Quote Originally Posted by Cleretic View Post
they made him hot because we already liked him so much.
At this point it's feeling like a bit of a pattern that as soon as the fandom likes a "cool old guy" character, he gets swapped out for being younger and the new version doesn't necessarily work as well.

Hyth does make sense as a younger version of the shade we meet in Amaurot, who feels more mellow and reflective, but it's still a bit of a jump in personality.

The Exarch was well-liked and we ended up with young G'raha instead - not that I am personally complaining, but he's clearly somewhat divisive among players.

And now we have Erenville, who in Endwalker seemed very much to me like he was supposed to be a confident veteran gleaner who only appeared young because Viera are like that. And suddenly he becomes popular and now he's suddenly a young prodigy and still in his brooding teenager phase.

I do need to replay Endwalker with Dawntrail in mind and see if it still adds up, but I really suspect it wasn't the intention.