Quote Originally Posted by astercantus View Post
It's interesting that some people see the portrayal of suffering in Endwalker as "you MUST suffer, otherwise life has no meaning". My own subjective take is that we have to accept some degree of suffering as a part of life, but by no means are we not encouraged to minimise it. In the game we encounter so many situations where we actually prevent suffering from happening (saving NPCs, protecting towns and villages etc.) By all means, if you can prevent pain and hardship from happening in the 1st place, that is the optimal solution - I think it would be highly irrational to say that yes, you are in a position to suffer and I will let it happen because that's what life is about and it will make you stronger. In fact, this mentality reminds me of Mother Theresa, who believed that suffering brought people closer to God and thus she refused to administer painkillers to the needy (big yikes).

Through our actions, we constantly improve the lives of others by minimising their suffering. In moments where the suffering was inevitable, we provided support and succor. For me, Endwalker's message was that a completely joyous life absolutely free of suffering is unrealistic, unattainable and is ultimately untenable. What we should aim to do is first alleviate suffering (if possible), and if not - then rely on your friends, family and other support systems to overcome it. I don't support the whole "you must suffer to be a better person" ideology as it can come off as real icky. But for a lot of people, finding a way through unavoidable suffering does temper them to become stronger. I do think the message was more nuanced (but perhaps it didn't come across that way for everyone?) than people thought.
See i saw the theme as that too, but i think the problem with it for me and a lot of other people is that, they didn’t do a good job portraying that line of thinking for Venat. Because of what she did etc it really seemed like her pov was these people need to suffer if they are to overcome Meteion,and the fact the game paints her as benevolent for all of this is just another nails on the chalkboard situation. People act like the Ancients saw themselves as these perfect beings who didn’t suffer but weve been shown time and time again that isn’t true. We’re even told that they’ve made imperfect creations time and time again but they work to make sure everything is done safely and securely for the betterment of their world and the people on it.