One thing we have to consider with the behaviours of Voidsent and Sin Eaters. Voidsent are active, chaotic and always on the move. They possess more personality, ambition and aggression, actively betraying each other and manipulating others for their own gain. They talk, boast, taunt others, hold people hostage and a myriad of other acts. They behave like individuals, morally corrupt individuals with no inhibition or self control. Sin Eaters operate more like a hive. They gather around the largest of their kind, who are content to sit in some hole and just gouge on aether, occasionally sweeping through some village to do so. They don't act with a sense of individualism, and behave very much like drones in a hive mind. They don't talk, or do anything, other than act on an instinct of feeding. They possess no free will, they have no personality or ambition.
You could also argue that the Source's warriors of LIGHT are trying their best to preserve the status quo (Hydaelyn's preservation, countering the Dark and it's minions), hence causing a sort of stasis where as those pushing the agenda of the Dark seek change, even if it's not in everyone's best interests.
Your light and pigment analogy was really spot on for explaining the differences between how the Source and the First view Astral and Umbral. Really enjoyed this episode!
@@dale7326 Quite possibly. Right now we only know what's happening in two of the shards; the First, and the Thirteenth. 7 others have been rejoined to the source (destroyed), leaving only 4 others unaccounted for. There is some wild speculation that FF16 might take place on one of the Shards, due to thematic similarities with 14, but that also just might just be the result of the creatives exploring ideas that they weren't able to integrate into 14 in an unrelated story.
I'm a little confused, for Astral energies why did you use terminologies that would be categorized as tragedies? Then Umbrel, why connect it too an item used on a day too day basis?
@@craigmitivier637 I believe it's due to the active/passive natures of those scenarios. Something like a tidal wave is visceral, it can, and likely will create change. A small pond would be stagnant, and likely unchanging, therefore being passive.
There's an interesting line when you beat Leviathan - he will say something to the effect of "My waters are stilled... is this the power of the Light?" DEFINITELY something to consider...
Something worth mentioning about Umbral electric/Fire is that we do see Umbral electricity in The churning mists, which has a weather called Umbral static. In addition, background lore officially states that Ul’dah is aspected towards Fire all the time, but it’s Umbral which causes a giant desert.
Wonderfully edited and informative video Jesse, just as before! There is one thing I'd mention too though: How some areas have different amounts of aspected aether. Like Coerthas has a lot of astral ice aether so is cold and snowy, while Thanalan has a lot of umbral fire aether so is dry and hot.
What I find interesting is that Hydaelyn and Zodiark represent our understanding of Astral and Umbral perfectly, as well. Hydaelyn actively chooses champions to further her cause and even speaks and appears before people. Zodiark, however, has never been seen nor heard in the entirety of FFXIV. We've seen a dark crystal, yes, but never Zodiark himself. But that doesn't mean they fully encompass what we believe to be Astral and Umbral. Just as Hydaelyn has her Warriors of Light, so too does Zodiark have the Ascians. Darkness overtook The Thirteenth, but Light nearly stole The First. And people are all so quick to turn on Hydaelyn and call her evil because of what happened on The First, but what really happened there? Ascians caused the flood of light. Who stopped the flood of light? Hydaelyn. Hydaelyn sacrificed a massive amount of her power to halt the flood and even gave up her only way of speaking, namely Minfillia, to help us in our fight. I don't think Hydaelyn or Zodiark is evil. I think they're balanced and are both capable of active and passive interaction with the world.
One thing I would say is that, interestingly. Hydaelyn and Zodiark also perfectly represent the First’s understanding of ‘Light’ and ‘Dark’ as well. Zodiark and his followers’ goals are to actively cause the Calamities to cause the Rejoining. They encourage the summoning of Primals which actively absorb in the surrounding Aether. Meanwhile, Hydaelyn’s whole purpose is to keep Zodiark in check - in stasis, essentially. The goals of the ‘Warrior of Light’ is to bring about peace and stability a to make the world more passive. It’s one of the great bit of storytelling in the game that the concepts of Astral Dark and Umbral Light work even on the characters associated with them.
Or both Hydaelyn and Zodiark can be both Astral and Umbral like any other elements depending on the circumstances. In a way they mirror each other. LoL
Interesting thought! Maybe the Source's views on "Light/Active/Astral" vs. "Dark/Passive/Umbral" might purely be a result of Hydaelyn being active and Zodiark being imprisoned there, while the first is more about the way pre-sundering Zodiark consumed life for actions, vs Hydaelyn putting a stop to that.
I'm so happy to see your passion for this game grow into such a well put together and important series to the game. Keep going! I'm so proud of you and everyone involved.
I cannot believe that I, for the first 30 seconds of this video, was like "hmm, where have I heard this background music from before?" only to then realize, "oh right, FF14... go figure"
My personal thoughts for the ending question are that whether order/stagnation and chaos/change are good or bad is a matter of perspective based on one's position. If you're in the middle of a thriving civilization that thinks itself Hydaelyn's gift to Eorzea, then of course you'd want to keep that around, even as the luster starts to fade. On the opposite end, if you've lost everything in a calamity and are struggling to pick up the pieces, then of course you'd take any change you can get, because even danger would be better than having absolutely nothing. This even ties into how the eras cycle between prosperity and calamity, with each era having its own problems and highlights.
I love teacher Jesse's energy, it helped me reinforce things I already knew from the game but also gave me a new perspective to look at it--like I didn't think about how the graph was structured. Props to Dan for adding that old ass Classroom TV and vhs player for presentations
now that we have more details, I'd love to see these videos return and give us a breakdown about the twelve, the world unsundered and hydalyn/zodiark's creation.
@@Skyblade12 You mean the free trial to the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, which includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to lvl60 with no restrictions on playtime? I heard you can sign up, and enjoy Eorzea today!
the inclusion of color theory with the astral/umbral connection and using it as an explanation is so cool, i never even thought of that!!! love your videos!
no kidding, i started playing maybe 4 months ago and spent most of that time trying to catch up to my friend who had played the till the end of a realm reborn already. I love lore but when your trying to catch up to someone else you lose a lot of information in the rush, also holy cow do they drop a lot of stuff on you along with story. The two videos so far have helped so much in understanding a lot of those things i didn't quite get the full understanding of! Sadly I've only made it to stormblood so in order to enjoy the lore and story i must click away. Will hopefully return to watch more when i finally reach Shadowbringer!
