Quote Originally Posted by Rafaelhades View Post
Ysayle's tragedy was well done. The way her world falls apart after learning the truth was heartwrenching and her last ride after composing herself and rebuilding that broken persona on Hraesvelgr was epic. But she got the Moenbroeda treatment and only got 1 patch for her to really hit home. Haurchefant was there to see you rise to become the hero from the lvl 40s. He assisted you through 2.5 and he took you in when you had nowhere else to go but Ishgard and was sort of that "last friend in a world that hates you and your companions." He protected you until the end. Both deaths were tragic but Ysayle's was sort of dampened by the fact that you fought her as Shiva and that she was a "villain" at some point.
I don't think Ysayle being an antagonist at one point dampens the tragedy of her death. I think it adds to her depth as a character and I really enjoyed traveling with her and getting to know her in Heavensward. It was fun, for example, that the woman who'd turned into Shiva and kicked my arse once was kooing over how cute Moogles are.

What made her death hit me less hard than Haurchefant's is probably that


a) Haurchefant died first. The death train kept strong after that but before him we hadn't lost anyone yet. In fact we learned one character presumed dead was still alive (Nanamo)
b) Like I said earlier Ysayle went down in a blaze of glory. It was a sad scene but also action-packed and epic. Haurchefant dies in front of our characters with us holding his hand and the animators managed to give him that expression of pure adoration that lights up his face when you smile for him. Then he's gone. The animation for faces in that scene was exceptional.


Adding to the impact of Haurchefant's death is, as you said, that we met him at lvl 35 in 2.0 and he'd been around ever since.

I think the reason he was killed off is simple, though. As a plot device he existed as our ticket into Ishgard so the expansion could happen. He had no purpose beyond this so once we were nestled in he was axed for drama. The writers have always seen him as a plot device but they gave him such a lovable and interesting personality that when the inevitable happened it huuuurt.