[ENDWALKER SPOILER!] On Zenos

[Aneshda]

There are really people out here who wanted a let monster who could bring ruin to most of the known cosmos with his power live just for the sake of a Twitter burn.

Wild.

Why should the WoL and the Scions always win every thing? Can't we just one time loose something? And like he said, "Stronger than any I have faced. Against you, I need bring all to bear" He could have not ruined this World. Who is left as foe now? No one, cause we purged the World of foes and all in the Name of Hydaelyn. This World is now boring. I don't want to go on Adventures with Krile, the Twins or Fake Dead Lady. I don't even care about most of the things Emet hinted at. Why should we visit these places? Were our adventures really adventures, or rather correcting the mistakes of the ancients? What did Emet leave in the locations besides chaos?

[HappyHubris]

Even if we decided to just ignore Zenos again, I felt it unlikely that he wouldn't have eventually pulled another destructive stunt to get our attention.

He was simply too dangerous and unpredictable to be left to his own devices.

Then why did we ignore him when he was weaker on the moon? He's either a threat that requires immediate extermination or he isn't.

Also note that I specifically wanted to ignore him and strand him at the edge of the universe, never to return.

[HappyHubris]

There are really people out here who wanted let a monster who could bring ruin to most of the known cosmos with his power live just for the sake of a Twitter burn.

Wild.

I'm still salty that I couldn't flip off Zenos and leave him stranded on the edge of space with no one to fight and no way to end his life.

I specifically wanted to strand him, not lovingly bring him back to Eorzea to wreck more havoc.

[KariTheFox]

Given that Zenos gorged himself on the Mothercrystal and was able to travel to Ultima Thule in an instant, I very much doubt he was "stranded" anywhere. More like incredibly dangerous and able to go wherever he pleases.

That being said I love Zenos as a character and was sad to see him die, the fight was a highlight for me though.

[AziraSyuren]

Yeah, he literally flew through time and space to get to us. It's short-sighted to think he couldn't do it again.

[nighttimebunny]

Yeah, he literally flew through time and space to get to us. It's short-sighted to think he couldn't do it again.

pretty much this. saying that Zenos has NO WAY of coming back is utterly ridiculous.
1. he's died before, and they left his second death "vague" almost certainly on purpose. everytime they've done this, the character has come back. the writers also have no qualms about fake deaths.
2. he can't die because of his Resonant, and Elidibus confirmed he is immortal. he has an insanely powerful, basically Ascian and maybe Ancient soul. Ascians can body hop, resurrect bodies, and teleport. he's shown he can do this.
3. he has that voidsent Yoshi P talked about in multiple interviews and we still haven't seen it do anything.
4. we left him in that zone Meteion filled with "hope and rebirth"
5. according to the expert dungeon quests, the Ragnarok, through the power of dynamis, is available right there in Ultima Thule
6. every other "strong" being that's died has poofed into aether. Yotsuyu, Ysayle, Emet, etc. it kinda shows the audience they're gone for good (Emet is a special case lol) he also didnt poof in his first death and even had his throat cut and.....look how that turned out.
7. we still dont know why he had Final Days dreams, and what exactly Emet did to him to cause these dreams.
8. Yoshi P said Zenos is a reaper for "a reason" that we still don't know, and he's the only reaper NPC in the MSQ.
ignoring all of this is ignoring facts because people wish him to be gone.

[Erendis]

Yeah, he literally flew through time and space to get to us. It's short-sighted to think he couldn't do it again.

Where would he get aether though? As they said on Elpis, universe is predominantly dynamis, Etheirys was an exception.

[Kordarion]

Yeah, he literally flew through time and space to get to us. It's short-sighted to think he couldn't do it again.

remember that it was said that the aether from the mothercrystal we used to go to Ultima Thule was used up in the process of traveling, the only reason we can return is because the Ragnarok somehow exists in both Labarynthos and Ultima Thule simultaneously, whereas Zenos would have used all his fuel to get to Ultima Thule and couldn't return. And even if he could break free of the no-longer-dead-star, his only way home is via the Ragnarok which he wouldn't know existed in both places simultaneously.

Edit: Zenos himself says he fed on the remnants of the mothercrystal, implying we used the lion's share with the Ragnarok, there may not have been enough left for him to make a return trip like we did.

[PangTong]

Zenos' role in the story didn't really bother me all that much even though I hate Zenos as a character (for most of the same reasons as stated by OP), simply because his narrative presence is so minor. Like the entire story of Endwalker could have been written to exclude Zenos and it would have made no real difference in the way events play out (it probably would have been better tbh). Which makes it kind of weird that they brought him back at all even after completing his arc in Stormblood. It's like they revived him with no real plans about what they would use him for, except that they loved this idea of having a personal nemesis for the WoL.

But for me they missed the mark on that. As much as they try to imply that my character is really just a bloodthirsty adventurer who fights for the pure joy of it, the WoL has believable moral motivations for pretty much everything they do in the story. So trying to use Zenos to "prove" the WoL's true nature and draw corny parallels with the player (who wants to be entertained by a video game where you kill stuff) was kind of insulting, offensive even. Sure some players will see it that way, but some won't, and forcing one perspective was pretty lame considering they're usually careful to leave the WoL's personality open-ended.

Like OP the part that bothers me is that you are given no choice but to agree with Zenos' assessment of you, that you are like him and fight for pleasure. In fact he even outright says that if you want to walk away he won't stop you, implicitly making our battle the WoL's true personal desire no matter what dialogue option you pick. I'd have been totally satisfied if we actually did have the option to walk away and just leave him there unfulfilled forever, but it would have meant having a completely different second ending, which maybe was impossible depending on their story plans. Would have been worth it imo. Zenos lovers get their final showdown, Zenos haters get to deny him.

[PangTong]

remember that it was said that the aether from the mothercrystal we used to go to Ultima Thule was used up in the process of traveling, the only reason we can return is because the Ragnarok somehow exists in both Labarynthos and Ultima Thule simultaneously, whereas Zenos would have used all his fuel to get to Ultima Thule and couldn't return. And even if he could break free of the no-longer-dead-star, his only way home is via the Ragnarok which he wouldn't know existed in both places simultaneously.

Edit: Zenos himself says he fed on the remnants of the mothercrystal, implying we used the lion's share with the Ragnarok, there may not have been enough left for him to make a return trip like we did.

I recall some dialogue somewhere in a sidequest or something saying that the Ragnarok's journey created an aetherial link/current between Etheirys and Ultima Thule which is why we can teleport to Ultima Thule and back.