Dead characters should stay dead (spoilers?)

[Vexander]

I feel like I'm the only person who did not mind Nanamo's death being a red herring.

Its not out of any love of the character, but rather, the impact of what happened has not been forgotten. When the Warrior of Light is having dinner with Aymeric and Aymeric reaches for his glass of wine, you can FEEL your character tense up. Then there's the drastic change that happened in Nanamo herself as a result of this whole ordeal. She became a much better, stronger, less naive leader, and because of this, she was also able to free Raubahn to take up a leadership position in the liberated Ala Mhigo.

Nanamo's death had enough character developing repercussions (including one of the few we see our silent protagonists affected by), that I can't feel it was a bad choice.

[Anonymoose]

I feel like I'm the only person who did not mind Nanamo's death being a red herring.

Believe it or not, I, for one, actually agree with you. We're just converging on that point from different angles.

It's hard to explain, but I'll try.

Big picture, the intrigue behind the plot is sensible and internally consistent. The hints were there (even if they looked awkward next to a graphic depiction of fatal asphyxiation). No (major) qualms there. And I had been rooting for Nanamo since her first cutscene to grow into Ul'dah's true leader, taking back her family's power from the corrupt oligarchs who were likely responsible for their deaths. From that point of view, I'm glad for her survival. It became a turning point in that very journey.

However, that's the very reason why her death was an emotional one for me. That character arc felt inevitable; anyone could see that this was her purpose and destiny. And then she was dead. A character though to have impenetrable plot armor went down just before making a predictable decision that sent the story in the natural direction. This was arguably the entire basis of the Game of Thrones comparisons, which were made even by the dev. team itself. They knowingly milked every last drop out of "She's dead! A Realm Reborn has been about recovery and hope but, as of today, A Realm Reborn is over. Heroes don't always have it easy; heroes don't always win."

And then pulled they pulled rug out from under it. A few hand-waves and revelations later and we were right back to the inevitable rise of Sultana Nanamo Ul Namo, Seventeenth of Her Line. My problems with the Nanamo situation were solely with the presentation, pacing, bounced checks, and planting flags on territory they didn't truly claim.