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

[Xirean]

This will be a lengthy post. My apologies in advance.

My understanding of the current discussion is that people are under the impression that these 3 characters may not be all the same person.

Hydaelyn on the boat ride to Sharlayan

Venat in Elpis

Hydaelyn before trial

I would first like to state that on it's own, this is a fair assumption to make. In any story where time travel is a plot tool it's good to be skeptical of such things. So let's discuss that with specifics.

Recap

Starting with the boat version, she is the Hydaelyn we know from ARR up until we speak with Elidibus in the Crystal Tower during EW. She has an accusation against her from Emet-Selch and a lot of suspicion from the WoL, especially during the boat scene.
She is the reason the WoL did not die when facing the Ultima Weapon and Lahabrea.
We know that she, through the body of Minfilia, stopped the flood of light on the first.
There's also the question of why did she deny Ardbert's sacrifice while accepting his friends when stopping said flood.

Next there is Venat whom the WoL meets in Elpis. She directly calls the WoL out as being from the future and asks them a lot of questions about that future. She is also very confused about the WoL's tale of Hydaelyn and the actions that Venat supposedly took as her. Additionally she lands a spell on a fleeing Meteion.

Lastly there is Hydaelyn in the Aetherial Sea. She is aware that the WoL once journeyed to Elpis and remembers them. After being questioned by Y'shtola about the reason for the sundering to create beings who could manipulate dyanamis she admits this to be true. Notably in the same dialogue box she states "There was no kindness or justice in the tragedy I wrought." and that the sundering of the world was her only recourse against Zodiark.

So, are they all the same person? Setting the nature of 2 being a primal aside there's a few things we can draw upon. First I would like to compare the worlds the WoL leaves behind and returns to. To my knowledge there is no change; no additional or missing structures, no mention of there being more or less Calamities. Zenos is still biding his time for his rematch against the WoL while being bound to a voidsent with the same appearance as before. All 3 unsundered as well as Fandaniel remain dead and Zodiark is still destroyed putting The Source in the exact same Final Days state the WoL left it in. There's even a special dialogue from Alisae if you completed the Binding Coils of Bahamut which means the world the WoL has returned to also responds to prior quest progression. To be clear, none of this is definitive proof that the WoL has returned to the same world and thus the same Hydaelyn. It is however indistinguishable from the world they departed from.


We do however have some quotes from Hydaelyn in the Aetherial Sea that potentially ties her to Elpis Venat.

This still doesn't prove they are the same person, but it does prove that this Hydaelyn remembers a WoL from Elpis. Does this confirm that this Hydaelyn was told the same things as the Venat we spoke to? No. That being said the information above lends credit to the argument that they are all the same person. Without some authorial statement or a view from a higher perspective in game we likely won't have solid confirmation that they are the same person. There's quite a few story moves that could invalidate this in an instant, such as an incursion from another timeline; though that seems unlikely, especially considering we are supposed to be done with this arc of the story.

I would like to note with this that we still have access to Elpis as an explore-able map and can therefore get new quests there any patch. This permanent access to Elpis is what I interpret to be the meaning of "conjunction between your time and mine". It is very possible that a split timeline could still occur and maybe that is some sort of backup plan later down the road. Who knows? That possibility though does cause me to believe that Elpis Venat has the potential to not become the Hydaelyn we know or potentially even at all. I'm left to conclude that the Elpis timeline is set to loop and replay the exact same events, eventually sending its own WoL back to another Elpis to begin the cycle again; unless something new comes along and messes with that time loop. I hold this view only because we appear to have permanent access. Although the Pandaemonium raid quests seem to present the WoL's arrivals in Elpis as a rare thing.

Additionally, this is all my justification for my theory that Hydaelyn purposefully held Ardbert back and put him in a state of purgatory with the explicit intent to merge with the WoL. During ShB it was and unknown element of the story and EW has provided an answer, though unconfirmed, but an answer none the less.

If you find this explanation disagreeable, please explain.

Edit: Apparently I forgot to include the second set of quotes from Hydaelyn to support the argument. I have added them now.