Quote Originally Posted by Kesey View Post
The opposite is true. Zenos had a very hands off approach and didn't drive his narrative at all. Stormblood's narrative was driven by the characters who were constantly acting in ways to oppose the empire. Zenos just stood at the top of that structure. I'd even argue Zenos attacking Rhalgr's Reach was worst moment written for his character because it put a passivity and a "I'm better than you" attitude that plagued his character up to today.

Ran'jit, on the other hand, was actively pursuing the Warriors of Darkness. Granted he also did not drive the narrative but was able to put stress and suspense into the narrative to be impactful toward getting the resolution.
Zenos attacks the Reach = We can't contest the Empire like this, have to go to the Far East. Narrative driven.

Zenos refrains from killing us and Yugiri, since we lit a fire under the Domans. He further refrains from killing the Domans, allowing them to muster force and storm Doma Castle. Narrative driven.

The thing you say plagues his character is basically the main pillar of his character.

Ran'jit and his encounters are just punctuation marks at every villa we visit in Shadowbringers. They don't add anything other than an encounter with Ran'jit, and they are annoying. They specifically exist to have some face on our bad guys, and to create a more personal story for driving up NPC drama. Ran'jit beleaguers the narrative, and the stress from the weight he adds to it is dropped as easily as it is picked up.