Is 'Hydaelyn' a misnomer based on a misconception?

[Lersayil]

snip

Good points, I must consent that she doesn't know how a WoL turns out later after she hands out the blessings, as we've already seen some that veered off the path (unless she cant forsee certain kinds of interferences like Ascians, but thats probably reading too much into it).

As for the passiveness of the blessing, are you sure? I sorta-kinda remember it having something to do with our immense aether reserves, but I might be mistaken on that. Aetherial manipulation being what it is, just having that aether pool is a vast power advantage. The echo might also affect our uncanny efficiency with job stones, though I admit this is pure speculation.

Agreed, the Garlean argument kind of hangs on how much Hydaelyn knows about Ascian movements. If she knew they were behind the Empire, she might deliberately hand the blessing to someone in the vicinity that would likely fight them? I guess that would make her speculative instead of manipulative?

And yeah, I kind of agree. The WoL would probably do more or less the same without the echo and blessing, albeit probably less efficiently. Possibly cheering for Arenvald from the sidelines? For arguments sake though, its still technically possible that the echo itself has something to do with the WoLs personality. We are lacking data and what we have is probably biased, but echo holders so far were all in some... active roles so far? Adventurers, Scions, WoLs, Ascians, Leviathan summoning fishmen. Just having the echo might compel the holder to a more "adventurous" life.

What Hydaelyn is doing then, is basically gambling on promising echo users, preferably within range of ascian plots, hoping to tip the scales. Kind of weird though, isn't it? If that is her plan of opposing the Ascians, she wasn't doing a great job of it so far... before the current WoL the Ascians were pretty much on a winning streak. Was she summoned with this plan in mind, or did something go wrong since the Sundering?