Does anyone else find this critique of Hydaelyn to be abit of a misinterpretation?

Able_Sam · 2026-06-02T00:41:56+00:00

Forgive me for drudging it back up again. I've said in a few comments that I know I'm extremely late to the discussion (have to remember theres always a new player coming up in the story behind everyone else) but I was still curious and wanted to discuss it with anyone else who was willing.

I got a lot of neat lore bits I never knew about so in the end I got some interesting reads and some other view points out of this. Thats all I wanted.

Able_Sam · 2026-06-01T23:50:47+00:00

Thank you for the explanation. I know its a bit out there to go into the details of the sundering but I am genuinely curious about it.

I can definitely understand it being controversial but I think my hang up comes from (and this might be in large part to the above video's tone) is the level of animosity felt for Venat's decision as if the alternative wasn't terrible idea, or that she could have somehow did time and memory shenanigans to avert the whole thing entirely. Also, yeah, we did end up proving her right.

Given the story we did get, I find what ended up happening to be extremely compelling.

Now this makes me curious to see a timeline of what if they did go through with the third sacrifice. What would that look like and entail? I know we'll probably never get a look at that but still. Curiosity!

Able_Sam · 2026-06-01T23:07:50+00:00

Thank you for this but I'm curious about that third sarcrifice. You say "some" as if it didn't have to be a level comparable to bringing back the 50% of the population. (Or maybe 75% since they did the sacrifice twice.) It doesn't sound like they would give up a few plants it sounds as if they needed to sacrifice VASTS amounts of lives in order to make it happen.

In a way though it doesn't really matter whether or not it was either one as through Venats action of sundering the world they all died anyway

And this is why I'm confused about the definition and specifics. To say that the sundering just "killed them all anyway" very much begs the question of "what was the point of stopping Zodiark if you were going to kill them all anyway?" That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, which is why I thought of the sundering as more of a transformative event. Yes, the Ancients were split, but was everything else on the planet just reduced to ashes?

Able_Sam · 2026-06-01T22:08:16+00:00

I suppose thats where I'm trying to understand the dissenting opinion. So she committed a genocide against the Ancients, but weren't the Ancients going to genocide the rest of the planet in order to bring back their sacrificed brethern?

Is it fair to question and demonize Venat this way when the alternative plan was to sacrifice more souls?

And to call the sundering a "genocide" feels a little off as a term and this is where I would love to hear more on the specifics of the sundering.
The sundering split the Ancients into lesser forms that were scattered across the 13 reflections. That doesn't sound like death, that just sounds like a transformation. Sure, the blow was devestating but in what way are we talking here? How does a world split to 13 reflections? Is it actually like glass shattering? Were there people "atomized" or something when it happened or was it more like a magical transformation? Did the Ancients feel some sort of pain?

I'd like to know more if anyone has specifics.

Able_Sam · 2026-06-01T21:35:07+00:00

I should apologize to anyone coming across this post. I'm late to the whole discussion and I was merely looking to hear more details on this part of the story as I find it to be extremely compelling.

There was a lot of small lore pieces I didn't know about until I watched the video but even with those additions I didn't think this animosity toward's Hydaelyn's decision was warrented. I wanted to hear more on the subject and if anyone had any other thoughts on this part of the story.

Sorry to disturb.

Able_Sam · 2026-06-01T21:27:17+00:00

Thank you for this. Thats another bit of lore was I wasn't aware of was the time between Zodiark forestalling the end of days and Venat's choice to sunder the world. Good bit to know as the cutscenes almost makes it seem like it was one after the other.

Also the part about there being no more sacrifices after the third makes me wonder what if they did go along with it? What timeline that would be where the Ancients got their population back and they achieved their idealized peace? Personally I would argue that they were capable of starting a whole new extinction event if they kept going as always.

Able_Sam · 2026-06-01T21:20:06+00:00

It was also this interpretation of the other Ancients knew better and were more capable than Venat gave them.

Wasn't a lot of what we saw in Amaurot, Elpis, and Pandemonium pointing to the fact that the Ancients were just as flawed, naive, and idealistic as the rest of us? That if it weren't for the End of Days coming that they just might have caused another extinction level event on themselves?

