I love how Taliesin is playing Bolaire. Tal's ttrpg experience shows because he's playing a character that must possess people to exist without de-railing the game and it having actual depth. I get that a sentient mask that wears people isn't everyone's cup of tea but that's not an excuse to use bad faith arguments to try and paint him as "problematic" or whatever misused psychological term is popular on Tiktok this week.
The main one is that Bolaire is "grooming" Occtis and/or Wick to make one of them wear him as a more permanent host or worse.
There's zero evidence of this. It's more likely that Bolaire is expressing genuine concern, as someone who fears being exposed and locked away in a box, that both Occtis and Wick might meet that same fate if their respective families learn of their new-found states. Thjazi himself threatened Bolaire with exposure and he feared telling Hal what he is. This lingering anxiety shows as concern for others in a similar position, not being predatory. Body hopping has worked for Bolaire so far, so there's no rush to obtain a more permanent host.
Not saying goodbye to Demodus Blix is a nothing burger. Just because it wasn't shown doesn't mean it didn't happen or isn't going to be a cold open somewhere down the line. Much of Bolaire's time with Demodus wasn't shown and we simply don't know what Demodus knows or discussed with Bolaire.
Painting Thjazi as a villain. Murray was the one to bring this up and the evidence the Schemers have could point either way. Yes Bolaire hated Thjazi, but he was expressing the concern that something bad was being set up and Thjazi is a big part of it. He knows Hal doesn't want to entertain the idea of his brother setting up a ritual that could kill many people, but their evidence could be interpreted that way at that time.
Draining souls from his host is completely fabricated and misinformation. It is shown to be fatiguing to wear and use Bolaire, but nowhere has it been confirmed that he drains souls or life-force. The state of the previous hosts is due to Bolaire neglecting them. Feeding them the bare minimum and not letting them rest. He's not completely starving them or wearing corpses. They'd last months, even years, if they're unlucky. Bolaire is a parasite. He needs a host. Most people are not going to be fine with that, so he has to get what he can and leave them in a state that they can't become a problem later.
The example I use when running VtM is if you stood up on a stage, in front of a crowd of average people, and revealed exactly what you are. Would you be walking off that stage? Sure there might be some weirdos that are cool with you, but a good number of people are going to climb up on that stage and beat you to death.
I see hypocrite being thrown around a lot too, which is another nothing burger. Everyone is a hypocrite about something it's not some grand moral failure.
It's ok not to like Bolaire, but wow, folks are getting their panties in a twist over literally nothing.
