No idea why we have two threads going on about Endwalker discussion, and I guess this would belong in the other thread but I decided to put it here.

I don't have Venat as a character, but I hate that she's Hydaelyn. Venat is someone who is very into her own ideals. If she actually had intentions of helping the ancients, then she would have told them the truth. but she never did and the ancients remained in the dark. She stuck to her ideals that mankind should be "equal to Hermes's test" therefore she never intended to tell them and if they couldn't figure things out on their own and live through the despair, they would be sundered. Her ideals are playing fair to a genocidal idiot's game and to avoid a fate that happened on some other planet. We don't know if she took the "best" path because we never saw the outcome of her telling the truth. She even got people to sacrifice their souls to her without them even knowing fully what was going on because they liked and trusted her. She waited until Zodiark had halted the problem and restored life, then split up the world knowing full well many of the offshoots were just going to die. The souls in Zodiark were trapped in Zodiark .The sundered inhabitants lost their memories, their culture, and everything that made them them. Hades, Elidibus and all the other ascians were literally monsters of her own making.
She then proceeds to give the sundered every key possible to fix the situation, while giving the ancients none, only for her main plan to abandon the planet. If it were not for Zenos (great grandson of an ancient), Hades, Elidibus, the WoL would have died, died again, never made it to Elpis to get the last key and then fail and fail again. The fact that this person, who is a villain in every way possible, is Hydaelyn is what makes me hate the character. I was hoping that losing Hydaelyn would be sad, the sundering being a completely human accident or mistake.But I guess we can't have her being human and relatable, no has to be an all knowing powerful Mary Sue. But I guess it's fine since she's nice to us. Venat was a monster #NotMyHydaelyn

Also the end of days should have affected the whole planet, yes, but that would mean that Venat was wrong and humanity couldn't fight through their despair. Endwalker's own themes and push for Hydaelyn to be right was holding its own self back