Thou Must Live, Die, And Know [LV87 MSQ CUTSCENE] 

Sounds evil but with the context...

The toughest and thus, truest of love.

I had So many chills when I first heard that line

My new favorite quote. Previous one: "ONE BRINGS SHADOW, ONE BRINGS THE LIGHT."

That quote is a reference to the tale of Icarus is it not?

And give us catgirls

It was a nerf and a buff at the same time.

The best part? She was absolutely, 100% right. The Ancients who summoned Zodiark had a tainted view of the past and their own world. They didn't know the sorrow because they couldn't see it.

@@NebulonRanger Not only they went a dark path to try and achieve their Utopia back, even IF they in the end managed to get their perfect world as it once was, it wouldn't have lasted. Venat knew this. You can see it in Meteion's report: once she starts talking about the world who ended all suffering (the last area of her dungeon too), you can see Venat's face darken as she hears about that people losing their will to live, after apathy and boredom settled in for good. She knew that an endless life with no adversities would eventually be meaningless, leading Meteion to victory once again.

@@AndreAConquerorII *Precisely*. Venat didn't create the current shards of Etheirys as a cruel joke. She saw what her people were becoming and set the world on a different path, one that would actually lead to lasting change. The post-Elpis cinematic confirms that was the intent. In a way, she actually agreed with the Fervent Ancient: what was happening *was* all wrong, but not because they had lost their utopia. It hadn't really existed in the first place ("No paradise is without its shadows."), and the Ancients' desire to pretend otherwise would have led to their stagnation and inevitable downfall, if not then, then in the future. Was her decision the right one? That's murky, since she (as Hydaelyn) admits it wasn't completely just. In the end, though, it was the correct decision to make to ensure mankind's future in the universe, even if not as ancient man.

I'm sorry Hyth, but your sacrifice was useless. Venat killed them all.

@@kapsi It wasn't useless. Without that sacrifice there's no Zodiark. Without Zodiark, Meteion kills everyone. Both Hydaelyn and Zodiark were necessary evils. They both saved the world.

@@VDA19 That's the thing really, Fandaniel had to catch some hands but I feel like what he did was itself also necessary because of how the ancients were content with remaining stagnant. His failures as a researcher and a person created crisis, but it also along with everything else led to a future where life might not simply reach the conclusion seen on the other stars. I don't think any of it would have happened if Meteion wasnt trying to force the answer she found.

@@kapsi Zodiark is actually what keeping Etheirys safe for a while. Even after the sundered. Only after we killed Zodiark that Meteion could invade it.

Kinda wished they showed us Lahabrea and Elidibus as they showed us Hythlodaeus, emet and fandaniel

It’s to prevent Denial of Service attacks. (Login and logout repeatedly with a huge amount of accounts (by hackers for example) made it possible to block login for vast majority of players.. a security risk and that is how they fixed it.)

LMAO

@@ViewTube_Emperor_of_Mankind You are the embodiment of overthinking lmfao

@@tomasskala4405 I have no idea if this is the reason FFXIV has a queue but what ViewTube said is both very reasonable and certainly very plausible. FFXIV does seem to frequently suffer from ddos attacks and a short queue that attempts to keep a stable flow of, say, 20 players in and out of the game doesn't seem an entirely irrational measure to take to lessen their impact. Even if obviously not a solution in and of itself given recent events. I don't think the problem here is that they're overthinking. I think the problem here is that you just don't think. At all.

Square was greedy from the start. Europe didn't have servers and by that desastrous lags for TWO FULL YEARS and after that they always used "servers bad" as excuse fo not improving the game and just cutting it down further, but of course never just invest in more and better servers. When there wasn't enough plots for housing, they also didn't just invest into more server power to give more housing plots, not, they abused this to force people staying subbed, no matter how dead the game is, because else you lose the house and EVERYTHING inside, too.

She's neither evil nor good. Just another sinner. Like us.

She's also super fucking badass. And super impartial. She let that ascian situation slide because she knows she has to wait for the sundered to prove themselves. Based queen.

She did not want to get into pesky debates and refused to elaborate further. Yep, based indeed

She's best mom. But she was totally in the right.

@@TKUltra971 she's basically the ultimate Tiger Mom

@@pawbgles Kid, without that sacrifice (and it was VENAT who told SHIT about that time travel mumbo jumbo), there would have been nothing left for that Super Nazi to slaughter. Those people who gave their life WILLINGLY to save the planet and all others did the job. Venat then just came up with: lol, I kill everyone anyway and to make sure you don't stand up, I slaughter your souls with it and deform you completely.

@@miriamweller812 Reductionist nonsense at it's best.

