(EW Spoilers) Tales from the Dawn #5 - Days Gone By, Days Yet to Come

[Cleretic]

Can we agree that it is an editor's duty to avoid the clashing of meanings, unless it is intended?

Do you know it's not intended? To me, both potential meanings can be relevant and meaningful in this case.

1. 'Soul' as in basically 'person'. as others mentioned, Hyth is reading this guy as being in a pretty dark and dour mood. (The fact he actually does have a dark color palette even for black-robed Ancients thanks to his hair might factor, too.)
2. 'Soul' as in 'soul', which is a thing Hyth can see. As I've mentioned, this actually also tracks for Hermes; he's doing bad, and it's visible on more levels than usual.

Essentially, the exact same meaning, just speaking on different layers.

I think you're demanding 'the curtains are blue' to have literal meaning when it's only ever clearly intended to have metaphorical. I have been an editor at times, and I can tell you, this sentence is A-OK.

Most are good people. Hermes and Venat were very much outliers prior to the extreme trauma that led to the Rejoining plan.

But what about all those things you said an Azem had to be to disprove my headcanon?

The four traits every Azem shares because they must to get the job: A love of traveling; the ability to translate the desires of Amaurot into a form the people outside of it could understand and vice verse; knowledge of the human mind enough to give counseling to *all the people of the star* both inside and outside of the city; and the intelligence, resourcefulness, and decency to know how to serve the needs of both the city and the people outside of it.

Anyone who does not have all four traits does not qualify for the seat[...]

Venat was an Azem, and by all reports a good one. So she must have all of these too, right?

[Nayukhuut]

Venat was an Azem, and by all reports a good one. So she must have all of these too, right?

Perhaps at one point, aye, but clearly she gave up any such traits in the Final Days. Her actions were quite horrific in the end.

[jameseoakes]

Perhaps at one point, aye, but clearly she gave up any such traits in the Final Days. Her actions were quite horrific in the end.

I do wonder what was suppose to have driven Venat so insane to develop the the horrifically twisted ideology she has, as I assume she was a good person but something seems to have hollowed her out and left her a monster.

[SannaR]

It feels odd that Cleretic's Azem is that one point in the early Dark Knight questline where the WoL goes out to retrieve that one man's stuff only to come back covered in blood along with the supplies we retrieved. While not caring at all that we gave them back covered in blood and viscera. Though it is also kind of point on and makes sense from Cleretic's perspective. To me Azem might on occasion have that situation happen and have that mindset. But that again is more of a rare thing. That something more to Clive going to Drake's Fang to do X and normally only doing X. With Y sometimes also happening, but they don't set out to do Y or cause Y to happen. That for me at least they're a Paragon Shepard who at times chooses an occasional Renegade interrupt because sometimes punching a certain reporter is needed. Or how Alisaie is where she is going to solve something her way but also try and keep in mind how the WoL or the other Scions would go about it influencing the choice she makes.

In that Azem has three Angel/Deamon on their shoulder at all times. One being Venat and the how would she go about solving the given situation. A second one being Hythlodaeus and if he would find it funny or interesting to hound Emet-Selch about (the answer is almost always yes). The third being is how badly do they think the tongue lashing they'll get from Emet-Selch when they get back to Amaurot for how they sloved said problem will be. Then confirming with the group of people they've picked up along their travels if they're still undecided on how to approach things. It would be interesting to see if any of their solutions accidentally caused another problem.

Edit: more thoughts.

Another way to look at it would be early Hercules before he meets Phil or him during the animated series where he is still that very clumsy awkward teenager who tries to help in a situation and probably would have had it end up not causing more destruction if he had more practice in controlling his strength. I don't see Azem as a chaotic neutral person that is on the edge of being more of a chaotic evil. As I don't feel they would have stayed as an Azem as long as they did if they solved every problem with the same mindset of let's use the tactical nuke to solve the problem as their first choice and not caring if they also might have caused collateral damage.