I have a theory that the story we got is not the story that was originally written and some pieces were left behind in a rushed rewrite.

Things like that line about Hydaelyn sundering herself doesn't make sense within the story we were shown. If she was sundered, why did she become weaker against Zodiark with each rejoining? They'd be gaining strength at the same rate.

Other scenes like in Elpis when we're shown how to use the echo to read the history of a place also seems out of place and causes story inconsistency.
That means Venat could have easily shown trusted people the truth of what they were to face. Why would Emet & Hytho not even bother taking a peek to see what happened during their mind-wipe and that Venat & Azem's familiar also entered but didn't come out? Really?! No one was the least bit curious?

If that scene weren't added, those questions wouldn't come up... but it was. So what does that scene really add to the story we got?