"War does not determine who is right-- only who is left." - Bertrand Russell

The entire Meteion situation was unjust with no real mote of fairness in it after Ktsis Hyperboreia. What the story of FFXIV shows us again and again is that when conflict becomes unavoidable it is always regrettable.

It lead Venat to make war on her own people after they unwittingly parried Meteion's first blow. The rub comes from the story glossing over the greyness in Venat's actions, hiding it behind allegory and powerful speech. Draping another layer over it using the fan favorite cast as a mouthpiece. The author stands by Hydaelyn not by embracing her totally, but by fleeing from the specifics.

This is done to the point where so very many people do not believe Venat did anything wrong, and will go on, belief unaltered.

A similar story can be found in 1986's Watchmen, as well as its 2009 movie adaptation. Ozymandias operates on a similar morality to Hydaelyn in order to prevent nuclear holocaust.

For a closer to home reference, without as much emotional investment, we can look back at Gration and the Kuluu in FFXI. Together with the terrestrial avatars they waged war on the Zilart to prevent them from opening the Gates of Paradise with the Crystal Line. The Kuluu were successful, but it caused the planet to fall into ruin for a long time. The alternative was planetary erasure, because Paradise is perfect and Vana'diel is imperfect, and all imperfections would be erased. Of course, the Kuluu take responsibility for their actions as an almost faceless collective that is long dead. Venat has a much greater impact, and lives far more rent free in my head.