@@miriamweller812 Yeah, thats not how nazi-ideology worked. Nazi ideology was based on an obsession with the ideal of one singular, superior race of super humans who should rule the world and wipe out everything they deemed lesser. It was heavily based on ideas of physical superiority, be it of athletic qualities or a biologically determined idea of intelligence, which in return creats superior societes. What Venat did is to split the world, to creat a humanity which is defined by weakness, imperfection but also diversity, compared to the original ascian race. Like, if you would go with that analogy, the definition of an Aryan as the nazis imagined them to be would be closer to the Ascians, who were a singular race of seemingly perfect humans with super human qualities living in an idealized society. Which actually resembels the idea of many esotericist leaning fascists consider the origins of the aryan race or similar constructs of mythological forebearers to the "white race" like the hyperboreans consider to be: A superior and highly advanced raced of mythical super humans with demi-godlike quantities, from which the "white race" fell from grace and which needs to be restored to their former glory. Considering the plans of the Ascians, both the originals and the Unsundered, to first bring back life to the planet just to sacrifice it again to bring back to life the sacrificed original Ascians and restore their idealized society back to their former glory, they were actually closer to nazi ideals. Like, before his defeat and change of heart, Emet-Selchs entire point was, that the sundered races are not worth living, because he considered them too inferior to the idealized society he lived in. What Venat did, was reject such a notion which forms the core of the world view of many esoteric fascist movements in our current world. Her core thesis was, that an imperfect, sundered and therfore diversified and weakened form of humanity that has to overcome hardship and learn to co-exist and cooperate would be more fit to fight despair than a people who will perpetually sacrifice those who don't fit their standart of perfection. Let us not forget that the Ascians actually engineered and wiped out entire species, just due to their perception of usefullness for the world. I mean, if anything the core thesis of Final Fantasy 14 and Endwalker specifically is pretty leftist, if anything. Normal human (and the different playable races of the games are usually refered to as human in general) beings who try to live their life to its fullest through hardship and find strength in diversity and their differences is more fit to overcome despair and nihilism than some idealized race of superhuman demi-gods who are all the same. It rejects usually rightwing ideas of utopianism which are based on perceptions of biological superiority and a return to a glorified past in favor of more left-leaning ideas of utopnianism, based on creating a more idealized and just society by rejecting nostalgia and creating a stronger society through emotional self improvement, allowing humans to culturally develope into being more empathetic and optimistic. Hell, even the whole beast tribe plot-line has pretty anti-colonialist undertones, considering that it was the usually european-coded city states which created the primal problem to begin with, through their oppression, warfare and chauvinism towards the beast tribes they considered inferior, to the point where all they could do is find flight in religious fundamentalism, because the city states kept on stealing or destroying their territories, ressources and cultural archievements. Like, the whole Limsa-kobolds Plotline in Shadowbringers can be fully read as an allegory of the history between european settlers and native nations in america, in that it the settlers who broke written treaties that clearly defined borders for their own self-gain and pushed the natives more and more to the brink. And in that plot, Merlwyb fully acknowledges that the entire fault for the conflict and the primal summoning was fully on her and her people, that the kobols are right to not trust them and that the burden to creat peace is fully on the Limsa Lominsans. The Limsans owe their wealth to the kobolds and paid them in treachery. And she fully acknowledges, that it isn't enough to just make peace, but that the Limsans owe it to the kobolds to engage with them in fair trade relations and support them in gaining prosperity to rebuild their society.

@@hermeticallysealed1 Yeah, sure planetar genocide is a question about that. Typical Nazi 'argument' (not that it actually is one...). congrats. You just prove it more. Also typical for fascists, they just dig deeper...

@@miriamweller812 Ah, so too many big words used, because Nazis are known for being literate and making reasoned explanations not based on inherent superiority. I fully buy your logic now.

meteion and hermes are the mastermind

@@ahriisnotakitsune I wouldn't even say they were. Hermes loved all his creations Meteion included and didn't want her to die because she was a threat and wouldn't be of service to the star. Meteion was like a daughter to him almost and he wanted to hear her report. The notion of the Convocation examining her when they all knew the final verdict adding in what all 4 of them saw. So by wiping their minds and sending Meteion away to judge mankind and to be free he doomed them all. I think his suffering as an Ancient also compounded to Amon and Xande and finally OUR Fandaniel. It's a tragedy all around.

@@erym7483 Yeah, neither are masterminds as much as victims of suffering just as everyone else, Meteion in particular given her nature, what she was made for and what she found. Despite it all, if it weren't for Hermes and Meteion, all the tragedies wouldn't have happened and what then? Would the ancients eventually reach perfection? As seen in the last dungeon, that may have led to their own end as there would be nothing left to strive for and it by itself is a form of suffering. In the end, what the xpac and story teaches is that suffering and imperfection is not a curse or something to be rid of, cause even if it can lead to a tragic end, it's what completes life.

@@erym7483 i dont think id agree with ur hypothesis and even if i did, what you wrote is just motives not really why they aren't "mastermind" they literally planned it and deliberately wanted to and caused the final day to happen later on

Spoilers for Endwalker: * * * * * * * I've never been a huge fan of the whole "The world and life is suffering, so I'll just kill everyone to bring peace" trope in stories. But the idea that Hermes accidentally created a universal gestalt consciousness of all of the suffering in the UNIVERSE by having Meteion's sisters explore the stars is definitely a unique take on the concept. It definitely makes the nihilistic philosophy more reasonable, because Meteion absorbed the desolation of countless destroyed planets, absorbed the despair of countless dying civilizations, and inadvertently set another unknown number of people off on the path to extinction as a result of her discoveries elsewhere. I can't really blame Meteion for her reasoning and actions, as much as I disagree with her. She inadvertently absorbed the emotions of entire sapient species in their last moments, like the Ea who learned about the expansion of the universe. Or the Omicron, who realized that their fear of being conquered led to the extinction of others. Goddamn, it's a depressing reality with no real easy answer to something that is immortal and has experienced so much.

Remember when WoW honored women by turning them in to bowls of fruit?

And the secret is they never have to draw attention to the fact or disparage men in the process. She's just a great character that anyone can resonate with. So glad there's still writers out there who get it. The Character of the, er, character is all that matters.

@@happygaysounds Trust me. I have read fanfictions about Sylvanas that got better writing than whatever shit Blizz been pulling right out of their ass.

@@Vincent-hx1ql Because the fanfic authors actually care about the character lmao

Take notes Western developers this is how it’s done right, not some Mary Sue Bull shit !!!

All the more reason to stop that damn bird Mr. Hermes wanted to keep

@@leonides1527 honestly if i were in Meteion's shoes, seeing the endless amounts of worlds that were overcome by their despair, i too would reach the conclusion that we should just end life if it meant eternal suffering everywhere we went, but Venat truly believed in mankind's potential to overcome it, such a powerful message by the developers, i think this is my favorite final fantasy story, reminds me of ff9 when zidane a bright colorful outgoing character was faced with his own dilemma of what being alive really meant.

