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

[dynus]

Sure, Zenos' family life was not the best, but a lot of people have crappy parents and they don't become homicidal maniacs.

I truely do feel bad for him, his situation sucked. But HE chose to become the monster he became. He revealed in it. Was it because his father hated him, his mother died early, his great-grandfather may or may not have experimented on him? I'm sure it played a part, but again, choices were made, and he was happy with his choices.

You can't save everyone, and not everyone is redeemable. And to be frank, Zenos didn't want to be forgiven or redeemed. Emet-Selch, Fandaniel, they were monsters too, and while I like them a lot, I don't think they were 'redeemed' at the end. Sure, we promise to hang out with them the next time we're all reincarnated, but even if you share the same soul, you're a different person, even if you have a lot of the same personality traits as your previous life.

Zenos's story is done. He had the big fight he wanted, twice even. He got what he wanted. Why deprive him of that?

[Elysidelphi]

Sure, Zenos' family life was not the best, but a lot of people have crappy parents and they don't become homicidal maniacs.

I truely do feel bad for him, his situation sucked. But HE chose to become the monster he became. He revealed in it. Was it because his father hated him, his mother died early, his great-grandfather may or may not have experimented on him? I'm sure it played a part, but again, choices were made, and he was happy with his choices.

You can't save everyone, and not everyone is redeemable. And to be frank, Zenos didn't want to be forgiven or redeemed. Emet-Selch, Fandaniel, they were monsters too, and while I like them a lot, I don't think they were 'redeemed' at the end. Sure, we promise to hang out with them the next time we're all reincarnated, but even if you share the same soul, you're a different person, even if you have a lot of the same personality traits as your previous life.

Zenos's story is done. He had the big fight he wanted, twice even. He got what he wanted. Why deprive him of that?

A lot of people with crappy parents and crappy childhoods are not born into royal families with a huge amount of power and then once they start becoming cruel, actively encouraged to remain cruel to further the empire's goals. They are either born in normal families without much power so they can't really become homicidal maniacs, or if they are born in powerful families where they could have a lot of power to do evil but once they show cruelty, someone stops them, be it a teacher, a servant, a family member, etc.

I don't think many, if any, ever really choose to become a monster. Especially if the trauma starts from one's childhood. No one chooses a crappy childhood and rubbish parents. No one. As for the fact that he continued being evil once he was an adult, I explained why in all of my posts. Once you spend years and years stuck in one certain mentality, it's extremely difficult to change, and you often need outside help (like a therapist or good friend) to help you see another way out. If you spend the first 18-21 years doing what your crappy family wants, and having trauma basically since birth (or even before birth), then you can't change overnight, even if you really genuinely want to. It would take years to change, and huge revelations. And like I said, it would also take outside help.

I believe that Zenos was never happy, with anything, not even his choices. I believe he never knew happiness. At most, he thought he knew it, but it wasn't real.

I agree, you can't save everyone, for multiple reasons. This does not have to include Zenos or someone like Zenos. He could be saved.

But I disagree with the rest. I firmly believe that everybody is redeemable. Everybody. This is my unshakable conviction.

We don't even know if Zenos wanted to be forgiven or redeemed. He barely said anything, he was barely developed. Lack of development/poor writing does not automatically mean that character does not want something or that character is useless. The fact of the matter is that Zenos was not developed properly, we never talked to him much or in-depth (like the way we talk to the Scions or even to Emet-Selch), we never got proper insights into his personality (beyond his desire for violence), we never got proper insight into his childhood and past, most people don't even know about his past and his childhood as that story is not in the game. Most people do not even bother to stop and consider how psychology works, how the human mind works, and how, having a rubbish childhood marks you for life in horrible ways, and how such people should be helped, not shunned and rejected.

See, you consider Emet-Selch and Fandaniel monsters but would still want to hang out with them, while you're fine with Zenos being dead. In that way I believe that people do consider Emet-Selch and Fandaniel redeemed or that they are worthy or redemption, even if they refuse to admit it. The way they talk about them, the way they are content to hang out with them clearly shows that they don't really consider them monsters in the sense of wanting nothing to do with them, the way they act about Zenos. It's kind of hypocritical to be honest, especially if one were to make an in-depth comparison between Emet-Selch and Zenos, but it is what it is. Most people don't care to be patient or to read between the lines or to even think for themselves, they prefer to follow what the majority says/thinks/does.

I do not want Zenos's story to be done. It does not feel done. There are many unanswered questions left. Way too many. His arc does not feel complete at all, if anything, it feels that his arc just started and he has a long way to go. I don't think he got what he wanted. Sure, he got an awesome duel with his best friend, but I think he wanted much more than that. If you pay attention to everything he says after the duel, the words he chooses to use, the tone of his voice, the questions he asks you, how his voice breaks on a certain word...He does not sound happy, at peace or fulfilled. If anything, he sounds regretful.

Personally, I hope to god that Zenos will come back and will start on a redemption arc, or on an anti-hero kind of arc. Preferably redemption. I hope it will be well-written and earned by Zenos, and I hope he will finally fill that void with more than just fighting. Because I think he's finally realising that even fighting at the edge of the universe isn't filling that void for him. I think he's realising that he needs more to fill that void, and that more could be genuine friendship, affection, warmth, companionship, knowing that someone genuinely cares about you and has your back through thick and thin. He deserves that. I hope with all my heart that he gets it.