Pathfinder: WotR - Queen Galfrey - Wise Ruler Or Incompetent Leader?
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- Опубліковано 21 лип 2024
- Talking about the Queen of Mendev herself and her portrayal/actions in Pathfinder: WotR
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#Pathfinder #Wrathoftherighteous #Galfrey - Ігри
I like to think that the other crusades failed because they didn't recruit enough marksmen.
:D
And in this crusade the demons failed because they didn't recruit enough generals with Chain Lightning.
@@XoRandomGuyoX Generals can get Chain Lightning? I had no idea, mine used Firestorm and could Dual-Cast
I like to think the crusades failed because they all have low attack rolls
Nah, just that Setsuna Shy wasn't born yet.
The so called "commander" with his fancy powers isn't shit compare to the dude that can nuke strength level 10 armies with a single cast of mass negative energy
As Regill Derenge said: "It's called the 5-th crusade for a reason." :D
I love him and his voice actor I just wish he didn’t suck as a combatant
@@dumplingshakes22 he actually makes a really good tank/damage dealer when built right
@@dumplingshakes22 he also suggest probably the worst crusade troop, i mean his logic is sound and make sense in lore but damn those shieldbearer suck so much in game
@@kujaku5469 He suggests marksmen, one of the better ranged troops though. The main contender to marksmen are rangers (which you could argue work better vs mage enemy generals, but really if you have enough marksmen, that doesn't matter... because enemy mage generals won't be able to one-shot your marksmen stacks with their abilities and you'll be able to cure them easily).
Shieldbearers aren't that bad if you pair them with marksmen as intended.
@@dumplingshakes22 To be fair to him, melee combatants in general are REALLY weak this game on harder difficulties as enemies hit too often and too hard. You're sort of forced to kite the enemy or build your main character to tank instead. Regill is one of the better melee combatants. Just compare him to, say, Greybor. That dwarf is literally a meme in WotR communities like the discord and reddit one for dying so often.
I think Wenduag and Camillia can tank, but a lot of people prefer Wendu as ranged, and a lot of others hate Camilla for roleplay reasons, so Regill is actually one of the more popular melee combatants. So for people who are interested in getting him to work, here's one way I found that I've liked:
IME, one of the better builds is to pump his persuasion skill as high as you can go and take advantage of Hellknight level 3 Discipline: Fearsomeness. You don't need more hellknight levels, imo. Try to get Cornugon Smash feat, and every single attack, Regill makes enemy save (decent DC) or be frightened and run. He attacks so fast that even some demons with higher saves will eventually fail a save. Give him more attacks of opportunity via Ever Ready Mythic ability to attack the enemies who eventually flee from him. I'd also recommend keeping Enlarge Person on him so he can cover more ground for attacks of opportunity as well as avoid being too up-front (so you can use MC or someone else to tank). This makes actually somewhat fulfill the role of tank a bit better (i.e. he'll block enemies off from your vulnerable companions a lot better, and he'll chase ones away who've already reached those squishier companions).
Queen: "I need you to go to the Abbys, so you are not a commander anymore."
Me: "With all due respect your majesty, that is a stupid reasoning and a stupid decision. But since I am the only competent person in this room, I will go. And I've built a strong army and secured the position fairly well. Soo please try to not screw up so badly as to kill everyone and threaten the result of this crusade."
Me after returning: _insert facepalm gif_
You had *ONE* JOB
Me doing Augustus impression post Battle of Teuton burg: "Queen Galfrey, give me back my legions!"
It was an intentional set up based on assumption that you will not come back,she then organized "funeral" where she "mourned" for PC and took the commanding post back which was the plan all along:to wait until you solve most of her problems then overthrow you to take the victory for herself.
@@user-ul7gy2cr9t That is all well and good. But suicide charge was literally the worst possible thing she could have done.
@@user-ul7gy2cr9t totally agree. That was a low move by a paladin
The main issue with Galfrey is actually really simple: she is a terrible judge of character. Seriously, everyone she assigns to you is deeply problematic in one way or another due to her misjudgment of their character. Almost all of them either bite her or you in the ass. Specifically:
1. Nurah is a traitor.
2. Konomi along with the entire Royal Council is outright disobeying Galfrey and she's not aware. They are undermining her in favor of a Lawful Evil neighbor (Cheliax/Isger).
3. One Captain is so "loyal" to Galfrey that he mutinies against the commander around the time you beat all the demons.
4. The logistics person she assigns you is corrupt. Her solutions make Wojit's black marketeering seem more reasonable by comparison.
5. Irabeth was clearly in need of a break after Lost Chapel and she still drags her along to Iz in most situations.
Of the people she assigns to you, only Sosiel and Odan are actually good at their jobs. That said Sosiel has hidden demons and is incredibly naive, while Odan has been wrongly promoted to staff work where he makes the worst crusade suggestions for troops (conscripts and slingers). In actuality he is a level 15 general who can beat any demon army, but he's not allowed to take to the field because of his supposed PTSD. Thing is this PTSD doesn't affect him at all when you do finally get him as a general.
And of course she can completely misjudge the commander - either wrongly stripping them of command despite being a true crusader, or being dumb enough to give command of the crusade to a Lich wannabe without any vetting.
Galfrey isn't incompetent so much as completely out of touch, which isn't a bad character flaw to assign to someone who has been isolated from real people too long due to "command responsibilities". The YOLO run to Iz is in many ways just her getting desperate and overwhelmed by responsibilities to the point of being a reckless death seeker, precisely because she has lost the ability to connect to people and understand their true character.
Playing as a lawful evil lich. Pretty much keeping myself just from going over the neutral line because in the end I reserve my evil actions to people I really hate or just keeping lawful at almost every turn. With a few exceptions where even those are a bit way too much.
It makes me laugh how Galfrey had the gal to send us to the abyss and pretty much demoting us when even as a lich I was doing a better job at keeping moral, structure and pretty much the entire crusade becoming a cake walk due to me using undead to bolster my rank and pretty much null the mortality rates XD
Can't wait for full ascension and wrecking her ass, due to lawful reasons.
Also Daeran who she she sends with you simply to get rid of him. And he's ... Daeran. Here have this drunk whore who's possessed, and says at every given opportunity that he hates the crusade and doesn't want to go.
Yeah, that logistician Dwarf Girl... I play as Azata CG, when she give me weird suggestion such as raiding Own village.
Even i am Freedom fighter, never ever i have mind to raid our own village
When she made me the leader of the crusade, my reaction was, "WTF! This crazy girl barely knows me, there's something wrong."
You did save the kingdom from collapse to be fair, she mostly hoped you would be a symbol to rally around and if you would have done shit after that would most likely have been swiftly replaced.
@@MuppetLord1 yes, but i was evil as shit doing so lol
She actually made the most logical decision. Think this for 100 years the crusader only Lost... You Got the First victory over the demons in a major battle linda alone, plus ppl think youre a New envoy of the gods. Ifnyou wish or not, most crusaders and citizens alredy consider you the Guy tô follow.
It's like you've been consistently losing for a long time and have lost all hope, then suddenly someone shows up and achieve a major victory. Even if that person eventually failed it'd be just another lost.
Its a Joan of Arc situation.
I was convinced galfrey was areelu in disguise, playing both sides to keep her experiment running while not letting the demons completely overrun the world
She's the Pathfinder version of Marshal Ney. Gallant and always at the forefront in battle, but also incredibly stubborn and reckless. She's the sort of commander who would have charged her cuirassiers time and time again against British squares or gave the order to go over the top at the Battle of the Somme. She's Ambrose Burnside at Fredericksburg and so many other examples. A good and brave person who should never be put in charge of more than a platoon or maybe company.
Such as good assessment. Give her command over a division and she'll be your best marshal for flanking or charging attacks at the right moment, but don't let her devise anything beyond tactical level.
The thing I feel like noting is that those things could work, or at least might have. Burnside was no Grant or Sherman but he was a solid commander (especially when it came to artillery). Ney had broken formed enemy infantry squares before and the Franco-Polish had even managed to do it to British, while the Somme Offensive might have saved the free world as we know it and certainly crippled the German war effort on the Western Front for a year and helped topple Falkenhayn from power as unofficial dictator.
The thing is, Burnside was promoted above his level of competence and his plan for Fredericksburg was simultaneously too cautious (about flank attack potential and supplies) and too aggressive (literally slamming troops into entrenched positions), being able to break formed British squares with cavalry before was no guarantee you'd be able to do it THEN (especially not against the best troops of the Anglo-Dutch Army and arguably the Western World) and the Somme was a bloody nightmare with the first day in particular (which is all anybody seems to remember) being a classic case of overconfidence and failure to confirm the effects of the shelling, and it took a painful amount of bloody learning and fighting to do it.
Moreover I feel even this overstates it. Galfrey held off literal Hell-but-Chaotic for more than a hundred years in spite of artificial famine, grotesque inadequacy in troop numbers and equipment, and enemy subversive actions that the Soviets would've blushed at. I feel Owlcat missed that. She doesn't have to be perfect (and indeed I prefer it that she's not) but I think they overstated it.
When you mentioned Nurah, that just made me think to myself that I really wish we got a dialogue option to call Galfrey on that when she tries to besmirch having Aru with me.
You do. It's an intimidation check.
The Lich path gives a lot more insight in her decision making
SPOILER AHEAD:
You can resurrect her a your 6th. Lich-Companion. This frees her from her "symbol status" and she talks open with you. She says that she is bound to fight the demons through her sworn oath towards Iomedea, which she has sworn in a moment of weakness and retrospective, she wishes that she would have died by areelus attack bach than. She thinks Iomdae does not care about the Crusaders or any mortal or else she would have protected on the brink of dying or prevented her her resurrection by a lich.
She probably lost faith and hope along time ago and is simply tired of this war but couldn't let it see anyone as a paladin and leader, not even iomedae.