@@poggamus4330 Hope really is the most powerful force in the Universe

@@poggamus4330 What I think is beautiful is that they don't entirely hand wave it aside, all these worlds DID suffer and die out, there was despair and even in the story, it's not about replacing suffering with happiness, but accepting suffering is a part of life. I love it cause I've struggled like many with similar question Hermes poses and questioning why to suffer and what's the point of happiness if it'll end abruptly with more suffering like some of these civilizations. I came to terms with it when met with contentment. Instead of striving for happiness and a perfect life, strive to be content with it and what it brings, see the lows and downs of it not as an enemy to run away from but as part of you just as much as the good moments. It's the small moments that makes it worth it though and the hope for brighter days. Despite being content with days of suffering and despair, doesn't mean you give up hope for better ones, but through contentment you can endure it and see the good in it all which the people of Ethyris does, rather than keep chasing those high's the other civilizations were doing, and once you reach the highest peak, it'll hurt all the more when you fall down from it and hit the bottom.

Ok but what about g'raha burger, that scene is a contender for best cutscene

Taking the hit from Ultima? Where? or am I blind.

@@aaronh678 that shield that she maid in the mainszenario when Ultima was made to fire its ultimate attack. That was her taking the hit for us

@@Alien361 Thought he was on about in this cutscene..

@@aaronh678 One of the sound effects that plays when she’s struck during the long walk is the same one that Ultima’s attack used.

@@StellaStarfall Thanks. I'll have to listen out :)

Try watch the JP version Hydaelyn(Venat)’s voice is so strong it hits harder imo

lol reminds me of a friend named austin.

@@harakiribanzai2483 I watched it, and I much prefer the English voiceover. The JP version of Venat's voice is too high-pitched for my liking.

@@harakiribanzai2483 I listened to it. Her normal voice is too soft in general, but when she speaks normally...its really good. I get the whole "good" goddess voice thing, but I would have preferred a normal voice like the English va. Venat would not have a soft voice if her personality is anything to go by.

@@Anharie Venat's voice isn't stereotypical in English either. She has the voice of a seasoned orator, which is fitting of the seat of Azem I feel.

The meaning changes completely after this scene. It's so fucking amazing

@@mjs3188 it's not the only song like this. One brings shadow, one brings light/two toned echoes tumbling through time. Who does this remind you of, and come to think of it why did hydlodaues's shade know to give you Azem's soul stone?

@@Hawkbreath36 Do not squander it. The Iegacy I Ieave you.

I swear, the meaning of Answers’ lyrics changes with each expansion. It’s beautiful.

​@@pwnorbepwned There's a reason the version of the song that plays during her trial fight is "Your Answer". It all came full circle.

Actually an Ardbert quote that Elidibus stole from 3.4. In Ardbert’s body, but still. And then Ardbert rebuttals with another quote of his from Base ShB.

@@rezahydra Indeed. One must always remember what one is fightning for. Elidibus could barely remember at that point.

@@rezahydra wait fr???? TUFF

She limit broke through all history.

She's the reason Wol is so good as well. She passed it on to them.

@@AdeptKing It's actually mutual strength they gain from one another in an endless cycle of time. The WoL is the sundered soul of the final Azem, her pupil and friend. So obviously we are strengthened and pushed by her, but it actually goes both ways. She explains when you finally face her Primal Form that you, her Champion, were HER inspiration. The time you spent together with her in Elpis, the stories you told her of your adventures, the beauty of the world that she loves. You pushed her just like she pushed you. I hope that someday in the future, she, Hyth, and Emet can all be reincarnated as new characters who carry on that same spirit now that they're dead and returned to the star. It happened to Azem, why can't it happen for them?

The thing is also (correct me if im wrong) that primals usually require worship/faith and insane amounts of aether to be born into existance. She apparently manifested herself into a primal with nothing but her own power and her unbreaking will.

@@wildwombatarmy The absolute audacity!! Venat is the original WoL!!!

It's easy to assume you would never do something until you're put into a desperate situation. He was a very tragic and well done character.

watching your comment made me realise, hytho said that when a human returns to life stream all the altered memories will be cleansed, same theory was said also by the old prof in sharlyan. When we defeated emet and send him to life stream ( not sealing him as laha was absorbed in thordan's sword or elidibus in the tower). Emet returned in the 5.3 Beause he remembered!

@@wontononionslicer1004 Emet WAS sealed, though. That's why he's in the lifestream at all instead of brooding in Pandaemonium... or already in another clone body, since he only stayed dead for two seconds when Varis shot him. Don't you remember Thancred slicing his auracite into a zillion pieces?

@@moonxrose26 and then later in a certain zone starting with an E when... Hythlodaeus tells us that no matter how frustrated Azem makes him, he ALWAYS answers the summons when she has need. So not only did he remember after returning to the aetherial sea, but he also continued to support one of his best friends when in need.

It wasn't so much that he was offended of what hw would become though. Emet-selch was a member of the Convocation. They were trained and upheld truthfulness. You told him something that he knew was undoubtedly the truth. Just like he knew that whatever comfort Hythlodaeus shared in that last moment was a lie. That he was accepting his end to save his people. Emet-selch didn't want to believe the story but you had no reason to tell such an outlandish lie and could tell you were being truthful. That's why he entrusted their legacy to you. Because you told him what he would become in his grief and he chose to trust you over anything he would be able to do to stop the End times. He told us to remember because in his long quest to save his people, he had forgotten the reason for fighting along the way.

That thing just slaughtered a planet and distorted all life on it, burning eyes are very fitting to such a Satan indeed....

@@miriamweller812 work on your ability of understanding literatures. it’s obviously lacking.

@@lxNOLUCA ???

@@FumiTheSillyGirl someone was kinda crazy about my coment and he pretty much call the bullshit that the other person was saying :)

Agreed.

The woman is the embodiment of hope. You feel like nothing could go wrong after you defeat Hydaelyn in that trial and get her ultimate approval, with her on your side nothing can stand against you. Its sad that she is gone for good now, my WoL will miss having Hydaelyn watching over him all the time.

She's the reason that the Wol is so good in the first place.

