Quote Originally Posted by Anonymoose View Post
The core question remains: Can we?

If the coup de grace to the Will of the Star sundered not only Him, but the world itself, into fourteen pieces, can we kill the current Will of the Star and keep the Lifestream as we know it? Would you seal the death warrant of mortal life in the terms we've fought for it all along just to spite Hydaelyn's history?

Perhaps this is a result of my bias - while I've remained open to the "kill all the gods with the power of friendship" route, declaring for #TeamHydaelyn as a player going through the story has been simply more fun, the same way it's been more fun to doubt Gaius's death or accept the Twelve are probably imaginary or poorly remembered Warriors of Light (Perhaps they were Hydaelyn's summoners!). As a result, "Kill Crystal Mom" is often my last resort while She continues to profess that She has our backs, loves Her children, and - above all - has proven time and time again for 12,000 years that if no one is rocking the boat, She goes to sleep and history belongs to man.

First things first, I want to see that She can be excised from the Lifestream and nothing meaningful will change for the inheritors of the planet.

If we can't guarantee that, it's not even on my table.
It's interesting you put it like this because I interpreted the MSQ differently.

Hydaelyn, to me, seems like an aether leech at this point. As it stands, we have no confirmation (also correct me if wrong) that the lifestream as we know it existed before Hydaelyn sundered Zodiark and the Source. Upon doing so, the lifestream was created and all aether was separated between the 14 worlds. Hydaelyn seems to reside in the aetheral sea or "lifestream" as we know it. At this point, I am highly speculating that in liu of a lifestream a lot of the aether in the Amurotine's world was kept within it's people. It's huge 30ft people that can generate beings with their minds. That would take enormous amounts of aether/energy and they had it within themselves.

Getting back to the point and to put it bluntly, when you die, your aether goes to the lifestream where Hydaelyn sups on you for sustenance. Something has to sustain her or she'd cease to exist, no? Sure, you're inevitably reformed or reincarnated, perhaps even on the same shard as Emet-Selch points out being from the Source is very special and particular, but as it stands I don't really see a difference between mortals dying and going to aetherial sea and sacrifices to a primal. Either way, they are sustained off the aether of other beings.

Zodiark, at least from what has been revealed so far, appeared to require the sacrifices in order to fulfill the Amurotines wish to save their dying star. That makes sense to me as such a monumental task would require an insane amount of aether or energy and when the sacrifices were made he fulfilled his end. It was the Amurotines that chose to keep sacirificing to this primal, not the primal demanding it. They asked for things and Zodiark went "Well, give me the raw materials and I'll do it."

Because of this, I didn't see Zodiark as evil. He's...more like a computer program following tasks given. Hydaelyn could be the same perhaps. Her one rule being "Stop Zodiark from being used." Though she seems much more manupliative and and cunning in my opinion. It also concerns me greatly that she seemed to not care for the fate of the First until Minfilia was reabsorbed into the Lifestream. Hydaelyn either lacked the awareness or the capacity to care and this boggles me.

Either way, I will require a very compelling explaination from the MSQ to justify why Hydaelyn is a "good" being. At best I view her and Zodiark as tools that were misused, attempting to follow their individual protocol rules:

Zodiark: Ensure survival of star, Fulfill wishes of my summoners.
Hydaelyn: Stop Zodiark.

Anyway, if there are holes in my understanding please set them straight. I feel like I have a decent, if somewhat strangely interpreted handle on stuff.