Quote Originally Posted by Boblawblah View Post
I really enjoyed G'raha in the crystal tower quests, and then in Shadowbringers, he was great as well, but as soon as he came back to the First, it's like they didn't quite know what to do with him, and just said ..."cute cat boi? cute cat boi" and kind of went a little overboard with it imo. There are moments where he shows more of his curiousity/exarch personality in End Walker, but they were a bit too far and few between for me.

i miss the confidence he showed as the crystal exarch in Shadowbringers, it's like he reverted to pre-crystal tower quests maturity level or something.
Yes, that was the point. The point of G'raha's character in ShB was that the Crystal Exarch was a mask. Just a facade he created in order to enact his plan to save the First and, more importantly, save the life of the person he revered. Throughout the expansion, talking to Lyna along with other people in the Crystarium reveals that none of them quite buy the aloof, wizened attitude that the Exarch puts on but they all love him so much anyway that they figure it's not a big deal. For example, when talking to the townsfolk after the Exarch is kidnapped, they tell you that they'd never seen him so giddy and bouncy in his step as when he finally managed to summon the WOL to the First. I don't remember the exact words, but even G'raha refers to being the Exarch as rather tiring.

The point of the Exarch persona was that G'raha thought he was going to give up his lifelong dreams in the end. Not only was he now an old man with most of his body missing to crystal, but if his plan worked the way he wanted, he'd be sacrificing his life to absorb the WOL's excess light with the WOL believing he was some half-baked "villain" the whole time. Literally all it takes for this facade he's been wearing for 100 years to break is the WOL calling him by his name just before his would-be sacrifice.

G'raha Tia was never the grown-up he pretended to be, and literally being given a new lease on life has allowed him to finally live out his dreams.

Again, all that being said, nobody HAS to like the character or find his immaturity charming. However, it IS the whole point of his tale from 5.0 and beyond.