(ShB Spoilers) Didn't Hydaelyn, uh...

[Erendis]

No it's also mentioned in Tales from the Calamity.

https://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/anni...?rgn=na&lng=en

Should Eorzea’s patron deities assume physical form, it seemed more than likely that they would be prone to the same appetites as the gods of the beastmen.

Nowhere does it state that the Twelve drain lands unsummoned. And there is no hint whatsoever that they were ever fully summoned.

[Daralii]

Nowhere does it state that the Twelve drain lands unsummoned. And there is no hint whatsoever that they were ever fully summoned.

It was even a plot point in ARR that the Ascians were trying to trick devotees to summon them as primals, plus Gaius was still sipping Lahabrea and Hades' koolaid until an elevator ride and series of explosions after the screencapped line.

[WanderingStar]

...Kind of murder billions of people?

In the setting of Final Fantasy XIV, and especially in Shadowbringers, a distinction is drawn between the soul and identity, with personhood, and subsequently right to life, invested in the latter as well as the former. As far as we know, no souls are technically destroyed during a rejoining; rather, they are simply reconnected to their corresponding fragment in the Source... But the narrative still presents this as the death of all of that shard's inhabitants. Likewise, despite Ryne being a reincarnation of Minfilia, her whole arc is about her being a distinct person in her own right regardless, with Thancred coming to accept the original's "death" despite her continued existence.

During the post-Qitana Ravel cutscene, Emet-Selch mentions that the Sundering resulted in everyone losing most of their memories prior to the event, leaving only fleeting fragments. In other words, they lost their identities and unique selves as a result.

So by the narratives own internal logic, wasn't Hydaelyn's act of splitting the world just as awful as the rejoining? I've been surprised by how little I've seen this commented on in discussions about the conclusion to the story.

You're right. People might not like it but you're right.

It basically means we need to be asking ourselves why this was the only choice? What don't we know that made this so it was the only option? And how did three escape unbroken?