I just did this as a lich as well and saw all of that. I don't think those were the same opinions she had when she was alive. More likely the magic involved in reanimating and enslaving her has corrupted her.
@@Denkart
I think her story is struggle of her sworn oath as an eternal transcendetal symbol of leadership/hope vs her human mind with personal needs.
I thhink her oath to Iomedae corrupted her inner self or destroyed it because she said she can't see herself than anything else anymore. She lost her individual personality but Iomedea does no care but you freed her
On top of that nearly all of your undead companions keep their free will. Terendelev and Delamere are pretty much hating you by telling so and Kestoglyr is telling you his whole story. They just loose nearly any emotion/empathy/care.
Your assumption might be true in the long run: Delamere said she is "getting used" to her new form and still trys so serve Erastil
It's hard to say if that's just how she feels by being turned Evil via the raising in retrospect. But it is an interesting dimension for sure. Lich playthrough is amazing.
@@valacan I think she truly does feel it, but prob a little or not much. Her feelings got strengthened by resurrection, like what it did to Ciar, Staunton, and Kestogyr
None of that really changes anything. Still incompetent.
As much as i like what Owlcat did with the story of the campaign as a whole, i must admit that they did Galfrey dirty. In the ttrpg, shes portrayed as much more competent. Although, i must admit the Owlcat version feels a bit more realistic as in what a medieval ruler would do. Feeling her power wane in the presence of a more competent upstart, she tries to kick they out of the spotlight. She wouldn't be the first ruler in history to that, and probably not the last.
In the ttrpg, she was, beyond other things, presiding the genocide and subjugation of her own people.
Owlcat version is us seeing firsthand what transpired.
Not the embellishment of history
Same. Like, I enjoyed things like the romance and the lich resurrection, and I think they hit on some nice plot coupons. However I feel like the Areelu focus came at the expense of the original module's plot and its effects. Galfrey's not perfect and to be honest I think some of the plot and character beats they touched on are GOOD ideas, but they overdo it. Exhaustion and disillusionment are and reasonably should be a thing, as can be misplaced trust and/or manipulation from the enemy or mortal politics. Even a spot of jealousy or pettiness wouldn't be out of place. But there's no way in Hell, the Abyss, or the Heavens that someone who would be prone to this much destructive jealousy should be able to resist the Worldwound and the forces of Three Demon Lords for this long.
Honestly if they wanted to make her more of a tool, they (and the in story villains) shouldn't have pressed as much on the PRIDE or JEALOUSY switches (though some of that could fit) so much as on the HOPE. Of holding out the illusion of peace and victory at last for the weary Queen and her people and the world at large, while setting up the Mother of all Mousetraps to finish her off.
Also I feel that while it is somewhat more realistic about a medieval ruler, I think they underestimated it. Richard the Lionhearted was no saint by a long shot but he was consistently willing to bury hatchets even with fierce Christian enemies or rivals, fought vigorously, and had a shrewd tactical mind, and he was a famously wrothful absentee monarch*. King Louis was likewise generous and sincere and generally a competent but also self-righteous and prone to making risky gambles that (in the Middle East) ended disastrously (unlike many others).
Ironically modeling Galfrey after the likes of Saint Louis or Richard the Lionheart would've probably been a good idea for a "Down to Earth/Flawed Galfrey." But even then I feel like they'd have overstated it. Any portrayal of the character that does not touch on the very basic fact that she has commanded and commands the effort that has held the forces of ~~Hell~~ The Abyss at bay for about a century is not doing justice to her.
If you romance her she gives the reason for all the stupid gambles she's taken.
Spoilers: At the end of the game before Treshold she admits she has given up ever getting there thus winning the war against demons 70 years ago. So you basically have someone who has zero faith in the success of the crusades and only accepts being kept alive because she thinks its her duty.
Tbf, imagine fighting a WW2 scale conflict and only being able to get War on Terror kind of results for five times as long as the latter lasted...I'd be less eager to say "let's keep going boys, I believe we can do it!"
As a tabletop player, Owlcat's portrayal of Galfrey infuriates me. None of her worst decisions exist in the AP and her actual successes are written out of the CRPG. For example, in the tabletop, the players are only capable of reclaiming Drezen and the surrounding area because Galfrey is holding the majority of the demonic army at bay with her own.
But when it comes to the topic of the crusades themselves, I think many of her detractors misunderstand the sheer horror of the Worldwound conflict. Demons of almost all kinds can teleport at will. Many can shapeshift, all are supernaturally hardy and magic resistant, most vastly stronger than your common man. With the exception of the elite groups in the crusade, most men and women will be fodder, and know.
Supplies in the Worldwound spoil at an alarming rate and need to be protected against a flying *and* teleporting threat, while the land itself is violent and hostile. The psychological hell of the crusades is even worse. Demons love to make a show of corrupting, torturing and dismembered crusaders. Never mind imposters, demonic possession and deserters.
We can also look at the composition of the Crusades. This has been going on for a hundred years--as the older and native families are dying out, most of Mendev's recruits come from nations who don't want to see the Worldwound expand. The RPG's books point out that most of these recruits are petty outlaws and mercenaries that are dumped on the crusade for convenient, and these people are to be led by the pious crusade.
Now, I can't say if Galfrey's actually a skilled leader or not, but I'm not sure what kind of leader could realistically prevent this from being a total meatgrinder, short of a straight up demigod like the PC(s).
This, a thousand time this.
Agreed. Holding the Abyss at bay for a century is no mean accomplishment in itself. IIRC, Galfrey becomes the new Herald of Iomedae in Pathfinder lore. Feels like a fair recognition from her patron for her efforts.
Agreed. The game very much downplays how horrific the demon assaults have been. The forces of the Abyss and the forces of the Crusade were not relatively evenly matched. Just the opposite. The demons have, by and large, been the aggressors. Vastly overpowering the rank and file of Crusaders. Only the most elite units are able to match them. And when a demon lord falls, it's a minor setback. A year later, they return. When a Crusader hero like Yaniel falls, there is no one to replace them.
The people assuming Galfrey did poorly holding Mendev vastly underestimate how horrific the assault has been. Because the game doesn't do a great job of telling you this, other than in the opening, "Kenabres is a city under siege."
In supply spoiled faster point, it actually work againts your argument. It strengthen the need to keep supply line linked to medev so they do not need to stockpile too much supply just to be spoiled. Lastly before staunton messed up things, dressen can deffend well againts demon. In short dressen work and there is no urgency to force her skiping organizing better crusader before marching to iz with ragtag force. After all, based on your another argument, most of the crusader beside the elite are mere conscript and they are the mere fodder to the demon force.
If you read the motive of her action mostly due to jelousy for the commander success, everything fell into the place. She wanted to finish the crussade post haste to eclipse commander achievement via rushed invasion.
Last but not least she keeping demon mostly by iomedae artefact like wardstone not successfull skirmish. In fact her skirmish to retake dressen always ended in failure post staunton incident.
@@RePhantomz As I and others have noted, the Crusades have largely been DEFENSIVE, not OFFENSIVE, by lore. I realize Regill talks up how much Galfrey has been given. But let's be real here: She's getting conscripts, criminals, and the odd adventurer to face the full might of 3 Demon Lords. She's not being blessed with world-conquering armies by any stretch of the imagination. So honestly, he's talking out his arrogance more than a bit when he says that.
She was so incompetent I thought she was a traitor on my first run.
I spent my entire playthrough thinking she and Iomede are conspiring to perpetuate the World Wound conflict so they can maintain their power and worships. Honestly it does feel like that when Iomede came down to be a stuck up bitch. And honestly kinda disappointed when Galfrey characters development didn’t go further, you just group up with her in Iz and nothing more it she is rescued.
LOL now that's a burn
I was convinced she was areelu in disguise, playing both sides to keep her experiment running while not letting the demons completely overrun the world
@@rhade2k would have been a good twist either way
@@gianghuynh9570 In a way there were, and they both would have perpetuate it indefinitely if only the World Wound conflict would evolve into a net good for Golarion over time. Those two are like politicians who found a good cause that would keep them in power but that good cause is bad for their country if dragged out for a long time.
Dude, you have no idea how much the tactical decisions made by the queen infuriated me, specially after playing total war games without many losses
Galfrey is a well written "up her own ass" Lawful Good character, with the game acknowledging it & not overplaying it, which is rare, usually they overdo the pompous paladin who loves the smell of their own farts way too much (Fable, Overlord and the Valerie Quest from Kingmaker come to mind)
Here she's portrayed in a way that makes sense(especially if you know her inner thoughts over she breaks off of Iomedea in the lich playthrough)
At the core, she's a good person but just has seen too much war and tragedy in her life
One thing I didn't hear you mention, but is a rather important distinction between what she and Staunton did, but I seem to recall that she *evacuated* Drezen when she took the banner with her, barring a few stubborn holdouts who chose to wait for you. Whether or not a massive load of civilians were massacred is a rather big difference.
I'm even fuzzier on this, but I also seem to recall someone saying (in game) that with 5-6 months of no progress (with the queen waiting for your return IIRC), the crusade was falling apart *anyway*, and before too long she wouldn't have the troops to hold Drezen, regardless of intentions. So, I can see the march on Iz as being a last, desperate do-or-die roll of the dice.
This is not me excusing her entirely, though: it is entirely her fault that things got so bad, but I would argue that diplomacy, rather than tactics/strategy, is her key weakness (Ironic given how paladins favour Charisma). With her kingdom's infighting undoubtedly playing a key role in the crusade breaking down, requiring desperate measures. If there were two of her (one to keep things ticking over in Drezen, another bashing heads together back in Mendev to keep supplies and people flowing smoothly), I feel like things wouldn't have gone anywhere near so bad. But there's only one of her, and she failed to set up efficient delegation where she was not.
