*Spoilers* Anyone feel joining Emet would have been better

[Rulakir]

We need to keep in mind the timeline constraint, IMO. I share your dissatisfaction towards her and her reasoning but ultimately it's the time travel that is the cause of it all. Equally though, it leaves a lot of "what ifs" as viable possibilities. Part of why I'm not overly fond of how it was all resolved.

Ultimately it's the writers' fixation on a closed time loop that involved the WoL. I know some people don't like discussing the writing rather than the story, but that's the core of the issue. Had we been able to save the Ancients in an alternate timeline or had we been a witness to and not a participant in history it would've made a difference. I'm not sure it would've made Venat any more likeable, but at least 1) the player wouldn't have been an accomplice and 2) whatever decisions she made wouldn't have been compromised by knowledge of the future.

[Lyth]

As much as I love the characters and the lore around it, I'm not convinced that Amaurot was worth saving. When Hermes describes his colleagues' blatant disregard for non-Amaurotian life yet had no language to express his dissent with it, I couldn't help but feel deeply uncomfortable with the wordless cruelty of whole place. It most certainly was not beautiful. It was high time that the gods learnt to walk.

[Lersayil]

As much as I love the characters and the lore around it, I'm not convinced that Amaurot was worth saving. When Hermes describes his colleagues' blatant disregard for non-Amaurotian life yet had no language to express his dissent with it, I couldn't help but feel deeply uncomfortable with the wordless cruelty of whole place. It most certainly was not beautiful. It was high time that the gods learnt to walk.

By that standard both the Sundered world and our own would fail horribly methinks. Not that I completely disagree, but seems rather harsh as criteria goes.

[tokinokanatae]

When Hermes describes his colleagues' blatant disregard for non-Amaurotian life

"Vessels within which life once flowed; cheated of purpose, stilled and cold. Unto the land you now return, the fuel 'pon which new life shall burn."

[Lyth]

"Your thought process truly amazing. Where do you encounter these notions that have never even occurred to us?"

People are only inconsiderate in that they forget to consider others. People are only thoughtless in that they don't take a moment to spare a thought. People are only ignorant insofar as they don't know any better. The Amaurotians aren't evil, but you do catch this sense of a childish disregard that comes from a life of sheltered indulgence. It's the lack of self-awareness coupled with nigh unlimited power which takes it from charming to worrying.

[tokinokanatae]

The Amaurotians aren't evil

"I'm not convinced that Amaurot was worth saving. When Hermes describes his colleagues' blatant disregard for non-Amaurotian life yet had no language to express his dissent with it, I couldn't help but feel deeply uncomfortable with the wordless cruelty of whole place."

[Lyth]

You can do things that cause others suffering without intentionally trying to cause pain. It's nuanced, I know, but this game is like that.

[tokinokanatae]

I would think that a joy in discovering different perspectives and willingness to take the viewpoint of others into consideration is a far cry from callousness and cruelty. Every time the WoL points out something to them, they immediately think it's an excellent idea and strive to incorporate it into how Elpis works.

BTW, they already had funeral rites for the creations that passed in Elpis, we just added to it. There was already a mechanism in place to show respect for dead creations.

[Cleretic]

Insert joke about how the Ancient society ruled by Amaurot states that they solve conflicts and run their society off of rational logical debate and discussion, but have the same emotions as all the sundered people of Etheirys (if, as Hermes showcased, a lack of emotional wisdom and support that does feel like a pointed critique towards the handling of mental health issues) and like anyone claiming to argue based on facts and logic being the first red flag that the debate will be about and run off of emotional biases.

Amaurot definitely feels like a very emotionally immature society for how intellectually enlightened they are. There's a lot of relatively simple things they never seemed to consider, they're EXTREMELY bad at dealing with mental health issues (RIP Hermes, therapy hadn't been invented yet), and are so emotionally unprepared for great turmoil that Venat had to screen people for 'being okay to hear bad news', and was right to. If we can trust Emet's Amaurot to be accurate, then people were making grossly violent children's toys and not seeing a problem with that.

It doesn't make their demise any less tragic or the society any less worthy of life, but it does mean I don't want to live there. And in retrospect, makes their struggle against an End of Days fuelled by emotionally-charged energy both darkly ironic and deeply unsurprising. Meteion was basically their kryptonite, in every possible way.

[MikkoAkure]

It’s especially annoying when one sides both ignores the information and pushes headcanon as truth. Then everything just gets muddled between what’s real and what’s fake.Not to mention the usage of irl terms people keep using that dont really equate to a fantasy scenario.

Ultimately the writers of the game went with "Venat is a benevolent, but troubled figure and the WoL sides with her regardless of how the player feels about the situation". Endwalker had the same lead scenario writer as Shadowbringers so it would mean that was her intention the whole time and the story they wanted to tell.

Any other interpretation would remain a fan interpretation and not a canon one. I just hope the background is explained in further detail in future content or in Lodestone stories.