Is 'Hydaelyn' a misnomer based on a misconception?

[MoofiaBossVal]

Given the time frame and number of successful calamities, I think its safe to state that even if the current WoL was around in previous eras in some form he / she must not have been very successful at their jobs (lack of shards?). If nothing else, the fact that it took 7-8 rejoinings for our counter-offensive against the Ascians to be successful, makes one question the validity or integrity of the original plan.

This idea overlook the times when the WoL did successfully thwart the Ascian's plan to cause a rejoining. The WoL's historical successes in doing so aren't obvious, because when the WoL stops a Rejoining from happening, it isn't recorded in history. We only know that the WoL failed seven times (eight times if you include the 13th becoming a Void of Darkness), and for obvious reasons those failures are the ones that stick out in history. It's very much a case of "Evil Only has to Win Once", in this case no matter how many times the WoL succeeds, the Ascians only need to succeed 14 times, and they have eternity to succeed those 14 times. Emet-Selch in ShB also seems to have a rather contentious history with the WoL, almost as if Emet had tried many times before to convince the WoL to understand his side.

[Lersayil]

This idea overlook the times when the WoL did successfully thwart the Ascian's plan to cause a rejoining. The WoL's historical successes in doing so aren't obvious, because when the WoL stops a Rejoining from happening, it isn't recorded in history. We only know that the WoL failed seven times (eight times if you include the 13th becoming a Void of Darkness), and for obvious reasons those failures are the ones that stick out in history. It's very much a case of "Evil Only has to Win Once", in this case no matter how many times the WoL succeeds, the Ascians only need to succeed 14 times, and they have eternity to succeed those 14 times. Emet-Selch in ShB also seems to have a rather contentious history with the WoL, almost as if Emet had tried many times before to convince the WoL to understand his side.

I admit, its possible both ways. I don't think we have any concrete information for either scenario. I think the most we have on the subject is Emet mentioning "others like us in every era", that fought his plans, but he never mentioned their fates or if any of them were ever successful at thwarting them.

[Cilia]

I'm very much inclined to think she's a construct with one program only - destroy Zodiark - and everything else is irrelevant.

Except that isn't Hydaelyn's purpose at all, according to Hythlodaeus' shade. His account of it (which is probably the closest thing we have to an unbiased account) is that she was created because some of the Ancients felt "enough had been sacrificed to Zodiark - that [the post-Terminus] world should belong to the new lives newly born" instead of those selfsame new lives being sacrificed to Zodiark to bring back those Ancients who sacrificed themselves to create and empower him. Simply put, she is the embodiment of the idea that the future should belong to those living in the here and now, not ghosts of the past. Her actions are bent toward that idea, but due to the power disparity between the two (Hydaelyn has, at most, 1/8 of Zodiark's full power) she had to sunder him to fulfill that directive. Unfortunately due to his status as "the will of the Star," that sundered the planet in the process; the rest is history. (Actually destroying Zodiark through force would likely have even more disastrous consequences.)

There may come a time when it's necessary to rise up against and depose Hydaelyn, Fate/Grand Order Babylonia style. Should such a time come I will have no objection to doing so, but shadiness with "The Word of the Mother" notwithstanding, nothing has suggested to me it will.

This idea overlook the times when the WoL did successfully thwart the Ascian's plan to cause a rejoining. The WoL's historical successes in doing so aren't obvious, because when the WoL stops a Rejoining from happening, it isn't recorded in history. We only know that the WoL failed seven times (eight times if you include the 13th becoming a Void of Darkness), and for obvious reasons those failures are the ones that stick out in history. It's very much a case of "Evil Only has to Win Once", in this case no matter how many times the WoL succeeds, the Ascians only need to succeed 14 times, and they have eternity to succeed those 14 times. Emet-Selch in ShB also seems to have a rather contentious history with the WoL, almost as if Emet had tried many times before to convince the WoL to understand his side.

The Sixth Astral Era (which constitutes most of recorded history) lasted ~1,200 years without known Ascian interference until Emet-Selch engineered the Garlean Empire. While it is impossible to verify, based on this it is unlikely Warriors of Light were active before Hydaelyn sounded the Echo after the Battle of Silvertear Skies. It is also unknown how often Warriors of Light were active in previous eras, but this sets a precedent of them not being active unless the Ascians' machinations are close to fruition.

Emet-Selch's alternating chumminess and enmity with the Warrior of Light probably stems from the heavy implication they were a close friend of his back in the days of Amaurot; having an old friend's reincarnation as your newfound direst foe would no doubt lead to such behavior.

[Lersayil]

Except that isn't Hydaelyn's purpose at all, according to Hythlodaeus' shade. His account of it (which is probably the closest thing we have to an unbiased account) is that she was created because some of the Ancients felt "enough had been sacrificed to Zodiark - that [the post-Terminus] world should belong to the new lives newly born" instead of those selfsame new lives being sacrificed to Zodiark to bring back those Ancients who sacrificed themselves to create and empower him. Simply put, she is the embodiment of the idea that the future should belong to those living in the here and now, not ghosts of the past. Her actions are bent toward that idea, but due to the power disparity between the two (Hydaelyn has, at most, 1/8 of Zodiark's full power) she had to sunder him to fulfill that directive. Unfortunately due to his status as "the will of the Star," that sundered the planet in the process; the rest is history. (Actually destroying Zodiark through force would likely have even more disastrous consequences.)

There is a void of information on that matter. We kinda know why she was summoned. But I don't think we have any idea what her concrete purpose and directive was (is) that the creators bestowed on her? I doubt she was just manifested as an ideal. Defeating something much stronger would imply some premeditation.

We're told creation magic worked by having a pretty good image of what you were creating. Unexpected things happened, but I think its unlikely that she came to be with dimension slicing powers by accident.

It's probably safe to assume that defeating Zodiark was always part of the plan. Not sure about the rest though. She sorta took up guard duty afterwards, trying to embody the ideals you mentioned? It might be her own will, nature, a design feature, or all of them. Either way an imperfect system, seeing how more than half the shards are gone.

[MikkoAkure]

The Sixth Astral Era (which constitutes most of recorded history) lasted ~1,200 years without known Ascian interference until Emet-Selch engineered the Garlean Empire. While it is impossible to verify, based on this it is unlikely Warriors of Light were active before Hydaelyn sounded the Echo after the Battle of Silvertear Skies. It is also unknown how often Warriors of Light were active in previous eras, but this sets a precedent of them not being active unless the Ascians' machinations are close to fruition.

Tenzen existed in the 6th Astral Era or thereabouts and he had the echo. He was also said to speak to Hydaelyn. I thought there was something about Koryu being related to ascians tomfoolery but I'm probably misremembering.

For previous eras, we're told that each era has had it's own Zodiac Braves, which seems to be the Ivalice region's name for Warriors of Light. It's unclear whether they mean era like everyone else means era or something else but there are always 12 at a time and there are 8 known. The only clue is that the first Zodiac Braves were led by Ajora several hundred years before Delita. Ajora ended up becoming a prophet of a new religion and summoned an extremely powerful primal after he toppled the bad empire so he was probably one of Hydaelyn's mistakes.