I thought that the astrals were "dead" after Noctis takes them and then the empire just says they did it and get blamed/credited for the kill.
But then then the stuff with Shiva seems weird. Like, she is in a similar place as Titan was, Titan was just holding the thing, not moving, dormant, for ages until Luna woke him up so Noct could grab him. Maybe Shiva was just sleeping for ages and the empire said they killed her? Because Shiva isn't dead because she joins you and you summon her. But then she is dead on the side of the tracks and the desert is all snowy and weather is screwed up. But she is still alive?
Like I could see the empire "killing" Titan and Leviathan, they were there both times and they vanished at the end once Noctis earned them so the masses could see that as the empire killing them but Shiva was apparently dead a long time before you find it but not in the sleepy time dead but in actually killed. But she is still also Gentiana or something, but Gentiana was supposed to be a messenger to humans or something, like the divine version of the Oracle is for humans.
Bah, I dunno. I still like this game, I still think it had some cool moments and set pieces and was impressive to see but the story and characters were a massive let down. Like the main four were good, the nailed the brotherly bond and even the frustration and infighting (though it did feel a bit forced when Gladio was pretty much blaming Noct for Ignis' loss of sight). It's such a shame when someone like Dave gets more development than than most of the cast.