For real, when Urianger talks to much i'm forced to skip because i fucking lose my mind (i'm spanish and for me it's hard enough to pay attention to this extense narrative in a different lenguage)
@@xanxv1246 it always amazes me how there isn't a spanish translation of this game, we have french and german, no direspect to those of course, but spanish is MUCH more widely spoken
@@wolfspledge1762 yeah... sadly this happens with barely all Square Enix games, there is a lot of games that for some reason don't support spanish, i find that if FFXIV had a spanish traduction (not even voice, just game text) they would have tons of players, both Southamerica and Spain would play this game way more
I played this game since 2014 and had always skipped every dialogue of the entire MSQ, etc. I simply "didn't care about the lore" - shoot, I even skipped Stormblood entirely because I just wanted to get to the latest expansion (back in 2019). Knowing that Endwalker was around the corner, I didn't understand why everyone was losing their s%!t over the lore and felt like I really didn't know the game all too well. I am proud to say that I 'New Game Plus+' the ENTIRE MSQ (ARR -> SDW B.) this year! - And OMG it was AMAZING!! I am so glad I did it and am absolutely excited about the next expansion!! I remember going through that cutscene in Shadowbringers and as like..."WTH, I'm confused." lol This video really cleared that confusion up alot!!! Thanks!!
honestly I'm glad NG+ exists but the fact that most MMO's push a player to the end game so you're stuck on a 24/7 treadmill just for the hopes to join an end game group saddens me. I mean spending so much money and the only real content is at best 12 hours of total fight time (if each fight takes 10-15 mins with no wipes). that seems like a heavy imbalance from an economic pov.
@@everyonethinksyoureadeathm5773 It really depends on why you play the game and how much you value the activities you choose to do. The nice thing I like about FFXIV compared to other MMOs is that it actually gives you options. Some people love spending months trying to clear hard content and gear up while others play the game for the glamour. I'm in the camp of people who enjoy the story, lore, and a lot of the side content like Deep Dungeons, Blue Mage, and Fishing. It feels like an entirely different game from those who dedicate their time to getting a Savage or Ultimate clear (I can respect those that try to beat hard content). I completely agree with you that some other MMOs feel impossible to play if you work a job away from the house even. There's definitely a time spent vs reward question I'd by asking myself there.
really really interesting to see after Endwalker and think about how Zodiark was actively summoned to passively stop the active end of the universe by actively keeping the aether currents flowing around the star as a sort of magnetosphere against the end of days.
good god i needed this summary after finishing SHB last year, that mural cutscene and uberdanger did not stick at all like this. Thank you teacher jesse
Pls gimme more lore! I love the way you present this info and as someone who never played any of the other games and finds themselves occasionally cutscene skipping so they can play with everyone else, I appreciate these so much.
Where the point of perspective became apparent to me was the designation of Astral and Umbral Eras. Because think of what happens when a calamity strikes and an "Umbral" Era (the "Dark" age) begins - it is a time of great upheaval and change. In short: Activity Conversely to that an "Astral" Era (the "Bright"/"Golden" age) is a time of calm, stability, even tranquility at times. Or...: Passivity
Looking forward to the follow up to this! Thank you for the light/pigment analogy, that really made it easier to understand the First's outlook on things!
I deeply appreciate your videos for FF14. I've been trying to find lore-related content for ages and yes there are some but not as in-depth and as detailed as yours. I hope you do more as I would surely keep on coming back to know more about the game we love and live in.
Holy shit this video is amazing. I usually find it hard to pay attention and grasp stuff, but you broke it down like I'm 5. I love that. Thank you so much.
This video series has been immensely helpful. I'm several months into the game, starting Stormblood, and it's helped SO much. Especially since I'm playing a Black Mage
Mind = BLOWN. I'm a happy little sprout that don't mind spoilers and this was a WILD ride :D Thanks for making these, they are wonderful for a new player ^^
When you mentioned light and dark and their designation of either umbral or astral being a matter of perspective, it's interesting to note that Cylva, whose world was flooded with Darkness (a world where the power of Light was too feeble for a WoL like her to wield), uses the nomenclature of astral light and umbral dark when talking about Gaia. She also still uses that term when she is on the First.
Ive watched both your lore videos twice now. They do such a great job of explaining how everything works and comes together. I hope to see more in future possibly on the lore of the jobs in game 🙏🏻
Wasn't it mentioned in the game before that the Ice element has the highest affinity to Light, which explains why Paladin's "Holy Spirit" skill effect is shaped like an icicle? Not to mention whole deal with Shiva in Shb.
As a beginner in FFXIV this and the first video really answered a lot of question I had and explained things I didn't understand, I am very much looking forward to more.
Check out the concept of Taiji, which I think is the root of the concepts behind Umbral and Astral. What's fascinating is at the apex of Absolute Stillness and Absolute Motion, you will find the opposite emerges from each. As with Periods shifting into opposite periods, so too do the metaphysical concepts shift endlessly into one another at their peaks. That's why I believe the void is actually a realm of such destructive activity, it tore itself apart and became a still space of nothingness, and beings trapped in undeath. Raging energies existing in such a hyperactive state that none of it can exist in stability as anything meaningful without tearing itself apart, mirroring the nihilist philosophy of the voidsent. As for the first, they had the 'burn' like area, devoid of meaningful activity and change, but such vast quantities of it. seeking to make all like itself. A world truly lost to the light likely would have just been a planet of unchanging white sand, full of the potential for life, but never seeing any of it actively exist. The need for all the be consumed and become one in identical stagnation despite their flaws creating meaningful differentiation is mirrored in the self-righteous philosophy of the sin-eaters. The mid point and dissemination of these forces is the material souls and lifeforce are made from. We see such souls tempered too far in one direction by an apex force wreaks catastrophic effects on them. Even elementally charged tempering can be harmful, since a soul in a neutral state is malleable enough to be pushed in any direction.
