*spoiler* What was the point of making Yda... *spoiler*

[RenewalXVII]

This sorta came up in a different thread recently, so I'll just quote myself from there:

Thematically, I think part of what the writers were aiming for in SB were the stories of young people who had grown up entirely in the shadow of conquered states: Lyse, Fordola, and Yotsuyu all spent most of their formative years with a homeland controlled by the Empire. It's clear that a thematic parallel was set up among them. Yda as we knew her by HW was a bit too old for that, and the writers wanted their two-fer with an Ala Mhigan Scion invested in freeing their nation, while also being young enough to parallel Fordola and Yotusyu.

Like, the obvious counterfactual for SB's story is for Lyse to be introduced as an entirely separate character from Yda in late HW/early SB, and I don't think people would have been any more invested in such a Lyse than the one we did get. The writers were attempting to bind old affection for Yda--which I certainly have since I started the game in Gridania--with a new character concept in Lyse, and their two-fer attempt didn't land cleanly enough for a lot of people.