Tales from the Storm Discussion

[YianKutku]

In Kugane, Lyse demonstrated she was still very much the "Yda" we've known all along: impulsive, reckless, all-action-before-thought. But underlining that was an over-riding concern for the safety of Gosetsu and Yugiri. She felt that the Scions had to at least investigate the namazu offer, even when everyone else smelled a rat, because if it were a trap, she was compelled to make sure that nothing untoward had happened to their Doman friends. This abiding loyalty to friends is very much the Yda we've known all along, and it's one of her most endearing qualities as a goofball.

The Ruby Sea chapter highlighted something else key to her development: We came to learn that Lyse was weighed down by the guilt of having dragged everyone into a war that they had no personal connection with. This was why she was so anxious about Alisaie, because she couldn't accept that one of her friends could be hurt on account of her limitations. Throughout the Far East chapters, there was, to me, a sense that Lyse was beating up herself inside for not being more like the WoL, someone who could apparently take on the troubles of the entire world and save the day.

My issue with Lyse is kind of two-fold, and the quoted part touches on one of them: yes, Lyse is still a goofball much like Yda was. But being a goofball wasn't all that endeared her to others.

From the Tales from the Storm:

Yda, on the other hand, was reckless and impulsive. Emotional. But she had a way with people─a way of making them smile and think everything was going to be all right...

It's that second part, about how Yda made everything seem brighter, that is lacking.

Again, there's a good reason for all of that, as you've mentioned. Lyse is burdened by guilt, both for getting everyone involved in the liberation of Ala Mhigo whether they wanted to or not, and also for Papalymo's death. And she's clearly not comfortable with the way the Ala Mhigan Resistance looks to her as a leader, figurehead or otherwise, just because she's Curtis Hext's daughter.

So there's this seed of doubt planted in everyone's minds: is Lyse's change of behaviour between her Yda days and the present due to the events that have transpired, or is it because she was merely acting all happy and optimistic as Yda, and her "real self" is full of self-doubts and regrets? Note that "Yda" was just as optimistic as usual after the attack on the Waking Sands, when the core Scions were abducted and everyone else slaughtered by Livia.

As such, I'm not sure if it's just these particular events (and not any other prior) that have affected Lyse so much that she lost one of her most endearing traits: "a way of making them smile and think everything was going to be all right". Is this just a reaction to current events, or is it going to be permanent?

The second issue I have with Lyse is the way the story progresses around her. I understand the importance of her character development in going with us to Othard, meeting Hien, and learning what it means to be a leader. I understand that it is necessary for Lyse to grow into the role the story sets up for her.

I still don't quite understand why Lyse was going with us to Othard in the first place. The story simply doesn't spend a lot of time on it, treating it as a given instead.

It's as though the WoL and co. were consulting an out-of-game walkthrough that said Lyse had to accompany them to Othard to power-up the Leader Of The Resistance trait, and rationalized the decision backwards from that. It's clunky and meta-gamey.

Overall, turning Yda into Lyse is a major change that simply has not paid off yet. We can suggest waiting for the 4.x series of patches to see if it eventually will, but seeing as we've had an entire expansion allegedly focused on Lyse for it to pay off, one wonders why the story has been so inefficient in this respect.