It's Time To Let Go of This Most Useless Character

It's clear that Anet is unable to let go of their obsession with Braham. The most unlikable, useless character in their story and after years of players asking to get rid of him and stop wasting time and development on him what do they do? They devote and waste even more on him.

Trying so hard to make Braham humorous and silly to make him likable so that we somehow forget just how bad of a character he is. Creating moments where our character is dumbed-down in order to have Braham appear out of nowhere to save us from falling rubble, when we'd just dodge it or would be smart enough to not even stand there in the first place.

Braham is not funny. He's not interesting. He's irritating as fudge. All his lines are cringy and trying to make him seem funny by making him drunk with slurred speech is just desperate and unneeded.

Canach is funny. Intelligent. Interesting. Helpful. Taimi, as annoying as she is with her polarized emotions and 0 to 100 way of speaking, she can be pretty humorous and is at least interesting. She is one of the most helpful and essential characters in this story.

Braham is not. He's just a heavily-forced, ruined, unnecessary, Marvel-movie stereotypical character that should have been gone LONG ago. Everything about him is inauthentic at this point. But he's kept around because Anet still believes he is "redeemable".

It's like when they used to put parsley or even inedible garnishes on your plate at restaurants. It's forced, fake, and unnecessary and just needs to be taken out. Braham would have been better off killed in the place of his mother. I'd rather have Eir here with us at this point in the story. But you killed her off early in the HoT story...

Please for the love of the Five, stop with Braham already. Enough. All you are doing is bringing down a story that just started getting back up to the level of interest it used to have.

What? There's been 2 periods of time where Braham was unpopular and they wrote him better so people liked him again. When he was first introduced (both him and Rox suffered from this), and when Eir died and he went into an Emo phase and wouldn't join Dragon's Watch and had his own disastrous guild (which I guess was necessary to his character development but still he was annoying). In season 2 and starting midway through season 4 when he and the Commander come to be friends again he's been a really reliable team member, he and Rytlock have only really left the Commander's side once., even though they were kind of extended periods. None of the other Destiny's Edge members have been as reliable as Rytlock, and in Dragon's watch, the most reliable is Braham, Taimi's sidelined due to her condition, Marjory and Kasmeer come and go and them being together can result in them freezing up out of fear of losing each other (and Kasmeer had her faith crisis over Balthazar and Kormir). Canach comes and goes, and Rox has I think decided to just go. i think the writers struggled to make her interesting so she's gone.

@"Devildoc.6721" said:What? There's been 2 periods of time where Braham was unpopular and they wrote him better so people liked him again. When he was first introduced (both him and Rox suffered from this), and when Eir died and he went into an Emo phase and wouldn't join Dragon's Watch and had his own disastrous guild (which I guess was necessary to his character development but still he was annoying). In season 2 and starting midway through season 4 when he and the Commander come to be friends again he's been a really reliable team member, he and Rytlock have only really left the Commander's side once., even though they were kind of extended periods. None of the other Destiny's Edge members have been as reliable as Rytlock, and in Dragon's watch, the most reliable is Braham, Taimi's sidelined due to her condition, Marjory and Kasmeer come and go and them being together can result in them freezing up out of fear of losing each other (and Kasmeer had her faith crisis over Balthazar and Kormir). Canach comes and goes, and Rox has I think decided to just go. i think the writers struggled to make her interesting so she's gone.

That's because they've been trying to force Braham on us ever since our fallout with him. In many ways they ruined Rox just so Braham could take her place. They didn't give her much of a chance to develop. She didn't have forced one-liners or an obnoxious "feel bad for me" personality, so they tied us with Braham so we could get what they thought was a more "complex" and "conflicted" relationship. Unfortunately, their attempt to make a layered character just isn't working unless you're the type that eats up this kind of inauthenticity.

"I'll never let go." and then the Commander drops Braham into the coldest region of the Shiverpeaks, his face perpetually arrested in stark terror.

Well, more Jormag stuff means more Norn stuff which could mean more Braham stuff.

I say, patience.

