Quote Originally Posted by Rulakir View Post
What was wrong with Hyth?
I've always been very fond of Hyth, right from his first appearance in Amaurot (albeit as a shade.) We may not have had a tonne of information about him prior to EW, but from what we did learn I just found him really interesting, and I had hoped Emet, and to a degree other parts of SHB, had paved the way for more thoughtful, complex characterisations than before. He represented the first fleshed out, non-Ascian Ancient in the story and had a significant connection with Emet, while at the same time seemed to serve as a potentially fascinating foil; a whimsical, peaceable yet discerning character that kept his own counsel, yet was hinted as matching him and the Ascians in terms of power and intelligence. I looked forward to his own take of what had transpired during and after the Final Days, and what his dynamic with the other Ancients might add to the story.

I was incredibly disappointed to see him reduced down to what felt like little more than Emet's adoring, self-deprecating sidekick who had almost no purpose or perspective outside of Emet and Azem, and only seemed to be there to emphasise how great and wonderful they are. Suddenly, the Chief of the Bureau of the Architect - you know, the overseer of the institution that rules over all of creation magicks - became the weaker, lesser character happily dwarfed by his friends trope that permeates Japanese media, whose sole redeeming ability was his innate soul sight. Paired with Emet's intense tsundere-ification, there was just a distinct lack of depth that I had been hoping for since the end of SHB. That aside with the WoL in particular trying to hammer home what a good guy Emet was felt so shallow and forced, and followed EW's unfortunate trend of telling, not showing that SHB for the most part seemed to avoid so well.