[ENDWALKER SPOILER!] On Zenos

[Vayanne]

I found Zenos annoying at first, but so I did Emet in his clown phase and Fandaniel (who never quite got out of his clown phase). He provides some variety, since, unlike the villains we usually face, he's not a walking drama bag. Not that I don't like complex villains with tragic motivation, but there's something pleasing watching Fandaniel go all theatrical while Zenos just sits there bored out of his mind and only wants one simple thing.

The end was a bit disappointing, as I was hoping to see more of a confrontation between Meteion the dark empath and our "friend" the dark psychopath. She causes suffering and destruction because she feels too much, while he causes suffering and destruction because he feels too little. I imagined her going "Hopelessness! Despair!" while Zenos just gives her a terrifyingly unfeeling stare "Yeah, but when am I getting my fight?" I didn't like that we left him there. If Endwalker's message is that there is always hope, why shouldn't there be hope for Zenos? I hope he isn't dead and gets to use his power for good, or at least that we get to meet a shard of him that wasn't turned into a monster by the one true evil - bad parenting. Such a waste. Such power befits a hero (I guess I had a Praetorium run too many). If given the option, my character would have offered him a deal: "Do good deeds the whole week, and we get to fight "to the death" every Monday!".

[Elysidelphi]

I found Zenos annoying at first, but so I did Emet in his clown phase and Fandaniel (who never quite got out of his clown phase). He provides some variety, since, unlike the villains we usually face, he's not a walking drama bag. Not that I don't like complex villains with tragic motivation, but there's something pleasing watching Fandaniel go all theatrical while Zenos just sits there bored out of his mind and only wants one simple thing.

The end was a bit disappointing, as I was hoping to see more of a confrontation between Meteion the dark empath and our "friend" the dark psychopath. She causes suffering and destruction because she feels too much, while he causes suffering and destruction because he feels too little. I imagined her going "Hopelessness! Despair!" while Zenos just gives her a terrifyingly unfeeling stare "Yeah, but when am I getting my fight?" I didn't like that we left him there. If Endwalker's message is that there is always hope, why shouldn't there be hope for Zenos? I hope he isn't dead and gets to use his power for good, or at least that we get to meet a shard of him that wasn't turned into a monster by the one true evil - bad parenting. Such a waste. Such power befits a hero (I guess I had a Praetorium run too many). If given the option, my character would have offered him a deal: "Do good deeds the whole week, and we get to fight "to the death" every Monday!".

Thank you for those words! I agree wholeheartedly with them and both myself and my WoL would think/react the same way.

But I do think he will be back. There are many unanswered questions about him, many loose ends. Also many hints and clues related to him. There is no way the writers will ignore/forget all of them, there are simply far too many to just be ignored. They were done on purpose, I think. I think Zenos is a character with subtlety, with a long-term story, that will develop slowly, while we are being fed clues and hints in regards to him.

PS: If you like Zenos and you like theorycrafting, we have a Discord server dedicated to theories/ideas about Zenos. Helps with keeping the hope alive during this long night!