Quote Originally Posted by Kazhar View Post
It wasn't done to stop the sacrifices. At least, it wasn't the primary motivation.



Emet-Selch and Elidibus believed the sacrifices were the primary motivation but this isn't what's talked about when we see Venat's followers in patch 5.2. They seemed more concerned with the idea that their civilization was headed to downfall (which is consistent with the above Yoshi-P's quote and Venat's stated motivations during her metaphorical flashback.)
I just don't buy it. None of it, and feel that this is a deflection so Venat isn't demonized, which is clearly what the dev team did not want. With the information she had, Venat knew that mankind's aether is capable of stopping Dynamis in its tracks. As was the case with the summoning of Zodiark. She had no information whatsoever that dynamis could be used to combat dynamis, and sundering all the aether on Etheirys would somehow miraculously grant mankind the ability to manipulate it. That's a haymaker.

Furthermore, Venat did not have to wait for the summoning of Zodiark to enact her plan. However, doing so prior would alter the timeline and that was something she promised the WoL she would not do. However, she was always curious as to what drove her to such lengths to become Hydaelyn and genocide her own people and all life on the star. She eventually found out, and it was the sacrifices. Ironically enough, it was her own despair that motivated her to perform the sundering. Emet Selch and Elidibus were correct.

Again, the Final Days was already halted. When Hydaelyn occupies Krile's body in Garlemald, she admits to the WoL that she only hoped to imprison Zodiark for a time, and knew it was temporary. He was just too strong, which suggests that she didn't even do battle with him. Venat became Hydaelyn and in her first act as the godly primal, she sundered him and all of Etheirys. I do agree with Yoshi that this was Venat's way of passing judgment, which she did on her own people. That's a bit different than Emet's judgment of what became of them. They did not want to demonize Venat, but for a large portion of the playerbase, they failed in that regard.