The writing team played us SUPER good. Got us all set up to expect the reveal of her actually being evil, or at least very neutral or manipulative, just to hit us with "actually she's the biggest hero there ever was and one of the coolest characters in the entire franchise."

instead we got the tired tired trope of "literally no one important dies" how much harder would the message of carrying on in spite of despair had hit if one of the scions *actually* died?

@Urazz I don’t think zodiark can temper his follower nor the ascians were tempered. These 2 were created by the power of creation magic, not unlike the summoning magic that we know of, but the inherent different is that these 2 creations have hearts and souls (elidibus/venats). Beast tribes are taught summoning magics by the ascians but with a twist, they added in the will to dominate and temper them to the will to the primal.

@@huynhvonhatan The Convocation was 100% Tempered, Emet actually tells you this in Shadowbringers, in flavor text, if you talk to him within the Crystal Tower.

@@paladinbrewer But endwalkers dialogue suggests otherwise before the Ragnarok. He could've meant that they were tempered in the manner that they were already fully devoted to his summoning and preservation and he was deemed the last bastion of hope for the majority of ancients

@@CelerisXIV This is just a theory of mine but from what i get is, the summoning of Zodiark was imperfect, cuz it was summoned out of despair and fear which already tainted their creation magic as you see how they where creating the terminus beast out of thin air because of said despair. Also as Livingway explain it as they were about to use the mothercrystal to boost Ragnarok and ask for the beast tribe's help, the reason why the primals tempered people in the first place is because the summoners wished to enforced their will and believes on others, so the primal only indulged in doing so exerting its creator's will, hence its imperfect creation magic. Those who created Zodiark where adamant that it was the only way, so they pretty much tried to enforced those same believe on other, which would temper them. At least that is the way I see it, Endwalker for me was a huge lore bomb, so my lore knowledge is shattered and all over the place xD

@@paladinbrewer If they were tempered, then they would have been hideously wrapped and mindlessly devoted to the cause. Emet would have never tried to reason with you or even help you. None of the unsundered were. Elidibus gave off the impression, but in the end it turned out to be obsession for a duty long forgotten. They wanted so bad to return everything back to the way things were, that they didn't care how many people died to make it happen.

The seat of Azem should seriously be renamed the Seat of Suffering. I say this facetiously because of the 5.3 trial, but it actually makes some sense from a story perspective. The Ancients/Amaroutines showed that they would have played right into Meteion's hands by sacrificing themselves right out of existence to avoid pain and loss. Venat forcibly changed their course from guaranteed oblivion to the possibility of a future by offering her own body and soul.

I can't think of another time that a character so quickly went from suspicious to one of my favorites and believing in them fully, and done so well.

nah i always wondered after SHB what could cause a calamity those monsters from amaurot didnt explode in aether like almost every foe defeated in raids and dungeons and that the convocation was fanatical for some reason.

I was suspicious until vritra's line about how midgardsormr trusts her and I'm like, OK valid

@@Pompadourius Show Blizzard how it's done

It hurt her to go with this but she knew she had no choice

There’s really no comparison between a world and a character carefully built with love over many years and a stitched together Frankenstein of a woman puked out by every misogynistic abuser at Blizz.

And amidst deepest despair, Light everlasting…

All the more powerful when one realizes she isn't saying mankind is barred from paradise, but now they have to work for it...and in doing so they will find the answer Hermes sought.

@@WalkerRileyMC yes this. we can make it to this paradise but we need to work for it. it won't be handed to us on a silver platter

You know what? Louisiox did too and the same song was used there. This games thematic tie ins are kinda nuts!

She killed everyone and distorted them. Your just cheer to the worst kind of fascism, you get this, right? That's the story fascists tell. That you have to get rid of the 'wrong' people. That you nave to use brutal violence to forge society in the way they want it to. And even in that fucked up story, nothing proves Venat''s Holocaust right in any way. You just got random plot armor, most things that help you succeed got NOTHING to do with Venat and the people it distorted but actually Garleans or remaining ancients. And of course all this could have been done MUCH better without the Holocaust.

@@miriamweller812 You do realize that the ancients had no way to defeat the Endsinger, right? Aside from the fact that they lacked the understanding of suffering and hardship to fight of the despair she inflicts, the fact that their dense Aether made them unable to even manipulate Dynamis means they would have been helpless against her if they went to face her, in her realm where the flood of Dynamis washes away and overwhelms Aether. In the current state of the world, they could have fought as hard as they wanted...and it would all have been for naught. They lacked both the experience and the very means to face the Endsinger in any meaninful way. Without Venat's actions, as harsh and cruel as they were, everything would have ended sooner or later.

​@@miriamweller812 Nah she didn't killed them, they were sundered, all they lost is their ability to live forever and the ability to create things out of aether, which were their "wings to paradise", those were the only 2 things that were realistically stripped from them. The only ancients which brought genocide were the ascians who had ideals closer than the nazi, believing themselves to be superior to other and the only ones worth of existing, and the people at elpis who liked playing god, hermes in special who created a being which caused a cosmic wide calamity, meteion was using dynamis to hasten the end of the UNIVERSE. Zodiark wasn't saving anyone, it was stalling meteion effects, over time as the universe and everything around the world died, so would the world. Its like you didn't played this game, or just skipped to endwalker and decided to see nazi on everything.

@@spartanhexus6759 When I destroy your personality, delete your memories, take away all your abilities and everything you are, have been and would be - I KILLED you. Those people are DEAD. Even worse: Their souls are destroyed. Ripped apart. And it does not matter what you call them, they were just NORMAL. THEY were the normal people. From the PoV of an insect a human got an absurdly long life. But that's just normal. You can't argue from the PoV of that insect, that humans 'live too long' and so it's fine to cut that down. Again: this is like taking RL problems and say: yeah humans are the problem, let's just kill them all and use their biomass to form short lived mini humans out of them, which only live for a few months. And yes, killing a few billion humans WOULD solve many problem we got. The idea to just think about that is still just sick on every level - and to cheer for it... hell...

