A thing or two about Werlyt

[MikkoAkure]

But the original post isn't about that. My original post referred to wanting good writing for my favourite. I feel like he deserves better than what is currently happening to him. I did read the interviews that the writing team brought him back to be "our guide in Garlemald", so I know the writing team may view him as a tool with a specific purpose. I just... Don't want him to be viewed as a tool whose characterization may be twisted so they can fullfill whatever setup they are planning. Like I said, there are people out there who love his character too.

I mean, in the end, he's the writing team's character, not yours. All the characters are tools for the plot and what they decide for him is up to them regardless as to whether or not you believe he's worthy of redemption. Like I said, at least to me it doesn't feel like this is his redemption arc, but a parade of his tragedies and missteps and fleshing out of his character to help us connect to him. Every time he goes to correct anything, he fails, and he only has 2 au ra step-children left, at least one of which is probably going to be dead by the end. On top of that, this is side-content. Unless this questline will exist in a time bubble, I don't see Gaius having an impactful return to the MSQ. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if by the end his elezen bodyguard shivs him in revenge for his family. It wouldn't be new either since at least 3 other villains who had varying degrees of redemption end up dead soon after.

Gaius has a long way to go for redemption, if he even wants it. The list of people he's wronged is long and such a thing wouldn't be able to be covered in what's left of this side content. According to the narrative, how do you see this happening? Even bad characters have loved ones so him showing affection for his last remaining daughter won't really equal redemption. If Gaius wants to turn over a new leaf and have something to prove, he needs to prove it to the characters in the story in a more meaningful way than "my bad" and begin to help us against Garlemald. So far it feels like it's more that our goals are aligned, but we're not allies.

[EliTheGunbreaker]

( RE Mikko because character limit won't let me quote) Just because it is the writing team's character does not make me wrong to criticize said writing team's decisions according to whatever criteria. I never stated he was my character, just that he deserves better writing. I dislike what they are doing to him because I don't think it's good enough in terms of writing quality, for reasons like sudden changes of characterization, lack of foreshadowing and straight up contradictions with established information. I may want redemption for him and I originally mentioned this as the reason for my excitement, but the original post was not about what I wanted in terms of my own preferences.

Offing him in a sidequest would be extremely unsatisfactory, considering the lengths they went to bring him back, instead of making a new character. He has been an instrumental figure to legacy and ARR, as well as with a lot of lore revolving around him after his presumed "death". Killing him in a side quest would be a waste. Besides... There must be a reason as to why they brought him back instead of making a new character from scratch.

I also do not know why did you get the implication that love equals goodness from anything I said. Like I said, redemption, at least how I define it, does not equal forgiveness, otherwise everyone in this world would be irredeemable. We people just have a tendency to wrong at least one person in life to the point they refuse to forgive us. Those two are separate. Instead, what I see as redemption is the realization of error in one's ways. I feel like Fordola's arc has good moments in this regard, in the sense that she can still do better even though there are people who will never forgive her. If only she got more screentime...

And also... I have my own beef with the "redemption equals death" trope, but that's not what this topic is about.