Quote Originally Posted by Berteaux_Braumegain View Post
I think they're referring to how Hydaelyn's backup plan would be for the people of Etheirys to flee elsewhere, which would lead to Meteion destroying the world and thereby the other reflections of Etheirys. Thancred, notably, was not entertaining the possibility of not fighting Meteion because he was worried about Ryne.

That said, if Hydaelyn is tapped out on power and the Warrior of Light can't defeat Meteion, I'm not really sure what else the backup plan could be. It's clear Hydaelyn would prefer that they can defeat Meteion, but she left an out for the people of the Source so that SOMETHING could survive in the event that result wasn't possible.
Not to mention that there's no way she could know back when she started to make those plans that some fools would unshackle Zodiark early. The only way she could reasonably consider he would be free and the aether shield fell is if all the Rejoinings had happened, so the shards would no longer exist. I don't think she disregarded the shards as much as she didn't think they would be there anymore to worry about if her ultimate backup plan had to come into play.