Quote Originally Posted by Anonymoose View Post
Because every other antagonist saw themselves as the central good guy in a story full of purpose and meaning, so a scene where we fully see them as they see themselves - realizing why they were our villain and why they lost to us - is satisfying.

Zenos doesn't. He has no use for that moment. He doesn't care.

What meaning there is to be found in the petty vicissitudes of his existence must be gleaned by us and us alone.
I think that's a lovely way to interpret the narrative we've been given, but I don't think it was either the intention or the most effective approach to telling his story. Leaving pretty much all of the responsibility for interpreting & understanding a given character with the player--especially when other characters are readily explained--does not give anyone who wasn't immediately invested in the character reason to become so

FF14 may have a very sophisticated narrative & it may leave a lot up to our interpretation, but it is still ultimately quite accessible; the failure to give players any significant opportunities to empathize with Zenos & understand where he's coming from is to its detriment. Likewise, as OP said, it feels incongruous with the story's overally themes of empathy & compassion, even for people like Yotsuyu or Hermes or Amon; why is Zenos outside of this?