Lilies on the grave... (HW-spoiler ahead!)

[Theodric]

I'd rather not see Haurchefant return. Just because he's a 'fan favourite' I think it'd do the story a major disservice. We shook up the entire core of Ishgardian society and such a thing should not happen without meaningful consequences. Haurchefant's demise is one of those meaningful consequences. FF7 wouldn't be the same if Aeris could be brought back from the dead, nor would Game of Thrones be as gritty if certain characters were brought back to life unscathed.

He had plenty of screen time and will no doubt be references in passing in the future. It's time to focus on building up other characters now - and after what happened with Nanamo I'd really, really dislike seeing another 'death' reversed.

[Ayuhra]

He had plenty of screen time and will no doubt be references in passing in the future. It's time to focus on building up other characters now - and after what happened with Nanamo I'd really, really dislike seeing another 'death' reversed.

I admit my reason for wanting him back on any level is gross selfishness. If I woke up in game one day and saw Haurchefant standing there smiling saying he lived but they had to keep it a secret for some reason, hence him not being buried where the monument is, I would be livid. A quest to get him back that I can interact with meaningfully, that had a lot of emotion in it, would set better. Again: I am NOT saying I necessarily want this, just if they went this route it would have be done well. Especially after the Ul'dah nonsense.

Why him though? For me....I am a Haurchefant fangirl I'll admit it. Estinien is my favorite character but I talk less about him because it is plainly obvious the plot is going somewhere with him. Haurchefant's death was brutal because outside of making us sad it didn't service the plot. Had he lived things would have played out in pretty much the exact same way. The only thing that might have been different is we might have been able to intercept the Soleil before it took off, but that could have been solved by....the Soleil just taking off while ran towards it. His death set up Thordan VII as a more significant threat, sure, but Thordan had just put his own son in a dungeon to be tortured. I kind of wanted him dead already. Plus he was carrying on lies and knew it much to the detriment of his own people. And his Ward tried to execute Alphinaud and Tataru. Also I think it was mentioned that while Aymeric was imprisoned the Ward was to sniff out and execute anyone else who knew the truth. I wouldn't say he was in any position to NOT be taken seriously by the time of the Vault. I'm not opposed to dramatic deaths for the sake of dramatic deaths, those happen in fiction, but so far in FFXIV this is the first one that seemed to be for drama and nothing else. If Haurchefant had fought off and killed a member of the Heaven's Ward only to die right after from his wounds I think people would be less upset. (Not saying that's what should have happened, but it would have been more in line with the self-sacrifice we see from Ysayle, Moenbryda and the Scions.)

Something about the aftermath of Haurchefant's death makes me wonder if he'll come back as some sort of horrible monster. I don't honestly think he will but the game kept reminding me he was gone long after the fact (giving me the shield, showing me by his memorial, the folks at Dragonhead are now miserable husks...) It could have been to fuel my desire to kill Thordan, sure, but.... I can tell when the game is manipulating me. It manipulated me into loving the character and now it is manipulating me into missing him in a way it never did with Moenbryda, Ysayle or the Scions (though the Scions have pretty much been assumed alive this whole time). It might not mean anything, of course. My more practical reasoning on him dying is he was set up to be loved so he could get us into Ishgard but beyond that had no purpose. Having served the plot he was axed for drama and that will likely be the end of it. A sad end, too, for one of my favorites.

Maybe his death will serve the story of House Fortemps going forward and make them slightly unhinged. Not to the Summon a Primal extreme but his father and brothers have to be shaken by it. Father especially. Daddy Fortemps we know is important. He has his own character model!

All of this breakdown of his death does lead me to one thing though that I earnestly have to point out: They made me care about a character who at first did nothing for me, then they made me angry he died. Obviously whatever it is they were going for WORKED or I wouldn't have had a reaction to the Vault at all...Other being sad and tired because I'd just done the Vault.

[Echofalls]

I still wonder about Ixion, or at least something to do with Haurchefant though... (A pity, we won't have his antics for any more events) That's what my intuition is telling me, or at least something like this:

"They held the broken shield tightly, staring at the image of the horse upon its surface, the crest of House Fortemps...
Then they sensed something behind them and turned sharply, there stood a knight atop the mountain, mounted on his steed and silhouetted against the moonlight. The Warrior of Light squinted, confused, mind conjuring thoughts of Odin appearing here of all places. Yet there were clear differences, even from this distance; this knight bore no aura of malice, only one proud horn sprouted from their helm, angled skywards, jagged like a lightning bolt. Giving out a loud bellow, the knight threw his arms out, steed rearing up.. How he was not thrown from his mount eluded the Warrior of Light. Then they came cantering down the slope, powerful hooves churning up the snow as they went. The Warrior of Light gave pause as the figure became clearer.
... Where was the horse's head-?
Only then did he realise the knight and steed were one entity.
The armoured centaur clattered to a stop, sleek metal etched with gold. The Warrior stood on their guard, expression fierce as the the being reached out with one clawed gauntlet, fingers resting under their chin and tilting their head to look into those icy blue eyes from within the helm, the prickle of energy crackling from where they was touched.
'Smile...' The Primal rasped, a trace of longing lingering in that word.
'What?'
'Smile for me...'
Upon seeing them stand firm, Ixion made to speak again before it gave a groan of annoyance, hands fussing with the helmet, trying to remove it. When it finally came loose, the Warrior's expression melted and reformed somewhere between joy and shock.
'This helmet does terrible things to one's voice, I fear.'
The face of Haurchefant Fortempts beamed at him playfully. A second later, the crunch of snow was accompanied by the Warrior of Light fainting.
'...Now, what could have caused that...?' "

As I said when Midgardsormr went through his growth spurt:
"Oh, so we can ride him now for a change?"
Or perhaps something even more bonkers, knowing Haurchefant...
(We never got to say we loved him...)