Quote Originally Posted by Striker44 View Post
The second huge thing is purely opinion, but I'll state mine. I have a lot of trouble calling something a "heroic self-sacrifice" when the plan all along was for those very people who "sacrificed" themselves to ultimately be brought back to life. I don't see it as some amazing, heroic action to "sacrifice" oneself if you do so fully expecting to just be brought back as if nothing happened later. (Side note - one of the things detractors of the EW story love to claim is that the Scions' "sacrifices" in Ultima Thule are "meaningless" for exactly that very reason: the existence of a plan/plot device to bring them back, anyway.)
I've by and large left the game at this point, but my sub has a few more days until it runs dry so I feel obligated to interject that the Amaurotines did not sacrifice themselves believing they would be resurrected. Hythlodaeus tells us (once directly, another implied) that this was a plan later conceived of by the Convocation once stability and life had returned to the world:

The cycle of life had begun anew, and we reconsidered the means by which we might protect it.

The Convocation decided thus: we would nurture our world until it was bursting with vitality. Then, when the time was right, we would offer some portion of its living energy to Zodiark...

In return, He would restore to us those brethren whose souls had fed His strength, and together we would resume our role as stewards.
We remember in vivid detail the events leading to our purgatory...

The plans and plots for our resurrection, Hydaelyn's intervention, and Zodiark's - and the star's - final fate.
It doesn't exactly sound like they were in on these "plots" prior to Zodiark's summoning. I also highly doubt they would make a point of having Emet-Selch emphasise the selflessness and nobility of their sacrifice had it been done under the assumption it was temporary - given that it would completely undermine any and all emotional impact they clearly wanted the end of ShB to have on its audience.

But another day, another reason to drag the Ancients and strip them of any humanity that might make the arguments against them uncomfortably precarious and hypocritical.