Question about 5.3 character (spoilers)

[ZorkD]

He tells us that he was Tempered, but there's some contention there.

1. He could have been lying to draw the conversation to a close, as it was paining him.

2. He told the truth, but not the whole truth. He is tempered, but the tempering effect is weakened on him, because Zodiark was split by Hydaelyn. This gave him enough agency to lay his own will in place for the events of 5.3.

3. Due to being an Unsundered Ascian vs. a Sundered Primal, his will became stronger than Zodiark's, He is no longer tempered at all, until Zodiark is fully restored.

While these are not bad or wrong reasonings I would have liked to see a way for Emet, to break free from the will of Zodiark shown in game.
Where as my own understanding of the strength of a tempering comes from the two Alisaie quest lines with the goblin and the 'ra child, in Ahm Araeng, where the former, whilst not concluded shows no breaking from the tempering of titan. And the latter whilst not described as a tempering by an entity referred to as a primal, did show a level of regaining its personhood.

The reason I'm asking this is that I'd love to revel in the reformation of Emet as an ally, but the game has conditioned me into thinking it would not be possible for him to reform, even if he would want it.

[Mhaeric]

While these are not bad or wrong reasonings I would have liked to see a way for Emet, to break free from the will of Zodiark shown in game.
Where as my own understanding of the strength of a tempering comes from the two Alisaie quest lines with the goblin and the 'ra child, in Ahm Araeng, where the former, whilst not concluded shows no breaking from the tempering of titan. And the latter whilst not described as a tempering by an entity referred to as a primal, did show a level of regaining its personhood.

Ga Bu isn't tempered. He is suffering from extreme dissociation due to the traumatic events he experienced. I.e. witnessing his parents' deaths and summoning a primal. There's a bit of ambiguity in the story around this, where Alphinaud briefly expresses concerns that the koboldling may be tempered but if that were the case they would have executed him ages ago.

Sin eaters are not related to tempering. Having your body's aetheric balance overwhelmed and corrupted by the pure aether energy of light is something entirely different.