Well, it does very little difference as people would get slaughtered if war was lost because of her 'brightest' ideas. Commander saved the day. Again.
she's not a arch regent she's a arch fool
yes paladins favour charisma but only have 2 skill points per level in this game 1.
In my playthrough they moved the wardstone to Drezen so her taking the sword makes perfect sense. What I don't get is how the demons got passed the Drezen wardstone.
Yeah, mine too. Seemed like a case of cut content, or perhaps they judt didn't know what to have the story do in such a case. It does say that there are fewer demons than there would be than if it wasn't there however iirc
this wardstone is no longer a part of the chain, so it only weakens demons, but can't prevent teleportation.
@@lostsoulltd it can prevent teleportation, but the demons can still physically show up and attack the city which was left undefended when she decided to suicide-charge Iz like a moron.
In DnD terms high charisma, high comeliness. Average wisdom and slightly lower intelligence.
Perfect pure Paladin build. Should have dip a level or two in Student of War archetype XD
My read on why she appoints you commander is that it was an act of pure desperation. As you said, there were 4 other crusades, none of which could truly be called successful. She lived through all of it and will become increasingly desperate herself as the nation dies around her with less and less support coming from her neighbors. Its natural that they will stop sending support, as they will start to look more towards their own defense and write Mendev off. This is also aluded to by Irabeth in the tavern when she tells you that essentially we were "waiting for death"--there was no real hope of continuing the crusades. The demons essentially begin a very successful attack on Kenabres--Terendalev dies immediately and it looks like the city will fall in short order. In game, we can't see how many cities are left of Mendev, but Im guessing its not many. So, the PC being able to take a meaningful leadership role in the defense of the city--AND SUCCESSFULLY DRIVE THE DEMONS BACK--is basically one of the greatest things Galfrey has seen in 100 years and the situation is not going to improve.
Some things to note, The Galfrey who charges Iz is not the normal Galfrey, it's a Galfrey who is questioning her faith and is sick of her long life. She wants her crusade to end, either by her death or the reclamation of Iz, since she sent the crusades best shot to die a dogs death in the abyss. She also evacuates Drezen before storming Iz, with a few people stubbornly staying just for the commander. She also is teh sole reason Mendev hasn't fallen into utter ruin with her ruling council being a bunch of completely incompetent self interested idiots. My take is that she's alright. She is perfectly capable of running her country but was thrust into a life too long and a role too large as there was no one else to fill that spot
Well, if she was competent, there wouldn't be a game.
Actually, by lore she was competent, therefore it lasted long enough to have a game. :P But Owlcat retconned her successes right off the page.
She is quite competent queen , in the tabletop she is quite amazing. Dont know why owlcat changed Galfrey for bad
@@elizatovarpalomo1294 Differences between Multiple Players playing and 1 player playing, plus, in AP, I don't think Lich was permitted.
@@elizatovarpalomo1294 considering the recurring theme of a power fantasy that WOTR maintains, I imagine Galfrey was rewritten to boost the player up and to encourage more evil characters to be played.
@@Aredel Yeah she obviously makes all these bad decisions to make the protagonist look good. Just the usual player d*riding that is (sadly) so prominent in RPGs.
The first time i just accepted she took my rank.
She was my boss and it was in her power.
My lich was never invested in the war. I just wanted immortality.
I was displeased I couldn't just walk out of the crusade after saving her and her banning me from her queendom.
I am going to let her die on my next lich playthrough.
I want to see if i can resurrect her without me killing her.
I don't think she is incompetent.
I think she is overworked and desperate.
Imagine fighting an army that is resistant to most damage, infinite in number and good at spying.
You have to remember we had several advantages she didnt.
Godlike power.
Regill.
Desna.
Armies of undead, angels, demons.
We own much of our own victory to our ability to get supernatural armies and aid.
Great vid btw, nicely put together!
Kingmaker is the first Pathfinder game I played and I've hardly any knowledge of Pathfinder lore. I don't know anything about Galfrey either when I played WoTR but I've the most outmost respect for her after learning about her in the game. To hold the line for over a 100 years against demonic forces and to remain steadfast, as she said, to duty. Knowing full well what would happen should she and Mendev faltered. I could imagine what she had to deal with, the drain of self, her emotions when people she knows are gone in those 100 years.
I could guess why she would choose an unknown person, just based on a recent victorious deed, to lead the Fifth Crusade. It's reckless and illogical but then, to stand in her boots, it's the only choice. Wise or Incompetent? Not the latter.
How Galfrey dealt with Staunton tells you everything you need to know why she is a failure.
These are interesting questions, but it makes me want to ask: did you go up high enough on the ladder? Don't get me wrong, Deskari is an abomination against all reality, but he has one major point: as the Inheritor, Iomedae is about as bad of a god as Galfrey is as Queen, and those two thoughts are not unrelated from one another. In an effort to prevent interplanar war Iomedae has chosen to react very weakly to the incursion of the Worldwound for fear of a repeat of the events that Desna caused when she avenged one of her followers that nearly led to the creation of the Coalition of Chaos that Calistria had to bail her out of. The problem is that Iomedae took entirely the wrong lesson from that and said "We cannot possibly win a war against all of the abyss, they'll unite against us!" when Baphomet and Deskari are already here and everyone knows that Nocticula has her hands in everything that's happening. No matter what happens elsewhere in the universe, Iomedae is a god of Golarion, not of all creation, so choosing to keep her interference "light" is a threat to all of us and an abrogation of Aroden's worship. What she (and to be fair to her, all the rest of the gods) are concerned about is that they might lose, instead of actually doing something about the thing that will eventually cause the destruction of the planet they rely on.
Fully agree. Nocticula did more to see the closing of the world wound then Iomedae.
She is really bad, just look at her reactions to the Aeon player, a being born of chaos fixing the most chaotic thing in Golarium and insted of praising him for the courage she just call you arrogant.
When talking about wisdom, Pharasma, Asmodeus, Abadar and Torag are miles ahed of their new lawful god.
Godclaw Superiority Gang
@@Aredel Godclaw prays to Iomedae instead of Pharasma in this list.
One aspect of the plot that I feel is a little confusing from a logistics standpoint is just HOW big is the Worldwound and how many people live in the area. Act 1 feels like a literal end of the world scenario, and yet by the end of Act 1 and the start of Act 2 it takes very little time for the armies to recover. Then by Act 5, it seems even more confusing as they were able to get by for another six months without your help, so I never felt like I understood the stakes. If anything, shouldn't all the nations of Golarian be present in a catastrophe like this?
Most of the nations bordering the Worldwound are shielded by the wardstones and maintaining far superior armies to beat back what incursions do come. Mendez had been taking the brunt of the assaults since the start, thus it’s heavily drained in terms of manpower. They’re the ones who actually feel the effects of what’s going on. As you see in the diplomacy meetings, the other nations are too busy playing power games to really care about the offensive.
Kenabres is such a crisis because it’s essentially a breaking of the dam in terms of the invasion. Drezen had been the bottleneck for some time, yes, but even after it fell, the mortal realms still had the wardstones to fall back on. When Deskari drop-kicked the city into oblivion, that was a huge breach of containment (which would later spiral into the rest of the chain being destroyed). In saying that, it was more or less the end of the world until your character pushes back the demons and dismantles the wardstone.
Very interesting breakdown. Thx.
"Some people think she makes stupid decisions and others think she is a good-intentioned paladin."
Well, aside from her class (probably more of a title in her case), they're both right.
She has (mostly) good intentions (a bit of jealousy when someone's succeeds where she failed repeatedly, nobody's perfect though), but she's a bad judge of character (Nurah, Halrun and, depending on the player choices, the MC him-/herself), a deplorable queen (she leaves a lot to the Royal Council, which seems to spend most of its time trying to find ways to hinder the Crusade) and a questionable strategist at best. (The demons apparently have fun baiting her into rushed assaults on Iz on every crusade.) This is the most apparent once she decides to bring the Sword of Valor in her next offensive move. Which, as you pointed out a few times, is the exact thing she condemned Staunton for. At this point, she goes from "questionable" to outright "failure of a leader".
So, in summary, she might have been a good field commander, but her ability to strategize a whole war and administer a country are way below average. No wonder the demons have focused their efforts on Mendev during all these years. :p
but she is a bard
@@colorpg152 I tried to keep it subtle, just mentioning "aside from her class". It's amusing enough that I wanted to keep the surprise for those who didn't know.
Well she had reason to bring the Sword of Valor with her, now that the ward stone was moved to Drezen. The much greater issue is that she left it completely undefended and ready to be overrun because she decided a suicide charge was the best course of action after the four previous failures to the point where the demons make it into a FUCKING GAME.
Ironically in a lot of cases leaving much governance to one''s Royal Council is generally something we view as a Good Thing for a Monarch. The fact that we invented an entire system of government (Constitutional Monarchy, usually Parliamentary Monarchy) flowing out of it and it has been at the helm of many of the most successful of governments and nations in our own timeline speaks volumes, and if nothing else it usually indicates some awareness of one's limitations or the need to delegate. But personnel is policy and apparently the Royal Council of the frontline against the Abyss is hideously bad.
Honestly Owlcat went overboard. The entire reason she's alive still is that she was able to strategize the whole war and administer a country (or at least oversee the broad umbrella). She doesn't have to do it perfectly (and she hasn't), but when you're fighting magical tank-monsters from the abyss and the Locust Lord having free respawns each and every year for 100 years survival is no small feat.
@@vandeheyeric @vandeheyeric You missed the important point. It's not just "leaving things to the Council", which could be fine. One individual alone can't do everything in a war, no matter how talented... which she arguably is not. So delegating makes sense. This also helps with getting several people to bring multiple points of view to the table instead a leaving it all to a single individual who might end up with tunnel vision.
