First of all, sorry for this long post, if you don’t want to waste time, just read the last sentence
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Personally, I think Trehearne, as a character, has a really strong potential that the story doesn’t succeed in exploiting.
He’ s quite young – I think he’s about 23, right? -, deals with death – as a Necromancer – and with destruction – Orr is kinda depressing, if you think of it. Also, as a firstborn he had no social/cultural roots to start from.
So I can see why someone may get a little depressed (yes, I see him that way). Even I would be depressed.
The problem is that he is supposed to be a better leader than us. Well, coming from tons of stories in which we saved the day, it is actually quite hard to understand.
I, as a sylvari, got to know him previously, yet even then I saw him as something “above” everything, even impassive or apathic.
I know, we must have someone who isn’t part of any order to lead the Pact, impartiality, knowledge about Orr etc etc, yet I think that the story does’nt explain why I have to take a step down, supporting him.
During the story, I feel that the narration tries to make us accept him as a good leader, a friend even, but it fails, deeply.
Because he appears as a forced substitute to characters that are deeper and stronger in many ways. And they weren’t even leaders.
I won’t judge his AI, his skills in combat. If we had a super-necromancer aiding us, the story would feel much less epic, easy even. And I like having to fight to succeed.
But then, everything I was, character-speaking, seems to vanish. Now we are his shadow, and our character goes on without a single complain. Why is that?
I’ve read many of other players comparing him to Kormir, and I see why.
ANet has made a Kormir-like plot, once again (we can’t deny it). I actually didn’t care in Nightfall that Kormir became a goddess. She was a decent character (to me), and it fitted the story, leaving us able to continue our legend.
Trehearne isn’t able to satisfy me in such a way.
I would understand him being my “boss” had I been given a good reason. It could have been done in many ways.
Why not making Kormir herself appear in all Her Magnificence, telling us how the story forgot those real heroes? She could tell that even if those great saviors were mostly forgotten, that way the were able to achieve greatness, through their lives and those of their descendants (wink to GW1 player). Then she could prophetize to the player that he/she will become legend by doing many things, not only by defeating Zhaitan. That he won’t be known to the future generations as the Savior of Orr, because the Pact needs to be stregnthened, so its leader has to become famous. Something like that, I don’t know. That would give us a reason, even if it is “I will be super cool one day, I can let him take the credit this time”.
Ok, I know, that’s a lame idea (I’m not a writer, in case it isn’t obvious), and it is a “lore-murder”, but I would have preferred it.
So, basically: Treahearne needs to be more alive, or we need a cookie or something to let him do his things.