Quote Originally Posted by Loggos View Post
One thing I just thought about regarding the aetherial sea and Erenville meeting his mother:

I think in theory it might be possible since the game said the Alexandrians were recreating the same process that occurs within the aetherial sea. This means, the souls in the natural afterlife get cleansed the same way. Yet we know, certain key characteristics still remain after this natural process. (Which is why the same person can be reborn, while being very different but also retaining certain core traits like Fandaniel.)

This opens up the possibility that the artificial cleansing process has the same effect and that it can’t remove those “core characteristics” either. Should those souls go back into the aetherial sea then they might be like any other naturally cleansed soul, thus remaining “the same person” but without memory.

Souls would therefore never be inherently “empty” or blank canvases but possess a “core identity”. Maybe this core identity is so deeply tucked away inside of it that it doesn’t interfere with a living being when consumed unlike memories do, which might be a lot more at the forefront of a soul.

Perhaps souls being consumed doesn’t destroy them but just “depletes” their energy, so they automatically go back into the aetherial sea where they are replenished. (If there is a cycle of energy then the life force consumed in the living world would not be lost but via various conversion steps find its way back into the aetherial sea.)

This is all speculative of course (esp. the last part) but I think the first part could still be somewhat implied by the lore.
Speculative or not, it gives me some measure of resolution to the souls being totally used as fodder. I think another small detail that might support this idea of the souls just losing energy is the Zoraal Ja fight. After he died all the souls escaped from his body. I'm just hoping that despite the location, reflection or source, they'll eventually get pulled back into the natural order of things.