Well done video, I especially appreciate the last section! I do want to bring up that technically speaking while the _connotation_ of Light and Darkness exist in the terms "Astral" and "Umbral," they are never identified as such. They exist as polarities to which aether is drawn - active and passive states - which is why all elements can be found in either alignment. When asked about it around the time of Heavensward, Koji was careful to say that astral and umbral are not the same as Light and Darkness, respectively. Rather, it was said that active effects derived from the "astral heavens above" and passive ones from the "umbral depths below." This is also why the elements associated with activity tend to be the less "tangible" ones - wind, fire, lightning compared to water, earth, and ice. Lightning is at the top of the wheel because it is the element most associated with flux, and Ice at the bottom as the element most associated with stasis. SPOILERS BELOW SHADOWBRINGERS SPOILERS The revelation that astral corresponds to Darkness and umbral corresponds to Light is the first time that the two are directly connected to one another in the lore, and it serves as both an explanation for where Light and Darkness fit into the established cosmology and a way to make sense of the inconsistencies one would notice if they tried to attach Light to activity or Darkness to passivity earlier in the story. Though this retcon (that is what it is, it's just a VERY well-integrated one), voidsent and their chaotic ways are recontextualized as being highly astrally-charged. Alexander and its holy imagery and ability to stop time are then expressions of passivity, umbrally-charged. White mages of Amdapor are associated with warding and healing, black mages and voidmages of Mhach with destruction and voidsent summoning. The dramatic destruction of the Seventh Umbral Calamity - said even back in Heavensward to be all elements in astral alignment - becomes a Calamity of Darkness befitting the black wyrm of the Calamity, the Elder Primal Bahamut. Even small things like Shiva, whose summoner Ysayle was one of Hydaelyn's chosen, favored the element of ice, the element closest to stasis. But the most interesting thing about this is how you might recontextualize Hydaelyn and Zodiark themselves. If passivity derives from the "umbral depths below" then it seems appropriate that the will of Light exists within the core of the planet. If activity derives from the "astral heavens above" then it's appropriate that the will of Darkness exists sealed within the moon. Obviously, as they're primals, this is coincidental, but fits all the same.
The rabbit hole goes even deeper when you start to associate the colors of light blue and white with Light and violet and black with Darkness and apply it to crystals seen in the World of Darkness or the Aery, the crystal core of Alexander that resembles a miniature Hydaelyn, and so on.
Your last bit there makes quite a bit of sense especially when you take the name of the Planet into consideration, makes me wonder if the moon(not Dalamud) ever had a name at some point.
@@BurninCrus The moon is known to Eorzeans as Menphina, same as the goddess who represents it (though it's not commonly used, most people just say "moon"). It's actually questionable if there even was a moon before the sundering.
I really appreciated this video. I can usually grasp what Urianger is trying to say at any point in time, but when it came to his explanation of Astral and Umbral on both planets, it kind of becomes a bit of a head scratcher. Thanks for all of the clarification you give in this video, it's much appreciated!
And I just tweeted out about how I was excited for the next vid! This was AMAZING and makes me only more interested in the story we're gonna get come Endwalker!
Really love the explanation about colors in regards to light vs. pigments. Until recently, I had no idea about the entire pigment half of it, and so that explanation from Urianger always confused me. Another interesting thing about astral/umbral elements that I don't remember actually seeing mentioned anywhere in-game is that Eorzean religion holds that there are 7 astral heavens and 7 umbral hells. In other words, one for each element (and who goes to which one depends on what their biggest sin/virtue was), along with an astral heaven for the greatest of heroes and saints, and an umbral hell for the absolute worst villains. The only place I saw this mentioned was in Encyclopedia Eorzea (the first lore book).
As an artist by trade it was really cool to see the Astral and Umbral differences f the First and the source described in the terms of additive or subtractive color. My brain went there immediately too! Cool to see someone else making sense of it in the same way!
Jesse here's the thing. I simply do not have time to play an MMO right now, but im finding a newfound fascination in the final fantasy universe and would LOVE to be able to watch a full series of Final Fantasy 101
Always good to see more people taking an interest in FFXIV's lore! For my part, I shall also continue making FFXIV Lore content. Let us educate the fans of this lovely game together!
It’s fun coming back to this with current knowledge of the lore in FF14. Based on what we know after ShB and EW, we learn that the Umbral polarity is connected to light, or stagnancy, and the Astral polarity is connected to darkness, or activity. So essentially, your explanations are reversed. *However* when you describe the different elements, you accidentally stumble on the correct descriptions. For example, when describing water, you link the astral with a tidal wave (dark/active) and the Umbral with a stagnant pond (light/passive). This becomes much more clear after EW, but the main point we discover during Urianger’s lecture in ShB is that everything we assumed about the light/dark poles in Etheirys is backwards, and the lore builds from there. Hope that helps ^^
Well a year later and I can finally finish this video. Just wrapped up all but the last fight of 5.55 last night so I figured it was time to come see your comments on the First's view of Astral vs Umbral.
Shadowbringers spoilers (and I am only about 75% of the way through Shadowbringers, so if Endwalker proves me wrong don't spoil me please - bit of a weird position to be in haha) Way I see the big astral/umbral flip in there is very coloured by a line Thancred says when Urianger explains light and dark - "That's astral darkness and umbral light, isn't it?". Light and dark and astral and umbral aren't the same two concepts given different names, but rather they're the noun and adjective form. Light and dark are the type of aether, and astral and umbral still refers to the way they behave. The same way you can have the astral elements behave in an umbral way (something like umbral wind, which is a literal weather type on some maps), you can have astral darkness and umbral light - we know such a thing as dark/light aether exists, after all. The main difference between the First and the Source is that on the Source light tends to act in its astral form and dark in its umbral form, while the first is dominated by umbral light and astral darkness. The revelation for Urianger and Thancred isn't that they have astral and umbral the wrong way around, it's that astral dark and umbral light CAN exist. My theory is that - to some extent - the dominant force in a world will tend towards acting umbrally. We know that when Ardbert's Warriors of Light were doing their thing on the First, they were seen as heroes, and the people turned on them only after the Flood, so presumably there was a time before light was seen as this awful thing. It sort of makes sense - if you're dominating somewhere, you're going to push towards keeping the status quo unchanged and thus act as a passive, umbral force. So, on the First, Light is umbral, because Light is acting to keep the world in the state it's already in. This does ascribe sentience to the forces of light and dark that I'm not sure is there, but it's a way of thinking of it.
