I've gotta be honest,but I despise how terribly Kagha gets treated by the narrative and by Halsin fans,when she only aligned with the Shadow Druids out of desperation and to protect the Grove from the Goblins,since their Archdruid had basically just fucked of without much warning. Sure it wasn't a great idea,but its understandable why she did what she did and yet Halsin is framed as in the right,even though he was being reckless and makes for a crappy leader tbh.š
Actually I'm more interested in talking about how the Shadow Druids are all dirty crusty halflings whom you can kill in order to redeem a woman who was going to kill a child after calling her slurs and was going to kill a bunch of tiefling refugees just for existing in her vicinity. Like she referred to them as a rot to be cleansed. You'd think if she truly only had her people's safety at heart she'd be more apologetic and sympathetic about the idea of essentially using the tieflings as a blood sacrifice to keep the Grove safe (and it would honestly be way more interesting of a conflict), but she seems to revel in it. It's like half the motivation for her almost. And if it isn't then it's pretty poorly communicated.
I'm willing to defend Kagha only so far as to say she's very blatantly a cruel and stupid person and a bad leader and the fact that Halsin thought she'd be a good replacement for him reflects very poorly on him lol.
If it helps, Halsin admits that his faith in Kagha was really a mistake- he gives approval (though only "this is a good answer" not "this is the most true answer") if you answer that was his biggest mistake in the Zethino love test. He also readily says he was a bad leader. And that's why he wants to leave so badly. Like people (not you, OP, just in general) seem to miss that Halsin being a bad leader is the entire POINT of his character. He was forced to take the role because everyone else who could have literally died. He wasn't exactly set up for success with leadership. He is very clear that he hated being a leader, and in fact doesn't trust people who actually WANT leadership positions because he feels they either have good intentions but a poor understanding of what a burden it is, or they have outright bad intentions. (He probably thought Kagha was the former and was blind to her being the latter). Halsin did the best he could, then brought in someone who could actually lead properly when he was finally able to justify it to the Emerald Enclave.
PS the ask you got perfectly highlights while I am annoyed at Kagha defenders so much. "My little blorbo did a racism out of desperation you guys š„ŗ She was so scared š She had no choice but to attempt a childmurder š„" Fuck all of you
Iām pretty sure she aligns with the Shadow Druids to āstop the grove being tainted by non-druidsā more than āprotect it from the goblinsā. If you talk with the other druids, especially the ones in the inner sanctum area, they all go on about the tieflings disrupting their precious balance and harmony, rather than the goblins, which tend to be blamed on Aradin and his group, for leading them back to the Grove, and therefore revealing their location to them (which Minthara isnāt aware of until either you tell her, or participate in torturing Liam to get him to reveal it, in which case the goblins run off to tell her, or you free Sazza and help her get back to the camp alive).
Halsin may go off with the Beno Boys without much warning, but he, and the Beno boys donāt expect to wander into a giant goblin camp, and nor does he expect to get captured when the Beno Boys all flee, or try to. Halsin doesnāt intend to leave the grove for long or for good, Kagha was only meant as a temporary replacement, hence his utter shock that she starts (and means to go through with) the Right of Thorns. She was just meant to keep the status quo during his brief absence, not make actual decisions with such drastic results. Hence why when he leaves with the party, he finds a replacement, even from another grove, and steps down entirely from being Archdruid, rather than just putting someone else from the grove in charge temporarily.
