Lahabrea, old vs new... *Spoilers*

[Hezzlocks]

Missing the point. I've already mentioned how he himself brands it a cowardly weapon and would prefer his usual means. We all know that.

My point is, given he has a very clear and set goal/target/desire, he would still be the type to utilize it if no other means of flushing his desired target presented itself - and if he did, its application would be 1000% worse compared to someone like Varis using it, because Zenos is completely inured to empathy of any kind and would just throw it out for personal use without any care. This isn't the same as saying he WILL use it, just that the Black Rose angle can still play a big part despite the fact that Zenos doesn't value it all that much -- and it'll be very, very nasty if it comes to that.

I can see what you're saying, but I still have doubts. He knows his mere existence is enough to get the WoL to come for him, and even if he does try a more direct method to flush the WoL out, I don't really see him sitting back deploying a deadly poison gas, but more rather just walk into the enemy where he believes the WoL is around about, kill whoever gets close, and wait expectantly for the WoL to come for him, that's more his style. Don't get me wrong, though, I do still see Black Rose playing some role in the story, it's too big to just be casually tossed aside, but I just don't think Zenos will use it.

Let's not go speaking for everyone. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people out there who didn't give a damn either way.

Fair. Most people I've seen enjoyed the Tsuyu arc, though, and felt sad when she died.

For the record, this wasn't something that came out of the blue. Hints of her past, specifically the less wholesome aspects of it, were hinted way before her death, then they fleshed it out later post Doma Castle.

This is not quite the same as writing Lahabrea back into existence and slapping some more history on him in the present. As said, I hope it doesn't happen - but I also hope that, if it does, they give it ample effort and fleshing, otherwise I can't imagine many people being overly thrilled at the return of one of the more forgettable villains just for the sake of it.

I *did* mention that myself, actually, that there was an echo scene and a slight bit of dialogue towards the end, but at the time it was very vague and felt like throwaway reasoning for her to be the way she is, especially before the post-credits scene revealed her to still be alive. At the time when it was believed that she was dead, it just felt like they only had her there to be the B-grade side-villain to go against before tackling Zenos. She just wasn't interesting until she got fleshed out in the subsequent patches.

No, Lahabrea isn't in the same situation, but he's been brought up fairly often when talking about the Ascians, and ShB itself has begun work on fleshing out Lahabrea already. I'll certainly agree with you, though, that if he *does* come back, it needs to be properly explained, and he needs to be much more than what he was in ARR and HW. And I rather hope that they do, and that they succeed, because this new lore about the big 3 unsundered Ascians, and the spectacular fight Emet-Selch put up, it would feel like a huge waste to have the final battle against one of these three unsundered Ascians be no stronger than the sundered Ascian he fought alongside - and then having him just be eaten by Thordan / Nidhogg's Eye. Even with the revelation that Lahabrea's constant body swapping weakened him, it's just disappointing, the way he turned out.