Zodiark's Codex entry what do we think about it?

[Brinne]

What bothers me the most about this argument is how it's supposed to be in Hydaelyn's favor, but she ends up annihilating any and all human life on Etheriys regardless, so I don't understand how this is meant to aid in justifying her actions in any way.

Yeah, it's a bit of a weird thing to get caught up in in this point since it's been established that actually protecting the lives of the sacrifices was not Venat's true concern - she was perfectly willing to (and did) treat them as expendable in service to her larger goals, which was forcing the Ancients to change. So the question of trying to pin down the exact nature of the sacrifices is one that not only doesn't actually alter anything about the true nature of the conflict, and also becomes a referendum of mostly "well, was the Convocation's plan just as callous as Hydaelyn's, or better?"

Even the "worst case scenario" in regards to the sacrifices basically comes down to "absolutely everyone here basically sucks, except maybe some unnamed, unknown members of Venat's group who were true believers and only mentioned in passing summary, and if so essentially got taken advantage of as a result." And I mean, if those members ever actually become characters on a meaningful level, I'll root for them! Go go random Venat faction member #6! Sorry you got soul-deathed! You deserved better!

[Lunaxia]

Yeah, it's a bit of a weird thing to get caught up in in this point...

It's a little funny to me that the aim of this thread, even if meant with all the good faith in the world, was effectively to call attention to how the Convocation might have conceivably ordered the Ancients to kill themselves, before proceeding to subtly highlight in contrast the morality of Venat's actions by pointing out how she wanted to preserve new life of potential importance... that would have, you know, resurrected those Ancients. It still boils down to the same matter of her choosing one form of life over another, and the fundamental question of how that makes her any better overall.

[TowaIsBestGirl]

If it helps: Law in the SHin Megami Tensei games is essentially a Light-dominated scenario.

...wait, that doesn't help at all, there is very little chance that she knows enough about Shin Megami Tensei to get that.

Okay, if you know Doctor Who: the Daleks would be Light-aligned.

EDIT: In retrospect I think that might help even less

For just a moment I was going to say that typically the Law routes in SMT are pretty scummy and evil/bad routes, but really all the routes are pretty crummy. Venat's better than all of them, if nothing else. Though, it's hard to not be better than a SMT-style Demiurge or YHWH. But yeah, that first example does a terrible job of illustrated the virtues of the Light regrettably. I suppose I just felt to write about Venat's better qualities would be better served by calling attention to her own character quirks and the goals she wished to accomplish than the element her magic is based on, if the intent is to establish her as a more suitable alternative to the primal Zodiark. After Shadowbringers lore drops, the point of extrapolating "He was the Darkness, She was the Light" falls just a tad more flat in my opinion. Such that I didn't feel it was necessary to really include it, further than to establish basic metaphysics sans any moral embellishments.

It's a little funny to me that the aim of this thread, even if meant with all the good faith in the world, was effectively to call attention to how the Convocation might have conceivably ordered the Ancients to kill themselves, before proceeding to subtly highlight in contrast the morality of Venat's actions by pointing out how she wanted to preserve new life of potential importance... that would have, you know, resurrected those Ancients. It still boils down to the same matter of her choosing one form of life over another, and the fundamental question of how that makes her any better overall.

This was basically the insinuation I was calling attention to, but you used your words in much more proficient ways than I've ever been capable of. I suppose it doesn't really matter, does it.