Character poll: Which is worse, Hans, Iago, or Garon?

[spd12]

I'm coming off of completing Conquest. I have yet to play Birthright or Revelations.

The weirdest thing of all about Conquest, to me, is that they tick off all the boxes in terms of proper foreshadowing of almost all the elements in play. The basic pieces of the plot are functional... but somehow, it ends up less than the sum of its parts.

One of them is much more problematic than the others. (Conquest story spoilers in the spoiler section, obviously.)

For Iago and Hans, they aren't examples of high literature, but I find them and their role in the story largely adequate.

Iago works as an extension of Garon's will to help keep Corrin and company honest, and as a reminder that the path they walk is hard and probably will not end well for all involved. Hans seems like a clear reflection of everything wrong with Nohr's culture of ambition and ruthlessness, keeping in mind Corrin's life circumstances shielding him from a lot of the bigger picture. They're mostly paper thin, but characters are devices to help tell a story - Conquest's story wasn't great, but I think a lot of the elements would not work without them there as they were. You did need to feel like you were fighting uphill, both in terms of the country's culture (via Hans) and the influence of those in power (via Iago), for what story that was there to work with.

Garon is the one who drags it all down. There is zero subtlety or grace to what he says or does. His hand is tipped far, far too soon. We know where he stands almost as soon as Conquest's route begins - what we needed instead was much more careful drip-feeding as to the hows and whys of his ambitions, and why Corrin had to be tested as he did. Instead, it all came in big clumsy exposition dumps... on top of one very badly done story twist.

Iago and Hans, I could see room for a little more fleshing out but ultimately I can buy what we got out of them. Garon needed a big rework, but he may have been victim to the important plot points intended to be discovered by the player in the other routes - the writers' hands may well have been tied in that he absolutely had to be this way, the player's movements needed to be that way, making sure the interplay is mostly in line with the other stories, etc, etc.

It's all too bad. The basic ideas are solid! At least the map design didn't suffer for it - my playthrough was some of the most fun I had. I'm happy I picked Conquest first, even with Awakening being my first FE game. I was looking forward to really learning the hows and whys of Garon, but the plot's framework just wouldn't have it...

[Delfino]

Garon is definitely the most disappointing thanks to the mountain's worth of lost potential. He is just so predictably cliche in every scene that he shows up in. "Kill everyone because I need to demonstrate how evil I am. If you disobey me, even if you're my own child, I'll kill you too because I need to further demonstrate how evil I am." There was so much more they could have done to make Garon actually interesting and to get us to sympathize with the Nohrian siblings when they have to fight their own father. So I'd say Garon is the worst villain for how boring he truly is.

Hans and Iago are just dull, cliche villains with no depth, though I'd say they're simply plain more annoying than Garon thanks to their plot armor. You can't kill Hans because Iago would tattle on you, and Iago's fluctuating magic powers come and go for plot convenience so he can make your life miserable. They serve plot-related purposes of course, but as characters, I find them highly uninteresting.

[LeDom]

I'm gonna go with Hans, I especially hate him for what he did in Conquest

Killing Scarlet in a way that Camilla, who earlier suggested to kill fleeing soldiers, was mortified

[Skornvorax]

I honestly see both Iago and Hans as basically the evil mean versions of bulk and skull... you know those guys from Power Rangers... also Garon feels like a mediocre version of Walhart,by look and how he acts.... too bad really, I like when the 'evil' king is done right and I was hoping to get a interesting side of Nohr in Conquest... but all I got was the desire to simply say to the trio of annoying generic evil twats to screw themselves and use my Killer axe on their faces... im so glad that in Revelations they dont appear so much and you get to deal with them quick...

[Jakkun]

I honestly see both Iago and Hans as basically the evil mean versions of bulk and skull... you know those guys from Power Rangers...

oh dear god...thanks for the headcanon, friend.

Play this theme during any scene with them, totally plays up their cartoon villain status to 11.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asPTAL5xk18

[Skornvorax]

You are welcome....Also speaking of POwer Rangers Fates, Garon is basically that evil witch but looking all serious that I forgot the name.... good god now we need a mashup of Lost in Thoughts with the first Power Rangers theme

[Dark Sage]

Hans would honestly be ok if a) he was intimidating, and b) he dies a lot earlier. Like, Valter is just as evil, but he is infinitely more effective as a villain because he's genuinely terrifying. His very first scene is him wounding Seth so badly that it never heals properly and pains him everytime he swings his lance. He also demonstrates a fair amount of cunning and manipulativeness and really comes across as a serial killer. Like, I can buy him stalking Erika and Ephraim and not killing them since it's practically stated he wants to rape the former (and implied with the latter), and there's a sexual element in his murderous personality that's present in real serial killers.

Hans' first scene is him getting his ass handed to him by generic samurai and while he does knock Gunter off the bridge, Corrin pretty much owns him right after. We don't see him again Chapter 13 and from then on, all he does is just kill people who can't fight back, which doesn't make him look dangerous at all. Whereas Valter wounding Seth and killing Glen (and in an in-engine battle sequence no less) shows that he's quite dangerous.

