Endwalker's Graha Tia: A Character Rewrite

[Silvarer]

I've said as much in the past but this is a game that allows for eternal bonds - basically marriage - between player characters. Why isn't that being respected? I think we need a scene in the MSQ's where the likes of G'raha are called out for the attempted homewreckers that they are.

If anyone thinks that a fictional character is a threat to their marriage and could ever be a "homewrecker" then their relationship already had much more serious issues to begin with.

[Theodric]

If anyone thinks that a fictional character is a threat to their marriage and could ever be a "homewrecker" then their relationship already had much more serious issues to begin with.

I don't think that's true at all.

If someone is married, they're at liberty to say 'I'm taken, please stop being so clingy and possessive'.

If they refuse to stop, it's harassment. It's about reinforcing common courtesy, a sense of decency and the appropriate social cues.

There's nothing wrong with people wanting an RPG to have more dialogue options to tell obsessive characters to back off. Many others do it and it's great if you or anyone else happen to really like G'raha/have a crush on him - but there's those of us who do not and would rather not be subjected to his antics.

Plus it'd be cool in general if the MSQ's acknowledged the existence of a player's eternal bond partner.

[Boblawblah]

I don't think that's true at all.

If someone is married, they're at liberty to say 'I'm taken, please stop being so clingy and possessive'.

If they refuse to stop, it's harassment. It's about reinforcing common courtesy, a sense of decency and the appropriate social cues.

There's nothing wrong with people wanting an RPG to have more dialogue options to tell obsessive characters to back off. Many others do it and it's great if you or anyone else happen to really like G'raha/have a crush on him - but there's those of us who do not and would rather not be subjected to his antics.

Just so everyone is on the same page, could you give us the quotes where G'raha overtly hits on the WoL in a way that is pushy and obsessive?

[Alleo]

If anyone thinks that a fictional character is a threat to their marriage and could ever be a "homewrecker" then their relationship already had much more serious issues to begin with.

How bland would the interaction between the WoL and other characters become if none of those characters would ever be allowed to even show a bit of flirting. (After all it would be impossible to create so many different scenes for so many different characters that would fit for the different players) I wonder if that problem with the eternal bonds is also a problem if a character flirts with the WoL the player likes? What about those who are not into a certain gender? Should we now never get a single npc of that gender in the game that flirts with the WoL? Even just a character that might have just meet the character and thus have no idea if they are bonded or not?

No matter how much one want to roleplay in the end this is still SEs story. The WoL will never truly be your character. You wont be able to go against the story. Which in turn means that you will always have characters to interact with that you dont like and some that you like. I dont like Yotsuyu. I did not like her arc. My WoL would not have reacted the way we did ingame. I also dont like Lyse and yet I also have to accept that we interact with her in a certain way.

SE intended for Graha to be a certain way. And posts on reddit, fanart and more show that he is quite well liked. He is high on some of those Endwalker polls too. Changing him could do much more bad than good. In the end fanfiction exist and there you can rewrite everything as you want to. (And writing a real complete fanfiction also takes quite the work to do) I am just not sure what all these Rewrite story/character threads are for. SE wont just change their characters to suddenly fit your view on them.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

There's nothing wrong with people wanting an RPG to have more dialogue options to tell obsessive characters to back off. Many others do it and it's great if you or anyone else happen to really like G'raha/have a crush on him - but there's those of us who do not and would rather not be subjected to his antics.

Plus it'd be cool in general if the MSQ's acknowledged the existence of a player's eternal bond partner.

This isnt a Bioware RPG.
G'raha isn't hitting on you and trying to get with you.
Maybe ya'll dont like a hypeman or a fanboy, sure. But he's not a stalker or trying to do anything more to go on an Adventure with the Person that inspired him.

[KariTheFox]

G'raha Tia the homewrecker, G'raha Tia the serial sexual harassment catboy.

This thread is a hoot.

[Teraq]

I don't care much about G'raha either way, much like the rest of the protagonists. I do think him actually dying in 5.3 would have been a logical and satisfying end to his character in a bittersweet sacrifice. By that point we would know him enough so his death doesn't feel like a cheap "Character Of The Day just died " (see: Meffrid, Conrad, Tesleen, Ahewann). Perhaps we could have kept a keepsake of him to travel with and imbue it with our memories to pass down to the Source G'raha, once fate would have seen fit to wake him up on our new timeline.

Don't care about him fanboying the WoL, either. At worst I find it to be very mildly cringe, but I don't see how he's any worse than Alisaie or Haurchefant. My WoL would smile awkwardly all the same. (Your soul needs to be this tilted towards the Astral to ride, naturally.)

As he is now, I just wish the writing would play more to his strengths and unique characteristics as part of the protag cast. Being a historian with expertise in Allag, a Student of Baldesion who if I recall correctly lived on the Isle of Val at some point, and having lived a hundred years as a political leader in an apocalyptic world. I mostly liked him in 5.4 and his little scene in Radz-At-Han for example. Without these, he kind of blends in with the largely homogenous blob of good-natured, Sharlayan scholars that the majority of the main cast now is.

At least he doesn't have white or blond hair!

[VelKallor]

This thread is a hoot.

Okay I have to ask..if G'raha pretends to be a Viera and then tries to romance a Namazu...does that mean he is...catfishing?

[Carin-Eri]

Whilst I can't say I have a particular problem with him per-se, I do feel that it's a pity we didn't just bring the Crystal Exarch back with us.

Almost no-one seems to have a problem with Gra'ha's pre-Endwalker personality and I guess, if they were going to bring him back one way or another anyway, they probably should've done so with his Exarch personality intact.

Though catch-22 I guess; like it or not, he does seem very popular with the majority of the Youtube 'reaction video' streamers.

[Momo_Kozuki]

I don't have any bad impression on G'hara - young, eager and playful, like a kitten (lol)- in ARR.



The ShB one is him after living centuries (unless he went for a Static Sleep in Crystal Tower after sealing it), so he matures by a lot, despite still having some awkward moments when alone with WoL. He is like an older mysterious cat who spend most of the time doing god-know-what things, but in the end he will return to your side, climbing on your lap and purring.



The EW one is the same G'hara as ARR, just with knowledge and feeling of the experienced Exarch. Imagine you at the present has your brain updated with the you in the future. Would be confusing as freak and take time to sort things out. As both personalities merge well, you have a eager kitten with the strong feeling of an old cat toward a particular person, resulting in slight fanboyism over WoL. Even so, the Exarch self doesn't disappear, as it shows when people need a leader like during the Final Days in Thanvair.



I kinda wish for more moments of Exarch and less moments of fanboyism, yes, but in general, I think G'hara's changes in personality make sense and don't see any problem with his current self.