Hey Jesse, just thought I'd mention: one of the big themes that Joseph Campbell hits on in this book "The hero with a thousand faces" (the second half, which is not exactly about the basic hero's journey) is that a lot of mythologies use this theme of alternating periods of descent/ascent or darkness/light. Pretty cool to see FF building on such a classic theme too :)
I'm loving this FFXIV lore and I've never even played the game. Jesse you should do a break down like this for every FF game as a series! It's definitely making me want to pick it up!
The elements can also shift from Astral to Umbral for example mix Umbral Fire and Umbral Earth and you get something like magma but if they flip to Astral they become lava and turn the mountain that contained them into an exploding volcano
Damn, its crazy how you just keep improving your videos. I watched your stuff a lot back in 2013, but your recent videos are MILES ahead and it’s obvious how much passion you still have for it. Glad to see it 🔥🙏🏻
This was absolutely great, Jesse! This was exactly what I was hoping you would go into when I voted in favor of not only making this extra video on your first guide, but explicitly called out it would be worth mentioning the philosophical differences presented by the beliefs of the First. As well as what that means for the connotations of these words to us as players and characters. It didn't necessarily need to play out with full spoilers in effect, but that certainly made it easier to get to the heart of the matter rather than talk around it vaguely.
Damn. I guess I'll come back for the second half of the video. I've been enjoying just slowly crawling through this game doing every single quest and exploring every zone. haha. The lore is awesome
please make more of these lore videos we really need an updated series of lore for ff14. can you actually talk about how some of the classes fit into the lore as well in time? as well as the lore of each expansion, whats going on and whats happening in the background? Ty for being awesome and starting the insanly huge project.
Thank you so much for making these videos. I had a surface level understanding of most of these things initially but after your explanation it has become much clearer.
The way i look at the six elements is the points on a D8 (eight sided dice) that you can look at from additional different points of view In game we know there are already some points of view like light to dark Passive to active Astral to umbral There was also element layout in a sidequest that place the elements slightly different (haven't replayed it resently to see if it's still there) I can see there are other points of view Like ; wind, water, ice (Physical forms) Wind = gas, water= liquid, ice= solid Fire, lightning, earth (types of energy) fire = thermal , lightning = electric, earth = kinetic The interesting thing about the D8 analogy is you have 6 points and 8 surfaces a total of 14
Even the approach to the astral and umbral eras flips on its head with shadowbringers. An Astral Era is one defined by the stagnation of an empire at its peak, never changing. The calamity that brings forth the Umbral Era brings the empire to ruin, but in so doing spurs great change in the world and a reshaping of how everything works, allowing new people and civilisations to rise from the ashes like we see with so many great nations emerging after the flood and the war of the magi
Hello! I am a sprout! I am a sprout who actually really likes spoilers. So I stayed. This was awesome. Using the colour theory analogy was MASSIVELY helpful for me, too. Imma watch all of these now!
Want to learn more?
FFXIV Pre-History Lore - ua-cam.com/video/GaQ__5ZBwBc/v-deo.html
FFXIV 1.0 Lore - ua-cam.com/video/iEoaGT-yDig/v-deo.html
One thing we have to consider with the behaviours of Voidsent and Sin Eaters. Voidsent are active, chaotic and always on the move. They possess more personality, ambition and aggression, actively betraying each other and manipulating others for their own gain. They talk, boast, taunt others, hold people hostage and a myriad of other acts. They behave like individuals, morally corrupt individuals with no inhibition or self control.
Sin Eaters operate more like a hive. They gather around the largest of their kind, who are content to sit in some hole and just gouge on aether, occasionally sweeping through some village to do so. They don't act with a sense of individualism, and behave very much like drones in a hive mind. They don't talk, or do anything, other than act on an instinct of feeding. They possess no free will, they have no personality or ambition.
So Chaos and Order taken to their respective extremes.
Huh.
I feel like this comment should be pinned; it's such good insight. :)
@@FiendMatadorSlayerOfNoobs This is starting to feel very similar to the plot of FFDissidia
You could also argue that the Source's warriors of LIGHT are trying their best to preserve the status quo (Hydaelyn's preservation, countering the Dark and it's minions), hence causing a sort of stasis where as those pushing the agenda of the Dark seek change, even if it's not in everyone's best interests.
And fun fact, our Party system works like a hive that rushes in to defeat and consume Primals, aka living Aether.
Your light and pigment analogy was really spot on for explaining the differences between how the Source and the First view Astral and Umbral. Really enjoyed this episode!
There is the thirdteen. The fact that we have less info on the 9 other shards are likely explained somewhere in the future
@@dale7326 Quite possibly. Right now we only know what's happening in two of the shards; the First, and the Thirteenth. 7 others have been rejoined to the source (destroyed), leaving only 4 others unaccounted for. There is some wild speculation that FF16 might take place on one of the Shards, due to thematic similarities with 14, but that also just might just be the result of the creatives exploring ideas that they weren't able to integrate into 14 in an unrelated story.
Yep, it works out great.
I'm a little confused, for Astral energies why did you use terminologies that would be categorized as tragedies? Then Umbrel, why connect it too an item used on a day too day basis?
@@craigmitivier637 I believe it's due to the active/passive natures of those scenarios.
Something like a tidal wave is visceral, it can, and likely will create change.
A small pond would be stagnant, and likely unchanging, therefore being passive.
There's an interesting line when you beat Leviathan - he will say something to the effect of "My waters are stilled... is this the power of the Light?" DEFINITELY something to consider...
I mean...not really. He's just saying "Crap, I was beaten. Light's champion sure is buff."
I think you're reading too much into it.
@@Raxen95 That's literally our job is to look into stuff like this lmao
I like this. I seem to recall other primals having set up lines for later revelations aswell
@@Raxen95 not necessarily. This game has lots of story threads that pay off many expansions after they're introduced.
knowing jesse was a history teacher makes these videos even better, everything just makes sense when he explains it
I hope this blossoms into a passion for FFXIV lore videos because these have been a pleasure to watch.
