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Hal's choice not to fight in the Falconer's Rebellion was a personal choice about prioritizing his own family (and whether he could even leave his two older children with Elodie to go off and fight is not totally certain). But it was, of course, not a choice made in isolation. He argues that even their father decided to hang up his blade at some point, but our understanding of the lot of orcs before the Shaper's War is that that wasn't a choice their father could have made 60 years prior. That under Azgra, Hal would almost certainly have been forced to march to war, never mind his three young children at home. There were clearly orcs who weren't on the front lines, orcs who built the cities and smithed the weapons and provided whatever food the community had, but by and large orcs were made as weapons and used as such. Thjazi's letter referenced turning swords into plowshares. In some ways, Hal's whole life between the War of Axe and Vine and now has been a version of that. The Falconer's Rebellion was a just cause, and it's probable that if more people had been willing to join it, Araman wouldn't be in the mess it's currently in. But Hal's choice to abstain is a very different choice from Aranessa's choice to abstain. The politics of an orc saying "I will not fight" even when the cause is just are far more nuanced. Because isn't this part of the freedom Vokjan Murzat fought and died for? Orcs in nice clothes, with flowers all around, and time to go see beautiful art made by their own people? Orcs who raise children and start businesses and hang up their swords? A life free from war? Finally. We don't know whether Hal was thinking about those politics when he made his choice. I suspect he was "I choose the Rungjani" indicates that to me, but you can easily read the scene another way. Whatever your take on his thought process, the politics of the choice are undeniable. A healthy orc in his early 30s refusing a call to arms barely 50 years after Azgra's death means something for the Rungjani.

rushing to the other side

Leveled up in 4x27: Murray (gems), Tyranny (knife)

Leveled up in 4x28: Thaisha (Thjazi's grave/Calling the Corners)*, Wick (return of the prodigal son), Azune (Einfasen meeting), Vaelus (conversation with Hannan)

Leveled up in 4x29: Occtis (touching the veil), Hal (KoTher'ai), Thimble (protecting an ally so they can go forward into the Reaches), Kattigan (finds the sorcerer).

Still level 4 as of the end of 4x29: Bolaire, Teor, Julien

*initiated by Aabria - the rest of the Convergence level-ups have been Brennan declaring them level 5, but as Aabria did not level up Thaisha during the Seekers arc she was able to level up here. This is not a bad thing and honestly it fits the pattern for this episode (see below), just an FYI.

Episode 4x27's level-ups are both item-related but ultimately more about realizing a particular interest or calling that also ties back into their nature. Murray is from a gem merchant family but her interest and goals have always been in the realm of the arcane, and these gems, which allow magic at a distance, combine the two. Tyranny is a demon and her purpose is to cause harm, but the knife is a means of channeling that productively, to cause harm to those who have harmed others.

Episode 4x28's level-ups are about facing a difficult but necessary conversation, and at least attempting to make a connection. Thaisha's is regarding Thjazi and also I would argue nature/the world itself with Calling the Corners. Wick's is with his grandmother, Azune's with House Einfasen, and Vaelus's with Hannan. I think all of these also represent a certain degree of honesty with one's self, even if Azune and Wick are very much lying to others.

I would be reluctant to use fridging in this exact context, because this isn't some imaginary scenario to generate manpain for a white hero, this is a much more common experience of Native American and First Nation people, having their wives and daughters and sisters (in particular, but not exclusively) go missing. And never getting answers, never learning what happened, and not being believed that there's a problem in the first place.

This is like how being rescued from a tower by a prince is not particularly empowering or affirming to cis physically able straight thin perisex white women and girls, but can be for basically anybody else. Particularly black girls and women, who do not get a lot of cultural messages that treat them as people who are so valuable and precious, who may not have the strength to save themselves, or may wish that they didn't fucking have to save themselves (and everyone else) all the time.

White men have this story so often happen that we have a trope name specific to one specific and particularly egregious version of this, but you don't often see men who look like Robbie dealing with this type of story in fictional settings, even though it happens for men like Robbie in real life with horrifying frequency.

I don't know that there's any reason for Primus Tachonis (or possibly an undead spirit allowed to pilot him? the wild expression described at the time makes me feel like mind-fuckery was possibly laid on the sorcerer) to even know who Kattigan was. Primus certainly didn't show any signs of recognizing Kattigan in the now.

So alternatively, the killing might have specifically been about Marienna and a child of her blood. Not necessarily anything to do with a Falconer who stepped out before the war ended. Otherwise, why not kill Kattigan too upon his rush home?

If Marienna was a member of a vassal house, her running off to live a happy life, have a kid, with a Falconer could have been the kind of betrayal to warrant getting hunted down and killed/disappeared.