[3.2 Spoilers] Minfilia

[Yian Kutku]

Posting separately from the general Lore thread in case there are people who haven't played through 3.2 (or even more importantly 2.55) yet. (I know they're around, so I don't want to accidentally ruin their day.)

 

We're all fairly familiar with what happened to Minfilia. At the end of 2.55, after most of the Scions apparently sacrificed themselves to buy you time to escape, the WoL and Minfilia are the only ones left.

 

Then Minfilia suddenly gets what seems to be a communication of some kind, and she tells the WoL to go on, while she stays behind for ill-defined reasons.

 

Fast forward to 3.2, when we finally discover what became of Minfilia: she had become the Word of the Mother, and Hydaelyn uses her as a spokesperson of sorts.

 

My questions: how, and why?

 

I asked this question in the Mateus RP discord (one of them, I forget exactly which), and the immediate response was that Hydaelyn was evil, lying to Minfilia and puppeteering her, so on and so forth. Which strikes me as not really supported by canon, but I was told that it totally was, so maybe I'm wrong.

 

For the question of "how", I'd like to know how Minfilia went from being corporeal and on the verge of escaping with us, to remaining behind (on the other side of the tunnel collapse Y'shtola caused) and somehow turning into the Word of the Mother. The answer I received was that Minfilia was told to go back to as close to Y'shtola as possible, where she got caught in Y'shtola's Flow spell, and then Hydaelyn plucked her from the Lifestream.

 

Which ties in to my next question: why? Why Minfilia in specific? Why that time and that place? The Scions were in danger not because of something Calamity-inducing like Bahamut, or aether-problematic like Primals, but entirely due to plain mortal politics. Minfilia was in no more danger than when the Ultima Weapon blew up the Praetorium, or when Livia slaughtered the minor Scions, and Hydaelyn did not see fit to interfere then. Why Minfilia and not, say, Noraxia?

 

For that matter, why Minfilia and not anyone else actually present at the time, like Y'shtola or Thancred? If the Flow theory is accurate, it is highly doubtful that Y'shtola would be aware that Minfilia would get caught up in it, making it simply due to area of effect. In which case, there are very likely several Brass Blades and Crystal Braves in the vicinity too, or Y'shtola wouldn't have bothered collapsing the tunnel.

 

If it's a matter of the Echo, Minfilia and the WoL are not the only ones with it. If it's a matter of people with the Echo being in life-threatening situations, there's Krile, who was present when the Isle of Val got wiped off the map.

 

The more I think about it, the more I'm confused.

[Kieron Lohengrin]

short answer: we don't know yet

 

maybe we'll see her again sometime in 4.1-4.5

[Teadrinker]

The short answers are Plot Device 3000™ and Plot Armor™.

 

I wish there was some long and in-depth answer that could be provided but there really isn't.

 

I asked this question in the Mateus RP discord (one of them, I forget exactly which), and the immediate response was that Hydaelyn was evil, lying to Minfilia and puppeteering her, so on and so forth. Which strikes me as not really supported by canon, but I was told that it totally was, so maybe I'm wrong.

 

At this time this is headcanon. 

 

 

For the question of "how", I'd like to know how Minfilia went from being corporeal and on the verge of escaping with us, to remaining behind (on the other side of the tunnel collapse Y'shtola caused) and somehow turning into the Word of the Mother. The answer I received was that Minfilia was told to go back to as close to Y'shtola as possible, where she got caught in Y'shtola's Flow spell, and then Hydaelyn plucked her from the Lifestream.

 

We know that as a result of the Flow spell that Y'shtola had to be plucked from the lifestream and essentially reassembled into a corporeal body so it's safe to assume that Minfillia got sucked into the lifestream and...did not get reassembled. At least not anything walking around in meatspace. Whatever spoke to the Warrior of Light seemed more like a mouthpiece than actually Minfillia.

 

 

Which ties in to my next question: why? Why Minfilia in specific? Why that time and that place? The Scions were in danger not because of something Calamity-inducing like Bahamut, or aether-problematic like Primals, but entirely due to plain mortal politics. Minfilia was in no more danger than when the Ultima Weapon blew up the Praetorium, or when Livia slaughtered the minor Scions, and Hydaelyn did not see fit to interfere then. Why Minfilia and not, say, Noraxia?

 

It's heavily implied that Hydaelyn 'knew' these events were going to occur so she 'called' Minfillia to do what she did a.k.a. go get almost smushed by rocks and get swept up in the Flow spell so she could pull her from the Lifesteam. If this is indeed the case then it would seem that Hydaelyn ALSO knew about the First Star and that Minfillia was going to be needed to be sent there with the Warriors of Darkness which is, presumably, where she is at present time in the story.

 

It's also said that Minfillia 'hears' Hydaelyn with a clarity that even the Warrior of Light would envy, that was her big strength was her connection to the mothercrystal. It's possible that ONLY Minfillia could fulfill the role she's presently in. This is, however, logical conjecture. 

 

My opinion on it all is far less flashy.

 

Minfillia was not a popular/functional character. She really didn't do a whole lot but call the WoL on their pearl and dole out tasks. She was a glorified questgiver whose role in the ARR storyline had ended so the writers put her on a bus. That and she would have clashed horribly with Lyse and competed with her for screentime in Stormblood since the two are....indistinguishable in many aspects.

 

Is she 'dead'? No, not likely. We'll maybe see her again in a late SB patch or the next xpac but it's going to be when the bad guys are the Ascians and Zodiark again.

[Sounsyy]

Let me first preface that any answers you received on that Mateus discord as well as any answers you get here (including my own) are purely speculative. There are no canon answers to your questions yet.

 

 

Is Hydaelyn evil? She's not been presented that way really, but good and evil aren't always black and white and some may interpret this concept differently. There are many people I've noticed who look upon any supernatural entity that exerts its interests above a person's own free will as outright evil and malicious (usually in reference to elementals). Others look to how most FFs in the series paint any deity and its accompanying religion as the end boss / true bad guys.

 

I choose to look at the disciples of Hydaelyn, opposed to the disciples of Zodiark. The latter purposefully sow chaos, destruction, and death - while the Crystal Bearers who rise up when Calamity is nigh try to mitigate the tide of destruction.

 

 

As for why Hydaelyn chose Minfilia at that moment, I don't know. Maybe we'll find out eventually, maybe not.

 

Why Minfilia as Hydaelyn's Chosen though? She seems like the obvious choice. She's more than just an Echo wielder, she's one of the first. She witnessed the Battle of Silvertear Skies firsthand where the Echo first sounded. She founded the organization which united and protected the Echo wielders, well before the Students of Baldesion began their own research. Even her title, Antecedent, a word meaning prior to, preceding, or the one before could be taken to mean she is viewed as the first Echo user, though that's just one interpretation. She, like the WoL, had heard the Mother Crystal before and had a strong connection with her. Even Elidibus and the Ascians went after her.

 

Beyond that, /shrug!