Something worth mentioning about Umbral electric/Fire is that we do see Umbral electricity in The churning mists, which has a weather called Umbral static. In addition, background lore officially states that Ul’dah is aspected towards Fire all the time, but it’s Umbral which causes a giant desert.
Such a good rundown! Look forward to watching past the spoiler warning someday!!!!!
Once you hit the level 74 quests, it is safe to watch 👍🏻
So... Did y'all ever revisit these videos?
Wonderfully edited and informative video Jesse, just as before! There is one thing I'd mention too though: How some areas have different amounts of aspected aether. Like Coerthas has a lot of astral ice aether so is cold and snowy, while Thanalan has a lot of umbral fire aether so is dry and hot.
What I find interesting is that Hydaelyn and Zodiark represent our understanding of Astral and Umbral perfectly, as well. Hydaelyn actively chooses champions to further her cause and even speaks and appears before people. Zodiark, however, has never been seen nor heard in the entirety of FFXIV. We've seen a dark crystal, yes, but never Zodiark himself.
But that doesn't mean they fully encompass what we believe to be Astral and Umbral. Just as Hydaelyn has her Warriors of Light, so too does Zodiark have the Ascians. Darkness overtook The Thirteenth, but Light nearly stole The First.
And people are all so quick to turn on Hydaelyn and call her evil because of what happened on The First, but what really happened there? Ascians caused the flood of light. Who stopped the flood of light? Hydaelyn. Hydaelyn sacrificed a massive amount of her power to halt the flood and even gave up her only way of speaking, namely Minfillia, to help us in our fight.
I don't think Hydaelyn or Zodiark is evil. I think they're balanced and are both capable of active and passive interaction with the world.
One thing I would say is that, interestingly. Hydaelyn and Zodiark also perfectly represent the First’s understanding of ‘Light’ and ‘Dark’ as well. Zodiark and his followers’ goals are to actively cause the Calamities to cause the Rejoining. They encourage the summoning of Primals which actively absorb in the surrounding Aether.
Meanwhile, Hydaelyn’s whole purpose is to keep Zodiark in check - in stasis, essentially. The goals of the ‘Warrior of Light’ is to bring about peace and stability a to make the world more passive.
It’s one of the great bit of storytelling in the game that the concepts of Astral Dark and Umbral Light work even on the characters associated with them.
Or both Hydaelyn and Zodiark can be both Astral and Umbral like any other elements depending on the circumstances. In a way they mirror each other. LoL
This comment needs more likes because it do be spitting facts.
Interesting thought! Maybe the Source's views on "Light/Active/Astral" vs. "Dark/Passive/Umbral" might purely be a result of Hydaelyn being active and Zodiark being imprisoned there, while the first is more about the way pre-sundering Zodiark consumed life for actions, vs Hydaelyn putting a stop to that.
It's a bit more then what happened to the first if you know who actually caused the sundering
I'm so happy to see your passion for this game grow into such a well put together and important series to the game. Keep going! I'm so proud of you and everyone involved.
I cannot believe that I, for the first 30 seconds of this video, was like "hmm, where have I heard this background music from before?" only to then realize, "oh right, FF14... go figure"
Dude I thought you would be doing more? These are so good.
My personal thoughts for the ending question are that whether order/stagnation and chaos/change are good or bad is a matter of perspective based on one's position. If you're in the middle of a thriving civilization that thinks itself Hydaelyn's gift to Eorzea, then of course you'd want to keep that around, even as the luster starts to fade. On the opposite end, if you've lost everything in a calamity and are struggling to pick up the pieces, then of course you'd take any change you can get, because even danger would be better than having absolutely nothing. This even ties into how the eras cycle between prosperity and calamity, with each era having its own problems and highlights.
1:17 Kudos to the animator who made the burning planet/star be the FFXIV Meteor Logo thingy. Brilliant!
I love teacher Jesse's energy, it helped me reinforce things I already knew from the game but also gave me a new perspective to look at it--like I didn't think about how the graph was structured. Props to Dan for adding that old ass Classroom TV and vhs player for presentations
This is a nice refresher while playing Shadowbringers
now that we have more details, I'd love to see these videos return and give us a breakdown about the twelve, the world unsundered and hydalyn/zodiark's creation.
This is actually a super helpful video that makes these concepts very clear. You did an amazing job with this
Jessys last musings somehow reminded me of Ardberts last words in Heavensward. "Light ... Dark.. it doesn't matter.. what matters is how you use it.!
only Jesse could get me to watch a side lesson to the lore of a game I don't play
Have you given the free trial a shot?
@@Skyblade12 You mean the free trial to the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, which includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to lvl60 with no restrictions on playtime? I heard you can sign up, and enjoy Eorzea today!
Wow this was even more interesting and mindblowing than I was expecting, amazing job! The Shadowbringers portion got me thinking like crazy
the inclusion of color theory with the astral/umbral connection and using it as an explanation is so cool, i never even thought of that!!! love your videos!
PICTOMANCER PLAYERS NEED TO WATCH THE SPOILER SECTION!
As someone who just got into FFXIV in the last month(s), I'm so happy to be able to explore the lore better with a fantastic voice. :)
no kidding, i started playing maybe 4 months ago and spent most of that time trying to catch up to my friend who had played the till the end of a realm reborn already. I love lore but when your trying to catch up to someone else you lose a lot of information in the rush, also holy cow do they drop a lot of stuff on you along with story. The two videos so far have helped so much in understanding a lot of those things i didn't quite get the full understanding of! Sadly I've only made it to stormblood so in order to enjoy the lore and story i must click away. Will hopefully return to watch more when i finally reach Shadowbringer!
And he did it all without a single "thou" or "must needs". Urianger better watch out.
