I’ve held back for so long, waiting to see if there was something I was missing or if the MSQ would pick it back up. But we must face the facts. Dynamis is extremely misunderstood and it’s high time we address its role in Endwalker like the lore nerds we are!
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Though on Limit breaks… the is a good argument that they are using both Ether and Dynamis. Eather and Dynamis are not mutually exclusive forces, and there is something in the limit breaks that gose "beyond" normal ether usage. And with how hard it is to detect Dynamis, and the difficulty of replicating a limit break in a controlled setting where you could study it properly, its effect during the limit break could have easily been attributed to an unknown property of ether rather than a not yet discovered form of energy.
EDIT: and paused the video to soon to write this comment.
So, food for thought…
"Emotions control Dynamis, and Dynamis shapes Aether."
The thing is, Dynamis has been a component of FFXIV since the very beginning and has been appearing constantly. Primal summoning requires two components; Aether and an abundance of faith/belief. It is this LATTER element that is, literally, dynamis in FFXIV. It's what gives shape to the Primal as well as it's intentions/goals.
FFXI's Weaponskills were once described as a form of "Dynamism that you Adventurers employ in thre midst of battle" by a NPC that is more knowledgeable about those things than The Adventurer is. Not that this NPC is infallible but it caught my eye when unlocking the Empyrean Weaponskills (you normally need the Legendary weapon itself to perform their signature Weaponskills but two classes of Legendary weapons in XI allow you to jump through easier hoops for WS access w/o having to build the genuine weapon) within the Walk of Echoes.
If nothing else it certainly got some wheels turning for me, though regardless of what if anything pans out from this curious word choice in XI, I personally can't wait to see what answers if any, await in Dawntrail regarding some of the lesser expounded upon stuff, and what similarities overlap with similar stuff from XI. Even if there is ultimately no connection there.
My main gripe with base Endwalker is the fact that we never get enough time to spend with the Meteion from Elpis, we never get proper build up to Endsinger, we never got an explanation as to HOW Endsinger was able to transform many of the created lifeforms in the world unsundered became eldritch horrors that came from the void, and the Meteion/Endsinger plot CLEARLY needed more time in the oven.
I have a personal theory on HOW Meteion was able to turn life on Etheris into eldritch horrors, but I want to focus on how to make Meteion/Endsinge plot work a bit better in the MSQ; first more time with Meteion that we met in Elpis, by having her sever the connection to the other Meteia, go into exile to a nearby planet and when Zodiark is vanquished, she senses it, goes to the moon, and help the Scions and the Loporits get to Ultima Thule(maybe throw in a hertfelt reunion scene with the Warrior of Light while we're at it), even IF there was a risk of her re-connecting to the collective Meteia(which would have the depressed Meteion showing up in the Rangnarok scene make a LOT more sense as well as the Meteion we met coming back to her senses make more sense as well), if we got more time with her we probably would have cared a LOT more about stopping Endsinger. But Endsinger could have easily had the name "Jenova" and I would have been like "Ah. I was wondering when Jenova was going to show up."
My personal theory on how Meteion was able to use Dynamis to life on Etheris into eldritch horrors was Jenova cells were used during the creation process of the creation magicks of life(similarly to how Sephirot cells were used to accelerate the growth process of clones made in the Allagan Empire) on Etheris and a LOT of Dynamis was basically needed to cause the transformations across Etheris.
But yeah I did not like the whole "bird girl with collective depression decides to end all life in the universe by gathering the forces of darkness because she has collective depression" plot. And I hope a you make video about Meteion SPECIFICALLY that addresses this complaint.
One thing I was able to fairly securely derive from the way the dynamics of Dynamis and Aether interact is that Dynamis is fluid, always moreso than Aether. Even though we may describe aether as streaming or flowing, because of how it moves in its unbound state, it is equally true that Dynamis flows around aether. Or to put it another way, if Aether is solid, then Dynamis is liquid, or if Aether is liquid, then Dynamis is gaseous.
And this is a helpful analogy, because it reflects the way we see Dynamis in action, on a macro level, during both cases of the Final Days. Allow me to extend the analogy to make it clearer.
Picture a still pool of water, viewed from within the pool itself. We are surrounded on all sides by the water. There may be small eddies or slight motion due to forces beyond our perception, but for the most part, the water is still. This is, from what we understand, the natural state of Dynamis.
Now picture a ball suspended in the pool. For the purposes of our analogy, it is fixed in place and doesn't shift or move. The water surrounds it and soaks into it, but cannot actually affect it. In fact, if the orb were to move, it is the water that would make way for it. This is Hydaelyn/Etheirys, as it was before the first Final Days. Dynamis was always present, and perhaps even turbulent near the surface of the planet, where the wills and emotions of the inhabitants is strongest, but turbulence on such a small scale, compared to the density of the Aether of which the planet is made, is completely insignificant.
