The Reason Zenos.

[MoofiaBossVal]

ask any military general if retreat counts as a defeat, and that general will tell you, "EFF YEAH IT DOES!" Battles wins and losses are actually tracked, and I would say the majority of the ones combatants have in their win column is a result of a retreat. Zenos lost in Ala Mhigo.

See, I think that's what rubs a lot of people the wrong. I like Zenos, but "defeating" him and "liberating" Ala Mhigo doesn't feel satisfying when its predicated on the antagonist... not even trying to stop you. At no point does he sally out from the castle to try to retake ground. At no point does he send troops to attack the Alliance's supply lines from the back. He doesn't send reinforcements as the protagonists inch closer and closer to the castle. And then when you do beat him, it feels like he doesn't really care. He goes "oh well, you're the strongest, I have no reason to live, I'll kill myself now".

I think there is a disconnect in how the audience views Zenos. The story is treating him as the antagonist the hero must overcome, but we're not really given a reason to view him as an antagonist, nor a challenge for the hero to overcome. As stated before, he doesn't really antagonize the hero when he could have, and he only ever directly blocks the hero's progress once. It's like we're being told he is the antagonist, but everything we've seen him do doesn't make him scary.