The Ancients still deserved better, after everything

[SentioftheHoukai]

Elpis was refreshing on these aspects, but you have to remember that Shadowbringers point wasn't really light, it was despair, and isolation. We were never going to meet the people of the original unsundered world, we were meeting Ascians that were so twisted and tortured over their mistakes.

The whole reason we could meet Ascians that were so bright and human for what they convey, is because we were allowed to go back in time, and teleport to it any point we wish. The aether connected. We did not have the luxury of that connection, and would never have got it if we didn't defeat the end bosses of Shadowbringers. Though we'd also be dead, or reborn as Ascians I guess.

I suppose that's fair, though it doesn't exactly change that I'd rather not destroy them. Based on what information we've been given, Venat's way resulted in the best possible outcome. Yet, I wonder about the information we're not given. Forever untold as the story I wish for may remain, I'd still yearn for it regardless.

p.s: It does feel like the fanbase, especially here on the Official Forum takes an unhealthy amount of glee in being able to take part in the near-total destruction of such a beautiful people. I'm not sure how many more "They deserved it", "They had it coming", or "They couldn't have possibly saved themselves and/or didn't want to" I can take at this point. It's disturbing how many are assured that only their end was the possible resolution to the conflict.

[DamianFatale]

I suppose that's fair, though it doesn't exactly change that I'd rather not destroy them. Based on what information we've been given, Venat's way resulted in the best possible outcome. Yet, I wonder about the information we're not given. Forever untold as the story I wish for may remain, I'd still yearn for it regardless.

Are they really destroyed though? As long as the endsinger didn't take your soul, you were reborn. It's heavily implied that the people in the source and the shards are just reincarnated into less aetherially dense forms. Technically the Ascians still live, they are just sundered. They might not remember it, but they possibly will after each return to the life stream. It seems to be when people regain memories based on hints in Endwalker.

[SentioftheHoukai]

Are they really destroyed though? As long as the endsinger didn't take your soul, you were reborn. It's heavily implied that the people in the source and the shards are just reincarnated into less aetherially dense forms. Technically the Ascians still live, they are just sundered. They might not remember it, but they possibly will after each return to the life stream. It seems to be when people regain memories based on hints in Endwalker.

I'd personally say so. Death of the mind, death of the identity is to me the cessation of that particular person's existence. If reincarnation does exist, if I was a super evil and terrible person whence I last lived I'm not that person anymore or guilty of their sins. Your theory doesn't hold up to me, nor do I agree with the moral implications of it. That's just my own opinion though, and I don't intend to try and have people see it my way. This thread's purpose is just to get my own feelings out there, Endwalker left me rather traumatized and I've been bottling it in.

[redheadturk]

Are they really destroyed though? As long as the endsinger didn't take your soul, you were reborn. It's heavily implied that the people in the source and the shards are just reincarnated into less aetherially dense forms. Technically the Ascians still live, they are just sundered. They might not remember it, but they possibly will after each return to the life stream. It seems to be when people regain memories based on hints in Endwalker.

Identity death is worse than bodily death in XIV's canon. At least as an unsundered the identity isn't lost upon death of the body. That was preferable in my eyes to the sundered where upon death it is all washed clean.