Yeah its amazing how Hydaelyn goes from being a distant and seemingly uncaring god that people cry to in their time of suffering, asking for answers. Only to find out that she has no answers and exists that we might have a chance to find them for ourself. And the suffering? She's enduring it with them every step of the way.

Yeah. I really didn't care much about Hydaelyn before as she didn't have much depth and/ or screen time. And now she might just be my favorite character.

Until now, I always imagined that section of Answers to be a bitter mortal screaming at a God that has failed them. This cutscene flips that on its head by making it a God calling it to another, higher God. God this game is so good

@@mrcool9090 I don't think think venat/hydaelyn is calling on a higher power actually, but asking her sundered children to find their own answer to the question that she and the Ascians could not. It's a beautiful parallel in a way, that for Hydaelyn, the struggle for the sundered life on Eitherys to exist validates her own decision and the pain she endured to give them the opportunity to live.

What i love about it is that it also shows she's not perfect. Some all knowing being. but a person trying to do good with the cards given and being forced to pass on that hope. Such a beautiful story moment all wrapped in the song.

It's incredible to me how they made me care DEEPLY for Venat in just an expansion. She went from something that didn't even exist to one of FFXIV's best characters in one single expansion.

@brandovlogs And 14 is mostly thanks to CBU3, not the rest of SE.

@@miriamweller812 Feel free to tell us what would've happened if Venat didn't do this.

@@-u-waa Totally agree. The fact that Venat did it was for the survival of all living things so that they can LIVE, so I'm interested in hearing their answer as well.

@@miriamweller812 I really don't think you understand what Venat did. She stopped the genocide of the other races.

@@Darkfire0721 No, Zodiark saved all life. Venat killed all life and broke it. What would you say, when I kill your family, use their orgns to make humanlike abominations out of them and then just tell you, it will be for the greater good? Because that's the FF14 story. It's not like they even try to give it a reason. You are just told: yeah, Holocausting a planet is good and you should accept this. And then people really do that, wtf... Again: this is likely coming up with the idea to kill half of humankind to solve clima change and world hunger. Oh, yeah, this WILL work - but it's fucking insane and evil to the core. And in case is what not only only one half but everything and there was not even a plan. It was just pure insanity^2. But, yeah, she's an anime MILF with a nice voice and a sad song, so it's fine. W.T.F.

@@miriamweller812 Tell the world you didn't understand the story without saying you didn't understand the story

I'd recommend Viktor Frankl's 'Mans Search for Meaning'. This was his ideology, and he founded logotherapy, a therapeutic practice that seeks to help the client find their own personal meaning. He was incredible, and the book covers his time in a literal concentration camp, where his own personal meaning kept him going. So much of what he talks about ties in so closely to Endwalker's plot.

I think it's interesting how a video game makes more sense with life, than life has had any sense so far. Yes, it's fantasy, but I think the way they incorporated these ''ideals'' and ''morals'' is insane and genius. It might sound cheesy, but this literal scene, and the entirety of Endwalker, has made me look at life SOO much differently. I couldn't agree more with how they wrote Venat, and the reasons she made humanity suffer. They made her into this godly being, that only seemed to speak to a chosen few - to most, she was but fiction and just a name. But given everything they built her up to be.. I don't even have words. If we had to pick our own reality, this reasoning would be my nr.1 way to tackle life. Life sucks? Too bad, do something about it, because nobody is going to hold your hand and kiss your booboo and say it'll just go away. People are their own strength, but there's nothing wrong in believing in something bigger.

i love how in this part they move the camera to show us looking directly into her eyes its as if shes actually talking to us the player at that point telling us what we need to do and that there is no easy answer for us and that we need to find that answer

I'm curious as to who the current azem was when we were in elpis. Seeing as venat was the azem who stepped down and we were attributed to the azem that currently held it, and our character is the future azem.

@@erickelley1680 Implied they were away on business aka traveling. Though the post credit scene implies Elidibus is waiting for Azem so they can see Pandæmonium.

@@acgearsandarms1343 That'll explain why he would accept our help during the raids. He might assume we're a familiar of Azem like the rest of the ancients and put his trust in us

@@ieyasumei4339 Assume nothing with Azem. You can’t possibly understand them unless you were Hythlodaeus or Emet-Selch.

@@acgearsandarms1343 And they can't can't understand Azem half the time either XD

Ye its magical how this scene completely recontextualizes the lyrics to a song composed 10 years ago.

Answer marked the beginning of the reborn, and marked the ending of the saga. It tis very scary if they already plan that far to tell the story from the same version of a song

@@strikefred0m They do plan very far ahead but Answers was composed before Yoshi P. was even working on FFXIV so I'm pretty sure they just found a way to use the song for the finale at some point after Yoshi P. assumed.

Fetch quests till you succumb to the boredom and start skipping every single cutscene since 2.4

@@agentriot then skip ARR?? Lmao

You didn't need the word literally

@@agentriot Still better than FFXVI

@@pppgggr nah.

What is a goddess? Is she a maiden as undefiled as crystal? A being sacrosanct with the bounty of the earth and the wrath of the heavens? Venat's "Answer": Nay, a goddess is lone duelist, caked with blood and beset by oblivion. But nonetheless, the light never leaves her eyes and the boundless darkness she marches through is permeated by a lonely, unrelenting grace, enough to sustain the entirety of the will that burns in those who persist onward in her footsteps, however invisible the path she has traced may be.

@@Mnemoniforma9.00 you should become a writer

Y u gotta do this. Why did I read this. Did I cry, yes - and thank you!

A big flaw of Endwalker I feel is how much it focused on and wanked her pain, though. Why does it focus so much on how she suffered from the decision? Regardless of how you feel about her, she made the decision to cast judgement on all of humanity and that's wrong. Any chance to call her out in game is immediately handwoven by the characters and they even force the player to have a personal connection with her by tying us to her via Azem. That's not really to us few who didn't personally like her all that much. Square needs to step back and stop forcing so much characterization onto the Warrior of Light.