The problem is "leaving everything to the Council who hinders the Crusade at every step". As if their role is to prevent progress. Which, even in real life, happens a lot. Many people in power aim to perpetuate the situation that gives them power, no matter how terrible the situation is. But it speaks badly about the queen who would allow that to happen in the face of a demon invasion. Unless she also wants to preserve this status quo for her own benefit, but that didn't seem to be her case. At times, it's difficult to differentiate between malice and incompetence, but I think she's more of the latter.
Sure, maintaining the front line more or less fixed for that long is pretty remarkable, but I'd argue that it wasn't managed by her competency alone. Many other factors apply, from divine intervention to the demons simply enjoying conflict itself more than actual conquest. And the very time the player lives through is very much a show of incompetence on her part. Circumstances are exceptional to be sure, but that doesn't excuse giving full command to some rando without background who can turn out to be anything from a lich to a demon to an all devouring swarm... or an angel if she's lucky. As I mentioned in another comment, it would have made more sense in this context to make the PC head of an elite unit for targeted strikes, not head of the whole crusade. Or maybe a cosmetic figurehead without actual authority, but the first one made more sense given the achievement that got you there.
I see this as a good samaritan civilian stopping a mass shooter one day, promoted as head of the Department of Justice the next day. This makes absolutely no sense.
I understand the idea that she makes a bold gamble after the war has dragged way too long, but she went all in where that was only justified for meta-reasons: owlcat wanting to have a territory management component in their game. There were many ways to handle this better, like not making the PC be a rando without background, or lengthen the time scale to allow the queen to check on the PC. Heck, this is a world with detect alignment spells, so start with this at the very least. PC can still shift alignment during the game, but even if you start as CE, the queen has no problem with you. Seriously, this all feels forced and rushed. I love the story overall, but these details are killing me still.
On my first (I'm only on my 2nd) playthrough, some time-travel shenanigans happened where her taking the Sword of Valor was the first time it had happened. So, it seemed like the Sword was going to leave one way or the other.
I'm hoping that the Lich path expands upon her character more as I'm curious why her class changes from a pure paladin to a Thundercaller Bard / Paladin. (It's rather odd.)
I think it's mostly for mechanics... she comes back as a banshee, but they aren't in the game, so I guess devs went for the closest thing they could think of lol
(she can't be a Paladin, because undead are evil, and Paladins have to be LG)
@@mduckernz That’s a rather inventive solution. lol
In my opinion one of the things that is important to note is that a lot of her reasons are explained in romance path. Which is a discussion in its own right. Without that plot line we are seeing dim witted petty woman who is sabotaging crusade left and right. But in reality she is an old tired of long life person. She is tired of war and deep down in her soul wishes for the war to end. Personally to her, either by total victory or by death on battlefield. She can’t break her oaths, so she will fight to the bitter end. I will say that act 3 title dismantling is feeling pretty stupid. But on the other hand she was the face of crusade for hundred of years. She has nothing else, so when PC arrives and takes that spotlight she feels like losing the last thing that matters in her life. As for leaving Drezen behind , it is implied that there is big influx of mythic demons. And they are actual problem. All of the forces we mustered in act 3 are getting slowly slaughtered. So one day another siege of drezen is inevitable. Probably those points should be flashed out a little bit better in the game. TLDR she is an old crone who wishes for this madness to end at any cost that won’t cost her virtues.
I liked her and I liked the romance plot, but this is the kind of stuff that absolutely needed to be better elaborated on in the main story and not just in easter eggs like the romance or the lich resurrection. It also doesn't do justice to her fighting most of the war and the main forces of the Abyss.
I think nocticula said it best... she's a great leader and a powerful fighter, but not much of a strategist 😅...
That said, just holding the line against the worldwound for 100 years is already a big accomplishment.
Another important point IMO is just how tired she seems of everything... haven't finished the game yet but from a mental health viewpoint, she seems ready to die honestly.
I think the "holding the line" was in great part due to the military leaders she had as advisors, not Galfrey herself (as evidenced by the fact that she fucks up everything in just 6 months after she sends you on a suicide mission because she's jealous)
@@ghostprojekt also because the three demonlords were undermining each other and Areelu was undermining all three of them.
@@ghostprojekt whether through advisors or her ability alone, it really doesn't matter in my opinion. She didn't work against the advisors and her leadership held the line for 100 years, presumably across different advisors since they don't live as long.
If she was a good leader then human probably did not need to hold the line for 100 years and could have won in the first crusade
@@ghostprojekt looking at the people galfrey sends to you to help with the crusade the supposed "best people for the job" kinda telling to how the 4th crusade went
there's nurah no explanation needed there, sosiel is a trainwreck of a guy at the start though he do make a sound advisor later, the general guy who best solution seems to be throwing more bodies at the problem i need to remind you we are fighting demons here having numbers is pointless againts them unless pharasma stop sending people to the abyss this is a stupid strategy. and there's lady konomi, if owlcat intention is to make a insufferable political tool who undermine your effort saving the world because some rich asshole might get offended i applaud them because they outstandingly succeed. the rest like liotr and the oread general is alright tho
You undersold one element of her decisionmaking: At the start of Act 2, she also appoints Daeran as your adjutant. Now, admittedly, Owlcat needed some excuse to have him travel with the party, and he's got plenty of depths even he doesn't realize/acknowledge he has. It might be she saw those depths. Still and all, though, she explicitly appointed him to get a rise out of him. I will repeat that. SHE APPOINTED THE SECOND IN COMMAND OF THE CRUSADE AGAINST A DEMON INVASION AS A PELOR-DAMNED PRACTICAL JOKE ON THE PERSON IN QUESTION. A bit of casual joking around at the Defender's Heart celebration party is one thing, but what the shit was she thinking when it came to actual crusade staffing? It's like she was setting you up to fail even then! Her jealousy of your success and fear she's lost iomedae's favor is all well and good, but the way she gets absolutely no opportunity to make any correct decisions ends up like coming off like she's the main reason the war wasn't resolved decades ago. Honestly, I totally get that's all part of the game, it's all set up to make you the big hero, and it's not fair to her as a character, but that's how it comes across.
She said she was assuming that you would dismiss him and he would be humiliating in a process, but if you would not (which is up to you, she specifically highlighted it when she was giving appointment speech), then you believe that something good can do from it.
@@khaerinaenno That's not the thing you do in war.
It really doesn’t help that the game also tries to make her seem like this incredible and regal figure. When in reality my Friday night dnd stooge group is making better decisions xD
To be fair, you can be incredible and regal while also being incompetent managing a war. Both are aspects related to nobility, not the military.
Ever heard about Stalin or Hitler?
She is the equivalent of the kingdom system in Kingmaker, as in a "thing" within the game to screw you (the player) over to justify its length (how long it takes to complete).
I suspect that is on purpose as part of the writing. At the core, she is a selfish politician who happens to be on the "good side". She is not fighting a crusade to rid the world of demons. She is fighting it to promote her Eternal Crusading Champion against the Dark Horde image, thereby legitimacy of her rule. That is why 4 crusades and 150 years later, no progress whatsoever.
Put bluntly this is what we like to call "make them stupid so the player can shine!" or in this case, so the game can be played. Your first example, although I haven't played the game, of where she makes you a commander is where I guess you get access to the army combat part of the game. The dev's needed a way to get some no name into the position of leading an army, and while they could have extended the game by making you prove yourself worthy first, they decided to cut out the middle man.
I put that choice firmly under "this is a fucking video game, realism took a nose dive the second you clicked play."
There's no excuse for having fought against demonic hordes for over 100+ years and not having enough experience to not make dumb decisions like this. I'm not talking about Galfrey, I'm talking about humans and any sentient creature there is. Experience is literally the most fundamental way we learn and process information. The key to changing and developing ourselves. To sum it up, the good guys in stories aren't allowed to shine so that the player can.
Think about it. In young adult rebellion stories the main character is always some kind of super competent badass who's either chosen by god literally instead of implicitly by the plot and they somehow save a dying rebellion movement and manage to overturn an entire empire.
In medieval fantasy, there's always a portal to hell but never one to heaven open and the demons are overrunning the world while no heavenly power comes down to match them. On top of that no world leader ever manages to create a stable defense or answer to the demonic threat...until a farmboy magically turns out to be descended from a line of heroes or angels or demons or whatever and saves the world.
In D&D everyone and their mother is constantly summoning demons and devils and making deals with them, meanwhile the churches are chock full of spies and and dissidents from the faith. Nevermind that's where the most devout adherents should be and where they should be learning assloads of info about the good aligned powers and their enemies in the demonic, and where they should be summoning angels and all kinds of holy figures on the daily in order to defend themselves and grow in power. Which, mind you, should make it the most difficult place for any devil to even consider entering.
To really sum it up, in an RPG how many times have you heard of a cult popping up because of trouble in the area forcing the people to align with the dark powers...only for the player characters to swoop in and save the day? It's the classic DM fall back. Makes it easy to force you to fight the forces of evil and make you the hero.
Problem is, does that choice make sense in reality?
If I have the choice between sacrificing my firstborn daughter when the crops are bad to a demon only for them to fuck me over in the end, or aligning myself to a God of good like Chassenta (I think that's her name?) and getting the crops to grow healthily while getting to keep my loved ones on top of all of the perks of now being a CLERIC, anyone would always pick the latter.
I could go into detail about why it doesn't make sense to fall back on the lazy excuse of making the farmhand or the major enough of an idiot to make those kinds of deals but it always leads back to one answer: if the good guys are as smart or allowed to be as smart as the bad guys, then it gets difficult to write an easy answer as to why the player is needed.
