*Spoilers* The Past and After the Endwalker MSQ End

[EaraGrace]

Yes, it does...

My use of the hypotheticals was to demonstrate that knowing of something, and knowing a basic form of its workings, does not equal being an expert. If you read my post, you'd know I brought those up to discuss whether Venats understanding of aether currents was enough to do what Hermes did. It isn't.

Do you seriously mean to tell me that Hermes was not just a brilliant mind...

Given neither were widely understood, and his particular interests led him to experiment with them, yes. His desire to find extraterrestrial life and his emotions led him to experiment with Dynamis, his interest in flight and high altitude concepts led him to study celestial currents, and his position at Elpis clearly shows that he's an exceptional scholar even before rising to the seat of Fandaniel. There is a reason they chose him to be Fandaniel, and why all involved see him as invaluable to the halting of the Final Days. You are the one to assert that they are all wrong. That he isn't necessary, and that Venat for reasons unknown simply chose to not take the better option.

Sundering all life on the planet and the fabric of reality was a far "bigger deal" than all of that...

She was certain enough to not trust the Convocation with what was to happen, a group she knew well and had no reason to distrust until this point. Once again, if you're going to hold fast to the belief that she didn't have reason to believe what she did (which the game repeatedly shows was a good call), then why did Hythlo and Emet agree that Venats plan was the right one in the end?

And yet Venat DID try to talk to them...

She stated, multiple times, that her reason for siding against the Convocation was to prevent another Final Days. She and her followers warned them that what they were doing was not solving the issue, and in fact, was leading humanity down the path of destruction. They ignored her, and instead resolved to sacrifice innocent souls to reclaim their "perfect paradise." If the only thing she did wrong was not explicitly telling them of Meteion, a piece of information that would have driven them further into despair, before having to sunder the world and Zodiark, then I have no issue with what she did.

This whole "tempering = had to be killed" nonsense is way past done...

They do not "have to be killed," but they have their ability to be objective on matters pertaining to the god they were tempered by compromised. I actually agree with you that wouldn't be enough. It was the tempering, plus the belief that Zodiark was their ultimate salvation and that they were fighting for their fellow Amaurotines that made conflict necessary. They would not accept anything less than the paradise Zodiark could promise them.