So...this is happening

I mean imagine just after the end of the shapers war if the Lloys had made moves like the Halovars would have. They made the weapon that killed the god of war, their druids turned a wasteland green. They are heroes, practically saints. They could have been the new nobility and secured the borders of Dol-Makjar completely icing out the Sundered houses from the only non-blighted land left in Aramán. The Sundered Houses would be in absolute disaster if the Lloys decided to play the game like they do.

What are they doing instead? They are making public infrastructure for free and selling just a sword when they need the money. Thaisha wanted to be a jewelry maker and everybody thought it was a great idea. Even now her truly calling and her families seeing as her grandmother is head of the order of Ancients, is healing the world from the damage done by the shapers. This is obviously great for them and the rest of the world, not to mention that in the long run it's probably more effective. I mean just look at what Thaisha did in episode 29 with the opening of the path to the orc souls freed by the ritual. I truly believe that if given enough time they will figure out a way to fix the barrow dels.

You dare not, until a man looks you in the eyes and tells you yes. Yes, we did it. You pointed us in the direction. You led the way. You did not die for nothing, you died for your children to be free, to have the ability to fight for freedom, and your children got it!!! They got it, and isn't that everything you ever hoped for? The sheer joy of that realization is what allows you to move on, to join the world once more not as a lost soul, who failed in their battle, but as a soul who led the way to freedom. And now you are free, free to pass on and rejoin the world!!!

hal who's worked so hard for decades to find the perfect way to tell a story that will save their people, who's turned a place of terror into a place of pure freedom and joy, who in his own way shaped every member of this performance but never to command them, only to support them

shadia who's carrying such a huge legacy in her blood, fighting like both of her parents to build a better world with the blades her ancestors built to secure her future, a performance that can speak to her calling this place home

both of them in ways they didn't know were possible, pulling worlds together in this moment to create a new path for those long lost to walk

No one in the rescue attempt (except maybe Thimble who was supposed to be able to sneak the glyph onto Thjazi) had any contact with Thjazi after his arrest. He didn't know what the plan was. He didn't expect Azune to be the Marhsall assigned to him, and while he did say 'Anyone but you' and that could have been in regard to Azune sacrificing his life for him literally, it could also be referring to the fact that if Azune was going to be escaping with him it would be the end of his metaphorical life in Dol Makjar (Azune's second and possibly longest home). It could have also been to help maintain cover since enough people knew Thjazi had brought Azune to the city that Filoneus was able to find it out.

Thaisha and Thimble, who were both involved in planning the escape certainly doesn't seem to have expected that Azune would possibly die as a result of neither having asked for, nor planned for himself, a way out.

There's very little reason for Thjazi, who was so tricky Kattigan checked his dead body with magic in case his death was a ruse, to assume Azune didn't have some escape plan.

In campaign 4, the story does not work if Thjazi had ill-intent. It simply doesn't, given everything we've seen; it undercuts everything up to this point. That doesn't mean he can't fuck up (indeed the closing of the doors to Faerie indicates that he was at least part of a major fuckup) or be deceived but nearly all the character arcs rely on the idea that Thjazi was a well-intentioned guy with major flaws in how he worked towards his goals, and Brennan has pretty much turned to camera and said that, and so it's fascinating to see people mad about criticism of characters who have their doubts turning to this idea that one would only disagree because Thjazi was a character to whom we had emotional connections and not because of a narrative analysis. (Also worth noting that like, this is a factor in the discourse about Bolaire, but as someone who really likes Julien...I'm not seeing Julien fans insisting his takes on Thjazi are correct in an objective sense, merely that Julien obviously hates him).

When Occtis uses the druidic book to speak to the stone in the ruined temple, he sees a memory of a Halovar priest communing with Tansul. During this, we learn the main component for the Deva Invicta is a priest of Tansul. Meaning, we assume, either a Halovar or a Tachonis.

We know from the Segundus's letters that the first failed attemt(s) at creating the Deva involved a subject/subjects from House Halovar.

Further, the abomination the Seekers fought was a "partial failure, partial success" because Tertia's innate sorcery botched up something in the ritual. That's why they needed Occtis, the only Tachonis without innate sorcery.

But why would Tansul specify the heart of one of his priests if there was even a chance their sorcery would fuck up the ritual?

Unless it had to be the Halovar because their House never had sorcery in the first place.

What if House Halovar, a priestly House of Tansul, were just that: clerics whose power was fully dependent on their Shaper, and became mundane humans when he died?

Whether you believe her Wish spell story or think Yanessa went the turkey baster route, Wicander's sorcerer subclass is Clockwork, not Divine Soul, because Celestials in the world of Araman are constructs.

Maybe young Yanessa Halovar, powerless for the first time in her life and willing to make some insane moves, seals a deal with a demon prince for magic enough to cage an angel. Suddenly the demon deals, filiment tattoos and luxes who are probably unwitting warlocks make sense. This is Yanessa trying to replicate the lost power of her House in any way she can.

the Lloys

a notable merchant house

House Royce, for whatever that’s worth

pretty much all local fairies

overlapping with some local criminal elements

which in turn overlaps with 350-odd semi-former soldiers

And that’s on top of being, in entirely his own strength, a universally recognizable leader of arts & culture, so in-tune with the spirit of the populace and skilled at expressing and directing it that with one strong opening night he can lead a 10,000-person celebratory parade through the city. Add in the rest of the Schemers and their respective spheres of influence?

Short answer: It’s against the Senate’s laws and the leaders of the Alliance don’t trust him.

Long answer: So the Imperial Senate (which still exists at this point in the timeline and which many members of the Alliance leadership are actually a part of) have specifically banned battle droids. A droid that has no code blocking the harm of organics is illegal. A droid that carries a weapon is illegal. KX series get around this by being marketed as “security” droids, and there was probably a whole lot of careful wording in their contracts and permits from the government. But however you look at it, the code that prohibits droids from harming organics is not built in to the KX series. The Senators know this - they probably have/had these same droids assigned to their Imperial Senate quarters or whatever. Intelligence/Draven also knows this - these things were probably a huge headache for the Intel department before they were eventually phased out. And honestly, what are the odds that Cassian (a staunch supporter of freedom and civil rights and also fond of his droid friend) added that piece of code limiting Kay’s abilities back in? (Not high.) And then we take into account the automatic suspicion of a turncoat, which Kay appears to be: the old idea that “if they betray my enemy to join me, they could just as easily betray me for my enemy.”

Also, he’s a salty arsehole who doesn’t butter anyone up, and in the world of political favors, charming contacts, and stressed people in tight quarters, that’s a recipe for mistrust and petty backlash.

So from leadership’s perspective: He’s an Imperial Security Droid (so his existence is already technically illegal), he’s not coded to avoid harming organics (and who knows what Andor did when he was poking around in there), he’s a traitor once (even if that’s unfair), and he’s not exactly trying hard to ingratiate himself with anyone.

Okay but, listen: Samwise came back to confront Gollum. There is no way he expected to see an enormous Lovecraftian nightmare of a spider instead. BUT HE DOES. NOT. FLINCH.

So different, yet kindred all the same.