I agree that WoL as Azem-shard was not necessary but an easy story beat to use. I'm another person who only loved Azem crystal's ally-summoning power as the in-universe party finder lore justification. I also at no point EVER found Emet likeable -or Amaurot society remotely appealing; I'd only play a character in that society if I was explicitly burning it to the ground. So that first point about the player possibly disagreeing with what Azem's choice would be during the Final Days if the writers don't do the smart thing of leaving it open-ended ... by stating that one of the WoL's past lives was best friends with the last character in the game that I want my WoL to be around there's a massive disconnect between Azem and the WoL that any additional info would only strengthen. I don't have an 'Azem' headcanon because the interest in acknowledging that part of my character is nil. Interest in other Shard WoLs like Ardbert who have the same Azem piece? Yes! But I fundamentally no different than interest in characters like Ysayle, Krile, Arenvald, Tenzin, and others who also possessed the Echo and/or Blessing of Light.

But it's that Chosen One Protagonist Centered Power Fantasy- and in regards to Emet and the WoL tied to the Azem he knew (game not leaving it open-ended enough for my tastes but thankfully just enough to allow the WoL to reject that emotional past Azem baggage) it can enter into the variant of that Chosen One Power Fantasy involving villains that I find particularly distasteful - where the villain dehumanizes everyone but makes a single exception in their treatment of others for the protagonist not because of the protagonist's values but because said protag will be that one special exception to affirm the villain's standards, thereby quasi-legitimizing the villain's treatment of others even if the protag is nominally defeating them. This is Zenos and his combat obsession with the WoL. And Emet's 'I don't think of you as living beings' except the WoL has an inherited shard of my old friend I think that will somehow overpower all their new life experiences and growth (disproved by ShB plot plus Gaia, and how Fandaniel is decidedly more Amon than Hermes). One is physical, the other emotional. It isn't something that can be readily divorced from a Chosen Hero narrative, though that's why the Power of Friendship, most exemplified in the MSQ by the Scions and the very nature of this being an MMO where combat (and some non-combat, like ocean fishing) content is not exclusively solo play, works to counteract that 'I'm the only special deserving character'.

I'm still annoyed that the WoL can use Azem's Crystal by descension from Azem instead of a more meaningful 'the WoL's choices to explore and help out everyone that they meet resonates with the spirit inside the Crystal who actively chooses to help based on the WoL's choices.' More agency, or at least illusion of. But then Venat gives something close.