At this point, 'subverting expectations' would be actually having the stones to kill off a prominent Scion or one of the City State leaders. Ever since Heavensward the established trend has been to only kill off characters who are either outright villains, sympathetic antagonists or throwaway characters temporarily promoted into the spotlight. I guess you can count characters who were already written off as 'dead' only to be brought back to be killed for a second time. Such as Minfilia, Ardbert and Emet-Selch.

It's a predictable model and arguably insults the intelligence of those of us who don't buy into attempts at emotional manipulation. The story plays out very differently for those of us who know full well that the likes of Aymeric are never going to have any lasting consequences.