Quote Originally Posted by Morningstar1337 View Post
correct me if I'm wrong, but was the step after rejoining everything being to sacrifice the current inhabitants of the Source to bring back the deceased Auamrotines? It might stand to reason that the results of the sundering had left the mortal shells with an aether capacity that is far lower than the an Ancient's body, and while while rejoining or the Echo might increase that capacity, that capacity might still be too low for them to reach the same heights.
That's correct, yes. Hythlodaeus said that the plan was to rejoin the shards, then pick up where they left off and sacrifice what life was left on the now-rejoined Source. Which means, by inference, that all the death and destruction associated with Calamities on the Source and complete destruction of a shard are irrelevant in terms of aether required to sacrifice to Zodiark.