What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[Brinne]

Speaking for myself, I'm fine with the Ancients not getting a happy ending. Despite being huge fans of them, their loss and extinction adds weight to those final clashes in Shadowbringers. As mentioned previously, its a terrible thing that the WoL resolved to do, and the acknowledgment and weight of that is what keeps it effective. There's that, as well as that it adds to Emet-selch's decision to finally pass the torch to the Sundered, and assist you in giving his friend Elidibus his rest, so that he won't suffer on alone. It's painful, but Emet fought and lost, and can no longer lie to himself in saying the Sundered aren't alive, which I think is really bittersweet and wonderful writing.

This was a lovely post, thank you. And I think you nailed it with the "lack of justice" aspect being the core of the unease. Shadowbringers illustrated, to me, something incredibly important about "bad things happen to good people for no reason at all," but I would hope that the response and resolve formed from that, from a heroic figure who wants to make the world a better place, would be different from what we got. Something that always bothers me is that both Venat herself, and the comments we've gotten from the writing team afterwards, when speaking of her guilt, rhetorically continue to center her feelings. "What I did," "the tragedy I wrought," "she agonized over this," "she felt incredible guilt," so on and so forth. It's not, narratively, actually an invitation to criticize her or see her more negatively - it's an indirect attempt to garner more sympathy, because "she had no choice, but she felt so bad." It's always All About Venat. I think my feelings would have softened a lot if her comment about her actions actually showed her thinking of her victims; had been more along the lines of "They were good people and did not deserve what I did to them."

But going from Shadowbringers, my feelings were basically exactly as you described. I loved the Ancients, I very much wanted to save them, but still saw it as the narratively correct choice, the choice that reflected writing integrity, so to speak, would be to leave the situation as it was, in all of its bittersweet catharsis. What happened to the Ancients was absolutely terrible, absolutely senseless, and basically irreversible, but that small, precious glint of compassion and understanding between Emet-Selch and the WoL managed to slide through the cracks nonetheless. The understanding that it was terrible and senseless and in a perfect world, we could save both, as both deserved to be saved. Those are the small victories people can grasp from the cold, indifferent nature of the universe that resonate with me - even as things are terrible and unjust and unfair, making those small spaces for kindness and understanding.

That was how I felt from 5.0, in all my admiration of it. Then the dissonance and injustice flowing from Endwalker's approach to Hydaelyn and the Ancients broke my brain and now I am quietly yet shamelessly internally clamoring for a chance to actually save them, whether through further time travel nonsense or however. Handwave it with more dynamis, I don't care! The writing integrity that mattered to me has already been largely thrown out the window by how 6.0 followed it up, so screw it, give me all the self-indulgent garbage now! I know the story, however the tone might change in response to criticism, will never concede Venat not being a good person, so I want my damn junk food consolation prize! This is what I have been reduced to.