[Time the Crestfallen]

Hans would honestly be ok if a) he was intimidating, and b) he dies a lot earlier. Like, Valter is just as evil, but he is infinitely more effective as a villain because he's genuinely terrifying. His very first scene is him wounding Seth so badly that it never heals properly and pains him everytime he swings his lance. He also demonstrates a fair amount of cunning and manipulativeness and really comes across as a serial killer. Like, I can buy him stalking Erika and Ephraim and not killing them since it's practically stated he wants to rape the former (and implied with the latter), and there's a sexual element in his murderous personality that's present in real serial killers.

Hans' first scene is him getting his ass handed to him by generic samurai and while he does knock Gunter off the bridge, Corrin pretty much owns him right after. We don't see him again Chapter 13 and from then on, all he does is just kill people who can't fight back, which doesn't make him look dangerous at all. Whereas Valter wounding Seth and killing Glen (and in an in-engine battle sequence no less) shows that he's quite dangerous.

And Seth would then go on to completely break the game. Gameplay and Story Segregation, or is Seth even more god-like than we thought?

[Emblem Blade]

I just find Iago to be the worst of the three.

Garon: Not the real Garon, a fake that we end up seeing. Can't be called the 'worst' if what 'he's' doing is under the order of something above him in authority. Sure Garon does end up causing trouble for the Nohr Royals but at least he's acting more of an evil villain to a degree. Sheer power to rule over everything and little to no mercy shown to those who oppose his will? Well in times of war that's what it takes to win. Sure those motives aren't new but they define what a conqueror is.

Hans: As others might have stated, he does whatever he can to gain power. If it takes briefly following the commands of the Nohr King to get where you want ok, he'll do that before backstabbing other people in the process. Sure he might have killed lots of innocent lives in Conquest under the 'order' of King Garon but at that point he says he has no other option. That action might have also been a good thing although cruel, should one of the prisoners escaped and tried to kill Corrin/Kamui or inform the Hoshidian army about what happened, Corrin and the team might have had an even worse case of failing to kill off all dangers to the kingdom. At least he shows some degree of a 'logical' villain who's brave enough to take on dangers.

Although he gets killed in Birthright Chapter 24 and in Conquest Chapter 25/26. Then he dies relatively mid-late game in Revelations doing his best to defeat the combined Hoshido/Nohr armies.

Iago: Fails to completely fulfill what Garon tells him to do, fails to realize that Corrin isn't buying his lies directly (in Birthright) and is subsequently killed a few chapters before the endgame. There's no logic or information on how he can teleport even if Garon granted him that power. If he was smart he would have grabbed one of Corrin's allies in Birthright by teleporting next to one of them, teleporting away and killing said victim instead of blabbering about how smart he is when his plans all fail. In Conquest where he's a bit smarter, he still fails on the plans that he has ready. Really, out of the three who have plans, Iago fails the hardest of them, plans crumble into dust, makes really bad decisions in Birthright and Conquest and then pays for those mistakes with his life. His only luck is that Garon didn't kill him for his repeated failures.

[Dark Holy Elf]

And Seth would then go on to completely break the game. Gameplay and Story Segregation, or is Seth even more god-like than we thought?

To be fair, if Valter had his stats from his boss fight there, he would have one-rounded Seth. The fact that Seth got away with just a permanent wound thus strikes me as very fair. We can assume his desire to protect Eirika gave him the power to avoid being doubled!... or Valter was holding back to savour the hunt.

Valter just wasn't counting on Seth levelling up and actually having decent growths!

And yeah I completely agree with the Valter comments. Excellent post.

[PrincessAlyson]

I hate both Hans and Iago with a passion. Hans is a bloodthirsty creep while Iago is a broken, rage inducing SOB. Garon is all right, at least for me.

[Sky Knight Subaki]

Hans is easily the worst of the three in my opinion.

[kcirrot]

Garon suffers from the same problem Corrin does IMO. They make monumentally stupid decisions that their characters would not make solely to advance the plot. In that regard I don't take Garon seriously. But of the three I would say he's the worst but only because he makes no sense.

Hans and Iago are caricatures and I couldn't care less about either. They're just plot devices.

[Sky Knight Subaki]

What makes me really hate Hans is chapter 13 in Conquest, I can't wait to kill him again. (I've already played Birthright).

Edited May 26, 2016 by Sky Knight Subaki

[DragonFlames]

I'm not finished with Birthright yet and haven't played Conquest or Revelations, but from where I stand (Birthright Chapter 22), Iago seems to be the most evil out of all of them, because he is actually malevolent, while Garon just went insane with grief (my assumption).

Hans is just a wuss with a big axe. So there's that.

Also, their names:
Garon is just one letter away from one of the most well known villains in Nintendo's multiverse, Ganon. And he also looks the part, being kind of similar to Twilight Princess' iteration of Ganon(dorf). The only thing missing is him turning into a giant monster of mass destruction.

Hans is a plain old German name that does not sound threatening at all (No offense to anyone whose name is Hans, of course, I mean, my great-grandfather's second cousin's name was Hans).

There is even an insult based on that name: Hanswurst, which refers to either a complete imbecile or an unpleasant person or both.

And yet, they kept the name Hans for the German release. Go figure.

Edited May 26, 2016 by DragonFlames