For real, when Urianger talks to much i'm forced to skip because i fucking lose my mind (i'm spanish and for me it's hard enough to pay attention to this extense narrative in a different lenguage)
@@xanxv1246 it always amazes me how there isn't a spanish translation of this game, we have french and german, no direspect to those of course, but spanish is MUCH more widely spoken
@@wolfspledge1762 yeah... sadly this happens with barely all Square Enix games, there is a lot of games that for some reason don't support spanish, i find that if FFXIV had a spanish traduction (not even voice, just game text) they would have tons of players, both Southamerica and Spain would play this game way more
I played this game since 2014 and had always skipped every dialogue of the entire MSQ, etc. I simply "didn't care about the lore" - shoot, I even skipped Stormblood entirely because I just wanted to get to the latest expansion (back in 2019). Knowing that Endwalker was around the corner, I didn't understand why everyone was losing their s%!t over the lore and felt like I really didn't know the game all too well. I am proud to say that I 'New Game Plus+' the ENTIRE MSQ (ARR -> SDW B.) this year! - And OMG it was AMAZING!! I am so glad I did it and am absolutely excited about the next expansion!!
I remember going through that cutscene in Shadowbringers and as like..."WTH, I'm confused." lol This video really cleared that confusion up alot!!! Thanks!!
honestly I'm glad NG+ exists but the fact that most MMO's push a player to the end game so you're stuck on a 24/7 treadmill just for the hopes to join an end game group saddens me.
I mean spending so much money and the only real content is at best 12 hours of total fight time (if each fight takes 10-15 mins with no wipes). that seems like a heavy imbalance from an economic pov.
@@everyonethinksyoureadeathm5773 It really depends on why you play the game and how much you value the activities you choose to do. The nice thing I like about FFXIV compared to other MMOs is that it actually gives you options. Some people love spending months trying to clear hard content and gear up while others play the game for the glamour. I'm in the camp of people who enjoy the story, lore, and a lot of the side content like Deep Dungeons, Blue Mage, and Fishing. It feels like an entirely different game from those who dedicate their time to getting a Savage or Ultimate clear (I can respect those that try to beat hard content). I completely agree with you that some other MMOs feel impossible to play if you work a job away from the house even. There's definitely a time spent vs reward question I'd by asking myself there.
really really interesting to see after Endwalker and think about how Zodiark was actively summoned to passively stop the active end of the universe by actively keeping the aether currents flowing around the star as a sort of magnetosphere against the end of days.
Still waiting for more of these videos!
Bless you Jesse. I can't wait for more FFXIV lore videos. You nail everything on those videos!!
good god i needed this summary after finishing SHB last year, that mural cutscene and uberdanger did not stick at all like this. Thank you teacher jesse
Dude, keep this going. Cover everything! This is great. I love your energy and passion so far and honestly, I can't wait to see more!
Pls gimme more lore! I love the way you present this info and as someone who never played any of the other games and finds themselves occasionally cutscene skipping so they can play with everyone else, I appreciate these so much.
This is a really good explanation, i started this week playing the game and i gotta say i'm loving it so far.
As someone who's been confused about the lore since 2.1, thank you thank you thank you. I'm eager to see more in the future
Where the point of perspective became apparent to me was the designation of Astral and Umbral Eras.
Because think of what happens when a calamity strikes and an "Umbral" Era (the "Dark" age) begins - it is a time of great upheaval and change. In short: Activity
Conversely to that an "Astral" Era (the "Bright"/"Golden" age) is a time of calm, stability, even tranquility at times. Or...: Passivity
Looking forward to the follow up to this! Thank you for the light/pigment analogy, that really made it easier to understand the First's outlook on things!
I deeply appreciate your videos for FF14. I've been trying to find lore-related content for ages and yes there are some but not as in-depth and as detailed as yours. I hope you do more as I would surely keep on coming back to know more about the game we love and live in.
I really enjoyed this and the Hydaelyn Lore vid!!! Any chance you'll still do parts 2 and 3 in the series...?
You could give aetherologists a run for their money with this video. It’s that good.
With these videos? You can easily tell Jesse was a teacher. And from what I've seen? He was an excellent teacher.
Holy shit this video is amazing. I usually find it hard to pay attention and grasp stuff, but you broke it down like I'm 5. I love that. Thank you so much.
This video series has been immensely helpful. I'm several months into the game, starting Stormblood, and it's helped SO much. Especially since I'm playing a Black Mage
Loved the pigment segment! really good stuff, you explain this very well too with the Astral and Umbral Mixtures. Full glad to support you!
Mind = BLOWN. I'm a happy little sprout that don't mind spoilers and this was a WILD ride :D Thanks for making these, they are wonderful for a new player ^^
Thanks for having a clear indication of when the spoiler content starts! Really neat and easy to digest explanation! ^^
These videos are ridiculously good, thank you for the hard work. Keep spoiling us, please.
When you mentioned light and dark and their designation of either umbral or astral being a matter of perspective, it's interesting to note that Cylva, whose world was flooded with Darkness (a world where the power of Light was too feeble for a WoL like her to wield), uses the nomenclature of astral light and umbral dark when talking about Gaia. She also still uses that term when she is on the First.
Ive watched both your lore videos twice now. They do such a great job of explaining how everything works and comes together. I hope to see more in future possibly on the lore of the jobs in game 🙏🏻
Wasn't it mentioned in the game before that the Ice element has the highest affinity to Light, which explains why Paladin's "Holy Spirit" skill effect is shaped like an icicle? Not to mention whole deal with Shiva in Shb.
Which would mean that it's opposite (Lightning) is closest to Darkness.
Ice being closest to Light was mentioned during the Shiva arc of the Eden story.
As a beginner in FFXIV this and the first video really answered a lot of question I had and explained things I didn't understand, I am very much looking forward to more.
That pigment vs light analogy was nicely done. Great video man, thanks.
I do thank you for this. I’ve watched that Astral/Umbral scene with Urianger many times and never quite understood it. It’s all clear now. Thanks.
loving this series so much!! I just started playing and you just happened to release these videos, perfect timing
Check out the concept of Taiji, which I think is the root of the concepts behind Umbral and Astral. What's fascinating is at the apex of Absolute Stillness and Absolute Motion, you will find the opposite emerges from each.
As with Periods shifting into opposite periods, so too do the metaphysical concepts shift endlessly into one another at their peaks. That's why I believe the void is actually a realm of such destructive activity, it tore itself apart and became a still space of nothingness, and beings trapped in undeath. Raging energies existing in such a hyperactive state that none of it can exist in stability as anything meaningful without tearing itself apart, mirroring the nihilist philosophy of the voidsent.