@@azatheeverchosen7615 That's literally what we've been missing the entire time though lol, no true characterization for the WoL - and it's still their story to direct, as they're the literal creators of it. Also, she wasn't judgementing people in a sense I feel as you're portraying it. She sundered people to suffering so they may know true happiness through hardship, and not continue down a path of hopeless sacrifices if this were to happen again, as they could not let go of their past - being over taken by grief and fear and all kinds of emotions. There was suffering everywhere if that passed your view. It doesn't take a genius to generally see that the Ancients suffered at the idea that their home be destroyed, that their people would disappear. There's more anguish there than anything, but I assume that to be clear to everyone who went through the entire thing, all of the expansion. And just because the WoL is tied to Azem, and Venat, they are still very much different people - you as the character carried out what the story was, but you can still hold your own values and that's fine. You also seem to forget that every person throughout the entire thing shaped the end one way or a another, be it fiction or not. Venat wanted humanity to continue, not perish. Just as did the others.

people in ShB do be thinking "based and zodiark/emetpilled"

@@zOMGGaiaOnline The ancients were the ones blind enough to suffering that they were willing to keep offering up lives to a deity that would always demand more. In the end, despite being understandable and empathized with, Emet stood on the wrong side. He, Lahabrea, and to a lesser extent Elidibus succeeded seven times in obliterating innocent people. Venat was the only one willing to brave the reality of how warped their ideology had become.

@@Lancun They were playing gods

@@Lancun Ironically, Rejoinings also helped to evolve mankind. Besides, if we would go by clear death count, Venat still has it bigger due to sheer 'sunder 'em all to mortal and squishy forms' thing. There is a reason why 'Azem' rejected BOTH sides of the conflict. And Venat admits her act was an atrocity Pity we have not seen Elidibus/Venat debates on this matter

@@aznereth3767 I wouldn't say they helped to evolve anything. The First existed on its own and was near identical to the Source with its same problems and politics, but the Beast Tribes were much more readily accepted by the humanoids. And everyone on the First was a sundered 14th of what was whole as opposed to the Source who was halfway complete.

She even asked the wol why she would do that. Guess you could say she got her answer.

She had little choice. I like to think this is like if the people the Wol met refused to listen/change and instead stuck to their old grudges.

Who were the idiots that suspected her of being evil??? Lmaoo y’all clearly didn’t pay attention to the story if y’all thought that… oof

@@chkh007 She isn't evil but blood is on her hands and always will be. She also played God which no one has the right to do

@@zelohendricks51 she saved the world from doom. If she’s didn’t sunder mankind, they would’ve eventually bring about their own down fall just like those other stars did to themselves. Also she sundered us she didn’t kill no one. Mankind was weak in sundered form and have short life span. ppl of Eitherys weren’t immortal. They had longer life span but would eventually die.

To be fair for the longest time we are led to believe any primal that is summoned usually lead to bad things. The fact that hydaelyn is a primal is just a matter of putting two and two together at that moment

She's evil. 100%. Or crazy, that she's evil without getting it. And people who don't see that should ask themselves, if they are crazy, too, to just accept genocide, because someone sells it as the right thing to do.

@@miriamweller812 when did hydaelyn accept genocide? she was trying to stop senseless mass suicide and teach people resillience to face the final days, since the amaurotines were so ill prepared to face life

@@shinkamui Hydaelyn COMMITED genocide. I wish it would only accept it. YOU people accept genocide and praise it here. Hydaelyn distoreted all life that it has to kill each other all the time and dies all the time. That it is driven by fear, gread and hate. That it suffers, endlessly. And that for NOTHING, because stopping that broken AI thing would be easy in endless ways. You people cheer for something that is on the same if not worse level than the idea to kill 4 million people on planet earth to solve climat changes and hunger. Just because someon tells you: yeah, that's the only way, just don't question it, just do what I tell you. NO! Just no! It's sick to write such a story in such away and I have read quite a lot of sick stories, but this one, hell, that's a whole own level of sick. To have a Holocaust in your fiction is one thing. To praise it like that... wtf.

@@miriamweller812 The ascians committed genocide Seven times in canon. Through 7 rejoining they killed 7 entire stars, let alone Emet-Selch not considering sundered beings anywhere close to "worthy of life." Fully creating and enforcing the Garlean empire, whose head is focused on creating a pure master race and a singular world nation. The "broken AI thing" was using a power that the Ancients had no knowledge of, they were fully doomed. Calling the sundering a "Holocaust" is also an ignorant insult to the survivors, victims, and relatives of, those who experienced actual systematic murder led by real life racists subscribing to fundamentally ignorant ideologies. Hydaelyn's actions aren't even praised, they were seen as a necessary evil. Do you feel special that you're so different though? Do you feel cool just spouting edge lord horseshit?

#imfinalfantasy14andthisisdeep

That reasoning gets... iffy. Bad faith actors will make the claim that means we shouldn't address inequality; oppression, slavery, fight disease, starvation... If suffering is "noble", why save these people from it? If knowledge of how countless stars destroyed themselves is made widespread, I fear the apathy it could breed. That apathy would no doubt destroy Etheirys as surely as anything else. I suppose therein lies the crutch: Etheirys will die one day. It's inevitable. The sun will burn out, the planet will stop being habitable... Is what Venat did really heroic, in the end? Life is doomed to die anyway, so why drag out the suffering? Is a long, albeit brutal life, sprinkled with little moments of joy, preferable to a short, but blissful existence?

@@TheSuperRatt Yes, Hydaelyn, I think we can track Meteion using this youtube profile.

