Quote Originally Posted by Cleretic View Post
It's not that the story wants you to sympathize with Venat. It's that the entire planet around you for most of the game has benefited from her, and so they are naturally pro-Hydaelyn in much the same way that, say, Jews are broadly pro-Yahweh; sure, he's not perfect, but on the whole they're pretty glad he went to bat for 'em.
I'm not really understanding the angle you're going for in implying that because the Sundered 'benefitted' from her choices, it would be weird or out of turn to take issue with what she's done. People are more than capable of recognizing that awful deeds from the past served to put them where they are now. Acknowledging that this person is responsible for creating the 'you' that exists now, arguably gives more of a reason to take issue with her, as her methods resulted in an unbelievably lower average quality of life for everything. Handwaving her actions by comparing her to a religious god who just 'giveth and taketh away' does nothing because WE, both the playerbase and central characters, know that she was not a god, she was just another person. That is a fact that is used to great effect when we're to feel bad for her, of course, and conveniently ignored when her decisions are questioned. We are absolutely meant to sympathize with Venat, they're just not doing a good job.