Sundering stuff established in the Q&A

[Lurina]

- Venat primarily Sundered the world because she believed the Ancients would never overcome their own nature, both literally and in terms of Dynamis potential. The Ra-La civilization was depicted to show how they could have ended up. Preventing the sacrifices is not mentioned.

- Venat left Emet, and ambiguously the other Unsundered, alive on purpose because of their utility in bringing about her plans.

- The player races are descended from Sundered Ancients. Non-Hyur developed their inhuman traits over time to compensate for deficiencies created by their essence being broken unevenly and trying to recover - for example, Miqo'te grew bigger ears because of loss of hearing.

- Unlike Zodiark, Hydaelyn drained all the souls used in her summoning of Aether completely, destroying them forever. By the time we fight her, only her soul remains, which is also destroyed after the fight.

- The different moons on each of the shards were created intentionally to store the other pieces of Zodiark, and for an unspecified future reason.

- The Unsundered released from Zodiark/Emet and Hythlo may be reborn later with some kind of special powers, but probably not creation magic.

- Yoshi-P considers Venat "very much an Ancient" in that she did what she did to all of humanity without their consent and compares it to Emet-Selch's treatment of the Sundered.

[Rosenstrauch]

- Unlike Zodiark, Hydaelyn drained all the souls used in her summoning of Aether completely, destroying them forever. By the time we fight her, only her soul remains, which is also destroyed after the fight.

Well, I guess that explains why Venat's allies weren't present in the Elpis flashback. Also, what the hell.

[Lurina]

Well, I guess that explains why Venat's allies weren't present in the Elpis flashback. Also, what the hell.

He mentioned that she had to go to that extreme to match Zodiark's power. Zodiark used so many sacrifices that they could preserve everyone rather than destroy them outright.

[Cleretic]

Well, I guess that explains why Venat's allies weren't present in the Elpis flashback. Also, what the hell.

No, that's still that they weren't present because that wasn't actually a literal depiction of the summoning. They presumably summoned Hydaelyn in a similar way to how Zodiark was summoned, just smaller. They were also presumably okay with it, so while it's still a bit of an existentially haunting realization, it's not morally dubious. (Other parts of Venat's actions were morally dubious, but not that part.)

But yeah, this is all nice to have a lot of confirmation on, but isn't necessarily surprising; the game basically directly said all of the stuff about Venat's morality and decision, it just didn't say it all directly in one big chunk.

The other moons having a purpose (or indeed, not just being the same moon anyway) was a VERY weird thing to learn, though, that's a bit of a stunner, and I wonder where that's leading.

[LystAP]

- Venat left Emet, and ambiguously the other Unsundered, alive on purpose because of their utility in bringing about her plans.

This means Venat was responsible for the Ascians and the Rejoinings, alongside the tragedy of the 13th Shard. The Ascians were able to reconstitute themselves as their core members were Unsundered. If they all were Sundered, they wouldn't have been able to pull off the Rejoinings. Much less even remember if there was a unsundered world. If Venat retained her memories of the WoL, then she willingly pick the path that would result in all the tragedies of the Umbra Calamities.

[Veloran]

- Venat primarily Sundered the world because she believed the Ancients would never overcome their own nature, both literally and in terms of Dynamis potential. The Ra-La civilization was depicted to show how they could have ended up. Preventing the sacrifices is not mentioned.

- Venat left Emet, and ambiguously the other Unsundered, alive on purpose because of their utility in bringing about her plans.

- The player races are descended from Sundered Ancients. Non-Hyur developed their inhuman traits over time to compensate for deficiencies created by their essence being broken unevenly and trying to recover - for example, Miqo'te grew bigger ears because of loss of hearing.

/10characters

[Tsiron]

Yoshida considers Venat a grey character, just as flawed and arrogant as the Unsundered, and she's not only dead now, but super dead, not even her soul is left to eventually reincarnate. What more do you folks want?

[Cleretic]

Yoshida considers Venat a grey character, just as flawed and arrogant as the Unsundered, and she's not only dead now, but super dead, not even her soul is left to eventually reincarnate. What more do you folks want?

That part honestly kinda sits weirdly with me. I know it's not really a morality thing, it's just how this reality works and nothing is different depending on if someone was good or bad in life, but Emet-Selch getting to see reincarnation and cleansing while Venat dies a turbodeath nothing else in this reality has ever seen is... that feels wrong.

Although with Endwalker being very Buddhism in teaching, it's worth noting that in a weird way, this is effectively Venat reaching nirvana. And, like the others who sacrificed themselves to make Hydaelyn, she did so willingly.

[KageTokage]

I can't help but wonder how long of a time passed before the sundered Ancients had finished developing into the myriad races.

Logically it would've taken several generations for such drastic differences to manifest, but the circumstances weren't exactly normal. It still makes me question whether or not there's any recorded history of their common origin, though.

[Veloran]

Yoshida considers Venat a grey character, just as flawed and arrogant as the Unsundered, and she's not only dead now, but super dead, not even her soul is left to eventually reincarnate. What more do you folks want?

The idea that she never actually had to live in the world she created is a little ehh.

Although with Endwalker being very Buddhism in teaching, it's worth noting that in a weird way, this is effectively Venat reaching nirvana. And, like the others who sacrificed themselves to make Hydaelyn, she did so willingly.

So Venat and company kill themselves forever and it's nirvana, but the Plenty kill themselves forever and it's a bad thing?

I'm not saying it's actually either/or, but I do think there was an effort in the story to suggest that existence is superior to nonexistence. Not the most Buddhist thing exactly, but the idea is there.