Perhaps it would be of benefit for some people to refresh themselves on the events of ARR, HW and SB? By no means was Elidibus simply standing around in the shadows during that period. He had numerous defining moments manipulating events in his favour, or attempting to. Indeed, he was directly responsible for bringing the Warriors of Darkness over to the Source. He also confronted Minfilia directly at one point and is directly responsible for gifting Nidhogg's eyes to Ilberd, which kicked off the renewed hostilities with Garlemald. In addition to that, he manipulated Varis and contributed to pushing away a chance to make peace between Garlemald and Eorzea as a consequence of his actions where the Populares were concerned.

...and all of that is with Elidibus being a character working behind the scenes by his very nature and only confronting the Warrior of Darkness as a last resort. Meanwhile, Zenos is built on the thrill of the fight and has...done very little outside of the occasional flashy fight with minimal consequences.