#xenobron the plot device

[yanderefairyangel]

I am curious. Why do you think Xenobron is bad ? we don't fight him in the DLC and he doesn't seem that different from normal Sombron

Alright this is going to be long.

We indeed don't fight Xenobron, he doesn't matter, he is a minor character which is why he is dead at the begining of the DLC, and we only see him in 3CG with his design not being revealed to signify "hey it's a different Sombron right here". He exist only for the Xenologue to happen because Rafal can't be a villain on his own and to shoehorn 2 Fell dragons without making them related to Alear in anyway (because the writers want to preserve Alear's amnesia) and without any risk of them being plot relevant in anyway.

But the problem with Xenobron not being more fleshed out is that it gets in the way of the Twin's writing.

Nel's whole arc and Rafal's whole arc parallels with the one that Alear has : learning about connection, choosing to become a virtuous person and learning to overcome your past and accept what is lost.

Both Nel and Rafal have a troubled story with connecting with people due to how in their family they were sometimes forced to kill their other siblings and couldn't trust them. Nel's whole arc is about that as well, the trauma leaving her very very anxious with forming a sibling bound with anyone hence the Veyle support being Veyle, someone dreaming of family as an ideal, to share this view with Nel to help her overcome it. And in the Xenologue, Nel needs to accept what she lost. She learns to accept Alear's death, the person she was in love with learning the pain of connection in the same way as Sombron and 0 Emblem. Even more so as it was the first person she ever fell in love with, a connection I am sure she though she could never experience. The Xenologue is about her overcoming this grief and befriending an alternate version of her love and this parallel how long long ago she had accepted Nil, her beloved twin's death and accepted Rafal as her brother, but not as a replacement, but as who he is. She was seeing him as who he is this entire time despite his ressemblance with Nil and accepted to treat him as a sibling, a connection that felt very very painful to her due to the tension with her other sibling that she refused to accept Veyle until the A support, yet it doesn't feel like she didn't accept her twins' death, she accepted it and managed to make a new connection of that kind and showing she has overcome her issues. This is the same thing with Alear : at first, she can't help but seeing them as the Alear she loved, but she eventually manages to accept the loss and to see Alear as who they are, that's why if you S support her, it is pointed out and it is obvious Nel isn't trying to find back what she has lost, but that she accept Alear as who they are while making that new connection that heartbroke her. But the problem is that Xenobron's backstory and lack of character weakens this narrative since he had no reason to teach her or any of his kids that connections is weakness and his edgy stuff so, compared to Alear, it offers a much less savory parallel and it doesn't make her an efficient foil to Xenobron since the whole idea was that Sombron created his own enemy and is whole motivation makes the thing crumble.

And for Rafal, that's worse. And that's a pity because he is an EXCELLENT character. But him learning, like Nel and Alear, that strengh comes from connecting rather then strengh and power and isolation is made less efficient because of Xenobron. And that's a pity. Because if Xenobron had a backstory like Sombron, then him teaching his kids the opposite message would make more sense and therefore makes their narrative works as efficientely as it does for Alear and Veyle since the main point of Sombron doing this to them is that he truly believes in this philosophy which comes from his refusal to heal, to accept the loss and to try making new connection, even those who remind you of the ancient scars. And that's a pity because that's precisely what Rafal learns !! He is trapped in the past, and not only because of his insecurities due to being treated as a good for nothing failure but also because he never accept Nil's death. When he was a child, Nil was his only friend and the one connection that helped him knew what it was like to have a sibling, having lost his very very young and when he lost Nil, he accepted to replace him with Nel to honnor Nil's memory but also because he wanted to keep Nil "alive" in a way, and he did so by accepting to abandon his identity and allow "Nil" to live in his stead but he can't help but feel guilty about it thinking about how the love Nel gave him belonged to Nil and he "stole" his place making him feel even lonelier and undeserving of it, because he too yearns for affection and he hates himself for wanting something he feels he doesn't deserves and that doesn't belong to him but to Nil. And there is also the fact that he is influenced by Sombron and I mean it in every way. The fact that he speaks like Sombron shows he internalized whatever thing Sombron though as true, his convictions and ambitions which makes him realizing that those aren't what would make him happy work but since Xenobron doesn't have the background feating for Rafal to feel that way, it weakens it, as well as the overcoming of what he lost. He finally accepted Nil's death when he realized his actions lead him to lost the only person he loved and who loved him in return and with whom he connected in the same way he did with Nil, he regained his lost identity and learns to connect with people. With Mauvier and Ivy it's through redemption, and with Alfred it's through their common points. He does the same with Gregory by letting him pierce through his facade and obviously Alear, someone he cames to treasure as a friend and he can even romance, a connection that like Nel he never had before and probably never dream of ever experiencing. And this would work soooo freaking well if it was with MG Sombron, but with Xenobron it poils to frustration. He is there just because of plot devicey reasons as a vehicle for their trauma but he doesn't add anything since he has nothing to flesh him out, compared to MG Sombron whose backstory flesh out, adds deeper meaning to the story but makes him the perfect foils for Alear and Veyle as it adds to their character too !!

And I am sorry, but I am no "Sombron is still Sombron" kind of person. While the final boos fight is liberating for both Alear and Veyle, enabling them to recover their agency and finally overcome their ultimate trial, for the twins it is much less effective because at the end of the day, the Sombron they fight isn't their abuser, it's just their dad from another world and in a world may I add where they might not have existed, might not have been his children but that at any rate didn't mistreated them the way Xenobron did because they might have died as kids. So the whole bit about them finally fuffiling themselves falls flat. They are only defeating someone who looked like their abusers, there it FEELS like it's a substitute compared to the genuine link they can have with each other and our cast. That's why their dialogue ends up reading differently as them defeating their abusive dad since he isn't. And you can argue that Sombron would have did the same to them, but I disagree. At the risk of sounding petty, Sombron calling his kids defect and Xenobron calling them failure changes completely the relationship status. To you it might seems like it's the same thing but to me, not, because there is a reason if out of all things, even though the 2 Sombron are so similar, the writers felt the need to change THAT very word.

Unlike for Veyle and Alear whose connection with Sombron is essential, the one that Nel and Rafal have with Xenobron is just due to plot devicey reason that caused their narrative to be weaken even though it's already excellent character arc which is why if Xenobron had a backstory allowing him to have the same motivations as Sombron to explain why he believes in strengh and seeks something he lost like Sombron does rather then accepting the loss, and making new connections to become a better person, then the Twin's narrative would be just as powerful, if not more then Alear and Veyle's

[yanderefairyangel]

If you dislike Xenobron then how did you felt with Aelfric ?

That's it !! Xenobron is Aelfric but even MORE boring.

I am sorry ? Is that all they could come up with ? Someone who is yandere for Byleth's mother ? and of course, Sitri was the most important mystery to answer, not like there were others things in 3H worth that DLC...

While not as bad as the Fell Xenologue, Cindered Shadows's story is still bad imo. It's boring, it doesn't bring much to the main plot other then more information on Byleth, but why would I care ? About that whole vessels stuff when Sothis has as much plot relevance as Kellam past chapter 10

But at least, he had a motive to be evul. So not as bad as Xenobron since he really his just a plot device. Aelfric is too to some extent, but with a better make up