Quote Originally Posted by Iscah View Post
I do agree that Hydaelyn and Zodiark seem to be oddly used here, given that it is supposed to be the culmination of years of talk about what they are.

The Ascians have talked about the revival of their "one true god" for so long, and what is he in the end? An empty vessel, waiting to be occupied and puppeted by the first person to come along and break the seal. He was over and gone too quickly, and it was really just a supercharged Amon throwing his Allagan creations at us. No sense of Zodiark as a character.

Hydaelyn, meanwhile – setting aside any discussion of whether Venat's choices were right or not, the overall idea of Hydaelyn feels diminished by the reveal that she is essentially "one person", the continued identity of her creator, rather than an independent entity designed to play the part of mother-goddess. The leap from goddess-primal to person-primal feels far more jarring to me than the reveal that she was a primal at all.
Like I said, Endwalker is the payoff for Shadowbringer. When you have Elidibus and Venat being described as the hearts of Zodiark and Hydaelyn respectively, and considering the nature of even regular primals being influenced by the desires of their summoners, it's clear that primals are less of a false god and more of a powerful tool (which can be misused and with bad consequences).

Zodiark in Endwalker is a result of not having Elidibus. Hydaelyn in Endwalker is a result of having Venat.