Making Galfrey stupid enough to outright defy the biological laws of development in a person on top of defying the natural food chain (because let's be real, if she nearly died in Iyux making one stupid move why didn't she die doing the same thing...over 100 years of being this predictable and this dumb, until THE PLAYER CHARACTER ARRIVED???) is an excuse for more interesting quests for the player and hell, I haven't played the game and I've avoided spoilers but I'm willing to bet Galfrey's dumbass choice led somehow to you eventually closing the worldwound.
Maybe during the battle you learned special information? Gained an item or a companion who led you to the truth? One way or another...was the recapture of the first city and the fight at Iyux necessary to move the plot along?
I'd damn well bet it was, and if it was that proves the point: Galfrey's stupidity doesn't make her a good person who shouldn't be in charge of an army. It makes her a great puppet to dance and mess up in front of the player for you to laugh at, while gaining from her mistakes and never noticing the dev's pulling her strings. Making the perfect moron auto-create all the new quests and content for you to play.
Surprising to see such a good and detailed post on UA-cam.
I feel like this is a common problem with mythic high fantasy stakes. Like you said, no good guys portaling in, only villainous competence. Scaling back the scope and removing explicit alignment help, I think.
Example: Pillars of Eternity 2, the best part was the factions... they all have their good and bad decisions, they all have separate ideals and conflicting material goals, and the protagonists entering the picture start to tip the delicate balance. None of those factions came off as incompetent just for the player's sake.
Someone high up at Owlcat was very dedicated to this character assassination of Galfrey. Who, as of 2014, should be addressed by her formal title: "Hand of the Inheritor."
Is she just as bad in the adventure path tho?
@@Shadraen1 Not even remotely
@@Shadraen1 No, she's very much the opposite.
Galfrey in Pathfinder canon is so capable and faithful that Iomedae chooses to make her the replacement for the fallen Hand of the Inheritor. I'd even say Owlcat stole all her canon glory to give it to the players of their version of WotR. The player characters in the AP don't come anywhere near becoming angels and the like, their mythic classes are things like "Marshal" and "Archmage."
@@Shadraen1 No. She is not bad at ALL in the AP. This was deliberate character assassination by Owlcat. I would submit a necessary one to support evil PCs.
@@countrybluegrass giving the players more spotlight seems to be a better decision though. For the Galfrey they butchered, they sure as hell gave areelu a straight up upgrade from the AP.
1) I think you make a key point at the beginning: The Galfrey of the game is not the Galfrey of the AP. I would suggest most of us who defend Galfrey do so because we recognize the version from the AP. And I would also say some of her, "mandated incompetence" as it were, is to accommodate the design change Owlcat made to the AP: Allowing Evil PCs. Because there's no way Galfrey would maintain an evil Commander once they show their colors at the end of Act 3. Let alone allow them to return to authority in Act5. So certain choices are...necessary to promote the expansion of the PC version of the game.
2) The north and west of the WorldWound are actually blocked by very significant natural barriers. Which may not block demons all that much. But they do block Cultist Armies, who have to march places, by and large. So the natural path to the richest, most prosperous, and most populated parts of Avistan is through Mendev. Hence why they're the bulwark of civilization.
3) Galfrey explains why she thinks there is a tactical chance to retaking Drezen in the 1st camp dialogue: The armies that used to defend Drezen were the armies that attacked Kenabres. So what were formerly hosts upon hosts is now...a host. It's a sound argument. Also, it's debatable how interested the 3rd Crusade was in attacking demon armies. And the 2nd Crusade was *entirely* defensive because of the expansion of the Worldwound. The 4th Crusade was the only true offensive push by Mendev.
4) My only qualifier on abandoning Drezen is it's specifically stated she evacuates the civilians before marching out. I do suspect there's a large measure of guilt in her decision. But also because for the 1st time since the First Crusade, there's an actual chance of defeating the demons. They have the troops, and the knowledge, to close the Worldwound. Now, it's still a bad decision, don't get me wrong. But I'll point back to #1 at this. It was the loophole to allow evil PCs. And to allow them to go full ham evil, at that, whereas in Act 3, you're still low-key "not quite as evil" for the most part.
Not her fault she does stupid things, if she did smart things there would have been no adventure. ;P
I think you messed up all a little, she explains all very clearly at the end, going to Iz is a pretty desperate move and she had to do something and because you were in Abyss a bit logner than expected, espcially the journey from the mines took you half a year because of a temporal annomally. She wanted to use the advantage and quite calm situation and so she did this desperate move. You could either rescue her or kill her, but in the end, if you romance her, you may discover more thruth in her actions. I think she was just a tired leader who lived too long and so she tried everything she could. Also she explained pretty well why she entrusted you with the crusade in the first place, she believed or she wanted to belief that your powers are a gift from Iomedae herself, simply she needed that because again her long war and struggle as leader and the head of the crusade.
She also tells you she sent you to the abyss because she was jealous of you and that she was mad she didn't get mythic power instead of you because she's iomedaes most faithful (her words),
Everything she does is pointless, it doesn't matter what she tells you and what she do, only results matters and the fact is that with everything in her power she did NOTHING important, she's just an incompetent queen. Action and results matters in war. If you can't make hard decision and use your brain just because you thing you are doing something good, you loose. That's it. End of the day. She's better dead than alive.
I never believed she expected us to return from the Abyss. She sent us into enemy territory, sealed the exit, and expected us to be killed by Demons and the Demon Lords.
You could have Nok-Nok in charge of Crusade instead of her and he would do better.
Also as a lich, when she either dies or you kill her, you can then raise her as undead and have her in your party
Don’t they explain in some dialogue that the demons overextended themselves when attempting to sack kenabres? And Drezen and the surrounding area was left vulnerable.
overall for her I think the long life she has lived and the pressure of her position as a leader as well as with Iomedae had gotten to her. Think you get some of that insight when doing good playthrough and doing some of the romance path. I think overall she is very imprisoned on what she can and can't do or at least has to maintain appearance or Mendev will fall. In Mendev her reputation is the only thing that has kept all the factions in line and we see that when she leaves the capital things go into disarray because the factions are fighting for control. Think that shows on her leadership in that she didn't come with a way to control them more efficiently then her having to be in the capital. We see this more with the advisor board with the Kitsune advisor on how those decisions you make there can destroy or help Galfreys control as a lot of it is on her reputation that she has and you a rising power in Mendev and gaining popularity is contending with her control or least everyone looked up to her as a savior and agent of Iomedae but you who ppl are saying are from Iomedae or the gods is loosening who grip. This goes into another point on her decision-making.
She had given you the position to lead the crusade I think for a couple of reasons. The first being was that you had made news and people were calling you a savior and gift from the gods or something since you freed the city from the demons. Galfrey in general would have most likely had to make a move after this attack on the city and used the winning as a moral boost to use as another push. She had to put you as head because you were making storms and people were now looking up to you waiting essentially you had a lot of good pr going so if she gave you a low position people might question her and see her as trying to stamp you out. While by doing this she would essentially let you decide your fate and essentially make you a figurehead that could be sacrificed if you did fail in the attack on Drezzen. If you succeeded they gained the city if you failed that is more on you and she would of gotten rid of you. I don't think she is a cruel cutthroat person but I think she knows a bit about Mendev's politics and how to navigate in order to maintain her control and not cause to much ire. Overall for appointing you, you could be an agent that did affect the war or could be an upstart that got in over their head. Think to a degree being the commander of the crusade could be a ceremonial title that has the opportunity to get rid of someone as anything bad could just be placed on you and anything good could be said to be based on her good decision making and also you gaining such power really was unheard of so you were a wild card that she couldn't really have seen.
As you gained more reputation and you also messed with her mentally especially if you go the Angel path as essentially you are replacing her and as someone that has lived that long thinking they are an agent for a god and someone comes in and the gods own herald starts making you seem more important than her she essentially had lived her whole life being imprisoned to maintaining a certain life all with the idea that it had purpose but then you come in and shatter that. Think when get closer she essentially talks how she hasn't really been given the chance to live and how she has been essentially keeping up the image of Queen Galfrey agent of Iomadae. So think overall it just got to her finally and all the pressure from it all and having to suppress herself.
Also I think somewhere it gets mentioned that the Queen in the past has been known to do things that gets rid of people that she dislikes or sees as threat so assigning you a dangerous position as a leader of a military group and then sending you into the abyss doesn't go out of character for her.
I don't think she is a supreme strategist or anything but I don't think she is incompetent since she has been ruling over Mendev which is unstable internally and externally has to deal with other countries and stuff. I also think partly the stupid attack she did was to either prove to herself that she is chosen by her god or if she fails she can finally die and put an end to her position. I could be giving her more slack but from the playthroughs I have done it kind of just felt like her last gambit.
I think her making you knight commander itself was an attempt to get rid of you. Sure, it sounds like a fancy title and job, but when you think about it, what she's really doing is telling you "Ok, here's a fancy job title and a token amount of troops, but you'll have to get more yourself. Now go capture this target that's been in enemy control for the last 70 years that we've not been able to take with better military support than this. Also I'm assigning you a traitor/saboteur, an incompetent, and a cleric.
Good breakdown. I would love to see a Demon/Aeon mod or alternate campaign where you play as an evil character trying to sabotage the Crusades by ensuring the Queen stays alive and in charge ;)
Not sure if it's different in an Angel run but Galfrey does transport a wardstone to Drezen before taking the Sword of Valor, so at least the demons wouldn't be able to teleport in. Also, she leaves behind a number of named characters and forces. What I find most damaging for her is that somehow she let the doomstacks of marksmen (and all the other armies) I had built up in Act 3 die. Like you'd think there would at least be a small army left somewhere. But nope, not a single army unit is left alive.
Because she charged all the way to Iz, got completely surrounded and cut off, and the entire army sacrificed itself while she hid in the rubble.
@@Aredel I mean... the armies I built up would have survived that. Honestly the only reason I didn't conquer Iz myself during Act 3 was because there were no roads there.
