In PoE1 the tale of the saint's war was an indictment of religious extremism, a story about how the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The story was largely ripped off inspired by the story of the Dawn Cataclysm from Faerun
(…)
In PoE2 Eothas somehow becomes an atheist who wants to free humanity from the bonds of superstition.
(…)
Likewise I never bought the rewrite of Woedica. For thousands of years she has fought to control the secrets of the gods and only reveals them to her chosen - and you.
I am not familiar with D&D lore, but I never found any dissonance between record of Saints War and PoE2’s reasons behind Eothas actions. I thought that background given especially in Beast of Winter fit really well both games. If it was always the intention of developers, I would buy it. I think it is in Eothas’ character to want to allow Kith to know he truth. I also liked how circular story was - Eothas is a reflection of Thaos’ actions, even mimicking some of the same arguments. Just where the Thaos ravages a generation for the greater good of keeping gods origin a secret, Eothas does the same for the greater good of transparency. Just two side of the same coin, both spreading devastation and making decisions for others. Eothas believes in humanity ability to solve problems, while Thaos did not. I don’t think Eothas is anti-god. He just believes that them being fed lies isn’t a good solution anymore.
As to gods in PoE2 - yeah, Like many I didn’t like how they were presented. Took a lot of mystique from them, and I thought PoE1 did them much better. I feel the game make Watcher feel almost like an equal of gods. Maybe that’s why not being able to stop Eothas felt so false to some players.
I agree
it was real stretch to make her a Bhaalspawn but I was okay with it. Remember that either you or Imoen have give up a portion of your Bhaal taint to bring Sarevok back to life and he does retain some of his Bhaal powers - like the death bringer assault. So a stretch, yes, but not a stretch too far for me.
I don’t think it is too much a stretch. I think my issue with her is that the game touches on many potentially interesting threads that don’t add much outside references
oh, she is a shapeshifter (not!), she is descendant of a character from BG1&2, she can turn into Slayer like the player in BG2. I think the shapeshifter vs Bhaalspawn is what bothers me. The game builds her so much as a assassin who changes faces and leads a small army of fellow shapeshifters, that Bhaalspawn origin and shapeshifting ring feels to me like a retcon. I was curious to learn of how shapeshifters remained in Baldur’s Gate and ended up being main worshippers of Bhaal… but no, you fight the few and they get forgotten about as soon as you enter actual Bhaalites hideout. Just… weird. It feels to me like Orin we meet in there is not the same Orin that haunts is in the city proper
.
