As most everyone knows, the cause of the Final Days in the unsundered world is a topic of much debate. We have only a very sparse description of the Sound's effects of turning the Ancient's magicks back upon them, as well as it's origin as coming from within the planet itself. Naturally, this has led many to the conclusion that the Sound was something like the planet or Lifestream retaliating against the Ancient's overuse of creation magic and laying them low, a story of the Ancient's own hubris leading to their destruction.
However, I don't think this is accurate for a number of reasons. In terms of the narrative, the Ancient's creating their own downfall is much better encapsulated by Hydaelyn and Zodiark themselves, they quite literally created their own gods that were their undoing.
Beyond that, what we know of the Sound doesn't quite fit the precedent set by prior games of the world seeking to defend itself from a neglectful humanity. Even in the likes of FFVII, where the Lifestream spawns monsters set to attack mankind and (potentially) can wipe them out wholesale through the use of a massive spell, it wasn't destroying itself in the process, while in XIV it was. Of course you can simply chalk this up to differences between the games, but it's still very contradictory for the planet to take action to protect itself which directly leads to it becoming a lifeless wasteland.
However, it's occurred to me that we may in fact have a clear clue of what sort of thing the Sound was, a hint that was quite literally placed right in front of our faces.
Bear with me on this. This boss was intentionally placed in the very room detailing the Ancient's destruction by the Ronkans. It wasn't simply residing there by chance, the Ronkans had it bound there for thousands of years with their magicks, before the Scions unintentionally lead it to break loose from it's shackles.
The question we should then ask is, why? Why should they have put it there? As a defensive mechanism? Considering it nearly brings down the entire cavern, and thus could have destroyed the knowledge the Ronkans worked so hard to protect, this seems somewhat unlikely. To answer this, I think we need only stop to consider just what sort of creature this is, a bat, and what sort of attributes it has.
Now, I don't know about anybody else, but to me all of this seems like a clear metaphor for what sort of thing the Sound was. Not a bat literally, but a parasitic being which flew to the earth and came to reside within it, before it one day awoke and nearly destroyed the world with it's keening that spread a sort of illness antithetical to life wherever it resounded, which was eventually locked away by the Ancients. All of this is a perfect fit for what the Ancients describe of the Sound.
Well, what does anyone else think? It seems a little too spot on for this boss to have been placed alongside the ancient murals by pure happenstance, by the Ronkans and the developers both.
Continue reading...
However, I don't think this is accurate for a number of reasons. In terms of the narrative, the Ancient's creating their own downfall is much better encapsulated by Hydaelyn and Zodiark themselves, they quite literally created their own gods that were their undoing.
Beyond that, what we know of the Sound doesn't quite fit the precedent set by prior games of the world seeking to defend itself from a neglectful humanity. Even in the likes of FFVII, where the Lifestream spawns monsters set to attack mankind and (potentially) can wipe them out wholesale through the use of a massive spell, it wasn't destroying itself in the process, while in XIV it was. Of course you can simply chalk this up to differences between the games, but it's still very contradictory for the planet to take action to protect itself which directly leads to it becoming a lifeless wasteland.
However, it's occurred to me that we may in fact have a clear clue of what sort of thing the Sound was, a hint that was quite literally placed right in front of our faces.
Bear with me on this. This boss was intentionally placed in the very room detailing the Ancient's destruction by the Ronkans. It wasn't simply residing there by chance, the Ronkans had it bound there for thousands of years with their magicks, before the Scions unintentionally lead it to break loose from it's shackles.
The question we should then ask is, why? Why should they have put it there? As a defensive mechanism? Considering it nearly brings down the entire cavern, and thus could have destroyed the knowledge the Ronkans worked so hard to protect, this seems somewhat unlikely. To answer this, I think we need only stop to consider just what sort of creature this is, a bat, and what sort of attributes it has.
- Bats are flying creatures
- Bats dwell underground
- Bats are known for an association with sound, and this specific bat releases a particularly terrible sound that can kill
- Bats are associated with being vampiric, parasitic, and spreading illness
- This bat was sealed away with ancient advanced magic
Now, I don't know about anybody else, but to me all of this seems like a clear metaphor for what sort of thing the Sound was. Not a bat literally, but a parasitic being which flew to the earth and came to reside within it, before it one day awoke and nearly destroyed the world with it's keening that spread a sort of illness antithetical to life wherever it resounded, which was eventually locked away by the Ancients. All of this is a perfect fit for what the Ancients describe of the Sound.
Well, what does anyone else think? It seems a little too spot on for this boss to have been placed alongside the ancient murals by pure happenstance, by the Ronkans and the developers both.
Continue reading...