What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[Brinne]

Well, first, I don't agree that working is inherently a human's "purpose". Especially not in a world like the one we live in at present.

Secondly, I really don't see how you're unaware of the difference between dying of old age and natural causes, and willingly committing suicide after reaching some arbitrary "purpose". What you're suggesting is that if, say, Scarlet Johannsen decided she'd served her purpose in life, she should just jump off a bridge and that be considered perfectly normal. The Ancients weren't broken, withered old people. They literally killed themselves while in perfectly sound body and mind. And even if they were old, I don't see old people as having no more purpose in life. But hey, maybe that's just me.

I fully agree with you on not seeing working as a human's purpose (I'm disabled! I can't work! I spend my time making embarrassing cringeposts on forums discussing MMORPGs instead!), but I do think - and this probably comes down to a question of "intent versus execution" - you can't really apply the world we live in to the present to the Ancients' situation. They're immortal, know that reincarnation exists, and the process is fully consensual. That being said, of course there's room for cultural shifts in terms of broadening one's ideas of what one's "purpose" can be - just like, even though the Ancient society was far more humane in their treatment of animals than ours, of course there was still room for improvement there, too. But I can't correlate our hypothetical situation of "putting down people who can't work" to the Ancients' in this case, per se.

[Skyborne]

Personally saw no real problem with the Ancients' arrangement on a more pragmatic level... given they are immortal and don't die of age or disease, only through violence. Considering they also had children and likely saw that as quite important, leaving meaningful roles to those children by your departure (knowing you will reincarnate anyway) doesn't seem like a bad idea. A bit like a forest, where having all the old trees smothers out all the light for all the saplings below unless they are cleared through some other means.

Otherwise, with no one really dying, Etheirys would eventually become quite overpopulated... then, I suppose, they'd be forced to look into space travel.

As an aside, soon this thread will be 300 pages. And it will be beautiful. (笑)

[CrownySuccubus]

you can't really apply the world we live in to the present to the Ancients' situation. They're immortal, know that reincarnation exists, and the process is fully consensual.

Again, I'm NOT. The story (and writers) intends for us to find it scary, but I agree with you.

However, I will remind you I'm NOT the one who compared it to real life circumstances. Manifesto did, when they erroneously compared it to humans dying of old age.

Also, I want to point out that Venat was seen as weird for NOT choosing to do it. Emet-Selch makes a snide remark about the decision, and another Ancient at one point tells her how much she looks forward to when Venat goes back to the star, and Venat avoids the question. The way they framed the conversation was like someone asking a career woman when she's finally going to retire and have a baby, when said woman has expressed no desire to do it.