Add query object for taxonomy terms (not posts)

[johnstonphilip]

With permalinks set to "post name", if I go to a category's URL, the value in $wp_query->get_query_object is a query of posts.

An example of that URL might be:
​https://mysite.com/category/uncategorized/

However, if I go to this URL, its a 404:
​https://mysite.com/category/

I'm wondering if it's been considered that the query object should be set to contain the list of categories (or "terms") in that taxonomy.

This would allow "the loop" in a theme to render a page with the terms in that taxonomy, with links to view each.

Is it too late in the game to make a change like this to core?

[SergeyBiryukov]

Related/duplicate: #13816