Quote Originally Posted by Kaurhz View Post
I've heard on several occasions that they were to be doing the third sacrifice.

One sacrifice to bring forth Zodiark
Second sacrifice is to restore 'life' to the land
The third sacrifice is to bring back those who sacrificed themselves to bring forth Zodiark.

Doesn't really matter ultimately if Zodiark himself is a bloodgod or not if the ancients fail to let go of the possibility of a paradise. I'm also pretty sure this third sacrifice was depicted in Endwalker during a flashback quest.

My guess is Hydaelyn, much like the FFXIV community with the developers saw it as a telling of things to come or a possibility of an established trend to come. (E.g. are you just going to keep sacrificing people to Zodiark in order to perpetually bring people back from the sacrifice - Bit of a catch-22 that).
There was to be a 3rd sacrifice yes, but that was it. Hythlodaeus himself tells us after they would return to their duties as stewards of the star. The cutscene in Endwalker is actually Venat’s pov which is very inconsistent with all the lore we have been told. It also doesn’t seem to mention her followers of whom yoshi confirmed she completely consumed the souls of and basically destroyed them. Her whole overall idea isn’t even so much that she has a problem with the sacrifices, so much so that she doesn’t believe her people have the power to combat meteion. This is shown in the anamnesis cutscene where she even says she doesn’t see Zodiark as a long lasting solution.

I think overall, my problem with her, is that she had the knowledge to potentially avert the calamity but she instead tries to paint the ancients as wrong for simply…being human. She then lies,manipulates, and keeps all that knowledge hidden and is praised as a hero? It just doesn’t sit well with me. Even worse is Elidibus and Zodiark, two of the people who saved both us and the entire world and even made venat’s plan succeed in the first place, are given hardly any praise whatsoever.

Quote Originally Posted by EaraGrace View Post
Wow another thread consumed by the same tired arguments. Surely this time will be different.
I dont think its at least that big of a derailment in this thread, since one of the things i brought up is peoples opinions on the story. No reason to be snarky though.