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

[Theodric]

The writers probably avoided making the Sundering about the third round of sacrifices on the basis that it wouldn't make Venat look particularly good. The third round of sacrifices was only ever meant to be a portion of whatever the 'new life' happened to be and even if that involved sentient beings it's still the lesser of two perceived evils given that Venat decided to inflict genocide upon every man, woman and child amongst the Ancients.

The only thing that would allow me to respect Venat's point of view would be if she were at least consistent and sought to engage in a second Sundering after seeing the Sundered fail her test. I think that would have been inherently more interesting than seeing her stand aside and grant infinite second chances and easy 'I WIN' buttons when that is exactly what she sought to criticise her own people for.

[Lauront]

At which point the alphirant can fire on all cylinders:

[CrownySuccubus]

I don't like the way souls are handled. I don't like that they can be split apart, I don't like that they can be permanently destroyed, and I don't like that there's a question as to whether or not all humanoids have one.

All of these are basically standard beliefs of East Asian religion. Japanese, in particular, revolve their entire belief system around the idea that literally everything has a soul (literally everything -- from plants and animals to toilets to computer software), that the soul has multiple independent parts with their own natures and functions, and that souls can be further split, created, corrupted, purified or merged. Divine or godly souls can become r demoted to mortal, and mortal souls can be come promoted to divine.

And, remember: the philosophy of Mono no Aware means that ALL things end. That includes souls.

Even if a story tells you that something "doesn't have a soul", they usually mean a specific TYPE of soul. Whatever makes that being feel "strange" or "wrong" in context. For example, we're specifically told that Nobodies in Kingdom Hearts don't have "hearts", but then it's revealed that some do if they build strong feelings or some crap like that.

Same thing happens in EW. We're specifically told that Blasphemies have no souls to return to the aethereal plane, but Fordola clearly sees the soul of her dead friend being reunited with their other buddies after he's destroyed as a blasphemy.

Hrothgar throw a wrench into everything, don't they? :P I preferred Varis' explanation of the sundering causing the creation of the different races over the evolution of them proposed by Yoshi-P in the LL, especially given the comparatively short time in which that evolution would've had to occur.

When popular media talks about "evolution", you have to remember that they mean it like Pokemon "evolution", whereas some sort of extreme transformation happens over a relatively short period of time or it happens because of some magical energy or power influencing a species directly. Either way, it usually isn't meant to refer to changes over the course of millions of years.

[Rulakir]

All of these are basically standard beliefs of East Asian religion.

I have little knowledge of Asian beliefs in general. Outside of having grown up in a Christian family, I could win at Greek mythology trivia and that's about it. :P As far as the beliefs I was raised upon (which, incidentally, I no longer hold, I'm agnostic at best), souls don't work like that. The thought of an immortal soul being split apart or permanently destroyed is horrifying to me, which is possibly why I view the sundering as a far more gruesome act than perhaps someone from Asian cultures would.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I have little knowledge of Asian beliefs in general. Outside of having grown up in a Christian family, I could win at Greek mythology trivia and that's about it. :P As far as the beliefs I was raised upon (which, incidentally, I no longer hold, I'm agnostic at best), souls don't work like that. The thought of an immortal soul being split apart or permanently destroyed is horrifying to me, which is possibly why I view the sundering as a far more gruesome act than perhaps someone from Asian cultures would.

Partly why i don’t think video game stories should really deal in morality much. The fact that the devs clearly see Venat as right and benevolent for committing mass genocide will never sit well with me, and while we clearly have a different idea of morality, it’s just backwards to me to condemn Emet for wanting to rejoin but it’s okay for Venat to basically help destroy souls outright? Just makes the devs seem a bit…idk how to say it politely lol.

[CrownySuccubus]

I have little knowledge of Asian beliefs in general. Outside of having grown up in a Christian family, I could win at Greek mythology trivia and that's about it. :P As far as the beliefs I was raised upon (which, incidentally, I no longer hold, I'm agnostic at best), souls don't work like that. The thought of an immortal soul being split apart or permanently destroyed is horrifying to me, which is possibly why I view the sundering as a far more gruesome act than perhaps someone from Asian cultures would.

Yeah, that's not how Asian beliefs view the concept of a "soul". For example, a common belief held in Chinese-influenced countries (which includes Japan) is the "family spirit". Eventually, the soul of every person that dies within a family or clan is slowly absorbed into a collective "family spirit" which watches over and protects their living relatives. Individual souls slowly lose their individuality and personal consciousness, their identities being subsumed into the family entity.

This is not considered to be a bad thing. Individuals being slowly absorbed into a greater (typically stronger or wiser) whole is a common theme in both East and Near East religions.

[Rulakir]

They probably should've called it something else then or elaborated more on the soul system they have in mind for the game's lore. Beliefs aside, I'm still bothered by the fact that people aren't 'whole' and I felt that way before ShB. One of my many disappointments with EW (that was overshadowed by everything else) is that they doubled down on being sundered being a good thing when I had hoped the WoL's journey would eventually lead to becoming complete again, especially as Azem is the only major character among the Ancients who ended up sundered. Well, except for Hermes, but screw that guy. :P

I'm hoping the 13th will be rejoined because unless there's a way to reverse being voidsent there's no purpose in restoring it so that, what, Unukalhai and Cylva can return and become Adam & Eve?

Partly why i don’t think video game stories should really deal in morality much.

They burned all the good will of ShB, didn't they? I thought we'd be getting a 'no right side/matter of perspective' approach in EW and instead we get Venat was right, the sundering was justified, and the Ascians were wrong with the cherry on top of even Emet praising her at the end. Give me a break. No, I do not want to see them tackle conflicts of values in the future, especially when EW was a painful display that the writers and I do not share the same ones.

[Fiel_Tana]

They probably should've called it something else then or elaborated more on the soul system they have in mind for the game's lore. Beliefs aside, I'm still bothered by the fact that people aren't 'whole' and I felt that way before ShB. One of my many disappointments with EW (that was overshadowed by everything else) is that they doubled down on being sundered being a good thing when I had hoped the WoL's journey would eventually lead to becoming complete again, especially as Azem is the only major character among the Ancients who ended up sundered. Well, except for Hermes, but screw that guy. :P

Venat was sundered as well according to the watcher, but also (especially) screw her

[KizuyaKatogami]

Venat was sundered as well according to the watcher, but also (especially) screw her

This is something i’m curious about tbh. If she and Hydaelyn were sundered, why does she still have her “beautiful” godly form, whereas Zodiark is all just broken and fractured.

[Fiel_Tana]

It also makes me curious why Hydaelyn claimed each rejoining made her weaker.