I'm not even paraphrasing, to be honest, I'm directly quoting in-game text. It just goes by quickly and people who want to ignore it...do. It's all from the same speech, directly after the memory wipe.
She says, "You may find your world to be very different. Or perhaps the erasure of our friends' memories has sown the seeds of a conjunction between us. We cannot know until the moment is at hand. So shall I strive to do my best, taking naught for granted as I walk my path." If you read the different languages, she specifies in some that the WoL's story of what will come to pass is one of the things she will take as not-guaranteed in her attempt to change things.
She says, "Ordinarily, I wouldn't hesitate to call upon the Fourteen. However, it was the desire for a fair determination that drove Hermes to attempt to erase our memories; were he made aware of his actions, there is no telling whether he would remain a friend or become a foe. Alternately, we might try to alienate him from the Convocation. Yet in doing so, we would deprive ourselves of a brilliant mind who would be invaluable in the crises to come. Quite the dilemma... Which is why I must work independently of the Convocation." Again, reading the different languages highlights different specifics in each, with her saying that the results of Meteion's survey led one man to make this mess, so the whole society knowing will almost surely cause the situation to spin out of anyone and everyone's ability to influence and play right into Meteion's hands. And, moreover, since he has experience with dynamis and (whether he ever discovers it or not) the problem is dynamis, he may be of value to the altered course if she can alter it. And he is uniquely qualified to be Fandaniel in the first place, so it might be worse to rob the Convocation of a competent Fandaniel in the other respects he is qualified for.
Is that all convoluted writing that probably exists just to justify having an arc of the story take place in Elpis hanging out with the ancients at all? Probably.
Do we blow by her justifications very quickly? For sure.
But is it "not trying to mitigate the end of days" and "willfully withholding information so they suffer the full horrors of the end of days"? I would disagree with you there.
Addendum: In retrospect, given the convoluted nature of the whole arc, my personal question would probably be "Why didn't she lie more?" Why didn't she give some information, withhold some, and do everything she could to prevent them from finding out the whole situation, hoping they got everything they needed to create a better outcome, but none of the stuff that would risk it going out of control? She did that to the Warrior of Light for the whole game. (Granted, Hydaelyn couldn't have told you anything SE didn't t know.) But maybe that's a lot harder to do when you're up against the combined intellectual and investigative might of the Convocation of Fourteen. Even if she were to encourage them to use the Echo to prove some of her claims, it would also reveal the things she's afraid would undermine not only her efforts to change her people's course, buy ALSO the one known future where Meteion's defeat is possible.



Reply With Quote