Now imagine someone turns on a waterjet, aimed directly at the ball that represents Hydaelyn. Suddenly, there is now a high-pressure, high-velocity flow of dynamis washing over the planet. And not just any dynamis, but dynamis driven by overwhelming feelings of despair and hopelessness. Under such a radically unnatural and violent flow, Aether would begin to peel away from the planet, eroded away and/or forcibly twisted by the invisible jetstream of Dynamis. This is Meteion's Song and the Final Days, the terrifying cascade of dynamis that she wields as a 'gift' to the planet.
Now, we take our ball and we enclose it within a clear shell. There's still water inside the shell, but the ball is now isolated from the water outside the shell, and more importantly, from the eroding jetflow that was bombarding it before. This is Zodiark's protection. It doesn't eliminate Dynamis, as there is still water inside the shell, but it prevents the water inside the shell from being agitated by the flow outside. And so powerful is this shell, so resistant to erosion, that even when enervated to 1/14th of its original density, it is still sufficient to deflect the violent flow of Dynamis around the planet, and keep the Dynamis inside the shell from being affected.
So for 12000+ years, even though Meteion's violent current of Dynamis is still washing over Hydaelyn and its reflections, a doom unsolved and still ongoing, none of them experience the effects. Not until Zodiark is killed, and the shell is peeled back. Then we are right back to the Final Days scenario again.
It is only by shutting off the waterjet that the threat ends.
Honestly i think it fits in with the theme of endwalker that they didnt tell us much, it is a new, unknowable discovery, to learn more about it s a new journey.
Just writing out some thoughts as I watch the video.
“All but dropped” in what way? Is a subject to be considered ‘dropped’ just because it’s no longer relevant? Like at what point in the current story would it even be relevant?
“Not even the researchers in Sharlayan seem interested.”
How do you even know this? For all you know people could be studying it right now. Or at the very least, try to even figure out how to even begin to study an unobservable force.
Regarding Omega, just because the writers hadn’t considered the concept yet, doesn’t mean that story doesn’t apply. It just means that the pieces fit. Good long form writing leaves ‘hooks’ for the future to insert lore that hasn’t really been defined yet. It’s obvious from the very beginning that the WoL has a special ability beyond being chosen by Hydaelyn (after all there are many more who have been similarly chosen who cannot defeat impossible foes). This “indomitable mortal spirit” is dynamis.
I do agree that dynamis and emotions aren’t the same. But the game never claimed this. It is an energy that is governed by emotion. Also the reason people think that limit breaks use dynamis is because the game keeps bringing up limit breaks whenever dynamis is discussed. It is an output of energy that goes beyond what you should have, because in terms of aether, you don’t.
In the end of it all, it is a different subject. There are no known instruments to measure it. The closest thing is the Elpis flower. And since the one threat posed using dynamis has passed, it’s no wonder that it hasn’t been brought up further.
I think one aspect that hasn't really been touched on yet is the connection between emotion-fueled aether and dynamis when it comes to summoning primals. It's been explained in previous expansions how strong negative emotion can generate powerful aether that helps to charge/raise a primal, and that, like the Twelve, primals are shaped and formed by the prayers and ideas of their adherents. Is this mechanism the same as it was for the Twelve, or are primals technically a lesser version of this phenomena since the Twelve actually were created by Hydaelyn and simply received prayers, while primals were created through prayer? I assumed from Endwalker that all of that egregore-like prayer-shaping of eikons was happening due to dynamis, but I don't know if that still lines up.
Prefacing: This was supposed to be a short reply, my main point is that I am glad you stuck to just what the game told us and not what history tells us, because you may as well just become a teacher in real life… are you a teacher? You'd be a good one. ANYWAY love your vid. ignore the philosophical rambling below.
I will be honest, I completely disagree with the way the XIV team is treating Dynamis. Only because it is a pretty neat term, and the fact they abandoned Akasha for something less… cryptic. I think because Endwalker came out during the pandemic, they swapped terms around to land heavily into Dynamis, which is just the will or the ability to do something _through given strength_.
I respect your decision to not use outside influences just because you would be sitting here reading us a glossary of every single connected terminology in that philosophy. Like Energeia is just Strength or power, lost when exerting potentiality; and it is the actuality that you are describing when discussing 'Meteion was not alone', while she had her sisters, dynamis is completely irrelevant to their existence as it is entirely tied to ONE's ability to do something–or as you defined correctly–potentiality.
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Post edit here: I want to just be a little honest and true, I was wrong on Energeia because of its nuanced definition by Aristotle and Sachs. But you can take it to mean, it is the actuality or aether being generated when potentiality is being met. But that is not to say the XIV Devs are wrong, because I believe Meteion is at her happiness when she is pleasing Hermes (aka doing the work assigned to her or NEEDING TO ALWAYS BE DOING SOMETHING). She needed to reach her potential at all times, or else her existence (entelecheia meaning, my definition here: someone who finds inner peace achieving their potential) hits a point of non-existence. (I have a thing about why Ultima Thule is relevant but… this comment is essaying at this point, I AM SO SORRY)
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And potentiality has its own meaning through dunamancy as well. I think they use it REALLY well in The Omega Protocol, since we end up in the pleroma (which lmao, good luck future dev team if you are wanting to talk about Archons as a NON STATUS FIGURE). The fact that Omega uses the collective unconscious and we join him in his dive into full and utter knowledge and meaning (dynamis at max stacks), he is able to use ALL of the abilities that we have? because in the collective unconscious–a term coined by Carl Jungian(dude's a hack), that is a place of non consciousness that every being is connected to and is where personalities are developed via archetypes and ideas are taken from them–you are able to use anything that will come to pass or has already passed. I know I repeated myself ther,e but ehhhhh I had to define it and yeah. THIS IS WHY I AM GLAD YOU STUCK TO THE GAME LORE.
