The Principia Discordia
The Pillars fan Discord reached out with the following:
Dear Alex,
During our conversations on character of Vatnir in Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire on Discord for this game we found ourselves having some questions. We allowed ourselves to create this list of general questions:
Does Vatnir actually likes anything? Would anything make him happy? Those questions became an issue especially after publication of “Seeker, Slayer, Survivor” and “Forgotten Sanctum”, where he constantly presents comments of displeasure, boredom, nihilism, resentment etc. and actually almost none of positive feelings (aside Watcher getting bitten by the machine in the FS). That also made some of us question, if he even likes to travel, as You have told on PAX panel. Would he be interested/willing to be presented to Giacolo and/or his procedure? Also what is his attitude towards other godlike (aside or including Tekehu)? Some of us question, why they care for such an ass?
My (spoiler-light-but-not-free) thoughts are behind the cut.
I can’t speak for people caring or not caring about Vatnir - honestly, I’m often surprised by the way people respond to him. Making a
lovable character was never one of our goals with Vatnir. We wanted him to be complicated but understandable, amoral but sympathetic. Amoral because it was important to us that he be a priest who never judges the player’s actions (from a moralistic standpoint).
He makes a lot of jokes - albeit dark jokes - even when he’s complaining, and part of that is to keep him sympathetic. He’s not so negative and nihilistic that he can’t find humor in things.
(I particularly like his
response to being petted by Fetid spray, or
this, which can occur when the doors shut on the player party in Forgotten Sanctum, locking them out of the greater part of the structure near its entrance.)
I also think that he
does try to be helpful and useful - it’s just that that helpfulness is filtered through the lens of his religion, his physical and emotional suffering, and his cowardice.
- He’s not always complaining about delving into ancient ruins filled with monsters only because he doesn’t want to be there - he doesn’t think anyone else should be there, either. There’s plenty of adventures to be had that don’t involve giant tentacle monsters.
- He doesn’t express existential philosophies out of pure selfishness, but because he believes others should accept and internalize them towards the betterment of their spirit - he is a priest, after all!
Cowardice is a cornerstone to Vatnir’s character. He likes traveling, but he doesn’t enjoy putting himself at unnecessary risk, especially at risk of suffering and pain, which he feels like he gets plenty of anyway. And note that
despite that cowardice, he still follows the Watcher into these places he clearly doesn’t want to be. He’s loyal, and he’s (kind of) stalwart.
Since the DLCs are primarily about dungeon-delving and fighting, the player primarily experiences Vatnir in that context. Not at his best, I’d argue. If we’d been able to add more base game lines for him in places like, say, Neketaka, he might seem a bit less of a negative ass.
He’s much more relaxed, for example, during his exchange with
Vela.
In the beautiful, magical world where we got to do a fully-fleshed personal quest for Vatnir beyond what’s in Beast of Winter, I’d have pitched focusing it on giving him a tour of the Deadfire, showing him little beautiful things and the like. Maybe take him to the
Teotara Marvel. Something pleasant and meditative and life-affirming.
This would almost certainly not actually get into the game in that form. There’s a (not unreasonable) expectation of combat and treasure from quests, especially those related to major characters such as the companions.
Once actually in a fight, however, he quickly accepts it and pulls his weight. In general he’s quick to accept misfortune as a
result of his fatalism - because
of course terrible shit was going to happen. And when it does, you’ve got to push through it if you want to survive. If you’re looking for another positive aspect of the character, I’d say you can find it there - Vatnir is persistent and possessed of great fortitude.
As for the other two godlikes, I think he’s got far more in common with Pallegina than with Tekēhu. One could argue that he’s an anti-Tekēhu, a creature so brutalized by his life that he’s become rather callous.
He’s also significantly older than either of the other two. I don’t think we nail down his age, but he’s probably older (in terms of raw years) than any other companion save Ydwin. And
all of that time was spent in inhospitable climes among the company of fundamentalist Rymrgand cultists. And as an Endings Godlike.
And regarding Giacolo? I think Vatnir’s probably well beyond the animancer‘s aid. I don’t recall whether or not we go into it, but I suspect that extracting a godlike’s chime late in life could have a pretty negative effect on them. Even so, it wouldn’t
undo Vatnir’s godlike features - though perhaps some of the sores might close and the infections clear up.
Disclaimer: The above is not canon. There’s every possibility Obsidian’ll contradict that in some future game.
If he
could be transformed from a godlike into a pale elf, however, I suspect he’d accept that in an instant. He’s in constant, significant pain, and I think he’d feel no compunction about taking almost any action to relieve himself of it.
That said, he has no particular feelings about godlikes as a “species.” He doesn’t consider them particularly blessed, nor does he find them frightening or off-putting. They’re simply a part of the world - inevitable.
I’ve joked that there’s a lot of myself in Vatnir, and while I don’t really think that’s true, I do think that there are aspects of him that are informed by my depression. Vatnir has this dark pain, this gaping emptiness within, both physical and spiritual, that gnaws at him. Every moment. Of every day. And that dulls the world to a person. It can reduce to them the world to its most unpleasant aspects.
There’s no small extent, I think, to which Vatnir’s fatalism and dourness is a coping mechanism that doesn’t fully reflect inner life. It’s clear from listening to him that he was miserable in the White that Wends and would never want to return, but at the same time, he defends it against Ydwin’s insults and is deeply unimpressed with her embrace of other cultures. He clearly has affection for his homeland and culture, buried under all that frost and pus.
Hope this was helpful?
<3 <3 <#