Also, while Galfrey was indeed an incompetent commander, she was at least fighting in the front lines when I got there. She dies if you don't get to her soon enough.
@@mccasper5721 as King Richard has demonstrated, that is a very poor place for a commander to be unless the situation is desperate. She often dies because she thinks it’s a brilliant idea to charge Terendelev with a handful of conscripts and three good fighters.
As far as the campaign for Iz goes, officially your character actually clears out the remaining strongholds and secures a path to Iz. You have a clear line of retreat and a few fortresses to cover your withdrawal if things go to shit. You know... like a smart person.
@@Aredel You said she "hid in the rubble." The fact that she was fighting in the front lines determined your statement to be a lie.
As for whether fighting in the front lines was a smart decision, I already said she was an incompetent commander.
@@mccasper5721 it was hyperbolic to express how she practically fed her armies to the demons while she blindly rushed off to Iz with no regards for the lives of those who follow her.
The thing is, being an incompetent leader is not something that you can carry on doing for 115 years straight in a constant war situation. I don't know her table-top representation, but I do think she is either:
* Playing a game to keep herself in power (purposefully continuing the demon war, suppressing all individuals who show potential to surpass her, doomed appointments that are designed to fail you rather than help you as with Nurah for example, and when the main character actually manages to gain massive gains she sends them on a suicide mission to the abyss). She always rubbed me wrong... Why did she march to Iz? Apparently it's not the first time she does that so she thought it would just continue the cycle.
* Just poor writing and character representation from Owlcat or even in the Pathfinder tabletop module itself.
It's the latter but firmly on Owlcat's hands. The tabletop module doesn't give her the full details (and I do like SOME of the depth Owlcat gave her) but it does ABSOLUTELY hammer home
A: The sheer, nightmarish, monstrous terror of the Worldwound and the forces of the Abyss and the uneven fight to even hold on, let alone push back.
B: Galfrey being a GOOD, decent leader and person who is holding most of the war effort on her shoulders.
Even Owlcat's writing makes it fairly clear she does not yearn for power for its own sake (at least not primarily) but because she believes - like others - that it is her DUTY and even CURSE to bear where almost no others could (and frankly given the war it's hard to argue against that).
Like, I'm not opposed to Galfrey being less than the shining perfect hero she's reflected as, suffering from disillusionment, lapses in judgement, war weariness, the burden of command, and even lapses of judgement or emotional turmoil. To say nothing of dealing with subversion both by literal traitors and by political or social rivals. But like you said, you can't carry on fighting off Operation Barbarossa but Demons for 115 years (where the bad guys get free yearly Respawns) if you are truly incompetent. And she's not.
I think in brutal honesty. Galfrey was unequal to her task but for various reasons was kept alive beyond what she should have been allotted. She was the symbol, the sigil of permanence that the crusaders needed.
I think its telling that in order to see Galfrey as she truly is you have to do an evil playthrough to kill her or reanimate her. At heart, she's a ruler stuck in a harsh situation with no way out and dealing with baggage that comes from living beyond your natural life. Its only when you do the unthinkable and bring her back as an undead thrall. You see as her true age and whats more she was already slipping. You just give her nudge to jump. She's vastly more tolerable.
I would never wish anyone to be stuck in such a harsh situation for as long as she did. I think forty years in I'd pay assassins to off myself. A situation that required several literal divine interventions, prophecies and the death of a demon lord to fix.
Can't believe some people romance her despite her age... I'm kidding, I did try myself.. for science!
Age is but a number. Besides, 140 or so is not that much for lot of the races.
tbf we also don't know how old Arueshalae is, not sure how succubuses age
Arue and Camelia are grany too just sayin...
@@Dayard Not really. We have no clue about Aru, but she could be old af true. But Camelia is Horgus's child, so she can be like 40 at most.
@@Nerazmus We don't know the exact age of Arue but we know that she's old af. And ok Camelia's not a grany she's a gougar. x)
My biggest question about Galfrey is why the choice of the thunder caller bard class? It just doesn't make much sense to me from a story perspective to me
It actually makes sense. Bard is really the most suited class for her.
She can't be any divine caster because she doesn't serve any god, and she isn't any studied arcane caster, but shestill has those supernatural abilities because of just the way she is.
@@Nerazmus I would get it if she was like "I am a Queen, therefore I shall help my troops in combat by buffing them to the nine". But she repeatedly in stead says she trained as a paladin and handles fights by running in and smacking the enemies really hard with her sword like a fighter/warrior queen. It just feels more like she was given the bard class in order to give you a slightly wider party variety on specific paths.
That's only if she is raised by a lich player, to emulate being a banshee.
It’s because she’s resurrected as a banshee. They needed to get creative with a class to fit her,
Excellent topic, would have never thought about it but I cannot wait to hear your thoughts...
Never expected to see you here, dear blackpill merchant.
@@citizencrimson201 Yes, well, I am not only about that. It is a part time job so to speak. Been RPGing since the 80s.
I feel like Galfrey abandoning Drezen was a "plot" decision rather than a character decision. As well written as WOTR typically is, it can be accused of pushing disbelief to breaking on the pretence of raising the stakes and making the PC a superhero, and painting themselves into all sorts of weird corners to cater to the ambitious story arcs they were trying to weave in.
Aeon path does get some good lines Galfrey's POV. They do attempt to explain her decision as one of a person in crisis making a doomed last stand, and what Mort offers around Staunton being punished, in terms of the narrative, I think, it's meant to inform our sense of her doomed recklessness - Not highlight it's stupidity, (although, that's a fair enough read). It creates ham-fisted narrative symmetry rather than a truthful character moment.
Depends on the mythic your playing IMHO. Any good mythic/Aeon, you really question her and her logic at the end of Act 3. Trickster and the evils it was not really a surprise that even if your effective that they would not want you in power because what happens after the world wound.
It was more of a shock that she places you in power to begin with.
“Yeah, I know this creepy-looking Dhampir practices necromancy and drinks the blood of virgins, but he glowed that one time and blew up a rock, so he can definitely lead an entire crusade.”
If you have the Bell and Wardstone one could argue that she thought Drezen was protected enough to take the Sword of Valor out *Shrug*
I will have to argue against this. The wardstones were proven inadequate due to Kenabres.
I kind of wish there was a Chaos or Evil option, to charm her, or outwit her and convince her to stay with the crusade. While yes she won't let you pick the swarm path, I can still see a reasons why a Demon, or a Lich might want her along anyway. I think the Romance is a key to understanding her, as she will tell you she is basically the embodiment of duty, and she will do that duty regardless of whether she thinks it is a good idea, or what is best for her personally. She is convinced this is the reason she is kept alive, to be a symbol to others, to always do what is required.
As a Lich you can resurrect her as an undead. But I agree with you that as a Demon would be cool to charm her to agree with you.
I can see no reason Iomedae would let Queen Galfrey be swayed by demons. Just...no.
@@shawngillogly6873 I mean this is the same Iomeade that let's her herald summon angels to fight at a Demon's side and think it is her chosen. Also you don't pick demon until after the Siege of Drezen and she returns to Mendev so I would just like a Chaotic and Evil option for her to join in Act 2, since Lawful and Good are the only options currently.
The road to hell is paved in good intentions.
It doesn’t help her case when you compare her to another ruler who also wants the World Wound closed, Nocticula. Nocticula is smart and cunning, achieving way more out of the conflict and managed to ascend into godhood and redeem herself. It comes back to the Mario dragon quote in Skyrim. Nocticula, when viewed in a different perspective, is a former rape victim turned rebel and became somewhat of an environmentalist who wanted to preserve her realm. What’s great about her is she doesn’t hide her insidious scheming, she doesn’t get triggered at the slightest opinions that goes against her ideals (Ember).
Eh. Except Noticula only recently decided closing it was a good idea. She was perfectly fine with the Wound being open when it was profitable to her.
@@shawngillogly6873 not to mention she's totally fine with you dying to achieve her plans
Making her age as an aeon was my favorite way to get back at her
Wait, you can do that?
She is Zapp Branigan wearing pants.
I agree 100%, i was so furious when returning from the Abyss and seeing all my work undone. (And my army gone)
Part of the reason there were 4 crusades is you weren’t there with your mythic power. Can you imagine going up against a Vavakia Vanguard as a level 5 Paladin? The table top game gets into it a little more I feel. You’re meant to be the big damn hero, so everyone else is weaker and dumber than you basically.
@@insaneyoohoo that’s part of my point. The PCs in a tabletop or video game are almost always more powerful or smarter than most NPCs around them. Also, she’s one person. A full part of level 20 paladins would still get slaughtered by the mythic demons you encounter in the AP or game.
@@insaneyoohoo No, she's only level 15 in pnp. She also doesn't have any mythic powers, probably not built to be super optimized for dungeon crawling, because she's a leader first and foremost, and most importantly, demons know her. So if Galfrey herself started running around personally getting into fights against demons, Deskari and Baphomet would throw everything against her.
@@insaneyoohoo She's ONE level 17 Paladin (by lore, as low as 14 depending on when you see her in game), fighting MULTIPLE demon lords. Nah. She'd have no chance.
Queen Galfrey is, first and foremost, a Paladin. That's a fighter and faith-based job, not necessarily a military leader, and definitely not a politician. I believe she was thrust into both positions (as you can see with the Royal Council in your campaign management decisions, her job in Mendev is VERY political), and is woefully unprepared for them.
She's a paladin but she's also a Queen, which absolutely is a military leader and politician, and while she doesn't have to do the job pitch perfect she has had to do it well enough to survive, which she has.
