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

[KageTokage]

After doing all of the role quests, I'd agree that really was not the vibe that they were shooting for at all and it seems like a stretch to even correlate the two.

They all draw attention to the fact that in each city state there were people quietly suffering from despair induced by various underlying issues; either as fallout from conflicts they faced earlier in the MSQ or more fundamental problems (In Gridania's case), and it's only when they started turning that the leaders became aware of it and took stronger measures to address their plight.

Though I will say that Gridania's storyline did absolutely nothing to improve my view of the elementals considering it was them being fickle and unforgiving that caused the blasphemy issues there in the first place. While the seventh calamity may have weakened them to an extent that they can no longer physically govern the lives of the Gridanians, other quests stress that they still have an unhealthy level of influence over their society and at times force people into situations that give them grief simply because they say so.