When are we supposed to stop fighting?

[Veloran]

Most religious systems in universe don’t seem to worshipping Hydaelyn are they? The only actions we have record of are Her efforts to stop the calamities, but other events not so much. In fact, given the lack of any record of Her communicating directly with the Sundered, She seemed to stay out of a lot of things entirely.

Hydaelyn is venerated practically whenever she was referenced earlier in the game, Minfilia explicitly prayed to her and the Zodiac Braves clearly revered her as well. Moreover she directly communicated with the sundered all the time in the form of her visions and calls to those with the Echo. And need I remind you when she interceded to save WoL or Krile's lives? I'd say that's providing her self-described "supreme goddess" powers to stop hardship and loss.

Sure, but if you already have to Sunder the world to weaken Zodiark, seems like you’re accomplishing both.

You don't have to sunder the world to sunder Zodiark. The world wasn't just sundered as a consequence of sundering him, she did so intentionally.

She knew enough to develop an entirely new form of magic for the purpose of imprisoning him, giving Hydaelyn that power and betting everything on it.

We have no idea if the sundering ability was specifically made by Venat, or if she made use of an existing concept. Regardless WoL literally tells her what she'll do, the point is she doesn't actually know the circumstances of what happened, if the world survived due to something WoL simply didn't know about. It was a complete hail mary - IE bad strategy.

A reminder that in each timeline

We have no idea if there were any other timelines. WoL told Venat that Zodiark continued to work until he was killed, the point is that she was acting in the dark as to how or why

There are several presumptions we are making here. First is that weakening Zodiark necessarily means weakening the laws he’s established.

He's weaker when we fight him. His laws are aetherical in nature and the currents protecting the world naturally would have lost 13/14ths density along with everything else. There is every reason to seriously doubt the efficacy of his shield after he's sundered.

Imprison Zodiark, gather aether, and buy humanity time to recover from the Sundering and reaffirm their lives in the face of inevitable oblivion. Then, with the resources and technology developed, take the fight to Meteion.

Her "plan" was "I'll try and maintain the status quo forever, and if that doesn't work run away with whoever I can, but maybe if someone comes along and wants to go for it I'll let them do it if they beat me in a fight."

Once again, if Hydaelyn had lost or the fight was never fought in the first place then it is the position of Venat and her group that the world was doomed. Igniting a conflict under that circumstance would not be counterproductive, and what do ya know you know it turned out to be correct.

It's the position of extreme ecological activists that the world is doomed if the human population isn't reduced and the exploitation of the environment isn't stopped. Is it justified - Not to mention productive, intelligent strategy - to bomb cities to stop people from living their self-centered, self-destructive lifestyles?

[EaraGrace]

Hydaelyn is venerated practically whenever she was referenced earlier in the game, Minfilia explicitly prayed to her and the Zodiac Braves clearly revered her as well. Moreover she directly communicated with the sundered all the time in the form of her visions and calls to those with the Echo. And need I remind you when she interceded to save WoL or Krile's lives? I'd say that's providing her self-described "supreme goddess" powers to stop hardship and loss.

All to counter explicitly the plans of the Ascians. And if such widespread worship was present we would see Her everywhere. Need I remind who the Eorzeans prayed to during the Fall of Dalamud?

You don't have to sunder the world to sunder Zodiark. The world wasn't just sundered as a consequence of sundering him, she did so intentionally.

That’s actually not what the evidence points too. While the Sundering did have positive benefits for the fight against Meteion and yes played into the decision, dialogue and other sources make clear it wasn’t the biggest reason.

Hydaelyn Triple Triad Card: This ancient primal was created under the leadership of Venat to curb the towering might of Zodiark. Summoned with a lesser sacrifice of souls, Hydaelyn chose to unleash a blow which sundered not only Zodiark but the star itself, a desperate act which allowed Her to imprison His shattered essence upon the moon. In appearance, She closely resembles Venat, who gave herself to serve as the primal's heart.

Zodiark was conceived as the very will of the star, unlike Hydaelyn who claimed the mantle post sundering and was actually summoned with the intention of keeping him in check.



And thus when you sunder Zodiark, you sunder the world.



In Her own words.

We have no idea if the sundering ability was specifically made by Venat, or if she made use of an existing concept. Regardless WoL literally tells her what she'll do, the point is she doesn't actually know the circumstances of what happened, if the world survived due to something WoL simply didn't know about. It was a complete hail mary - IE bad strategy.

We do know that it was an ability unique to Hydaelyn and never seen before Her.

From the French version.

[14:00] Emet-Selch : Des attaques qui, en plus de toucher l'enveloppe matérielle de l'adversaire, tranchaient jusqu'à son essence même... C'était du jamais vu.
= “Attacks that, in addition to touching the material envelope (body) of the opponent, cut to its very essence… It was never seen before.”

Having developed enervation, and believing the world doomed if Zodiark not imprisoned, the risk seemed well worth it. After all, if not her and her followers who else would act?

He's weaker when we fight him. His laws are aetherical in nature and the currents protecting the world naturally would have lost 13/14ths density along with everything else. There is every reason to seriously doubt the efficacy of his shield after he's sundered.

This is ultimately speculation though. Exactly what impact the Sundering had on the shield is unknown to us. The Ascians certainly didn’t seem to think they were on the clock now were they?

It's the position of extreme ecological activists that the world is doomed if the human population isn't reduced and the exploitation of the environment isn't stopped. Is it justified - Not to mention productive, intelligent strategy - to bomb cities to stop people from living their self-centered, self-destructive lifestyles?

If you wish to know my moral system it’d be easier to just ask. More to the point the analogy is wrong. Bombing innocent people would not be justified as they aren’t the ones largely polluting the planet, they are innocent and thus it would be nothing but terrorism, an abhorrent act. Bombing oil pipelines, denying organizations the chance to cut forests or mine the Earth, active armed resistance against major fossil fuel companies, I’ll just say I have no opinion so I don’t get banned.