@@TheSuperRatt I don't think that suffering is portrayed as "noble" here- more as inseperable to life. If you want to redeem life somehow, you will have to accept its existence. Also affirming life through having pleasure outbalance pain is *difficult* to say the least. The Philosopher David Benatar has some pretty strong arguments for suffering generally outweighing pleasure. And as an Antinatalist would probably share most of Meteions views. Venat's view seems to me to be quite Nietzschean, insofar as she affirms life via aesthetic means: "Lands that stretched on forever, skies one could drown in [...]" I think in her view the suffering in life can be affirmed by contributing to its beauty. The MSQ wouldn't have been as much of "a gripping tale" if there were no stakes after all.

Hands down the best scene in Endwalker SPOILER ALERT!!! . Here are my Top 5 picks for best moments in Endwalker 5. Best of the Best (or The Avengers Assemble moment in the Lochs) - Most of our favorite Characters from earlier expansions assembling to form the Ilsabard Contingent is a very satisfying scene especially because not only that it features favorite Main Scenario Characters but also Sidequest chatacters which you will recognize if you played their particular quest or if you haven’t you will be encouraged to try out their story arcs. 4. Urianger and Moenbryda’s Parents - One of the most heart felt moments if not the most in Endwalker. They somehow gave more meaning to one of the most forgettable characters in the game. 3. Looking for Qerasaf, Mehvan and their child - fetch quest are suppose to be dragging and exhausting and most side characters are forgettable but doing the series of quests here really got me totally engaged and my heart raised and watching Matsya try to calm the dying Qerasaf so he wouldn’t turn into a blasphemy and him trying to bring the infant child of Mehvan and Qerasaf to safety while fighting his fear so he wouldn’t turn really left a mark on me. 2. Quintus shoots himself, Garlemald has fallen - From the very beginning, Garlemald is the enemy for them to meet their end this ironic way is brilliant writing because it is unexpeted and Quintus’ final message on why he will never accept aid from his enemies really hit me. Honorable mentions: Zenos takes control of your body, Zenos’ entrance in the Final Trial as Shinryu, journey in Ultimate Thule 1. Thou must Leave, Die and Know (Venat sunders the Star) - All the questions that we have on what happened during the sundering and why it happened, finally we are given an answer and after ten years, “Answers” was finally given meaning.

I would say that she's also _very much_ suffering physically. Those moments in the cutscene where she's feels pain & thrashes about is basically the calamities causing shards to be rejoined, and as the will of Etheirys, she feels that calamitous impact physically.

Hythlodaeus‘ pained smile broke me

I am so glad someone else feels this way. When I saw him bidding his farewell to Emet I just lost it. So deeply, deeply sad

@@Ville_x What broke me more than that was Hades' pained expression as Hythlodaeus walks away, knowing he'll never see his friend again.

But the amazing thing is that our character is the same thing for Venat. It were our stories of the future that kept her going. All that happened was on both our character and Venat, but Venat suffered the most of it because of the massive timespan.

Poor Wesk had to take a 10 min brb. I was tired at the time, which makes me even more emotional, (not 'tired and emotional', a British euphemism for being drunk), and I blubbed like a baby for five whole minutes, couldn't see the quest UI for the forcible closing of my eyes.

Heroine lmao

3 azems technically that we know of, venat, the current azem when we are in elpis, and our character

@@erickelley1680 Technically 2 Azems because the current Azem in Elpis and our character is the same person... or at least the same soul.

@@erickelley1680 we are the Elpis Azem sundered.

@@beatricecorradi7072 I know. But at the time we are at elpis there are three azems. Even if we are an incomplete soul of the current one that is exploring the world/worlds

After Dawntrail main quest, Endwalker was pure gold!

I had a few doubts until the second trip to Amh Araeng confirmed in full she not only didn't cause but tried to stop the flood, then it team Hydaelyn the whole way

And it definitely isn't where the FF9 references end. People call this the FF4 Expansion, but it's got connections to multiple parts of all of Final Fantasy.

The last part before final dungeon too reminds me of ff9. Even the quest name is the song name.

@@ionmeth2031 I'd even go so far as to say the final boss is themed similarly to Necron from FF9. That inevitability of death being fought back by the beliefs and hopes of your allies.

@@TheKnightswhoplaywii yeah definitely

@@TheKnightswhoplaywii agreed.. The endsinger is the better written Necron

If anything, the beginning referenced the end, which makes it all the more impressive. The heart of this conflict was written almost a decade ago.

If he doesn't explode i will be shocked to the core, especially since he loves answers.

He'll complain that Hydaelyn/Venat wasn't actually evil. Bet anything.

@@necroxisz I think by the time you complete Elpis, and especially once you see the cut scene after the second trial, anyone that suspected Hydaelyn of being evil will feel profound levels of guilt for ever doubting mom. She loved all of her children unconditionally this entire time.

@@necroxisz i know he mentions he wants that story and to be done right. But i dont think he will be angry at it that she has been good all along. But where he is at now he kinda changing what his thinking BUT i feel once Emet comes into play he might think Hydealyn is evil. Personally i never doubted Mommy Crystal. Even after finding out she was a primal. I just knew Venat knew what she was doing.

@@necroxisz There's already people on the sidelines whining that they didn't go with that

Plus if Hydaelyn was evil, she would have stopped Minfillia or tried to kill you because you were the Warrior of Darkness like Elidibus.

She literally lost so much power shielding the WoL from Lahabrea's Ultima spell that she couldn't speak for almost three expansions. If that wasn't the tip off that Hydaelyn was someone to absolutely trust, I don't know what else she could've done to prove herself.

Any 'doubts' I had were the feeling she was pushing us and thus life as a whole towards being truly self-sufficient and not relying on higher beings to fix our problems. We need face our problems no matter how daunting head on aiming towards a better, brighter future

I never had any doubts about her, I thought/feared they'd go down the route of Zodiark being consumed by Zenos and so she sacrifices herself to allow you to beat Zenos and boy am I glad it went a completely different direction. In some ways it also seems Zodiark too was not evil but the dependence that people had on Zodiark instead became the issue, the Amauroites created themselves a god to take care of them and in doing so tempered themselves. The Ascians then went on to teach the races that spawned from the sundering the power of creation with the same flaw that the amauroites had made in creating Zodiark, aetheric corruption/tempering.

