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

[KizuyaKatogami]

Well, like I said, it's not something I figured would happen within the game's lifetime. At best, I suspect the 13th will be joined either with the Source or the First somehow. I don't see the point in restoring it unless there's a way to reverse being a voidsent, otherwise Cylva and Unukalhai are the only survivors and both are conveniently on the First.

Supposedly, a partial rejoining of the First was on the table at one point. I doubt it'd happen now for gameplay reasons, but Norvrandt had such a dwindling population if there were a way to teleport them to the Source it could've worked except for the issue of Black Rose.

The shards definitely aren't a cut apple, were that true then rejoinings and soul mergers wouldn't be possible. I believe Lauront said that Oda has already referred to the situation as being unnatural and nature tends to correct itself when it can, it just couldn't due to Hydaelyn.

Regardless, it's my headcanon. :P I posted it not thinking there was any evidence to back it up only for someone to say it's supposedly possible due to dialog from the Studium quests (that I haven't done). I mean, if we're not going to get an AU then, for me, it's the next best thing. I understand why it'd sit ill with others though, which is probably why it'll end up in the "come up with your own theory" pile short of the MSQ doing something to make it impossible. They already ruined my headcanon that Azem was the one who saved Emet from being sundered (without knowing the future).

I’d rather eventually the world come together again at some point in the distant future rather than staying incomplete and fractured due to one crazy persons mistake. It seems weird to just keep everything broken and unnatural.

[AziraSyuren]

I’d rather eventually the world come together again at some point in the distant future rather than staying incomplete and fractured due to one crazy persons mistake. It seems weird to just keep everything broken and unnatural.

Wouldn't that still cause untold destruction regardless of the cause? At this point I'm decently sure that things coming back together at any point would be far more destructive than the Sundering.

[Lauront]

I’d rather eventually the world come together again at some point in the distant future rather than staying incomplete and fractured due to one crazy persons mistake. It seems weird to just keep everything broken and unnatural.

Same here. And as for the Oda quote, it's the below:

[Rulakir]

As stated, the sundering is already responsible for the deaths of trillions. Even if the remaining ones were combined right now it wouldn't come close. I often wonder of the two who has the higher death count, Venat or Meteion.

I’d rather eventually the world come together again at some point in the distant future rather than staying incomplete and fractured due to one crazy persons mistake. It seems weird to just keep everything broken and unnatural.

Words cannot express how much I hate the concept of the sundering. I was "the world and everyone on it is incomplete" before we heard that from Emet and firmly #TeamRejoin until I started getting Hell for it. It wasn't even a mistake, it was deliberate and our WoLs exist as a consequence of this crime against mankind but, sure, make us BFFs with Venat because that makes total sense. -_-

And as for the Oda quote, it's the below:

Interesting, so that was as recent as 5.0.

[Lauront]

Words cannot express how much I hate the concept of the sundering. I was "the world and everyone on it is incomplete" before we heard that from Emet and firmly #TeamRejoin

Similarly here.

Interesting, so that was as recent as 5.0.

Indeed - I believe it was from the Japanese fanfest. It's still preserved here.

[Fiel_Tana]

As stated, the sundering is already responsible for the deaths of trillions. Even if the remaining ones were combined right now it wouldn't come close. I often wonder of the two who has the higher death count, Venat or Meteion.

I'd say Venat's death count is higher by far if she didn't tell anyone about Meteion (and that seems to be the case in the story) since that makes her ultimately responsible for any deaths caused by Meteion during those 12,000 years. Even if she'd told the ancients, the unsundered Ascians, any of the WoLs and / or anyone along the way and it turned out nothing could have been done, I'd feel that Meteion's death count would be higher than Venat's because at least she would have tried instead of waiting for her 'chosen one'.

[CrownySuccubus]

I'd say Venat's death count is higher by far if she didn't tell anyone about Meteion (and that seems to be the case in the story) since that makes her ultimately responsible for any deaths caused by Meteion during those 12,000 years. Even if she'd told the ancients, the unsundered Ascians, any of the WoLs and / or anyone along the way and it turned out nothing could have been done, I'd feel that Meteion's death count would be higher than Venat's because at least she would have tried instead of waiting for her 'chosen one'.

Completely agree with you. I told a friend of mine while playing Endwalker that my biggest criticism of the Elpis storyline was that "It felt like everything that happens for the next 12,000 years would have been preventable if the characters were competent."

Mass death isn’t needed though. People need to realize, the sundered world is unnatural. It isn’t the norm in this game setting. The ancient world is what is considered natural, so while it may seek unnatural to us because of the real world, in the game setting that isnt the case. The sundering wasn’t a natural event. Dying to illness isn’t a natural thing.

Was this always the case, or did they simply learn how to eliminate disease through science?

Venat's "mankind was spared suffering for a short time" statement makes me believe that the Ancients might have been more mortal and vulnerable once.