khrimm placing something there that can't be fixed - the mask.

Hermit and Minfilia accounts for two of the three city storyline links to the Path of the Twelve storyline. Where is the link for Limsa? If there was a adult Lala (hard to tell, I know ) fishing at that spot in the cutscenes before the confrontation in the Echo between Y'shtola and Sthalmann, I'd say that was case closed, but there isn't.
Anyone got any leads on the Limsa link? I can't think they'd leave one out if we've found two already - and that is assuming they aren't just massive coincidences. Where Square Enix storytelling is concerned, there is no such thing as a coincidence.

Now, while I like all these connections, I do think it raises another point, and I don't have an answer to this. I hope someone else can come up with something.
10 years have passed, and in that time, Y'shtola, Papalymo, Yda, and Thancred have been in the three city states all that time?
In Futures Perfect (which is in the present day, because it features our path companion and Minfilia), the scene with the fight by Silvertear Lake features all four Archons and the path companion is a bit uncertain; is an Echo we are both in? Or is it real time?

One event that does tie the Archons to a ten year stay in Eorzea (and I know it's recent, so can't really be completely reliable for continuity to the old storyline) is Dalamud/Bahamut.

Edit: So what have they been doing for ten years? If the battle shown in Futures Perfect is in the present day, why did the Archons intervene? What was their angle? Does the previous Ala Mihgan Resistance failures mentioned by Minfilia in Futures Perfect have anything to do with occupying these years (again, assuming that the Archons were involved and that is why they turn up at the end ...if that is the present... ugh, makes my head hurt)