[All The Spoilers] Can we talk about Zodiark?

[NegativeS]

(TL;DR AT THE END)

Please let me know if I'm alone in feeling this way, but...

Was anyone else disappointed with/underwhelmed by how Zodiark was handled?

This seemingly primordial force of darkness was hyped up for pretty much the entire MSQ, from the moment we saw Baby's First Ascian in Aldenard all the way up to the end of Shadowbringers. At least to me, our inevitable confrontation with him or some representation of him felt like it would be the ultimate climax and perfect way to bring the story to a close.

Over the course of the story we learned about his purpose, why he was created, why his disciples do what they do, what his disciples are working toward, the world he originated from... The biggest thing I wanted was to know what such a being's personality would be like. To hear his hammy speech at the intro of the duty where we smash his face into the ground...

...and then Oops! All Elidibus!

Suddenly, Elidibus is revealed to be the heart of Zodiark, similarly to how Ysayle was the heart of Shiva.

Elidibus, now carrying the weight of the entire unsundered star solely on his shoulders, proceeds to throw himself in the way of the now superpowered Warrior of Light, who don't forget, wields the clout of Azem and the support of two entire worlds.

And then we kill Elidibus, along with any hope of Zodiark being a satisfying villain.

Now Zodiark is just a force of nature, a macguffin that we're still all talking about but with all the remaining intrigue robbed from it.

But that's not all folks! He's become so much of a macguffin that he becomes the target of a new villain, Fandaniel in Endwalker! Fandaniel becomes Zodiark! And what does he do in the body of this massively hyped-up supervillain, the hitherto root of all conflict in the world?

He commits suicide.

...and we still have 7 levels left in the expansion.

In these 7 levels, they introduce the new root of all evil, Meteion, develop her in an almost forced manner, have us learn about her purpose, why she was created, why her creator does what he does, what she and her sisters are working toward, the world he originated from...

ok but why tho

We had a perfect villain! We had Zodiark! Why? Why!? WHY?!?!

I understand that a story as long and drawn out as FFXIV's will inevitably change as the years pass, and up to this exact point I believe it has solely changed for the better. I also understand that they probably had this story planned out years in advance.

But if you had told someone playing Heavensward that in 6 years, Zodiark would be dead and the final boss of the entire story would be a nihilistic harpy who threw planets at you and exploded Thancred into emotion energy, you'd probably be laughed at.

And don't get me wrong, I thought Meteion and the Endsinger were great villains! They had believable motivations in context, and gave us an amazing setting for the final boss of the story!

But the fact that we literally had to TRAVEL BACK IN TIME just to hurriedly introduce her and the source behind her power in under the span of 3 levels since SQEnix already blew their Zodiark load at level 83... just feels wrong to me.

At least Hydaelyn got merked at 89.

In conclusion, Elidibus died as he lived: giving me a headache.

TL;DR:
Why would they hype up and develop Zodiark for 8-10 YEARS just to kill him off in the home stretch and replace him with Meteion, who had her purpose, backstory, and power source hurriedly explained in the span of 3 levels, whereas Zodiark had 5 expansions of buildup behind him only to be turned into a macguffin and exploded?

[hynaku]

Glad he's dead and he doesn't need to be brought back. I was always tired of hearing his name about how he was the one true god and was just another man made primal.

[KizuyaKatogami]

(TL;DR AT THE END)
snip

TL;DR:

My only problem with it all is how they handled both him and Elidibus in that both of them hardly got any credit for saving the world, whereas Venat and Hydaelyn got praise and treated as a benevolent goddess.

[Elleia]

To each their own, but I really enjoyed how it played out.

Killing Zodiark at level 83 was cool and had me wondering what was going to come next.

Also, Zodiark was never evil...the ancients summoned him to save their world and that's what he did, although it required a lot of sacrifice.

[NegativeS]

Also, Zodiark was never evil...the ancients summoned him to save their world and that's what he did, although it required a lot of sacrifice.

Zodiark was evil in the same way all (most) primals are evil. After halting the End of Days, he enthralled a large chunk of the population of Ethyris to keep the sacrifices coming. In the words of the FFXIV wiki:

Zodiark succeeded in its primary purpose, but then enthralled those who had summoned him into becoming his devout followers. The Convocation resolved to sacrifice another half of their people to replenish their ruined world. For Elidibus and the Convocation to restore the lives of those originally sacrificed, Zodiark would require even more aether; aether that would come from the new life being born into the world. This disturbed many of the remaining Amaurotines, including Venat, who felt that the sacrificial costs were already too great, and that the world now belonged to the lives birthed in it.

So, Zodiark brainwashed the convocation into letting him eat babies.

I'm no evilologist, but that might be evil.

[MeeDeggiThePunisher]

That's just what JRPGs do, the pull the real final boss out of their ass. At least we got some backstory this time. They usually save the real last boss till the very last second.

[SenorPatty]

I'd have been more disappointed if Zodiark ended up being the final boss. Zodiark was basically a primal sized band-aid to save Eitherys. It is not at fault here. Like Kizuya mentioned, the story's problem is that it demonized Zodiark for so long that people like OP end up thinking (rightfully) that Zodiark is some kind of great evil that must be slain when really, people should've been grateful to it. Even if it's a linchpin to hold the fabric of reality together, it had every right to want freedom. In the end, it felt like it was also being scapegoated for final days shenanigans and its only the last quarter of Endwalker that you're given hints that it might have been something else at work.

[haircombee]

Don't they make a point of saying that primals summoned through creation magic can't enthrall people?

[Jandor]

TL;DR:
Why would they hype up and develop Zodiark for 8-10 YEARS just to kill him off in the home stretch and replace him with Meteion, who had her purpose, backstory, and power source hurriedly explained in the span of 3 levels, whereas Zodiark had 5 expansions of buildup behind him only to be turned into a macguffin and exploded?

To be fair, they didn't really develop him for 8-10 years, we knew very little about him before Shadowbringers.

He got his own expansion, while poor Hydaelyn had to share hers with Meteion.

Don't they make a point of saying that primals summoned through creation magic can't enthrall people?

They made a point of saying modern primals were designed to enthrall people, but conceded that something as big as Zodiark would likely do it anyway. To me it came across as the bunnies trying to be polite, basically saying the stuff we can make is too weak-sauce to be an issue if they're summoned correctly.

[NegativeS]

Don't they make a point of saying that primals summoned through creation magic can't enthrall people?

They don't say that creation magic primals can't enthrall people, they say that creation magic, when used right, can make primals that can't enthrall people.

The Ascians taught the beast tribes some bastardized version of creation magic in order to make enthralling primals. They then use this same magic, under supervision and with foresight, to make non-enthralling primals to get us to Ultima Thule.

The Amaurotines were panicked and in fear when they made Zodiark, and likely didn't have the time to think things through.

To be fair, they didn't really develop him for 8-10 years, we knew very little about him before Shadowbringers.

They developed him through the Ascians. The more we learned of the Ascians and their purpose, the more we learned of Zodiark and his purpose.