The Griffin

[Cilia]

The point of "escape or die" situations is to avoid that kind of thing. That way our heroic image is preserved (we aren't even indirectly responsible for van Baelsar's death) but the villain is still vanquished, never to menace the world again.

Would you really argue that Henry Ducard / Ra's al Ghul could have survived at the end of Batman Begins? After the out-of-control train he was riding on crashed into a building? It's a very similar scenario.

Or could it just be that people are grasping at straws and trying to find some way Gaius could be not dead because he was a popular villain? I like him as a villain, but when we were stuck in an escape or die situation so was he; we escaped, he did not. Gotta learn when to let go...

Again, as long as people are admitting it's just wishful thinking...

... but there's not really any evidence to support Gaius still living except the fact we do not have his head on a pike. We shouldn't need it, for kupo's sake.

And as always, I apologize if I'm being a bit acerbic. That's just how I am.

[Anonymoose]

but there's not really any evidence to support Gaius still living except the fact we do not have his head on a pike. We shouldn't need it, for kupo's sake.

It bears repeating again that I'm not reading by my metric of deader than dead. Rather, I have a lack of faith in Square Enix's metric based on previous experience. Such an explosion is more than enough for me to count someone out, but can I accept conclusively that it was enough for them? Have deaths (and survivals) so far been consistent with a primary antagonist (last seen surrounded by flame, but standing) being gone for good?

This guy? This guy dies off-screen in Final Fantasy XIV? This guy? This guy dies off-screen in Final Fantasy XIV? As the old joke goes: you don't even reduce his HP to zero before that scene. It's a matter of trust. And so I leave the door open (juuust a crack) while using that lack of faith for some entertainment. It's a matter of fun.

Honestly, I expected to throw the Gaius reference out there, forget about it, get us back on track with a dozen more ways to say "It's probably Ilberd, someone new, or someone we've forgotten ... but probably Ilberd", and in the end come back with laughter and fireworks if it somehow turned out to be true. I may not be alone in meriting the accusation of being unable to just leave something be, give or take a condescending meme.

Even Alisaie wants to prod people to think of possibilities if they go back to her.

To hear people speak of him, the Griffin sounds like a man in his middle years. But if that's the case, just what has he been playing at for the past two decades? If he's so devoted to the cause, why has he waited until now to do something about it? Unless, of course...he hasn't...

[Zorzi]

Would you really argue that Henry Ducard / Ra's al Ghul could have survived at the end of Batman Begins?

Ra's al Ghul is known for his Lazarus Pits... his villain shtick is always coming back from the dead and living eternally.

Don't get me wrong I agree with you but I found your example of a dead villain pretty funny.