@KidRoleplay.3615 said:Well, more Jormag stuff means more Norn stuff which could mean more Braham stuff.

I say, patience.

I really hoped by the end of LW 4 they would have felt satisfied with how much they tried to redeem him. Then we could move Braham to the back-burner like Jory and Kas and let us develop other characters. But they decided to double-down on their intention of a relationship with the Commander and it's just not needed. Whether you like him or not, he's being forced way too much now. I was out of patience with him at the beginning of HoT. If we still have to deal with this after LW 5, I wouldn't be surprised to see an expansion devoted to Braham at that point.

I cringed at drunken Braham during the IBS prologue as well, and I hated the childish tantrum he was throwing during LWS3 and some time beyond. But that's just bad writing and not the character's fault. GW2 has had tons of lowbrow writing in the past and certainly will continue to have in the future. Getting rid of Braham won't solve that problem. Only intelligent, mature writing can solve it.

P.S. You named Canach as an example how to do it right. While I love the character most of the time, I have to point out that he was annoying beyond words in PoF (so was Rytlock). His "witty" humor had sunken to an unbearable level, really, that it was no longer amusing at all. Again, due to bad writing. Each character has had their fair share in that regard.

To be fair, i thought the same of Eir.i don't miss her.I'm not too bothered by Braham, though. Unlike Eir he at least had a personality, and is not as annoying as he was before.Not that he's great now, just tolerable.His childish behaviour during LS3 was just the most cringy to me

I think that just because a character creates tension or rubs people the wrong way, it doesn't mean they need to be gotten rid of.

I like Braham and looking forward to his big story.

Shrugs I think Braham is the most relateable character of the current cast, alongside Rytlock and Canach. I support the direction they're taking with this character, and if the prologue is any indication, I think Drunk Braham has the potential to make me swoon every time he gets onscreen (a feeling currently reserved for Canach).

@Ashantara.8731 said:I cringed at drunken Braham during the IBS prologue as well, and I hated the childish tantrum he was throwing during LWS3 and some time beyond. But that's just bad writing and not the character's fault. GW2 has had tons of lowbrow writing in the past and certainly will continue to have in the future. Getting rid of Braham won't solve that problem. Only intelligent, mature writing can solve it.

Braham is a Norn. Therefore he's big. So, how one thinks he should act is a bit of an illusion visually. Nonetheless, he's also quite young, and wasn't ready to lose his mother. He's an immature character, though maybe less so than now, but still quite emotional. From that standpoint, his insecurity-fueled tantrum made sense. Sure people didn't like it, but it was the reaction aimed for. I'd actually call that good writing.

Bad writing would be if he felt nothing at all while not being too far removed from the angsty teen he started as. Or somehow turned heroic and went on a revenge streak completely out of the blue, what with how his past is.

And... this is already putting too much care towards story stuff than I'm used to..

If the writers removed every character someone didn't like, there would be no characters except, perhaps, the PC.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:If the writers removed every character someone didn't like, there would be no characters except, perhaps, the PC.

Nah, people don't like the commander either. :p

Well, I did say perhaps.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:If the writers removed every character someone didn't like, there would be no characters except, perhaps, the PC.

I say we get rid of the Commander...... In every major disaster we've witnessed through out this story, they all had one thing in common. (Dramatic Choya)

No, let Braham be. He's very OK. He's such a Braham that I've actually come to like how I hate him. Why should we have only likeable allies? It's fine to have a few annoying good guys around.

@Mewcifer.5198 said:I think that just because a character creates tension or rubs people the wrong way, it doesn't mean they need to be gotten rid of.

I would agree

In Braham's case he makes any scene he is in unenjoyable (for me). I dont want him gotten rid of because he rubs someone the wrong way or creates tension but rather because he makes the game less enjoyable.

There are several things wrong with the OP's post. The first being that he claims to be talking bout everyone, while this is certainly not true. There are people who dislike Braham, but just as much as there are people disliking any other member of the living world story. (a good example would be Taime, whom is loved and hated at the same time.

