#also because I forgot what my rambling tag is osidhfoiehf

[dourpeep]

I don't know if you've done the interlude yet but oh my god??????? I was not prepared????? They made me like Scara and I'm ready to fight for this funky lil dude now. Hope you're doing well in any case!

YES I just finished it!

I'll put my thoughts below on this matter--warning, 3.3 interlude spoilers below!

Though this wasn't what I expected, I do like this approach quite a bit. While it's not the "once bad, always bad" thing that some people (my sibling) was expecting, I think that this was the best approach to the subject of the Wanderer 'turning' good, or at least in the sense of being a playable character and no longer the antagonist.

Although he had erased his existence that lead to him going down the path of Scaramouche--meeting and befriending Niwa, holding the burden of taking the device into the Mikage Furnace, the child from Tatarasuna, the three betrayals--as well as his experiences as the 6th Harbinger, he still isn't a bad person. And even though he himself didn't remember what happened until gaining his memories and emotions from before back, he was going through his own retribution.

So even though no one besides the Traveler, Paimon, Lesser Lord Kusanali, and himself remember who he was, he must continue on with the reminder of what he has done as well as the residual guilt. To hold that heavy of a burden, to know that despite everything you did that nothing really changed is his own punishment for himself.

Also not to mention the implications that his dear friends suffered without him now. While Niwa's situation isn't so much changed, the child's has been and part of me wonders if he realizes that as well.

After all, the child was living alone with some help now and then from neighbors until Scaramouche came along. If anything, that meant that the little boy had the comfort of a friend and a family after losing so much before his inevitable death.

Then going off that, he technically didn't go off scot free like it's assumed since he is insistent that he takes the fall for what happened with the Raiden Gokaden. I think that's a pretty significant thing.

ALSO ALSO I like that he's still not a good person. He understands that he fucked up and that he was a bad person and the Traveler, while they have a sort of shaky friendship with him now, but they don't consider him to be a good person, just changed. Or perhaps, he's now really accepted himself to be who he is instead of running from it. I mean, we can see that he's still just as abrasive as ever from his voicelines, though with a little bit of a softer edge.

I think that might just be because he's letting the Traveler in.

The promise of some sort of friendship where he is judged not for how he pretends to be, but for who he is and was seems to be right up his alley as being desirable. That whole bit of playfulness--the "You won't need to run into me again until you (Paimon) comes up with an ugly nickname"?

Anyway I'm a sentimental fool who has a sentimental attachment to the Wanderer and his lore because he's what really sparked my interest in writing again after nearly a decade ehe

I got off topic, hopefully this all provides a little insight into my thoughts, as messy as it may be nodnod