As for the first, they had the 'burn' like area, devoid of meaningful activity and change, but such vast quantities of it. seeking to make all like itself. A world truly lost to the light likely would have just been a planet of unchanging white sand, full of the potential for life, but never seeing any of it actively exist. The need for all the be consumed and become one in identical stagnation despite their flaws creating meaningful differentiation is mirrored in the self-righteous philosophy of the sin-eaters.
The mid point and dissemination of these forces is the material souls and lifeforce are made from. We see such souls tempered too far in one direction by an apex force wreaks catastrophic effects on them. Even elementally charged tempering can be harmful, since a soul in a neutral state is malleable enough to be pushed in any direction.
I Hope we get more of these. I check for them almost daily.
Well done video, I especially appreciate the last section!
I do want to bring up that technically speaking while the _connotation_ of Light and Darkness exist in the terms "Astral" and "Umbral," they are never identified as such. They exist as polarities to which aether is drawn - active and passive states - which is why all elements can be found in either alignment. When asked about it around the time of Heavensward, Koji was careful to say that astral and umbral are not the same as Light and Darkness, respectively.
Rather, it was said that active effects derived from the "astral heavens above" and passive ones from the "umbral depths below." This is also why the elements associated with activity tend to be the less "tangible" ones - wind, fire, lightning compared to water, earth, and ice. Lightning is at the top of the wheel because it is the element most associated with flux, and Ice at the bottom as the element most associated with stasis.
SPOILERS BELOW
SHADOWBRINGERS SPOILERS
The revelation that astral corresponds to Darkness and umbral corresponds to Light is the first time that the two are directly connected to one another in the lore, and it serves as both an explanation for where Light and Darkness fit into the established cosmology and a way to make sense of the inconsistencies one would notice if they tried to attach Light to activity or Darkness to passivity earlier in the story.
Though this retcon (that is what it is, it's just a VERY well-integrated one), voidsent and their chaotic ways are recontextualized as being highly astrally-charged. Alexander and its holy imagery and ability to stop time are then expressions of passivity, umbrally-charged. White mages of Amdapor are associated with warding and healing, black mages and voidmages of Mhach with destruction and voidsent summoning.
The dramatic destruction of the Seventh Umbral Calamity - said even back in Heavensward to be all elements in astral alignment - becomes a Calamity of Darkness befitting the black wyrm of the Calamity, the Elder Primal Bahamut. Even small things like Shiva, whose summoner Ysayle was one of Hydaelyn's chosen, favored the element of ice, the element closest to stasis.
But the most interesting thing about this is how you might recontextualize Hydaelyn and Zodiark themselves. If passivity derives from the "umbral depths below" then it seems appropriate that the will of Light exists within the core of the planet. If activity derives from the "astral heavens above" then it's appropriate that the will of Darkness exists sealed within the moon. Obviously, as they're primals, this is coincidental, but fits all the same.
The rabbit hole goes even deeper when you start to associate the colors of light blue and white with Light and violet and black with Darkness and apply it to crystals seen in the World of Darkness or the Aery, the crystal core of Alexander that resembles a miniature Hydaelyn, and so on.
Your last bit there makes quite a bit of sense especially when you take the name of the Planet into consideration, makes me wonder if the moon(not Dalamud) ever had a name at some point.
@@BurninCrus The moon is known to Eorzeans as Menphina, same as the goddess who represents it (though it's not commonly used, most people just say "moon"). It's actually questionable if there even was a moon before the sundering.
I really appreciated this video. I can usually grasp what Urianger is trying to say at any point in time, but when it came to his explanation of Astral and Umbral on both planets, it kind of becomes a bit of a head scratcher. Thanks for all of the clarification you give in this video, it's much appreciated!
having just finished HW, I thank you for the warning, will come back to finish this video at a later time
Really enjoyed the astral and umbral explanations based on color perception. That's actually a very clever way to go about dumbing it down.
And I just tweeted out about how I was excited for the next vid! This was AMAZING and makes me only more interested in the story we're gonna get come Endwalker!
I have only just now found these and I really like just listening to you explain things.
Your color theory comparison is spot on, Jesse. Good job!
I would have loved Jesse as my history teacher, but at the same time I'm glad he came to youtube; such a great character.
Holy shot all of this makes sense and it's blowing my mind lol like this can even relate to real life if you deeply and truly think about it 🤯
Really love the explanation about colors in regards to light vs. pigments. Until recently, I had no idea about the entire pigment half of it, and so that explanation from Urianger always confused me.
Another interesting thing about astral/umbral elements that I don't remember actually seeing mentioned anywhere in-game is that Eorzean religion holds that there are 7 astral heavens and 7 umbral hells. In other words, one for each element (and who goes to which one depends on what their biggest sin/virtue was), along with an astral heaven for the greatest of heroes and saints, and an umbral hell for the absolute worst villains. The only place I saw this mentioned was in Encyclopedia Eorzea (the first lore book).
Thanks for this. You are my new favourite UA-camr, filling a gap I never thought I needed. Do more of these history lessons.
Genius move using light and colour to explain it!
As an artist by trade it was really cool to see the Astral and Umbral differences f the First and the source described in the terms of additive or subtractive color. My brain went there immediately too! Cool to see someone else making sense of it in the same way!
Jesse here's the thing. I simply do not have time to play an MMO right now, but im finding a newfound fascination in the final fantasy universe and would LOVE to be able to watch a full series of Final Fantasy 101
Thank you mister Cox. I totaly missed that when I talked with Urianger. See you next lesson.
About to start the game for the first time. Thank you for all the knowledge, you are amazing dude!
Always good to see more people taking an interest in FFXIV's lore! For my part, I shall also continue making FFXIV Lore content. Let us educate the fans of this lovely game together!
I am still waiting for the next videos
Nooo, I can only watch half the video! Thank you Jesse for all the hard work you put in! I am loving these videos so far!
