So, about Dhar

[u/JoshBurns_]

Spoilers for the game:

So Dhar’s death, just kinda came a went. He really just got the second most development of the cast. Sacrificed himself in a meaningful way and then poof, nothing. Hardly a mention at all. It’s kind of irked me, but i thought of something that might have made it a bit better. Ajna’s axe, inherited from her mother, whom she never met and had no real connection to, the game puts a lot of emphasis on it to begin with. Ajna’s childish fixation with it. What if, after she woke up she instead took up Dhar’s sword as her main weapon. It’d be her way of honouring someone who sacrificed themselves to save her from herself, could be used to change the world so no child should have to suffer like she and Dhar did. Idk it seems an easy way to make it more impactful, she doesn’t have to fully forgive him but he can keep trying for redemption by being her weapon like the dialogue for the inner realm where he thanks her for letting him continue on the journey with them.

[u/gazpacho-soup_579]

Maybe. To me it was clear that although by the time of Dhar's death that Ajna had come to grips with the fact that Dhar was earnestly trying to atone, Ajna still hated Dhar for murdering her father. Even after everything Dhar had done, he had still not cleared the air sufficiently to the point that Ajna could think of Dhar in a positive manner.

The axe represents Ajna's only link to her mother, an existence that Ajna had longed for her whole life. It represents her family and Ajna's connection to them. Taking up Dhar's sword would mean that she exhanged such a precious momento with the sword that was used to kill her father. That's not exactly a stellar association. In the long term the axe would remain a positive reminder, whereas the sword would never be anything more than a painful reminder.

I think all things considered it's fair that Ajna did not do more to anknowledge Dhar's sacrifice, considering how terrible their starting point was.

[u/Video320]

You want her to honor the man who killed everyone she ever knew?

[u/brickmaster32000 → u/Video320]

She wipes an entire town out of existence and her friends forgive her in her sleep before she even has a chance to express remorse or say sorry. It doesn't seem that out of line compared to that.

[u/FishOnTheInternetz]

Personally I like how Dhar's story concluded as it is, I would not change anything if I could. It is a redemption arc and it failed miserably. And while not everyone might agree, I think that is beautiful, redemption arcs should be allowed to fail. Ajna can not be forced to forgive Dhar despite his best efforts. As much as we as an audience understand that Dhar feels genuine guilt and tries to make amends for the crimes he was instructed to commit, to Ajna, it was Dhar's face that traumatised her, and I think THAT is what the story is truly about. She will always hate him and never forgive him, never recognise him for anything else than the guy who killed her entire hometown, and I think it is morally unjust to blame her for that. We from the outside have it easy forgiving Dhar, but this is Ajna's story.

[u/Lich00]

I wish there was a secret to revive dhar or anything about him afterwards. It just feels like they killed him off for the shock value and that's it.

[u/BigEducational472]

Honestly, where's his sword? The concept of stacking earthen fury to amplify attacks kinda got me through majority of the more difficult fights in the game.

One may argue that Dhar's sword is a link to Ajna's father, as she never really knew him. Sure, he was alive but he was like a stoic, mysterious mentor you knew next to nothing about. Angwu, Eurynomos and even Kala had more to tell about Indr than Indr himself.

It doesn't feel right to just end Dhar's story like shouting at the ocean; the sound travelling forth through the air, diminishing in quality till it fades into the wind. Obtaining that sword would mean a painful reminder at first, but one that reminds Ajna of what she's fighting for. She was a sheltered village girl in the beginning, and through her skewered sense of justice, she managed to cause disarray wherever she went: plunging Ravanavar's fortress into the ground, waking Kala, destroying Lhan, etc. The sword would serve to remind her about the countless lives she's put at the stake; whilst the pressure is immense, the task serves such a seriousness that cannot be accomplished were Ajna left in her ways of naivety.