Quote Originally Posted by Cilia View Post
Good villains aren't the kind who sit around thinking of ways to be evil. They're normal people forced into it, be it by their own personality or the situation they're in. Granted the Ascians are nigh-immortal sorcerers who command magicks far beyond mortals, and all of them (save perhaps Elidibus) fail to have any sort of sympathetic personality), but that still leaves their situation ambiguous.
This is why I quite like the idea of Ascians actually being of this world, rather than there being some as-yet unknown second world. It actually makes their situation fairly sympathetic. They're immortal, cast out of this reality as Hydaelyn changes, of course they'd want to do something about it...

Could even potentially explain Derplanders descent into Darklander. The Echo appears to be something which can be developed, and it would appear that "immortality" is a part of that (see: The Sahagin Priest). Based on our fight with Ascian Prime, the Ascians also have the Echo... So... They were once mortals, got the Echo, died, didn't die, and then Hydaelyn changed. Not just as a result of time passing, but the very laws of existence kept changing, until eventually their old existence became something incompatible...

That would make for a very convincing horrible truth... They're no longer of this world, because it has been warped such that they're unable to properly exist in it, and that is the fate of all Echo users. I'd certainly be incline to agree with them at that point, were it not for the fact that we've debunked their immortality now... It fits fairly nicely with the theme of accepting death as a part of life, which was certainly one of the messages in Dragonsong... They developed immortality, viewed that as part of the gift ("why must you turn to empty bliss") rather than the curse it actually is. When the nature of their situation becomes apparent, they "break trust", start undoing the good they did in life ("turn the past to dust"), "seeking solace in the abyss" with Zodiark. As they fight back, Hydaelyn needs the Echo even more to deal with them, creating "a circle none can break"...