The questions I want EW to answer the most: WHY and HOW was the world sundered?

[Iscah]

I shouldn't need to tell you the reputation of JRPGs and killing the seemingly benevolent god at the end.

This is exactly why I don't want Hydaelyn to turn out evil. We've done that plot over and over.

It's far more interesting to do something else with the idea for once.

she forcibly sundered the entire world against the will of the majority of the Ancients. In particular with that last one, it shows a willingness to disregard people's lives for the sake of her mission.

We have no information about her intentions at this point. It could be deliberate or it could be a horrendous accident that happened when she was trying to sunder Zodiark alone but he was too intertwined with the world itself.

lShe compelled Ardbert to stay his blade when he attempted to attack Minfilia. If you would say that wasn't due to tempering, I would say her power to do that would be extremely inconsistent with her stated status of being too weak to lift a finger towards anything.

If we were out in the physical world in that scene and Minfilia was still just a human, then her inability to stop an axe with her bare hands would not be in question.

But at that point, there are other factors in play. We are in the aetherial sea and Minfilia is channeling the power of a powerful aetherial being. And from memory she halts the axe mid-swing – acting on the object directly rather than the mind of the wielder.

5.3+?: Zenos wants to play Planetary Rock'em Sock'em Robots, and he's called dibs on the purple one. (I seriously hope they don't do this.)

This made me laugh out loud.