A good person who is incompetent yet forced to work because there is no one else to replace her.If she was not Queen of Crusade Mendev,would be destoryed.She did not want to be paladin of iomede yet she is because there is no other choice.She had a love interest yet he leaved because of the crusade.She had been unhappy something he did with 120 years.Yet she has to do it because if she did not,many lives would be lost.It's sad.
the only argument i can come up with for leaving Drezen like she did is that she believed that taken IZ would end the war or something similar. A huge gamble you bet all your resources on to win once and for all and not playing the long game of logistics and stuff
She's not wrong that taking Treshhold is the key to the war. It's the only place the Worldwound can be closed from. So yeah, she may be predictable. But when there's only one way to win, what choice did she have?
@@shawngillogly6873 a slower, more methodical campaign that involves not suicide-charging the enemy at their strongest hard point when they know you are coming and have turned that very notion into a fucking MEME in the Abyss.
I kind of really wish you could call her in front of the public for being Staunton Vhane v2.
She rightly earned her role as my lich's undead slave forever.
The most annoying thing in act 5 is that I lost all my armies, I literally built an ultimate army of 300 marksmen, 500 champions, 150 cuirassers, 200 hell knights, 200 clerics and 200 scouts then 2 more mid tier defensive armies.
The only reason you can forgive Galfrey in owlcat's version (very different from ttrpg) is if she has the Lexicon, then it makes sense to charge and try to close the worldwound, no price is too big to pay. You forgot to mention that she also appointed a madman as the leader of Cenabres, and even though she knew demons teleportation abilities and magical means of communication from distances she mentions herself that if demons knew she was at the worldwound they would attack mercilessly to kill her she still joins you and takes a tremendous risk because she revealed herself before the Sword of Valor was in place!
You can only give her the first part of the Lexicon before Iz. And the first part of it doesn't teach you how to close the world wound, you need both.
@Mystra you can give her the first part of the lexicon a little before or while you storm Midnight fane. During chapter 5, the chapter with Iz, you don't meet her until you go to Iz do not possible to give her the lexicon right before Iz. I know that you can't close the wound with just the first part, but that doesn't necessarily mean she knows that and she is desperate.
@Manos Sgourakis Well, I think being desperate in leadership is being incompetent. Especially her reckless and hasty actions. Let's be honest, even me and you wouldn't have done that. I would never have left Drezen until the commander return or at least for longer than she did. And if I had to leave, it would he to regroup, not make a decision based on incomplete knowledge and guesswork.
Overall she made too many bad decisions. She was probably tired of all the crusades but on the flip side of that, it should have taught her to be more careful
I don't know how she's in the AP, maybe better there?
@Mystra oh you are absolutely right, I am not defending her, I just said that even though she was wrong, understatement, I kinda understand her. Other than that the way she was portrait is an out of touch leader
@Manos Sgourakis Oh I agree. Because she's been in the crusades for so long and the whole Staunton thing as well. That probably made her on edge and bitter (her actions towards KC even if they're good) and that's not a good mindset for a leader. At the very least she's a good person, just not a good leader anymore. Well, maybe for politics she's perfectly fine, just not for war.
Galfrey is much better as a lawful good Angel playthrough. In fact, most of the roleplaying choices that grate on you fit well. Starting with Kenabres, while Mortim skips over it, what the Player does is miraculous. Everyone in game is shocked. Everyone thought the city was gone, the wardstone destroyed, and all of Mendev in danger. PC crawls out of the ground leading Mongrels, brandishes a Sword of Light, roars rallying cries of hope, purifies the wardstone, blows the roof off the garrison, slays demon after demon, and beats Minagho to a bloody pulp. All of this is orchestrated by big brain Areelu, something Galfrey has no clue about. Galfrey doesn't have a clue, but people are saying you're Iomedae's new chosen. She seizes the moment and orders you to retake Drezen, which needs to be done. Once you succeed, the Hand of the Inheritor himself comes down and helps out. More evidence Iomedae is on your side. This is getting long, but in the trial, Arushalae is literally a succubus. Your goal as a crusader is to kill demons etc... Final point is six months in war time without a word elsewise would be nerve wracking.
But yeah she is pretty dumb. Lawful good paladin who has stagnated for the last century. She wasn't competent enough to reign in and unite Mendev, and she was used as a figurehead for the Crusade. But the real problem was her dad got murdered and her god died before she was ready to lead. Really good character from Owlcat.
If she was good at her job the war wouldn't still be here waiting for the player.
I would submit if she hadn't done a good job, Mendev would've fallen in the Second Crusade.
Uh no. She's done a fantastic job. The war is largely a defensive war against the onslaught of the demons. Regular demons are far and above better than the average crusader, and anything even remotely reaching Balors can wipe out legions by themselves.
The sheer fact she's held out for 100 years is a testament to how well she's done.
I was kinda baffled at the end of act 1 when the queen sends you on what to me seemed like a suicide quest. I reasoned that my character was drunk that's why she agreed and I basically roleplayed the game as a bumbling idiot who shouldn't be the commander because they have no experience and straight up don't want the job. The queen shows how incompetent she is by picking me just because I "saved the city" when in reality the choices were fight the demon's or die sure some heroics were involved but after the city was liberated that should of been it. Then she gets real petty when she sees hiw successful you are and basically strips you of everything you earned and sends you on a suicide mission for real this time and manages to undo all your work. I straight up killed her after that, my character was no longer the bumbling idiot in over their heads and had a different out look, I wasn't fighting for the queen or nobility but the people who choose on their own to charge at demons and her mentality of trying to force the spotlight on her was disgusting
In the ttrpg me and the boys never made it past the starting town. After repelling the demon's we started a brothel/ale house/tavern raised a bunch of money and hired a private army to do it. It was really stupid because we ended up making new characters who were apart of the mercenaries that we hired and they became the heroes. It was alot of swapping back and forth but it was fun, that's the freedom of ttrpgs tho
I feel like Galfrey is of limited competence in much the same way Iomedae is (at least as portrayed in this game). I don't necessarily think we can tell that she's a bad leader/military strategist because she seems to be very constrained by the political realities of Mendev. I think what's really damning is that she's so politically constrained. This is a ~130 year old woman, reigning for ~115 years, as a war hero in a country on a constant war footing, yet somehow she doesn't completely run the place (despite the fact that she's probably outlived most of the original nobility of Mendev - who as far as we can tell are mainly human). Any ruler with a modicum of political ability would probably be basically be an absolute ruler in her situation, if only by dint of outliving all their political opposition and moving in afterwards. Nocticula makes fun of Iomedae for essentially being Aroden without a brain or subtlety, and I think that applies to Galfrey as well. She's not bad at solving individual problems in front of her, but she kind of exemplifies the lawful stupid stereotype of bulldozing problems in front of her in the most straightforward manner possible, and ignoring all the support and political work that needs to be done in order to actually ensure an endeavor as a whole succeeds.
She's basically Staunton 2.0
Owlcat's depiction of Queen Galfrey into a prettier version of Publius Quinctilius Varus.
I told Varus what you said. I think you should know, he was very hurt.
Jealous? More like zealous.
With all due respect, there's also the matter of the deities in this game/world. Think of all the holy wars we had from zealots irl even though there's no concrete evidence whether deities exist or not. And then imagine that kind of mindset of someone in a world where deities and magic do exist. So my point is, outside of just being 1.incompetent or 2.wise ruler, there exist a third possibility, which is that she's just being blindly faithful to a deity she knows exist in her world.
See, when you have faith towards your deity, you would tend to ignore all manner of reasoning and just blindly do everything in your power to complete the task you and your deity mutually agrees to be the objective. Also, this plays into the fact that she's jealous of your success when you're not someone who have been faithful as she has been for over a hundred years toward that deity. Therefore, she was not only jealous, but also zealous.
Being a Paladin charging headlong, without thinking to destroy evil makes perfect sense from what the class ethics are. Is it stupid? Absolutely but understandable given what she is.
However my take away from this is since she stripped us from the title for the sake of jealousy if I was a DM at a table I'd strip her of her Paladin powers and make her a fallen Paladin.
She doesn't do the headlong charges in the AP. So no. This was an Owlcat choice.
@@shawngillogly6873 I know. I was just making a point, from a Paladin point of view.
talking about Queen Galfrey...
Lich act 5 spoiler:
....
Why is her Undead form a bard and not a paladin - I know paladins does not work if she is evil as an undead but why not at least a figther or something? Thunder caller bard feels like a really random class for her? Is she also this if you get her to join you while she is alive?
No if you recruit her while alive then she's a regular paladin.
I think her undead version rises up as a banshee which is not a class in the game so they made her a bard.
I was fine with Galfrey at first, her actions were questionable but you can always find an excuse for them when you are believed to be her Goddess's chosen warrior. She fought with the army and things were good right until she started to nitpick my choice of companion. Though she let me keep the title of "Commander" her idea to send me on a suicide mission into the Abyss and make sure to seal the exit behind me was infuriating. She destroys all the progress I made, then she admits it was all jealousy and insecurity that had her throw me to the Demons like a lamb to slaughter that sealed my disdain for her leadership. The only reason I continue to save her ass is because Irabeth and Anevia are my two favorite NPCs, and losing them would break a part of my heart. She's a failure as both a Queen and as the leader of the Crusades.
I got a small bit of satisfaction when the Queen who very clearly had feelings for my character, had to sit back and watch me go for the Redeemed Demon who she had previously trashed me for having in my party.
Incompetent leader, but easy to, ahem, romance.
If you go aeon, when you meet her you can judge her as well (look it up on youtube). The Aeon says that she seeks to lead the crusade forever. And she admit that she want to be the one close the wound and that may have stopped other to succeed after we turned her into old woman.
That is her true nature. Incompetence and jealousy is why the crusade all failed
While I agree she is not the best leader to defeat the demons, she still managed to keep the line for many years. I think when we come in, she is just tired of it all and wants to end it fast, hence she just charges Iz. I think she even says that when you ask her why she put you as the leader. She saw a chance to use someone to push the line and took it. But then she kind of goes back on this with the whole, I am jealous of you so I send you to hell.
