Question about the whole Soul Swapping stuff & Zodiak and Fanderial thoughts

[Kamatsu]

I haven't finished Endwalkers yet, only just got done with the Zodiak trial. However one thing that confuses me:

If Fanderial was so worried about the WoL interfering in his plans, why didn't they use that soul swapping device on us and then just kill us outright?

I'm assuming that when soul swapped out of our body we could be killed permanently - both our normal body and the body in which our soul resides.

Did he even need the WoL to defeat Zodiak? Couldn't he after having taken over and had his fun causing destruction & chaos as Zodiak, just killed himself as he did after we beat him? And thus bring about the full end-of-days anyways.

So it really boild down to:

1. Did Fanderial really need the WoL?
2. If not, and was worried about the WoL, why not just soul-swap them at any time and remove them as a threat?

[KageTokage]

1. No. He specifically stated that the only thing that mattered in the end was Zodiark being destroyed and he could've gotten the same result if Zenos fought him instead.

2. I'd assume because he likes theatrics and the only way his plan could've really been foiled was Zodiark's seal not being broken in the first place. Honestly, there are a lot of extremely simple ways the Ascians in general could've offed us if they wanted to, but they don't because being practical is boring from a writing perspective.

[YianKutku]

Did he even need the WoL to defeat Zodiak? Couldn't he after having taken over and had his fun causing destruction & chaos as Zodiak, just killed himself as he did after we beat him? And thus bring about the full end-of-days anyways.

That was his first choice, yes. It failed because he couldn't break through the seal on the first go, but Fandaniel always operates with lots of backup plans, and our fighting Zodiark was always another option, as was Zenos taking our place in fighting Zodiark.

The consensus (expressed by Thancred post-Trial) after Zodiark was killed was that our way, of confronting Zodiark when Fandaniel was in control, was the best case scenario the moment Fandaniel took over, since at least this way Fandaniel-as-Zodiark would not be free to rampage as he wanted to.

[Kamatsu]

Thanx for the replies

So basically Fandaniel didn't remove us from the scene via the soul-swapping thing was because he was crazy, had many plans to deal with things, and just thought it was amusing to see us struggle against him... and for us to be the one to bring back the end of days.