Dear SquareEnix/Natsuko Ishikawa - About Zenos in Endwalker *MAJOR MSQ SPOILERS*!

[Senn]

If you never had Love in your Life, how could you know that there is more as just hate, boredom and other negative feelings. I thought that he would have liked it to go with us on Adventures. If you listen to him what he said in German and compare it to the English Version you will notice a big difference in all he said.

How was it different?

[Yencat]

Why must we purge the World of all "Evil" Villains? Why we have to kill them all?

No one was looking for him to "purge" him, we were minding our own business and he flew to the ends of space and time for this fight and got his ass beat, let the man rest.

[Dewslam]

Why must we purge the World of all "Evil" Villains? Why we have to kill them all?

Who's purging the world of "evil" villains? Most villains are evil and beloved. There's a time and place for every type of villain though and aside from expectations for this game's writing to be a touch above most other games, writing standards in general have moved on beyond "this guy is evil because he's evil" for the most part.

[LaylaTsarra]

Hope he doesn't come back and am happy they didn't push his encounter to 6.1.

[HyoMinPark]

That part was never made clear, no. If the writers simply say "He cannot feel empathy or affection" that isn't a proper explanation, that is just a statement. The explanation would be why he can't feel that, backstory, details, reasons, etc. We are told/shown some things about Zenos, that he is this or that, or can do this or that, but we aren't given the reasons as to why. Some people are more than fine with just this much, they don't care to know more. Other people, like me, would like proper explanations and details.

And explanations can be given without reviving him for the third time to harass us endlessly. I’d prefer NEW stories and NEW villains—not the same one being rehashed for a third time. That’s just lazy writing.

You aren’t seeming to consider that, for several people I’ve read commentaries on the ending from, his entire argument of being our foil does not sit with the backstory that others have given their characters. My character does not see him as a foil or a mirror—merely an annoyance. And I wish I could have been given the choice to not fight him, and just leave him behind.

[SturmChurro]

I liked Zenos, and this was a good, fitting ending for him. Though, I wouldn't doubt we will see him again in some capacity sooner or later.

[Aneshda]

No one was looking for him to "purge" him, we were minding our own business and he flew to the ends of the space and time for this fight and got his ass beat, let the man rest.

He flew there to help the WoL in the first place and then Krile made a promise to him, that the WoL would fight with him. He did bad things, but in the end he saved the World with us. Even Gaius got a second chance and how many has he killed? For sure more as Zenos.

[Elysidelphi]

And explanations can be given without reviving him for the third time to harass us endlessly.

You aren’t seeming to consider that, for several people I’ve read commentaries on the ending from, his entire argument of being our foil does not sit with the backstory that others have given their characters. My character does not see him as a foil or a mirror—merely an annoyance. And I wish I could have been given the choice to not fight him, and just leave him behind.

Personally, I want Zenos to come back because I want all those questions to be answered properly, not with him being dead/gone. For me personally, answers to those questions would be more impactful if he were still alive while I received them. And I also want him back because I want him to be properly developed. Either be given a redemption arc or be made into a proper anti-hero. I want a better resolution for him, I think he has potential to become more and he deserves better. I like to think that someone like Ishikawa could give him proper depth and make it make sense. I explained more in my first post on this thread why I want him back.

I do not want Zenos to be our foil, if anything, I'd want him to be our proper friend, after he goes through a proper, well-developed redemption arc. I wish I could have been given the choice to not fight him as well. I never wanted to fight him and felt no joy in that whole scene.

[Yencat]

He flew there to help the WoL in the first place and then Krile made a promise to him, that the WoL would fight with him. He did bad things, but in the end he saved the World with us. Even Gaius got a second chance and how many has he killed? For sure more as Zenos.

He "helped" us because he wanted the thrill of fighting/killing us, not the Endsinger. His reward was to fight us, we fought him, and he lost and (hopefully this time permanently) died.

They've had a lot of time to think about what they want to do with him and he never developed beyond just wanting to fight us, so either they didn't know what to do with him either or this is all he was going to be.

Not a fan of the Gaius white-washing either so I don't really see what he has to do with anything, but at least it was an alliance of convenience and if he wants to fight again he can catch the Hands of Light too.

[ForteNightshade]

Personally, I want Zenos to come back because I want all those questions to be answered properly, not with him being dead/gone. For me personally, answers to those questions would be more impactful if he were still alive while I received them. And I also want him back because I want him to be properly developed. Either be given a redemption arc or be made into a proper anti-hero. I want a better resolution for him, I think he has potential to become more and he deserves better. I like to think that someone like Ishikawa could give him proper depth and make it make sense. I explained more in my first post on this thread why I want him back.

I do not want Zenos to be our foil, if anything, I'd want him to be our proper friend, after he goes through a proper, well-developed redemption arc. I wish I could have been given the choice to not fight him as well. I never wanted to fight him and felt no joy in that whole scene.

Of which he deserves neither. This is a character who harbored no qualms bringing wanton genocide to the entire known world, allowed his own people to be brutally murdered, tempered and oppressed all for his own selfish pursuit to fight our character. He has zero redeeming qualities nor does the story even attempt to showcase any. The whole body swap scene is essentially a not-so-subtle rape metaphor. And every scene prior practically screams "obsessed stalker." He is a vile and entirely unlikeable character... which may have worked if the writing surrounding his story wasn't extremely poor. He neither develops beyond these one-dimensional characteristics nor does he display the slightest bit of depth. His motivations are shallow—much like his character.

Redeeming him would be akin to Thanos suddenly deciding to be pals with the Avengers. Nevermind, he tried to dust the entire universe. He was just misunderstood!