How I would rewrite Birthright Xander: Thoughts?

[Faellin]

Basically everything is the same up until the boss fight with him near the end. But once Elise does her usual thing to try and get everyone to stop fighting, Corrin manages to succesfuly make Xander snap out of this nonsense. delusion he's been stuck in. Xander then agrees to follow Corrin to see for himself if what she was saying is indeed true with Garon being a monster.

Things happen as normal from there, just with some extra dialogue from Xander finally seeing Garon for who he truly is. Fight starts like normal, but have Xander be an AI controlled unit for the battle (Or a full on Gotoh archtype unit you get for the fight)

Phase one ends, and Garon does the one attempted fatal blow on Corrin. Xander then heroically jumps in to save her, knowing that she is the only one truly capable of saving nohr at this point. And him more then willing to sacrifice his own life for his country. Dieing in the process.

So, thoughts? Better? Worse?

[Sooks]

Well, much better, but that isn’t hard 😝. It’s to nice to seen him being reasonable now, and at least hearing corrin and friends out. I’m not sure if him helping you out in battle at all is a good idea though. Maybe he actually used Corrin’s trustingness that he’s commented on, trying to lead them to a trap (that Elise didn’t know about 😔) but had a change of heart before Garon was able to deal the fatal blow, this solves the dilemma of having a conquest unit helping you during a map in birthright. Either way, I do vastly prefer this death to his original, as he is actually making the ultimate sacrifice to his country, very true to his character. Instead of... whatever Birthright Xander was trying to accomplish. He did say he knew that Corrin was right, didn’t he?

Edited September 3, 2020 by Sooks1016

[Dark Holy Elf]

I reaaally like the way this scene plays out in Birthright so I definitely wouldn't change it! I just can't see Xander wanting to be alive after he literally killed Elise.

[Ottservia]

Honestly, I find this rewrite to be worse than what actually happened. I mean it's not necessarily bad but I prefer the original. Xander is a hypocrite that fact is undeniable. Deep down he is fully aware of the monster that his father has become. He just refuses to admit it. He is in denial in other words. The whole point of that confrontation is to showcase the flaws in both his and Corrin's chosen path. It's really a fight to showcase Xander's weakness. He's so blindly loyal to both Garon and Nohr that he doesn't have choice in the matter which is incorrect. He does have a choice. He chose to stay loyal to Garon and it's that blind loyalty that drives him to the point that he's at which also parallels Corrin in a way. They both value blood ties over the bond they once shared. The difference between the two is that Corrin is still willing to trust Xander while Xander is unwilling to trust Corrin due to his blind faith and loyalty. He refuses to trust his family or true feelings which is why he ends up accidentally killing Elise and dies a martyr in what is essentially assisted suicide. He's a hypocrite but he's certainly not rewarded for it.

What I like about him dying is that he dies because he can't trust Corrin that's the whole point of that confrontation. Him suddenly seeing reason like how you propose kinda goes against that idea which the narrative is trying to push. That's a plot point that works much better in conquest or revelation where him learning to trust Corrin better is the core of his character arc.