The only reason why she managed to hold the line was because the three demon lords were trying to undermine each other while being fed lies by Areelu.
@@Nerazmus No. The Demons lords lying to each other due to Areelu is a rather new thing. And Areelu even says why that's so.
@@shawngillogly6873 No, that's a thing since she started the Worldwound project. But I guess I won't spoil things for you.
@@Nerazmus I've finished the game. I disagree with your reading. Nocticula was quite happy to side with the other Demon Lords, until she got upset with them tramping through her realm (and began contemplating a better life). Areelu is playing her own game. But she never made Deskari and Baphomet fight each other.
@@shawngillogly6873 Yes, Nocticula was quite happy to use them, she literally explains that.
And I never said Areelu made them fight each other.
free comment.
TBH I've been very casually running through my third run as Trickster and it's the first time I spared her. The first two runs were Lich and Swarm That Walks and I had a pretty high level of joy from murdering her smug and useless face. I'm kind of regretting leaving her alive this run TBH. Also Trickster is maybe low-key the most powerful choice because your entire party gets 3 extra levels of Improved Critical Hit which turns out is pretty busted with Outflank.
Century of ruling will make you insane, not to mention constant war with fucking demons. This is why we have reelections. And she was really tired of it, too.
I could forgive alot of her questionable decisions, but once she sentenced me to the Abyss I knew I would have to remove her.
The queen led 4 crusades and all 4 failed.
We lead fifth crusade and we got drezen back. Then she exile us and protect the land by herself. She clearly intends to get the 6th crusade by also failing at defending drezen again.
Then she charged at the dragon for no reason and everyone in her party died.
When she managed to comeback and intended to rule Merdev again, none of the civilian supported her.
For a person that get blessed by the god, she is so incompetent.
Iomede not only an useles goddess, she also the worst at chosing the leader/successor. If the queen just die in the first crusade, we may got a better leader and didnt need the 5th one
1st Crusade wasn't a failure. The 2nd Crusade was entirely defensive due to the expansion of the Worldwound. The 3rd Crusade wasn't even an attack, perse. It was a purity campaign, thanks to Hulrun. The 4th Crusade is the only attempt at a true offensive of the lot. So actually, she succeeded in their stated goals in 2 Crusades, one was of debatable military value, and failed once.
She’s basically the embodiment of the “lawful stupid” paladin, whereas Seelah is more like how paladins would be realistically.
so .. lawful stupid in the end
Personally I think Galrfery is a great soldier but a terrible leader she couldn't quell the infighting between the nobles in her own kingdom and my guess is she was scared that the nobles who didn't like her might've pushed for the MC to replace her as Mendev's ruler I mean the MC took back Drezen a city that had been lost for 70 years under Gallfery's rule and the MC over the course of months retook the city that was lost under Galrfery's rule so this definitely makes her look bad to the nobles who don't like her and they must be powerful nobles whom she can't get rid of so while Galfery is a good person and a great soldier she failed as a leader
i think jelousy and hypocrisiy is unbefitting for a ruler
Regill was right.
By just playing the Owlcat game and never touching the tabletop Pathfinder game, the impression I had after beating the game was that she WAS a good person but along the way she realized she's been at war for more than 100 years, all she knows is war and to be a Queen/Commander, she spent too much time being revered as this "Warrior Pope-like" entity, second only to the Angels and Iomedae herself (and her champion). I think she's the epitome of the fear of lacking a "raison d'être". The realization that if war ends, there's no point for her existence and status.
My theory is that she sabotages the Crusades just enough to ensure Mendev has a perpetual need for her and her status.
I didn't know about the Demon path conversation with Hepzamirah but it makes my theory even more likely IMO. Unless Owlcat completely missed the spot on her characterization and I'm being completely misled.
When you think bout it the Queen in Pillars of Eternity Deadfire is also as incompetent as her..by their inability to act as rational being in certain situations... different games yeah,but same outcome..I guess that's how Queens are meant to be written in these type of games 😂
That's often how rulers are in crpg's to be honest.
*Before the Battle of Drezen*
Me: Okay Queen Galfrey, you been fighting this war for over 100 years. This city was originally yours and I assume you would be privy to it's construction and secrets. What is your plan to take back the city?
Queen Galfrey: We attack head-on with minimal preparation and hope that their army of untrained, illiterate, cultists backed up by significantly powerful demons and siege weapons won't get lucky and kill me while I make a speech on the exposed bridge with our forces composing of minimally trained recruits and a single knight order. If I survive, we will simply spread out our forces as thin as possible in order to fill the fortress slowly, like pouring water into a pot one glass at a time. Every time we encounter a locked door, we take our time to break it down while enemies that can teleport in and fly attack us at will.
Lawful "Evil" Hellknight: How about we instead do a Surgical Strike with my elite forces establishing a beachhead in the *huge gaping breach* and go around the back and unlock gates and stopping the siege weapons.
Queen Galfrey: But if you do that, the Commander won't be able to fight in the meatgrinder with us and inspire the troops to senselessly sacrifice themselves for me.
Me: -_- I have zero military experience and about 6 weeks ago I was an illiterate barbarian and even I can tell why the Queen never regained this much ground after 70 years of fighting.
Eh. Galfrey says why she should be at the front. And it's not because of that. It's because there has to be an attack on the gate, if nothing else to distract the demons, and she is the leader of the Crusades, so she should be where the troops can see her.
For the same reason, my commander typically is at the front. These are conscripts. If their morale is as shaky as Regill says, taking their leaders away is tantamount to putting a blade to their throat myself. If they're not, then the Commander being there can make a difference. Whereas joining the flanking attack immediately signals to the enemy that's the REAL attack. Which very likely could condemn both maneuvers.
This is why I go with Regill every single time.
No matter how it gets twisted and turned i find her to be incompetent. She had fought 4 wars which she either lost or got into a stalement, and only managed to win the fifth war due to getting on good terms with a Mythical Being, who she in turn tends to be a douchebag towards.
I've got 90+ hours in this game and I'm only in the middle of Act 3.
It took me around 200h to finish it, so you're fine :D
It's so hard not to respec your character and try out a different build. I've never spent this much time on a CRPG since DOS2.
For me she is a victim of lazy writing ;)
Absolutely. She wouldn't have held Iomedae's favor for as long as she has if she was truly as incompetent as the game makes her look.
@@zandilar630 You say that like everyone who works for that trash goddess isn't a chump. Seriously, she gives you shit for using your powers just because an asshole gave them to you, the Hand of the Inheiritor threw a tantrum and almost got himself killed for it, and Galfrey does nothing but make bad decisions. The only exception to this rule is Seelah who literally says "I'm not one to disagree with my goddess buuuuut".
@@zandilar630 Well, Iomedae isn't exactly the best of the bunch either. She's hotheaded, stubborn and even forgets to tell her right hand that the mortal he's been sent to "oversee" has nothing to do with her or her power.
Taking that into account I think it makes sense for Galfrey to be like she is, considering she's been enabled by her goddess and surrounded herself with sycophants while the real soldiers and strategists are pouring their blood fighting in the front lines.
Bingo! I enjoyed the writing of Kingmaker but WotR is such a letdown, from some of the companions to the chain of events and even with a lot of dialogs, it really looks like it was written by another team.
The thing with that is, she doesn't actually much to do with Iomedae. She is neither her cleric nor her paladin.
I mean, easy answer tbh. She literally sends you to the abyss and apparently assumes that this is definitely something that doesn‘t take long. I mean, for all she knows, we could need to gather a small army in the abyss, there is no reason to believe anything else but she thinks „you know what, let‘s just chill here and do nothing because the commander can 100% do this within a week“.
Also, considering how old she is and what knowledge she has access to, she probably knows about time anomalies in the abyss too. Really hecced the entire thing, that woman
I have not watched your video yet ( although I certainly plan to ), but here are my two cents :
Galfrey is probably pretty politically shrewd. As evidenced by the fact that her capital city kinda descends into chaos in her absence.
That said, she has absolutely no business being a military commander. She had one job : not losing an easily defensible fort to demons *in only six months*. An easily defensible fort that ;
1. serves as an important crusader stronghold in a land ravaged by demons. it is there that crusaders can rest safely, relatively speaking, despite the dire circumstances. I cannot understate just how important Drezen actually is.
2. also happens to be a civilian center!!!
3. Last but not least, Drezen is incredibly important symbolically. keeping it is crucial for morale. for obvious reasons, I might add.
For these three reasons, not losing Drezen to demons should have been top priority. There are only two things more important than not losing Drezen in relation to the crusade : making sure the Wardstones dont explode and finding a way to close the worldwound for good.
Instead of *not* losing such an important settlement in only six months, it almost seems as if she did everything in her power to make sure that Drezen would fall for the second time. She literally made the exact same mistake Staunton did, removing the magical banner from the premises.
So, in conclusion, Queen Galfrey probably knows how to govern, but judging by her abhorrent performance, she is absolutely shit at anything related to military campaigns. It doesn't matter how good you are with a sword if your decision-making is inadvertently more dangerous to your allies than thousands of demons and cultist spies.
If your capital descends into chaos when you are gone, that doesn't make you great leader. That just means you have no sense of foresight and planning.
She’s a shit governess if her capital falls into chaos the minute she leaves
I think a lot of her incompetence is actually sadly Owlcat's writing. :/
Yeah, they should hire some better guys
I completed all Act 3 quests and then took Aivu's advice to launch a surprise attack on the demons without waiting for reinforcements from Mendev. Then,
Galfrey: What's going on here?!
Actual Representative of Heaven/Iomadae: You know, the Commander and the support sent by Desna/Elysium actually did a fantastic job catching the demons by surprise....
Galfrey: Gaaah! Look at how ridiculous the banner looks now!