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

[KageTokage]

Some people expected to like her more post-development, but ended up liking her less.

That's all there is to it. It has nothing do with the other Ancients getting a "free pass" because the additional context we got behind them in the past changed nothing about what we know of them in the present and mostly just served to make us feel worse about the fate they were eventually thrust into.

In Venat's case, it changed everything and was very much a "your mileage may vary" sort of situation...as the past several hundred pages can attest to.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Some people expected to like her more post-development, but ended up liking her less.

That's all there is to it. It has nothing do with the other Ancients getting a "free pass" because the additional context we got behind them in the past changed nothing about what we know of them in the present and mostly just served to make us feel worse about the fate they were eventually thrust into.

In Venat's case, it changed everything and was very much a "your mileage may vary" sort of situation...as the past several hundred pages can attest to.

I still fail to see how "different" her character was between Venat and Hydaelyn. Unlike literally every other Ancient, she was probably the most level-headed and consistent Ancient between her time in the Unsundered World and current timeline. Everybody else turned into, as Emet-Selch puts it "megalomaniacal madmen" heck you could even start to see give into that during the one scene with the Convocation in their desperation.

[jameseoakes]

I still fail to see how "different" her character was between Venat and Hydaelyn. Unlike literally every other Ancient, she was probably the most level-headed and consistent Ancient between her time in the Unsundered World and current timeline. Everybody else turned into, as Emet-Selch puts it "megalomaniacal madmen" heck you could even start to see give into that during the one scene with the Convocation in their desperation.

I think that's the problem, the sundering/the aftermarth seems to have driven the unsundered ascians insane, where as Venat was able to betray and unmake her own civilisation and apparently isn't affect at all

[Atelier-Bagur]

I think that's the problem, the sundering/the aftermarth seems to have driven the unsundered ascians insane, where as Venat was able to betray and unmake her own civilisation and apparently isn't affect at all

The Ancients were very meticulous and obsessed with their perfect utopia that it gave into a somewhat unhealthy culture where people played god, putting a lot more value into the work of developing their civilization for the benefit of the star and in a weird way undervaluing their own lives by encouraging one to "die" after they fulfilled their purpose. This kind of thinking is what would have eventually gave pass to their own self-destruction, based on the examples of other civilizations we've come across at Ultima Thule such as the Niburun, The Omicrons and the Ea where their own paradises developed their flavor of nihilism. To me the Ancients were well on their way to that path. Venat gave the impression that she didnt necessarily agree with a lot of her people's ways, which is why she was the rare case of a Convocation member still being alive even though she fulfilled her purpose and gave up her seat. Factor that with her own free spirit, something that she shares with our Azem, it makes sense why she was one of the few Ancients whom didnt gave into despair like the rest of the Ancients during the Final Days.

[jameseoakes]

t. Factor that with her own free spirit, something that she shares with our Azem, it makes sense why she was one of the few Ancients whom didnt gave into despair like the rest of the Ancients during the Final Days.

I'd say she did give into despair though as she gave up on her own people and the sundering seems to be more about her not liking how her civilisation works than anything else given how fast she is to give up on it. I find the fact she could scour her own race from existence and seemly not be affect by really disturbing