WRT rhalgr's Reach, I was under the impression that they'd actually known for ages, but that the rebellion was too pathetic to bother sending an entire force to put down. As soon as they got some friends the Garleans went "hmm, this could be awkward" so Fordola's suggestion to utterly crush the resistance there was sensible.


I dislike the way Fordola is treated by the story. Her choices make sense. She was BORN in a garlean-conquered Ala Mhigo. To make a legitimate living, she had to serve. In order to win respect in the army, she had to be Good, and that translates to bloodthirstiness. Everything she did was far more sensible and forward-thinking - from the point of view of anyone that wasn't pointlessly patriotic for the good ol' days - and that everyone treats her like treacherous scum bothers me almost as much as the suggestion that we would've hit Emmannellain in 3.2

Either way, the vast majority of my issues with the story come from the way the Empire is handled. Given SE were constantly promising us "shades of grey", the way the Empire treats its conquered territories is utterly unsustainable. Rome didn't build a huge empire by trashing everywhere it conquered and laughing at the corpses. Zenos was a bloodthirsty hound, yes, but your average Garlean shouldn't be. They'd be more likely to PRETEND to be in the presence of Zenos, whom everyone is scared sh*tless of, but starving and beating the populace doesn't make for a prosperous or sustainable Empire. Cmon, SE. It's overly villainising of a people who, from all we've been presented with thus far, should know better.