Ethys' theory on what happened to the old Ishgardians

Let me say early on that I'm not trying to support or refute any of the video's ideas. I'd like to treat it like I'd treat any regular Lore Forum post and just ... kinda talk at it ... listing things that I can think of where concepts might line up or might not, and listing any alternative interpretations I might see as potentially existing. Some of the concerns that jumped out at me I do still have, and others ended up fitting into his narrative pretty easily.

The timeline is a bit off, for starters, though. I think he's implying that the Elementals began to tolerate the emergence of people into the wood about 1,000 years ago, which led to generations under the Padjal, finally culminating in the founding of Gridania. If so, this is inaccurate; the Elementals only came around to the idea about 500 years ago, after 5 decades of Gelmorrans trying to use magic to contact them (Waning of the Sixth Sun; WHM NPC Review). Gridania was founded shortly after (Kan-E speech).

So let's talk about where the Elezen and their clans come from.

Koji Fox has said in the past that the Elezen were the first to show up to Eorzea again (in huge numbers, anyway) after the Sixth Umbral Era. The naming conventions page says that they came from the north, while an interview conducted at Fan Fest reveals that the first thought the Elezen had upon the Hyur showing up was, OH, MY GOD. We left you that whole continent up there. Why are you here‽

As for the clans, a Wildwood from 1.0 said, "We Wildwood are descended from the first Elezen to settle in the deep wood. We ourselves have lived amongst the trees for nigh on nine hundred years.", which lines right up with the timeframe the Hyur were streaming in (400 to 1000 Sixth Astral). The Elezen race description reads that the clans separated around that time, "The Wildwood Elezen took to the forests to protect their homeland, while the Duskwight Elezen withdrew to caves and subterrane, opting instead to avoid all contact with any but their own."

So let's lay it out again from start to finish.

I would posit that the Elezen came from Ilsabard (and perhaps beyond) at the beginning of the era, in huge numbers. Generally, they act as nomads for a time. A bit before the year 400 (1,577 minus 1,000 minus 200), they show up in Coerthas, rousing the dragons. Thanks to Shiva, peace is made, leading to a 200 year society that collapses when Thordan and the Knights Twelve slay Ratatoskr, sparking a thousand year war.

The Landlords' society collapses around 572, and after that the Hyur are showing up. Gelmorra is founded after, perhaps quite a bit after - Waning of the Sixth Sun lists it as happening after the founding of Belah'dia (~777), which also dealt with invading Hyur. But Waning of the Sixth Sun jumps around a bit, so let's not take it as gospel. Let's hop back to the fall of the Landlords. The Wildwood "retreated to the forests" to protect their homeland, eventually, some "settled the deepwood" 900 years ago. This is about 672. Therefore, matter how you slice it, it's not weird at all to assume that some Landlords ended up in the Shroud for the founding of Gelmorra.

It's also fair to assume that a number did stay with the four originators of the High Houses, though. They wanted to keep their nation safe, so I assume they still had some people to lead. Their tainted gene pool just spread pretty thin over the next 1,000 years. To use a real-world analogy, 0.5% of the world's male population is related to Genghis Khan, but those genes didn't arrive in 16,000,000 people through his ... uh ... work ... alone. Geography and time count for a lot.

Here we arrive at a place that I do have a nit-pick: He says Gelmorra was founded by the survivors of Amdapor, cast down by the Elementals. Put that way, I think it's a bit of an over-generalization. It isn't technically true or false, but given that there's at least six hundred years of open migration between the fall of Amdapor and the rise of Gelmorra, and given that Eorzea was largely depopulated before the Elezen showed up after the floods, it could be a bit of a mixed bag as to who's there. Some progeny of Amdapor, some not. Anyroad, moving on.

It is totally fair to assume that the Elezen living underground are the origins of the Duskwight; character Creation says that the clans diverged after the Hyur showed up. However, I don't think it's so weird that the Duskwight are under-represented in Gridania. If living underground from around 600 until around 1000 can make a pale clan, living above-ground again from 1000 to 1562 can probably unmake it. The Duskwight we meet in the game might just be from families that haven't been above ground for very long. After all, the Character Creator says that the Duskwight have only been living specifically in caves for a few hundred years - which is about the time Gridania was founded. They were just the ones who told the cosmopolitan life to shove off.

The idea that the Duskwights aren't entirely forgiven by the elementals I don't fully understand, though. They live above-ground just fine when they want to, so the Pact of Gelmorra applies to them, in theory. They just don't want to live in cities, so they went back to what they knew and loved - peace, seclusion, and the subterrane. I do see why they would resent Gridania, though. Because the Pajdal rule from the city-state, if you shun the city, you shun prosperity. It's not hard to see how some could adopt an attitude like, "F[kupo]k those guys, it's their fault we have to be bandits." Wouldn't the Duskwights be the ones holding the grudge?

Why do the Padjal show up in Hyur families but not Elezen, that we've seen?