It’s fun coming back to this with current knowledge of the lore in FF14. Based on what we know after ShB and EW, we learn that the Umbral polarity is connected to light, or stagnancy, and the Astral polarity is connected to darkness, or activity. So essentially, your explanations are reversed. *However* when you describe the different elements, you accidentally stumble on the correct descriptions. For example, when describing water, you link the astral with a tidal wave (dark/active) and the Umbral with a stagnant pond (light/passive). This becomes much more clear after EW, but the main point we discover during Urianger’s lecture in ShB is that everything we assumed about the light/dark poles in Etheirys is backwards, and the lore builds from there. Hope that helps ^^
Well a year later and I can finally finish this video. Just wrapped up all but the last fight of 5.55 last night so I figured it was time to come see your comments on the First's view of Astral vs Umbral.
I wonder if you'll update this at some point now that not only Endwalker, but Dawntrail as well, have released.
i really like need these videos Jesse, just getting into the game and there aren't many who present the lore the way people want it, like you do it!
Dude this video rules, the light and pigment thing blew my MIND
Hey Jesse, I know its been two years, but I just came across these videos. I love the way you break things down. Can we get some more lore videos?
high quality stuff ... and paired with passion to boot. good stuff good stuff
Shadowbringers spoilers
(and I am only about 75% of the way through Shadowbringers, so if Endwalker proves me wrong don't spoil me please - bit of a weird position to be in haha)
Way I see the big astral/umbral flip in there is very coloured by a line Thancred says when Urianger explains light and dark - "That's astral darkness and umbral light, isn't it?". Light and dark and astral and umbral aren't the same two concepts given different names, but rather they're the noun and adjective form. Light and dark are the type of aether, and astral and umbral still refers to the way they behave. The same way you can have the astral elements behave in an umbral way (something like umbral wind, which is a literal weather type on some maps), you can have astral darkness and umbral light - we know such a thing as dark/light aether exists, after all. The main difference between the First and the Source is that on the Source light tends to act in its astral form and dark in its umbral form, while the first is dominated by umbral light and astral darkness. The revelation for Urianger and Thancred isn't that they have astral and umbral the wrong way around, it's that astral dark and umbral light CAN exist.
My theory is that - to some extent - the dominant force in a world will tend towards acting umbrally. We know that when Ardbert's Warriors of Light were doing their thing on the First, they were seen as heroes, and the people turned on them only after the Flood, so presumably there was a time before light was seen as this awful thing. It sort of makes sense - if you're dominating somewhere, you're going to push towards keeping the status quo unchanged and thus act as a passive, umbral force. So, on the First, Light is umbral, because Light is acting to keep the world in the state it's already in. This does ascribe sentience to the forces of light and dark that I'm not sure is there, but it's a way of thinking of it.
Im still so happy you came around and gave XIV a second chance. Now you are making vids on it we love them!
Hey Jesse, just thought I'd mention: one of the big themes that Joseph Campbell hits on in this book "The hero with a thousand faces" (the second half, which is not exactly about the basic hero's journey) is that a lot of mythologies use this theme of alternating periods of descent/ascent or darkness/light. Pretty cool to see FF building on such a classic theme too :)
i guess we will, eventually, pray return to the waking sands...
@@Kadi_Fedoruk that was kind of a major spoiler for someone who, like me, is still playing Heavensward :(
I'm loving this FFXIV lore and I've never even played the game. Jesse you should do a break down like this for every FF game as a series!
It's definitely making me want to pick it up!
The elements can also shift from Astral to Umbral for example mix Umbral Fire and Umbral Earth and you get something like magma but if they flip to Astral they become lava and turn the mountain that contained them into an exploding volcano
Keep those FFXIV lore videos coming Jesse! 10/10 content!
Damn, its crazy how you just keep improving your videos. I watched your stuff a lot back in 2013, but your recent videos are MILES ahead and it’s obvious how much passion you still have for it.
Glad to see it 🔥🙏🏻
This was absolutely great, Jesse! This was exactly what I was hoping you would go into when I voted in favor of not only making this extra video on your first guide, but explicitly called out it would be worth mentioning the philosophical differences presented by the beliefs of the First. As well as what that means for the connotations of these words to us as players and characters. It didn't necessarily need to play out with full spoilers in effect, but that certainly made it easier to get to the heart of the matter rather than talk around it vaguely.
Yes! Love your passion about lore! Keep 'em coming, your style is great, can't wait for the next ones!
Damn. I guess I'll come back for the second half of the video. I've been enjoying just slowly crawling through this game doing every single quest and exploring every zone. haha. The lore is awesome
I enjoy that you made the world on fire in the shape of the msq
please make more of these lore videos we really need an updated series of lore for ff14. can you actually talk about how some of the classes fit into the lore as well in time? as well as the lore of each expansion, whats going on and whats happening in the background? Ty for being awesome and starting the insanly huge project.
My podcast man is now making lore videos for my MMO (again), very epic.
Hey Jesse I love the little animations with your explanations.
Thank you so much for making these videos. I had a surface level understanding of most of these things initially but after your explanation it has become much clearer.
The way i look at the six elements is the points on a D8 (eight sided dice) that you can look at from additional different points of view
In game we know there are already some points of view like
light to dark
Passive to active
Astral to umbral
There was also element layout in a sidequest that place the elements slightly different (haven't replayed it resently to see if it's still there)
I can see there are other points of view Like ;
wind, water, ice (Physical forms)
Wind = gas, water= liquid, ice= solid
Fire, lightning, earth (types of energy)
fire = thermal , lightning = electric, earth = kinetic
The interesting thing about the D8 analogy is you have 6 points and 8 surfaces a total of 14
Even the approach to the astral and umbral eras flips on its head with shadowbringers. An Astral Era is one defined by the stagnation of an empire at its peak, never changing. The calamity that brings forth the Umbral Era brings the empire to ruin, but in so doing spurs great change in the world and a reshaping of how everything works, allowing new people and civilisations to rise from the ashes like we see with so many great nations emerging after the flood and the war of the magi
This is really informative and interesting, thanks Jesse! I'll be back for the second half once I finish Shadowbringers!
Hello! I am a sprout! I am a sprout who actually really likes spoilers. So I stayed.
This was awesome.
Using the colour theory analogy was MASSIVELY helpful for me, too. Imma watch all of these now!