How to fix Zenos one dimentional character

[Lauront]

The MC has defeated everything they've come across, including Zenos. So at this point he's as much of a "who cares". We've already defeated him, he already took his life. Against the unsundered Ascians (well mostly Elidibus and Hades, since Lahabrea wore himself out), and especially Hades, that victory was aided much by the Blessing of Light (the borrowed power of a primal), which he even makes clear during the fight. On top of that there was all that stored up Lightwarden aether. It took an awful lot to defeat him - more than it did Zenos's original fight, at a point where the MC's soul was more "rejoined" than when he faced Zenos. At this point it isn't so much Zenos's own power that is the focal point, but his willingness to skinride Zodiark... to up the ante. I'm sure the Blessing factored in with Zenos, and particularly Shinryu, but the point is he too has already been defeated once, hence the plan to draw on Zodiark's power for a more "epic" fight.

The reason they brought in Fandaniel is because Zenos is utterly boring. We keep having to be told in English 101 terms why he's such a brilliant character conceptually, but I'm afraid even so, I still find him disposable and uninteresting. There's plenty of ways they can augment Fandaniel's power, if they so chose. Even the Resonance is just a magic mcguffin in the end.

In a way, the fact that Zodiark is a Primal with a "heart" - or a host - makes him that much more disposable. It's not even a case of taking control over him, if such is even possible. Using his aether and becoming his heart would mean becoming Zodiark. If it's a matter of having a strong enough soul to do so, there's enough plot devices to enable Fandaniel - or anyone else - to do it. All that distinguishes Zenos - until Fandaniel came along - is his pure wanton destructiveness in pursuit of his goal.

When people say he's similar to "us", they mean he's a caricature of a certain type of tryhard gamer - it's not so much the in-universe stuff, which is fairly malleable and a case of "make it up as you go along".

I say all this as someone who liked Zenos in Stormblood, but now he's just over-stayed his welcome, and the sooner he goes, the sooner I'll regain my interest in the story, at least partially.