Reinterpreting Answers after Shadowbringers

[FaerieAura]

desperation doesn't absolve what happened for both sides. Especially if this leads to us being unable to stop another calmity because we are not strong enough anymore

Fair, though I would counter that some of the information we have seems to indicate that the Calamity that threatened the Ascians' civilization was due, in part, to the unchecked power they had over creation itself. Because they had absolute control, once they began to give in to their fears and doubts, those fears and doubts given form were able to wreak havoc upon the world, thus fueling the fears and doubts that the populace had even more. This just spawned deeper and darker horrors, which eventually required the imposition of a will - Zodiark - to impose order upon the world. The unchecked ability to create, without limit, may very well have been what gave rise to the nightmares that caused the end of civilization. The Ascians speak of their civilization as if it is a dream, without realizing that it is by its very nature a dream that may be doomed from the start. Requiring Zodiark, a being that seems to necessitate sacrifice after sacrifice, in order to maintain order on such a world does not seem worth the cost, at least to me. Perhaps that is why the Ascians that remained untouched by Zodiark realized that another solution was needed - that the vain attempt to hold on to the order of the world that existed before Zodiark wasn't worth the cost he demanded - blood, aether, and death.

Every Calamity that has since occurred has simply been an echo of the first - the fear of oblivion, of death, leading to demands for sacrifice and aether, leading to constant turmoil and strife. Emet-Selch accuses the Warrior of Light and her companions of only seeing the problems in front of their noses, but the Ascians are so solely focused on their goal that they fail to see that they are merely repeating the same cycles of history, over and over again, in a vain attempt to regain what was lost. The Ascians are the ones who continue the cycle of pain and loss that has existed since the first Calamity - since the first pangs of fear began to appear in their civilization. They still are fighting against the fear of loss, the fear of oblivion. And until they realize that, Hydaelyn will have to continue spending all of her energy fighting them, rather than allowing life to flourish, which was Her original intention. Again, my theory, but I think the text supports it to a degree at this point. I can't wait to find out more about Her background and creation.