How can Venat be the previous Azem?

[Kuroka]

You have to remember that the cutscene with Venat/Hydaelyn that plays after the Elpis zone is completed is metaphorical and not a literal representation of the chronological events.
As evidenced by the fact that the Final Days was still ongoing (as evidenced by the sky) despite Zodiark having already been summoned. It was a condensed depiction of all the major events, not a literal play-by-play. And then last scene with Venat forging on and getting covered in shadow/darkness was an even further abstraction/metaphor of how the later 7 rejoinings weakened her even further.

But thats exaclty why i dislike it a lot... it paints venat in a way too good light, adds drama... she wasnt alone for the most part - and as we literally saw on zodiark she should not be alone at all as the souls of her followers should be well inside her primal form.

It paints the others as maniacs that would kill everyone and themselfs only to restore the old glory, while in fact the plan was to take a part of the ne life to restore the souls in zodiark. While not ok, its still a bitter taste to show em like that...

[thegreatonemal]

But thats exaclty why i dislike it a lot... it paints venat in a way too good light, adds drama... she wasnt alone for the most part - and as we literally saw on zodiark she should not be alone at all as the souls of her followers should be well inside her primal form.

It paints the others as maniacs that would kill everyone and themselfs only to restore the old glory, while in fact the plan was to take a part of the ne life to restore the souls in zodiark. While not ok, its still a bitter taste to show em like that...

How does it paint her in a good light? She was simply gambling, she had no idea if her plan would even work, its the entire reason she comes up with the escape plan in case it all goes south and the sundering didn't make us capable enough. Do we need to see her more with her followers? Is that really important? I don't think so.

[Theozilla]

But thats exaclty why i dislike it a lot... it paints venat in a way too good light, adds drama... she wasnt alone for the most part - and as we literally saw on zodiark she should not be alone at all as the souls of her followers should be well inside her primal form.

It paints the others as maniacs that would kill everyone and themselfs only to restore the old glory, while in fact the plan was to take a part of the ne life to restore the souls in zodiark. While not ok, its still a bitter taste to show em like that...

Well, whether or not you like the cutscene is irrelevant to the fact that the cutscene is supposed to be a metaphor/abstraction of the events, and not a literal depiction of the chronological events.

Also the cutscenes weren’t showing the other Ancients as wanting to sacrifice everything for the restoration of their “paradise”, the amount being sacrificed is never specified in the cutscene at all. The main point of that part of the cutscenes was to emphasize that the plan/mentality to sacrifice future lives for past lives was unacceptable.
In other words sacrificing the “future” for the “past” was the key point, which Emet-Selch basically reiterates (of why they fought and why he lost) right before he and Hythlodaeus return to the Lifestream/Aetherial Sea after the Scions were restored during the climax of Endwalker.