Revelations from SHADOWBRINGERS

[Iscah]

It's my guess, that if Zenos tries to possess and control Zodiark, he will succeed. I have several reasons for believing that:
- "Villain succeeds in horrendous plot, and the hero has to overcome impossible odds to stop him" is a Final Fantasy staple.
- God conquers mortal is the expected result. Mortal conquers god is far more interesting and subversive.
- Zenos's success has been foreshadowed - not because he possessed Shinryu, but because he KNEW he could possess Shinryu. He has an understanding of Primals and their nature than anyone else - possibly even the Ascians. The fact that Zodiark is more powerful is irrelevant. A truck may be bigger and stronger than a Volkswagon, but as long as you can get behind the steering wheel you can drive either one.
- There are certainly stories where the villain Meddles with Forces He Ought Not and gets squooshed for his hubris, but Zenos's character really doesn't fit the mold for that type.

There are reasons for it to go the other way too.

- subverting the "villain succeeds" plot and the foreshadowing.
- Zenos has already successfully merged with Shinryu, therefore potentially "mortal conquers god" is the expected outcome to be subverted.
- he has announced his plan ahead of time - this makes it less likely to play out as intended.
- I think "squooshed for his hubris" could be exactly what we're headed for.

Also on your "truck is like a Volkswagen" analogy... truck licenses are a specific thing for a reason, and if you assume you can safely drive the truck because you understand the theory and you drove a car once, then it may go badly for you.

Folks advocating a "kind Rejoining" generally mean that EVERYTHING is merged. All of the people on all worlds are saved, whether by those people physically existing side-by-side on one world, or their consciousnesses merging.

The goal is to have the cake and eat it, too. Undo the damage done by the Sundering without any of the negatives that come with the Ascians' form of Rejoining.

I can't see a "kind Rejoining" possibly being a thing - thematically or realistically.

You can't just merge the worlds and have everything be wonderful. The effect on the physical worlds would be chaotic - the same locations can be utterly different, and multiple countries would suddenly be occupying the same space.

And merged consciousnesses would be even more horrendous than the different people existing side by side. Could you imagine suddenly sharing your mind and memories with seven other people who are only "you" by some arcane link, despite having lived entirely different lives? Or to be one of those people - your body no longer your own, everyone you ever knew dissolved and recombined into someone else?

This is not a happy outcome, and is incompatible with the message so far of holding all those lives as equally unique and deserving of protection.