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

[KizuyaKatogami]

I certainly don't agree with all the hot takes here about how Venat committed genocide. This is being said as if ancients weren't sacrificed en masse to support their new god, and then more to fix the damage, and yet more to fight the second coming of the final days. At that point it was a dilemma of "do I let everyone be sacrificed for something that probably won't even work, or do I protect the still living souls and allow them to live on, but as fragments of their former selves?" and I don't know about you, but I'd choose a guaranteed future over the basically-guaranteed extinction of Etheirys. People just love to conveniently forget what would've happened if she didn't do all of that...

The one thing I wish they didn't do regarding this is ultimately portray her as the ACTUAL benevolent god, while Zodiark remained a malicious god purely because he no longer had a mind of his own and was the figure of worship of the Bad Guys TM. If they had only let Zodiark actually matter when the chips fell, and didn't make us kiss the ground Hydaelyn walks upon, then it would've been a far more compelling "maybe there's no real right or wrong" moment. Instead they had to portray her actions as abject good when it's debatable at best. The conclusion of the Elpis scene absolutely broke me, and I still believe it was an amazing part of the story. It would've been much better if we had instead just watched how everything proceeded up to it WITHOUT us intervening and creating a paradox that completely blows up numerous plot points from before.

Her plan wasn’t a guaranteed future though. There was nothing showing that her plan would 100% work, she gambled the lives of billions on a plan even she herself didn’t fully believe in and made a backup plan for that would end in the extermination of countless worlds. You’re acting like the ancients sacrificed other people without consent. The ancients who were sacrificed for the 1st and 2nd round were volunteers. There was also no indication they would continue sacrificing people after the 3rd round, in fact we have a counterpoint to that of Hythlodaeus who tells us after said 3rd sacrifice they would go back to their duties as stewards of the star. If she didn’t do all of that and instead told them the damn truth, they most likely could have all survived.

I’ll agree with the Zodiark comment though, it’s writer bias at its finest.

[anhaato]

Her plan wasn’t a guaranteed future though. There was nothing showing that her plan would 100% work, she gambled the lives of billions on a plan even she herself didn’t fully believe in and made a backup plan for that would end in the extermination of countless worlds. You’re acting like the ancients sacrificed other people without consent. The ancients who were sacrificed for the 1st and 2nd round were volunteers. There was also no indication they would continue sacrificing people after the 3rd round, in fact we have a counterpoint to that of Hythlodaeus who tells us after said 3rd sacrifice they would go back to their duties as stewards of the star. If she didn’t do all of that and instead told them the damn truth, they most likely could have all survived.

I’ll agree with the Zodiark comment though, it’s writer bias at its finest.

So if people get brainwashed or fearmongered into consent then it's ok? And, again, the world was ultimately dying either way and they were seeing it to its destruction, Zodiark or no. Tell them the truth about what evil is out there? So they can freak out some more, and cause more destruction in their muh despair? Convince them they were wrong, because that was going so well? The intent of the Elpis arc was to stress that the original Etheirys was ruled by a flawed society that would either destroy itself or be destroyed, at the precipice of disaster Venat made her decision, and the final Elpis scene was trying to sum that up into a few minutes of footage. I got their intent, but I will admit that it was poorly illustrated through the Elpis arc. Instead of properly giving the impression that they would destroy themselves the way the other worlds did, they turned some bird into a galactic school shooter and her creator into her accomplice and sent them on a genocide mission. So in a way I understand your point and everyone else's but I don't agree.

[Lauront]

So if people get brainwashed or fearmongered into consent then it's ok?

What are you even talking about? Their world was at risk of destruction. They developed a method to counter this. What gives you the impression they were brainwashed or fearmongered?

And, again, the world was ultimately dying either way and they were seeing it to its destruction, Zodiark or no.

According to whom? They did not know about the bird creature, in large part thanks to Venat. For all intents and purposes, Zodiark did stop the problem cold in its tracks, so they had ample time to develop a means to deal with her.

Tell them the truth about what evil is out there? So they can freak out some more, and cause more destruction in their muh despair?

Zodiark was an effective shield against Meteion and restored the star, so I am unsure why that would cause an issue.

The intent of the Elpis arc was to stress that the original Etheirys was ruled by a flawed society that would either destroy itself or be destroyed

An "intent" that was instantiated into the story very poorly and which was predicated on her not telling them the truth.

[Brinne]

So if people get brainwashed or fearmongered into consent then it's ok? And, again, the world was ultimately dying either way and they were seeing it to its destruction, Zodiark or no.

????????

They... they saved the world? A whole point is made in Shadowbringers about how they were such selfless, good people they were willing to sacrifice themselves for those they loved? The face we're given, narratively, regarding the sacrifices, was Hythlodaeus. A-are you arguing Emet-Selch brainwashed and fearmongered him into consenting?