#i love and hate seeing them torn apart by the Plot Maelstrom.

[showmethesnowplz]

i don't think any media will ever consume my thoughts in the same way as Xenoblade 2's Torna DLC. When you play through the base game, the fate of the Torna party seems tragic on its own, but seeing them for yourself? Going through their entire journey together, knowing they can never have the happy ending they fight for, knowing that every single character you meet cannot escape this unscathed? I will never be the same as I was before.

Hugo, emperor of Mor Ardain? He is a kind, gentle man who wants nothing more than to protect the people he cares about and to fight by his best friend's side. Brighid and Aegeaon are endlessly loyal to him, beyond the level that Blades already are loyal to their Drivers. At the end of it all, he does achieve his goals. He protects Mor Ardain and Addam to his final breath, sacrificing his all to ensure their survival. Brighid and Aegeaon, in turn, were so closely bonded to Hugo yet forced to forget everything they shared with him. Brighid could only rely on what she had written of their time together before Hugo's death, and I can't recall if Aegeaon even had that.

Addam managed to stop Malos for a time, but he still failed. He couldn't prevent the fall of Torna, he couldn't save his best friend and his retainer, he couldn't master Mythra's power because he was afraid of it, and he couldn't ensure the threat of Malos or Amalthus was gone. Minoth managed to find people he could forge bonds with after leaving Amalthus, but he could never truly escape Amalthus's influence. He could never escape the ghosts of his past, being forced to encounter the influence of both Malos and Amalthus even 500 years later despite being supposedly freed by his Flesh Eater status. Mythra ultimately failed to stop Malos and, despite forging powerful connections with the Torna party and Milton, could never truly feel as if she was accepted due to both her power as the Aegis and her personality. After Torna concluded, she made Pyra to "fix" everything she perceived to be wrong about herself, and never felt fully accepted until her journey with Rex 500 years later.

And Lora, Jin, and Haze are quite possibly the most tragic of all. Not only was all of their fighting for naught, not only was Malos still a threat to what they cared about, but none of them were given a chance to enjoy the little peace they had fought to make. Lora was killed by Amalthus's forces within months, her life cut short so early at the whims of a depraved Praetor. She never got to see the Tornan survivors find homes in Tantal or Leftheria, and she left behind so much in Jin, Haze, and Mikhail. Jin lived on after in his own sort of sorrow. He had to consume Lora's heart to keep his memories of her, but grew so disillusioned with humanity that he sought its destruction in just the same manner as Amalthus and Malos. He brought his surrogate son, Mikhail, into the same sorrow, and both lived in this desolate state for centuries before at last being reunited with Lora in death. Haze met the fate of most Blades, losing her memories after Lora's death, but was then violated by the theft of her core crystal and her reawakening at the hands of Amalthus, Lora's very killer. She also existed in a state of lost identity and was used as a puppet and tool for propaganda for centuries before her "merciful" final death at the hands of Jin, her former companion and friend.

Even Malos never received a decent end. He was injured severely, lost a substantial portion of his power, and still couldn't escape the permeating influence of Amalthus as his Driver. He remained a puppet in his own right, never discerning what he truly desired or whether his goal of destroying humanity was his own or yet another inheritance from his Driver. He and Jin could rarely find solace in anyone but each other, as even if they had been foes before, nobody else could truly understand what each had undergone.

The only character who truly received a "good" ending from Torna was Amalthus, who was wholly undeserving of it and made everyone else's lives so much so much more terrible in the process. Despite everything, his desire for the end of humanity and his installation as a god went completely unchallenged. Directly or indirectly, he singlehandedly caused half of the problems in the world of Xenoblade 2 in pursuit of these goals.

In conclusion,

A. Fuck Amalthus. All my homies hate Amalthus.

B. I am feral for these hopelessly tragic characters. As much as it tears my heart apart to see them struggle in futility, I enjoy them and their narratively-induced dooms so very deeply.