The strongest except for those that play a female WoL

@@chazdoit True.

Fourteen (or fifteen, depending on how you count Nald and Thal) of them, if Myths of the Realm is anything to go by.

I believe that was they moment he told Emet he would be part of the initial sacrificial pool.

When Phenix's theme kicked in I just started bawling too

Exactly the same. I was wondering what they were trying to do, I was struggling to count how many of them there was and if they were the 12 and then came the prayer and I was as devastated as Venat. To the last I hoped that our intervention would allow her to create a new future like we did in Shadowbringer, but it's right here that you can see her realize that the Ancients will never change, and she has no choice but to go through with the Sundering. This is so crushing.

They really know how to deliver emotional punches via the cinematography and music.

Throughout the game we see the people the Wol meets change and welcome the change or ways they bring. This scene here is where we see what happens when the people refuse to listen to the hero, so the hero has to take different actions.

SAME. Everytime. It's so intense. Despite her boundless love for her people, she chose to bear the burden of subjugating them to suffering. For them to understand. The true meaning of joy borne from suffering. That men shouldn't be complacent for suffering will always be there. So she dared to be their villain. Venat/Hydaelyn has easily become my favorite character.

Hands down the best scene in Endwalker SPOILER ALERT!!! Here are my Top 5 picks for best moments in Endwalker 5. Best of the Best (or The Avengers Assemble moment in the Lochs) - Most of our favorite Characters from earlier expansions assembling to form the Ilsabard Contingent is a very satisfying scene especially because not only that it features favorite Main Scenario Characters but also Sidequest chatacters which you will recognize if you played their particular quest or if you haven’t you will be encouraged to try out their story arcs. 4. Urianger and Moenbryda’s Parents - One of the most heart felt moments if not the most in Endwalker. They somehow gave more meaning to one of the most forgettable characters in the game. 3. Looking for Qerasaf, Mehvan and their child - fetch quest are suppose to be dragging and exhausting and most side characters are forgettable but doing the series of quests here really got me totally engaged and my heart raised and watching Matsya try to calm the dying Qerasaf so he wouldn’t turn into a blasphemy and him trying to bring the infant child of Mehvan and Qerasaf to safety while fighting his fear so he wouldn’t turn really left a mark on me. 2. Quintus shoots himself, Garlemald has fallen - From the very beginning, Garlemald is the enemy for them to meet their end this ironic way is brilliant writing because it is unexpected and Quintus’ final message on why he will never accept aid from his enemies really hit me. Honorable mentions: Zenos takes control of your body, Zenos’ entrance in the Final Trial as Shinryu, journey in Ultima Thule 1. Thou must Leave, Die and Know (Venat sunders the Star) - All the questions that we have on what happened during the sundering and why it happened, finally we are given an answer and after ten years, “Answers” was finally given meaning.

I did love how our WoL telling her the stories of our adventures and discoveries was a major part of her retaining her sense of self, in contrast to Elidibus, who forgot his reasons and decided to ignore the past.

it's my headcannon that the WOL is the sundered azem her successor

@@br2nd That's not just your headcanon, that's the actual lore. :D

@@roetheboat1 they never outright say it but is referred to again and again

@@br2nd It was stated that our soul is the same hue as Azems and that two different souls cannot be of the same hue - that combined with everything else stated regarding Azem's crystal and magic confirmed that we are Azem. That said, I personally don't believe we will ever be made whole through rejoining nor meet the past version of ourselves as Azem.

Answers as a totally new meaning after this CS. Before i tho it was about renewal (From 1.0's ashes, ARR was born)

Half the population had already sacrificed itself to stop the end days, and then half again was sacrificed to bring Hydaelyn into existence. And, in her sealing of Zodiark, she destroyed her world in its entirety and made 13 reflections of the source where every member of her world was created as a weak and pale imitation and forced to live and die a mortal life, over and over again for eternity. So, not only did she essentially kill all of the survivors of her world, she also condemned all of their souls to an eternity of prolonged suffering (multiplied by 13), and for the entirety of that time since (if Emet-Selch lived 1000x1000 lifetimes, that would mean over 100 million years), she still did nothing about the Oblivion Song, and allowed a number of shards to be destroyed by light/darkness, because "lol, suffering is good for you." All of this, of course, because the Zodiac worshipers were going to sacrifice the new life on the star that would develop to bring back the ones who sacrificed themselves to prevent the destruction of their world in the first place, which was "wrong" in the eyes of Venat, despite the fact that she would go on to create 13 worlds where conflict and the consumption of others to survive would be a daily necessity to only temporarily stave off death, a fate she now guaranteed to all of her fellow members of the source. Which, again, because of the cycle of death and rebirth, would happen endlessly. Hydaeln is the biggest villain the FF series has ever seen, because not only did she destroy the world, she also forced its inhabitants to be mind-wiped and be copied a dozen times and then be essentially tortured for 100 million years by having their souls be reborn over and over again in mortal forms, which she herself was conveniently spared from. Emet-Selch did nothing wrong, and Venat should have been killed in the fight with Zodiark.

@@ANon-ip9jh They didn't sacrifice anyone other than Venat and maybe (we're not even sure) her 12 followers to make Hydaelyn. It's amazing how wrong literally everything posted here is.

@@agnosticnixie Not everything they posted was wrong. The beauty of Venat is that multiple interpretations of her deeds exist, and they're all mostly valid. She did destroy her world. She did condemn all life on the star to short, brutal lives of suffering. That is all true. What people have to answer for themselves is if it was worth it, or justified. Venat certainly thought it was, and the game tends to agree with her. It does beg the question though: is eternal suffering with a few sprinkles of light thrown in, preferable to a shorter, blissful existence? As someone who's struggled with depression and mental illness, I... don't know. I certainly don't envy Venat as the one to make the choice.

Sunders*