The Primals are an integral part of the Final Fantasy XIV world, not just from a lore point of view, but also acting as the main 8-man trials the game’s story pushes you towards.
But what or who exactly are the Primals?
In short, Primals are creatures made up of concentrated aether that take the form of gods and other legendary figures.
These creatures usually need to be summoned, and the summoning process works in a very unique way.
The primary means of summoning them requires a large quantity of aether with a solid vision of the Primal to maintain them. And because of this requirement, the most common summoners end up being Beastfolks like the Amalj’aa, Kobolds, Ixals, and the like.
Usually it is the Primal themselves who will “enthrall” one of the leaders of these tribes, which will force them to seek out more worshippers, and the more people that worship, the stronger these creatures end up becoming.
Old vs Modern-day Primals in Final Fantasy XIV
In earlier days, much stronger and permanent versions of these Primals were summoned with sacrifices; there were even examples of mass sacrifices in some cases.
Modern-day Primals only substitute the aether gained from the sacrifices for these worships, leading to a weaker and temporary version of the Primal to be summoned.
But even with these restrictions, the Primals are still a force to be reckoned with. And the best ones to combat these end up being users of echo, who are immune to the Primal’s calls.
There is a certain age classification between the Primals as well. There are the elder Primals, referring to those who were summoned in older eras, like Bahamut, who is said to be summoned in the Third Astral Era. While some, like hiva is a recent “newborn” Primal.
With the current methods used to summon them, the land of Eorzea ends up being in constant danger of all its natural aether being drained by the summoned Primal.
As such, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn took up the responsibility to tackle these Primal threats across the land of Eorzea.