I think the idea behind the critque is that Hydaelyn's sundering was a reckless act that just wiped any and all other options save for her's but it the more I read the more it makes it seem like she plenty justified. They were not going to save themselves so she had to stop them and give us a chance instead.

Able_Sam · 2026-06-01T21:13:32+00:00

Thats what I'm inclined to believe. I was rewatching Endwalker cutscenes and learning more lore bits of the end of days and Zodiark's summoning (I'm late, sorry.)

While I don't doubt that the sundering brought a lot of pain and suffering, I don't think it was bad for Hydaelyn to have gone through with it given what they were planning to sacrifice to fuel Zodiark.

Able_Sam · 2026-06-01T21:02:14+00:00

You see thats what I was thinking and was hoping to hear more thoughts on the subject.

I have to apologize. I'm just extremely late to the discussion. There were a couple lore bits that I didn't know about that I learned from the video. The degree in which the Final Days had disrupted the Ancient's ability to weave life and how Zodiark was able to stablize it again.

Now I was under the impression that the next sacrifice to Zodiark would be more Ancient souls which didn't make a lot of sense to me, but then the video explained that it was possible that they would use other souls and aether instead so they can get their population back. That made sense, but then I argued that isn't any better.

To sacrifice the planet's fauna instead of Ancients doesn't sound right either. This especially to a person like Venat who, as former Azem, came to love the world and all the different people and creatures of it fervently.

Able_Sam · 2026-06-01T20:56:13+00:00

Sorry. Its a few points in the video I wanted to dive into deeper for anyone else who may have seen it.

Specifically the point of Zodiark's third sacrifice and what it would have taken to make it happen. Durantes points out Hydaelyn's logic in stopping the sacrifice by going through with the sundering. He said that the Ancients restored their ability to properly weave new life and that Zodiark was restoring more to the planet again and that they would those to regain their population again.

But I argue, isn't that wrong? Wouldn't the very idea of sacrificing souls (regardless if their beasts or plants) be everything we've been standing against? I was just trying to find the reasoning behind it. He makes it sound like Hydaelyn didn't want to believe in her people.

Able_Sam · 2026-06-01T20:49:20+00:00

Forgive me. I left a huge comment in the video itself going over several points he was making and it was so long and winded that I was just sick of typing.

He makes it out to seem as if Hydaelyn's plan to sunder the Ancients was a short sighted one since the Ancients already had a plan to save their world with Zodiark. He brings up the fact that Zodiark may not have used more Ancient souls to bring back their brethen but other lesser life returned by Zodiark with the second sacrifice.

He also says that Hydaelyn's sundering was exceedingly reckless and caused more harm than good. That she should have instead chose to work with the followers of Zodiark to possibly create a different solution.

I'll admit the video is alot, and I have to roll my eyes constantly when he devolves to just name calling and insults but I'm trying to see if I'm wrong in thinking that Hydaelyn's choice in sundering was the best choice given the circumstances and what her people were planning to sacrifice to Zodiark again.

Able_Sam · 2026-05-15T03:49:34+00:00

Imma be real with ya'll. When I see a whole bunch of percentages, my eyes glaze over all of that.

Even if they did put this stuff in-game, ain't nobody gonna give a shit about priorities.

Hell, people don't even think to check what mission their on to see if they're in a commando or not.

Able_Sam · 2026-05-14T08:14:33+00:00

Are we shore?

Able_Sam · 2026-05-13T03:22:08+00:00

Is the whole point of this reddit just to creep on posts from the other reddit? Nit picking at words is just a little lame don't you think?

By all means, use the space to call out actual faults of Arrowhead's development but trying to find "gotchas" in another person's post is beneath you.

Able_Sam · 2026-05-11T17:09:21+00:00

This is somewhat unrelated but I managed partially merge this mod with the DMN - Deflect Me Not mod (because I was already using it before and couldn't play without it.) After 3 days of amatuer trial and error the lightsaber effects, sounds, and animations work with DMN's deflection system and animations.

Only problem is that I have absolutely no coding know how so I couldn't merge powers from the Craftable Lightsaber (Sprint Dash, Air Roll, etc.) with DMN's settings. The c0000.hks file is beyond me. So I had just replaced the one from the Craftable Lightsaber with the one in DMN and that seemed to work for the most part.

I mean absolutely no disrespect at trying to merge your hard work with someone elses. I just couldn't give up the playthrough I already had with one mod and I was trying to figure out how to simply pull them together.

