6.0 Story Speculations

[Veloran]

The question was, "Has the sundering caused any instability or harm?" The answers is no,

I would say that causing billions of deaths and both mentally and physically crippling every living thing in existence counts as doing harm.
And if I'm reading that Q&A correctly they've just said outright that it rendered the star unstable. We may not know the specifics, but apparently that is the case.

[Cilia]

Lahabrea said in the climax of A Realm Reborn that there was a growing aetheric imbalance that was threatening the planet; he also laid the blame for this on Hydaelyn. Mostly written off as the ramblings of a madman at the time, but now...

... regardless of what's been said, by either Yoshi-P or Lahabrea, we have no evidence of this imbalance or instability. The only shown imbalances and instabilities are those that led to Rejoinings, which were engineered by the Ascians, and the Final Days and its recreation by Fandaniel, neither of which have anything to do with Hydaelyn.

I'm still of like mind that while Zodiark was able to repair the damage done by the Final Days he didn't actually fix the issue; he cured the symptoms, not the cause. From what we've been told the Convocation (whether due to tempering or just because they thought it best) decided to just necromance the sacrifices to him and go back to the good ol' days. Obvs not a great solution.

Hydaelyn's sundering reduced the longevity and power of everything, but that doesn't mean their lives are no longer worth living. The Ascians may see them as "lesser," but none of the original sundered (or at this point unsundered) beings are left; to those born into the world as it is now it's all they've ever known, and their lives are surely worth living, non? (Even then the Future Ironworks was able to do in 100 years what the Ascians couldn't figure out how to do in over 12,000. Mortality may be a weakness, but it's also a strength.)

To the Edge points out in its lyrics how, for all their grandstanding, deep down the Ascians are really no different from the mortals they abhor. They may have been done a grave injustice but that doesn't make it acceptable for them to visit the same injustice upon others thirteenfold.

[BlitzAceRush]

I would say that causing billions of deaths and both mentally and physically crippling every living thing in existence counts as doing harm.
And if I'm reading that Q&A correctly they've just said outright that it rendered the star unstable. We may not know the specifics, but apparently that is the case.

1: We don't even know how many people were left alive when the sundering happened, given the level of destruction we witness during the above planet section of Amaurot, in addition to the sacrifices they needed to make I don't see it as billions, unless you're counting the fact that the sundered can now die in that total.
2: Crippling implies a drastic or deep debilitating state, while we no long have the power or immorality they had, we seem perfectly capable on an intellectual level matching them and physically we can move around just as they do and cast magic on a lesser scale to them, hardly crippling, simply weaker like I stated.

As for the devs saying it was unstable, that doesn't matter if they don't show it in game, the devs also said we'd never get flying in ARR, yet here we are, plans change, until it's in the game it's not part of the story, as far as the characters in the world can see and the world itself reflects, the sundering hasn't done anything to make it unstable, now in 5.55 they could literally reveal that the sundering has made the world unstable in some way, but right now, at this moment it hasn't.

Also using the Garlean's strife is kind of a poor example given while they were persecuted for their lack of aether manipulation, their rise into a superpower and causing war and suffering was fully orchestrated outside of their control.

The Ascian's are fine villain's with a relatable motivation, I can understand what it would be like to be ripped away from someone I loved and feeling a burning desire to get them back I can understand wanting to do anything to "right that wrong" I wouldn't kill billions for centuries to do it just because "I don't think their alive" or at least, not alive by my standards. Because until the writers show any clear evidence the sundering has or is causing instability, that's all the Ascian's have.

[KizuyaKatogami]

1: We don't even know how many people were left alive when the sundering happened, given the level of destruction we witness during the above planet section of Amaurot, in addition to the sacrifices they needed to make I don't see it as billions, unless you're counting the fact that the sundered can now die in that total.
2: Crippling implies a drastic or deep debilitating state, while we no long have the power or immorality they had, we seem perfectly capable on an intellectual level matching them and physically we can move around just as they do and cast magic on a lesser scale to them, hardly crippling, simply weaker like I stated.

As for the devs saying it was unstable, that doesn't matter if they don't show it in game, the devs also said we'd never get flying in ARR, yet here we are, plans change, until it's in the game it's not part of the story, as far as the characters in the world can see and the world itself reflects, the sundering hasn't done anything to make it unstable, now in 5.55 they could literally reveal that the sundering has made the world unstable in some way, but right now, at this moment it hasn't.

Also using the Garlean's strife is kind of a poor example given while they were persecuted for their lack of aether manipulation, their rise into a superpower and causing war and suffering was fully orchestrated outside of their control.

The Ascian's are fine villain's with a relatable motivation, I can understand what it would be like to be ripped away from someone I loved and feeling a burning desire to get them back I can understand wanting to do anything to "right that wrong" I wouldn't kill billions for centuries to do it just because "I don't think their alive" or at least, not alive by my standards. Because until the writers show any clear evidence the sundering has or is causing instability, that's all the Ascian's have.

