The Reasoning behind The Sundering? (*6.0 Endwalker Spoilers*)

[Lersayil]

Hydaelyn/Minfilia says it during their stint as the Word of the Mother back in 3.1. The Watcher reiterates it, without the flowery language, when Thancred and Y'shtola arrive on the Moon.

EDIT: lol

Interesting. Presuming its not a mistranslation or typo, I would think its something to do with what they represented as Primals? Zodiark being the will of the star, Hydaelyn being... the lifestream maybe? An abstract way of saying that the star, the laws of the star and the lifestream was all sundered? When we forked over Minfilia it was pretty clear it was to send her over to the First, as Hydaelyn couldn't go herself, and she otherwise had no control over the situation.

[RyuDragnier]

If I were to assume any reason as to why Hydaelyn would Sunder herself...it's because she needs to be present to keep the Lifestream under control and flowing properly on each Shard. Likewise, she needs to be present on that Shard to also keep an eye on Zodiark's prison. However, this brings forth something that may be the focus of the next major storyline...if both Zodiark and Hydaelyn were needed to keep the Aether of the Source and Shards under control, and both have been dissipated...what's going to happen to the Lifestreams of the Source and Shards now that there's nothing there to keep them flowing correctly?

[Cleretic]

I could see Venat not just doing that out of a greater tactical outlook, but because she didn't place herself above anybody else. If the Ancients had to be sundered because they're too powerful to know humility and hardship, and Zodiark had to be sundered because he is too powerful a tool to trust people with... well, all that logic also applies to Venat and Hydaelyn, so why would she not?

Despite what some people think, Venat doesn't really judge herself greater than everyone else so much as she understands the fact that she has to be the one to do something. Therefore, if she has to enact a global edict, she also counts as part of it.

[Vyrerus]

This is the one part of the Sundering that doesn't really make any sense to me. If she Sundered herself, how did she keep her lifespan, power, and memories?

And then...

If there's a fragment of Venat in each Shard, then shouldn't the Rejoinings have bolstered her power as well, meaning no change in the power dynamic between her and Zodiark?

Further still, if there's a fragment of Venat in each Shard, shouldn't they be like mini-Hydaelyns looking out to for their respective shards?

And then even farther, because boy-oh this creates so many questions, would she even still really be sundered since she had her memories and powers and could traverse the Aetherial Sea links at will, such as when she took Minfilia's soul back to the Source after Minfilia gave up her powers to Ryne and died (cause apparently EW makes this no longer a soul fusion scene but a death)?

:THONK:

[Lyth]

'There is a theory which holds that memories scoured by blasts of aether are restored when the soul is cleansed in the Underworld. If true, then perhaps when our time comes to return to the star, we shall remember these few days we have lost.'

I don't think that Venat kept her lifespan. Much like Elidibus, Venat the Amaurotian ceased to be when she became Hydaelyn's heart. Hydaelyn lives in the aetheric sea, so that likely explains why she still has her memories relatively intact while Elidibus does not. The question then remains of what happened to all the mini-Venats. One of them was likely destroyed along with the corresponding Zodiark fragment with the destruction of the 13th and the creation of the Void. So really that leaves one Source Venat, and then 12 mini-Venats who are still unaccounted for. It would be interesting to see if we get an explanation for this.

Venats generally like to travel, so I suspect that they would have wandered the lands helping people out and discussing philosophy with them. Maybe some of them went to Thavnair and imparted some words of wisdom there. Some of the mini-Venats may even have come to become revered through their heroic deeds as gods in themselves. Who knows what the twelve of them are out doing.

[Vyrerus]

'There is a theory which holds that memories scoured by blasts of aether are restored when the soul is cleansed in the Underworld. If true, then perhaps when our time comes to return to the star, we shall remember these few days we have lost.'

I don't think that Venat kept her lifespan. Much like Elidibus, Venat the Amaurotian ceased to be when she became Hydaelyn's heart. Hydaelyn lives in the aetheric sea, so that likely explains why she still has her memories relatively intact while Elidibus does not. The question then remains of what happened to all the mini-Venats. One of them was likely destroyed along with the corresponding Zodiark fragment with the destruction of the 13th and the creation of the Void. So really that leaves one Source Venat, and then 12 mini-Venats who are still unaccounted for. It would be interesting to see if we get an explanation for this.

Venats generally like to travel, so I suspect that they would have wandered the lands helping people out and discussing philosophy with them. Maybe some of them went to Thavnair and imparted some words of wisdom there. Some of the mini-Venats may even have come to become revered through their heroic deeds as gods in themselves. Who knows what the twelve of them are out doing.

If there are mini-Hydaelyns, then they got Rejoined, and then killed. There should only be what, 4 or 5 left? As goes the Zodiark chunks still embedded in living Shards?

[Lyth]

Hm, I wonder. If you destroy the source version of something, do you not destroy all its reflections?

Likewise, what happens if your reflection isn't on a Shard when it rejoins? What if your reflections travel to the Source? What if they manually rejoin you while the corresponding shard is still intact, much like Ardbert did? What happened to the reflections on the 13th - were they destroyed, or do they all have analogues in angry Voidsent (i.e. who does the Cloud of Darkness and Diabolos correspond to then?)

[Veloran]

How Venat can be sundered? She's serving as Hydaelyn's heart - If Hydaelyn sundered her own heart, shouldn't she too be sundered? Are their copies of Hydaelyn on every shard? Speaking of which, how could Hydaelyn cross shards to snatch Minfilia's soul when that should be impossible? Also what's with taking Emet's soul when later he's brought to the end of the universe and presumably gets back to Etheirys no problem?

I dislike the writing around Venat to an extreme degree. It's screwed up on every level.

[Lyth]

Even the sundered Ascians were able to travel the shards to capture Minfilia, though. Nabriales was originally in charge of the twelfth, for example.

If Azem's signature magic is teleporting companions to their side from across great distances, it makes sense for Emet's to be teleporting himself away from said companions across great distances. I'm not sure why everyone insists that Emet-Sulk is unsundered. He's clearly tsundered.

[Rannie]

Even the sundered Ascians were able to travel the shards to capture Minfilia, though. Nabriales was originally in charge of the twelfth, for example.

If Azem's signature magic is teleporting companions to their side from across great distances, it makes sense for Emet's to be teleporting himself away from said companions across great distances. I'm not sure why everyone insists that Emet-Sulk is unsundered. He's clearly tsundered.

Are you doing a word play? Or do you seriously not understand why we insist that Emet in unsundered?