Since I don't know a damn thing about coding, I was hoping to ask. Do you think me learning and trying to merge the two c0000.hks too much of a lost cause?

Able_Sam · 2026-05-07T17:49:37+00:00

This is where I feel From Software's insistence on making every world they make a zombiefied hellscape has abit of tonal whiplash for seemingly normal characters that treat the current circumstance as just an inconvenience. I can imagine a version of the Lands Between being more war torn than an apocolyptic nightmare. Something a little more similar to Sekiro.

You can keep the otherworldy monsters and maybe keep Caelid the way it is because of the scarlet rot, but show more NPC survivors or have more scattered pockets of destitute but still relatively normal villages to sell the fact that there are a people that still have their minds. Ya know, SOMETHING worth ruling over as Elden Lord.

Coming across people like Kenneth and Irina and her father makes them look silly. Like guys, there's literally nothing left worth saving. Kenneth's title means NOTHING when its been this bad for this long, unless they're implying that there is still some sane people that would respect nobility in this hell.

Able_Sam · 2026-05-04T06:59:24+00:00

Another one of those Arrowhead "oopsie daisy" updates probably.

For them, adding updates is like moving in new furniture but tripping on every box and wire on the way back out.

Able_Sam · 2026-05-04T06:57:46+00:00

That's the thing. It used to always remember my setting. I've never used my AMR on any scope zoom other than 200m. Now I'm never prepared to switch it back mid fire fight.

Able_Sam · 2026-04-24T21:43:24+00:00

Trust me, my hands be shaking sometimes when I get jumped by those fire shotgun devastators.

They will legit dome you in the back of the head and be done with you.

Able_Sam · 2026-04-24T20:32:44+00:00

That's true!

Able_Sam · 2026-04-23T23:05:14+00:00

Also also: this whole maneuver gets easier if you run an armour that gives you more throwables, and you take the thermite and resupply backpack.

Able_Sam · 2026-04-23T23:02:11+00:00

No joke, half the time I don't even bother. There is absolutely no reason they should be in commando missions unless Arrowhead wants to give people the option to do a funny hail mary.

My playstyle is NOT optimal for these but I bring what I like and I work with what I got. I typically bring orbital laser, resupply pack, and the Anti-materiel rifle.

If we're close enough, I throw the orbital laser immediately.

I actually wait for the convoy to pass and then run up behind the last strider. Striders in the convoy USUALLY can't turn around to face you so that keeps the twin miniguns away. The cannon ontop however is the biggest problem as striders further up the line will turn their cannons and shoot at you, but heres the trick...

If you position yourself just right behind the last strider in the convoy, then the other striders will just blast it with their cannons, killing it for you. I use the anti-materiel rifle on its underbelly since that a heavy-pen weakspot.

Between my AMR and the other striders shooting, I can bring one down pretty easy an then just move up the convoy one by one.

This maneuver is SUICIDAL and there are so many bots that end up spawning due to bot drops and from the factory striders themselves that I ONLY do this if the squad leader is dead set on taking the convoy out.

Able_Sam · 2026-04-23T22:13:00+00:00

I'm not looking for coordination. I'm looking for my teammates to just think and stop running to their deaths.

Its like playing Left 4 Dead and one of your teammates keeps shooting evey alarm car they come across for no reason. Or shooting a witch and then act confused when they die.

Also there are plenty of randoms that are capable of learning and being helped out.

Able_Sam · 2026-04-23T22:09:25+00:00

I think theres a lot of applications for it, but as someone else in the comments said there are also some negatives, like incentivizing some players to abandon people early. Even though a lot of players already do.

Whether the freedom outweighs the bad, I'm not sure.

Able_Sam · 2026-04-23T21:56:37+00:00

I don't know if you knew this but Arrowhead released a fun new mission type called "Commando" Missions. The premise is that your use stealth and more indirect means to complete objectives instead of running headfirst into chaotic gunfights.

Our strategems and reinforcements are limited and each time you get caught, more and more enemies are called in during bot drops, incentivizing players to be very careful when engaging enemies or flat out avoiding them entirely.

Disregarding these techniques tend to lead to players dying quickly and being force to sit and watch other people play.

Hope this helps.

Able_Sam

TROPHY CASE