It's almost like we dont know the proper instability yet because its being kept a secret by Hydaelyn, as Elidibus surmises, everyones forgetting just as she intended. If the devs say its true, its true. You can go ahead and come up with false assumptions to benefit your way of thinking,but at the end of the day the devs decide whats what. "Until its in the game its not part of the story" is such a flawed way of thinking but ill leave you to that i guess.

[BlitzAceRush]

It's almost like we dont know the proper instability yet because its being kept a secret by Hydaelyn, as Elidibus surmises, everyones forgetting just as she intended. If the devs say its true, its true. You can go ahead and come up with false assumptions to benefit your way of thinking,but at the end of the day the devs decide whats what. "Until its in the game its not part of the story" is such a flawed way of thinking but ill leave you to that i guess.

Yet the same logic is applied to Hydaelyn. "Maybe she's doing this or that! She's up to something!" Or Zodiark "He's evil!" "But he hasn't done anything y-" "EEEEVILLL!!" Yes the devs decide, but they've also been misinterpreted or straight up changed things in the past, which is why making note of what they say is fine, but simply going "they said it, it's fact" is flawed. Where is the instability? What am I supposed to do with that information? Until it's in the game they can change their minds, or do something else entirely and none of the characters the WoL included can really work with "but the devs told me so!" The echo is powerful, not that powerful as for Elidibus his memory wasn't exactly whole and he was our enemy so I'm not going to take everything he said word for word

[Yuella]

I would say that causing billions of deaths and both mentally and physically crippling every living thing in existence counts as doing harm.
And if I'm reading that Q&A correctly they've just said outright that it rendered the star unstable. We may not know the specifics, but apparently that is the case.

Regardless, the lives on the stars have a say on whether they want to be sacrificed or not

[KizuyaKatogami]

Yet the same logic is applied to Hydaelyn. "Maybe she's doing this or that! She's up to something!" Or Zodiark "He's evil!" "But he hasn't done anything y-" "EEEEVILLL!!" Yes the devs decide, but they've also been misinterpreted or straight up changed things in the past, which is why making note of what they say is fine, but simply going "they said it, it's fact" is flawed. Where is the instability? What am I supposed to do with that information? Until it's in the game they can change their minds, or do something else entirely and none of the characters the WoL included can really work with "but the devs told me so!" The echo is powerful, not that powerful as for Elidibus his memory wasn't exactly whole and he was our enemy so I'm not going to take everything he said word for word

He literally said it by himself in his own monologue. What does him being our enemy have to do with it, it was his own thoughts. Not only that but we also have Lahabrea’s speech from Prae as well. Those tie together with the QnA dev info. That isn’t a coincidence lmao theyve clearly had it planned for a long time.

[redheadturk]

No evidence that sundering hurt anything? Look at soul density. Look at the difference in potential of the sundered individuals. Their loss of memories of who they once were. The lives ended due to mortal illnesses and age. Are you serious?

Thing is though, mortality has its own perks. Ingenuity, invention, the desire to strive for a better world even though you may never see it. .. those are all traits that came about because the races became mortal. Prior to that, the thirst for invention and adventure was a rare trait, limited to Azem so far as we know. If you have eternity, why would you have the pressure and ambition to change things for the future?

[Veloran]

unless you're counting the fact that the sundered can now die in that total.

Yes.

Crippling implies a drastic or deep debilitating state, while we no long have the power or immorality they had, we seem perfectly capable on an intellectual level matching them and physically we can move around just as they do and cast magic on a lesser scale to them, hardly crippling, simply weaker like I stated.

Unlike the Ancients, mortals don't normally posses the Echo, which allows people to understand each other's souls on an intrinsic level. It's as though they've had one of their senses destroyed.
Additionally I would say that cutting someone's lifespan down by 99% and physically reducing them to a fraction of their former stature counts as crippling them.

Regardless, the lives on the stars have a say on whether they want to be sacrificed or not

Which Venat evidently did not take into consideration when sundering all of them regardless of their wishes.

[KageTokage]

I'm starting to question why Hydaelyn, a being who was supposedly summoned in order to preserve the new lives on the star even possessed the ability to sunder the world in the first place.

It doesn't really seem to align with her purpose, unlike...say, Alexander's ability to travel through time, which fit with its intended purpose of creating an ideal world by enabling it to right past wrongs...or at least it would've had the thing not been simply too powerful to act without draining excessive amount of aether.

For that matter, I'm also questioning if Zodiark seemingly being tied to the resurgence of the Final Days might simply be because the Source simply isn't in a state to withstand the presence of an active primal as powerful as he is. Even fractured, he's liable to be several magnitudes stronger then Alexander, and while he doesn't seem to actually be free of the moon by the time 6.0 rolls around, perhaps simply being awake is enough to have grave side effects on the world.