Quote Originally Posted by Theodric View Post
Elsewhere, the game highlights that non-consensual acts, even when there is a 'good reason' are unpleasant for the target...Equally, the same can be said of the Sundering. It wasn't a consensual act. Venat's followers were the minority within the Ancient world. She admits herself that there was no kindness or justice in the act - and yet there are still some, unfortunately, seeking to pretend as if the Sundering is some big, heroic thing that was all sunshine and rainbows.
This is exactly how I see it too. In my opinion, Venat and her supporters are the same as Hermes - different sides of the same coin in that they decided to judge mankind as if they are the creator of the universe, take away their agency and consent, and decide for everyone how they would live. In Venat's case, it's actually kind of twisted for me because it's like someone giving you the choice between getting r*ped or killed. And then everyone else is like "Well yeah that was morally questionable but it's better than losing your life!" It's a gross violation of a person's autonomy and some things are worse than death in my opinion. I can't imagine it felt good to be torn apart like that, even though the writers don't get into those specifics. But if we were to go by the "stylistic" cutscene of Venat limping around, it looks like it was probably a very painful thing.

Imagine being an ancient and you just lost everyone you care about and are still grieving while trying to hold it together. Meanwhile someone you probably respect a lot is judging you and looking at you with a mix of self-righteousness and pity before basically taking on a role as the judge of the whole planet and deciding how your life will look from now on. Venat and her supporters betrayed their people and then "traded" them in like they were currency for a new group of beings who would maybe or maybe not find an answer to the sound and the only reason it all worked out is because it's an mmo and we can't die so it has to end in our favor.

Anyway, that's my opinion of the whole Venat thing. As far as the story goes for the future expansions...I'm going to be honest and say that I probably won't be invested at all in the future arcs. As several posters have mentioned, it could be better for some players not to look at the story too closely or else you might not enjoy it anymore lol so in my case this probably calls for a casual glance at the new stories but no more analyzing. A lot of it falls apart for me when I delve deeper into EW like I do with books.