There is a lot of disliking in the post, but not where he would be bad or wrong. It is all about personal taste and has nothing to do with actual feedback about the writing. So any good reason to let him go is missing. (and yes there can be made good points about any character as they misfit someones personality and reacts to ones irritation, but that doesnt validate as a reason, im talking about feedback about the writing.)

I like Braham!

The character provokes emotions in people. That alone is enough of a reason to keep him.

I was no fan of Braham, even less after his tantrum in LWS3. In hindsight I have to say, I get where the authors were coming from, and any one who has lost someone close they loved might too. Was it narratively given enough room? Maybe not.

As far as Brahams bumbling and drunkeness this epilogue, all I have to ask people who gelt embarassed: have you been sober around drunk people?

Ask yourself, were you embarassed due to the acting and writing, or because Braham in character and context of the world was embarassing your squad? The second case would mean the authors got it right.

@"Cyninja.2954" said:The character provokes emotions in people. That alone is enough of a reason to keep him.

I was no fan of Braham, even less after his tantrum in LWS3. In hindsight I have to say, I get where the authors were coming from, and any one who has lost someone close they loved might too. Was it narratively given enough room? Maybe not.

As far as Brahams bumbling and drunkeness this epilogue, all I have to ask people who gelt embarassed: have you been sober around drunk people?

Ask yourself, were you embarassed due to the acting and writing, or because Braham in character and context of the world was embarassing your squad? The second case would mean the authors got it right.

Sensible opinion here ^

Could not stand Braham right through the whole story .. until Bound by Blood.Finally some better personality has began to come through in the writing around this character.I personaly only saw Braham as some kind of Disney Star Wars diversity character, soulless and very out of place, but something has raised my interest in him this time round and maybe now there is a story where his character, his history, his race can have a positive impact on how he is allowed to grow and possibly flourish within the LS.The drunken theme does fit well with the race/culture and after all this was supposed to be a celebration so why shouldn't a Norn have his day in the ale houses around Charrlands, to celebrate the downfall of another Elder Dragon before Winter comes.Or maybe its the big crescendo and Jormag does, what many of us have wished for, especially since that childish hissy fit in LS3... in time all will be revealed perhaps :)

On a side note, I wish the narrative team had put more effort into expanding Rox's character, I think there was potential for much more and this latest "SAGA" seems to have room for her to of been made a little more focal, but sadly it seems she has been sidelined once more.

I have no issues with Braham.

The more reaction he provokes, the more the writers will feel justified in him.

Also, i like parsley

I like Braham as a character and I don't want to see him written out of the story. No he's not super-serious at all times and he doesn't always handle things in the most appropriate way possible, but like someone else said he's young (I think he's not much older than Taimi). More importantly people don't always handle things in the most appropriate way, no matter who they are or how much experience they have. The easiest way to write a completely unrealistic (and often unlikeable) character is to make sure they always do exactly the right thing at all times.

When he and the Commander had a falling out I was more frustrated with the Commander - because they only ever wanted to talk about it briefly at incredibly inappropriate times, when it inevitably got interrupted by enemies or something else. What they should have done was found a quiet time when they weren't in the middle of something to sit down and talk about what happened with Eir, how they're both feeling about it and where they go from here. Instead the Commander was just issuing snarky comments and orders and trying to ignore the situation. (Although now I'm remembering that my main character started out in DnD with me going "I don't need charisma, lets take a point out of that for dexterity, and for constitution and for...and actually she's not exactly the type to do well with problems that can't be solved with a sword either. I'm just not allowed to say "I told you so" because the answer is always "you made me do it".)

I am hoping we'll see more character development from him, but I hope we'll see it for all the reoccuring characters because it's also unrealistic for people to just stay the same all the time. I think Braham's relationship with Ryland could be very interesting, at the moment I'm not sure where it will lead for either of them but I'm interested to find out.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:If the writers removed every character someone didn't like, there would be no characters except, perhaps, the PC.

And they'd have to have no voice acting and no written dialogue. Which actually wouldn't be that difficult if there were no other characters to interact with.

Someone has to be a mascot — and in Dragon's Watch it's Braham.