You could take a look at the Beast Tribe quests in Ultima Thule as well, my memory is a bit off and bits of it confused me but Im fairly sure that story played around a little with Dynamis as well. No surprise since it's in Ultima Thule after all.
Dynamis could be the "primal instincts" that warriors tap into, sinking into their emotions to increase their strength. as well, while dark knight most certainly uses umbral aether, the "darkside" could very well be a similar manifestation. as well, this could be the answer behind the bard songs, subconsciously using dynamis to enhance their allies.
An interesting thing about the way Dynamis is defined in FF14 is that it is a paralell of dark energy in real life. Dark energy is not directly observable (hence the name "dark"), so we don't notice it exists. The reason why scientists propose that dark energy exists, is that without it it's not possible to explain the current rate of expansion of the universe. Of all the mass and energy in the universe, only 5% should be the ordinary matter we can see and interact with, about 27% is the also elusive dark matter, and the remaining 68%-ish would be the dark energy. Only in this way the universe expands at the expected rate. In the EW MSQ, they specifically mention that Dynamis makes up 68.3% of the energy in the universe, so that's a clear reference to dark energy.
good soound producction made me nostalgoc/10
Q: Do you think that the new caster could use Dynamis ? For example if the new caster is Pictomancer, the emotion in your art and in your painting could apply Dynamis ? Could it work that way ? I’m maybe wrong or didn’t understand how it works
Hear me out here Scribe.
It's my theory that dynamis has been playing a part in our actions ever since Ultima Weapon. In that moment where Ultima was about to be cast again, there was an emotional desperation that allowed us to harness the ambient aether in the air from the combat by "wrapping" it up in Dynamis. Essentially bullying it into a shape we otherwise wouldn't be able to handle. I found the conversation with Midgardsormer after The Keeper of the Lake takes on new meaning after the events of Endwalker. 'Sormer talks about an agreement he is following with somebody. It's my thinking that this was a promise between himself and Hydaelyn to strip or temporarily block us off from the blessing of light and the aether boost it gives us in order for us to naturally learn to use dynamis. Through our conversation with Venat, she knew what trials and tribulations shaped us and knew we had to suffer, to "walk", as it were in order to be what we were when we met her. A sort of, "it must happen because it already has happened" recursive loop. Whatever happened to block us off from the blessing of light, through the course of the plot of Heavensward, we are consistently brought to an emotional need to reach out for it and unseal it bit by bit until we can tap into it stronger than before.
Dynamis has been the underpinning of a lot of our most desperate feats. Not the bulk of the power, but the catalyst that allows us to manifest it.
A friend of mine said that she thinks of the Limit Break as an "adrenaline rush" in that we know how it works; but, don't fully understand how it can do what it does. Her theory is that since adrenaline allows one to do "super human acts" that seem supernatural: the response of adrenaline is triggered by emotion. In relation to the Limit Break: the raw emotion to live and persevere, triggers Dynamis on Limit Break. (seeing what it does rather than how it does it). Her theory also applies to (spoilers ahead) how Limit Break was available when the "Blessing of Light" was temporarily striped away. If Limit Break isn't Aether based and the WoL pulls Aether in some for or fashion to do what needs to be done: then Dynamis would be a source that can only be accessed during extreme distress and was noticed as another power of power. One example she gave was in Shadowbringers where the WoL meets the WoD during a certain dungeon. While Minfilla explains this as a "Ying Yang" occurrence: it does not explain how the WoL was able to draw on what was the essence of another's soul. To her point: the Aether needed to destroy an Ascian was never truly known. With that in mind: in an area already unbalanced in Aether, such a drain on the land to win that battle could have resulted in utter devastation. Only Dynamis (existing apart from Aether could allow the physical WoL and the soul of the WoD to merge into the "Ultimate Limit Break."
While I will freely admit I don't know exactly how she came up with this: given how certain things happen in game: Dynamis could be that unknown sustainment that is given when all hope seems lost; but, the will and desire is stronger than the physical. Dynamis (in theory) could be the "adrenaline rush" the WoL receives when the limits of the physical body (Aether based) is exhausted.
I am hoping they might expand more on Dynamis in the next expansion.
So far the best I can believe is that Dynamis some how amplifies Aether, even allowing to shape it in some way.
I might be misremembering but didn't the hermes shortstory confirm that there are stars or at least celestial bodies made from dynamis?
I doubt you'll see this but is there a way to request specific lore content? I have something on my mind that has been driving me nuts and I don't think I've seen anyone cover… Would love you to take a crack at it.