I wanted to try and counter common claims I see about Hanush! I don't want to stop anyone being a Hanush hater or say anyone is outright wrong though, there is room for all things in fandom. If you are a Hanush hater then maybe you can use these bits to enhance your hatred and make it stronger 💪
Hanush deliberately raised Hans to be unfit to rule, so Hanush could continue ruling.
Hanush gave Hans a better education than Hanush himself had. Hans can read (Hanush can't), he can speak Latin and Italian, he can fight well, and he's been given education in sieges/defence (as we see when riding to Nebakov).
Hanush does want Hans to attend events which prepare him for ruling Rattay. Hans blows them off. Hans himself says most of his time is spent learning from Hanush (though clearly he's not engaging as much as he pretends, since once a week isn't much...): "Now I spend most of my time trying to learn from Sir Hanush. Governing is no joke, at least most of the time. Only last week I had to listen to complaints from subjects." But he finds dealing with his future subjects boring: "Like a flock of sheep, bleating all the time. Even study is more interesting." When Henry is assigned as his page on the hunting trip, the thing Hans is avoiding is this: "Tomorrow you will go with me to a hearing. Some landowners have asked me to settle a dispute. It will be an excellent lesson for you."
It seems unlikely that Hanush would scold Hans for chasing girls and brawling with subjects if he wanted Hans to act that way.
Hanush and Radzig seem to be friends, and they're both chivalrous enough to do things like letting Istvan go. Even if Hanush were corrupt enough to raise Hans badly on purpose, I don't think Radzig would let this go without comment.
Hans has clearly been instilled with some noble, even idealistic, values. Underneath his youthful laziness and hedonism, he genuinely thinks the nobility has a duty to the peasantry, and talks about it when passing burned Mesoles with Brabant. Hanush is mostly likely the one who raised Hans to think this way.
Hans is a twenty-year-old. Of course he's immature and stupid and impulsive and horny and not very good at anything. He's only twenty. You don't need to do anything wrong deliberately to make a young person act this way!
Hanush wants Hans dead/captured, so Hanush can continue ruling.
Why would Hanush bother rescuing Hans at all? I guess you can say that he has to do this for the sake of appearances, but if he didn't care, I don't think he would be riding to Kuttenberg region himself with Radzig.
I've seen an interpretation of the game over message "In the end, Capon was released and unceremoniously returned home" to mean that nobody paid the ransom and Hans was just released when he was no longer useful. I'm not sure about this; it could equally mean that Hans was ransomed and returned home in disgrace.
Overall I'm just not sure what in the text supports this idea. If anyone thinks this and has a text-supported reason to do so, let me know!
Hanush is forcing Hans into marriage.
This is obviously true, BUT...
Although the arranged marriage is clearly meant to be a negative to the player, all the ingame characters except Hans react positively to it. Devil suggests it, Radzig agrees, and Hanush is clearly both legally able to do this and morally encouraged to do so. This is seen as a good parenting action in context by pretty much everyone. Hanush, Radzig and Devil are trying to do what they think is good for Hans in the long run. Devil says that Hans will be "happy" once he's "sire(d) a few brats".
Even Henry isn't particularly bothered by it. He says it had to happen one day. Arranged marriages are clearly par for the course in the game context. Arranging a marriage is not seen as an evil/abusive act.
I've also seen a couple of claims that Hanush gloats over upsetting Hans with the marriage. I don't think this actually happens in the game. If anyone thinks it does, please let me know what line you're referring to!
I do acknowledge that for a fair number of players, Hanush doing this is over the line and unacceptable. I think that's coming from a very modern and culturally specific perspective, but the game puts you in Hans' perspective at that moment, so it's still something that the game does want you to feel!
Hanush is generally cruel and abusive to Hans.
I'm not sure how Hanush can win here. If he does nothing about Hans' foolish behaviour, then haters will believe that Hanush wants Hans to be unfit to rule. If he punishes Hans, haters will believe he's cruel and abusive.
Personally I think Hanush usually has good reason to scold Hans, and we really have to divorce ourselves from Hans'/Henry's viewpoint here. From Hans' perspective, you guys were just having a bit of fun at the baths and then someone attacked you. From Hanush's perspective, Hans was off whoring again and then got into yet another fistfight with a subject. Whatever Hans says about Hanush is massively biased because Hans is the one being told off. Whether Hans likes Hanush or not is not a good indication of whether Hanush is doing the right thing.
Hans clearly thinks Hanush is more judgemental and harsh than he actually is. Hans doesn't want to return to Rattay in KCD2 because he believes Hanush will let him have it; when Hanush and Radzig do turn up before Raborsch, no such thing happens. (It's actually Henry who can throw Hans under the bus, and Hanush scolds both of them for being childish if Henry does so. He clearly doesn't like Henry playing up Hans' failings and finds it beneath him. If Hanush did like scolding Hans, why wouldn't he enjoy Henry encouraging him to do so?)
I've seen a few people point out that Hans complains: "The only thing I have to read is the Bible and Hanush won't let anyone near me but the priest." This must be either an exaggeration or only describes his specific situation while he's healing from the Cuman ambush, since Hans normally wanders around Rattay and spends time in the taverns and baths and is drinking with others in the tavern closing/fistfight scene. Hanush isn't actually severely restricting Hans' activities (or if he is, he's not doing a good job of it). Hans does seem to be very lonely and socially inept (his 0 speech skill) and is disliked by the Rattay townsfolk, but I don't see much evidence that Hanush is the cause of this (in fact Hanush wants him to develop a better relationship with his people and better social skills by attending hearings, it's Hans who won't do it!)
Hanush purposely humiliates Henry.
This is people talking about the ending, when Hanush wants you to sharpen his sword. Personally I interpreted this the exact opposite way: Hanush doesn't want to humiliate you in front of all your friends by saying "Hey, we both know you're going to try and eavesdrop even though I told you not to and I don't trust you" so instead he emphasises that you're a skilled craftsman and gives you a distracting task to do, to try and encourage you to stay away. Both of you (hopefully) understand what the conversation means, but it doesn't embarrass Henry as much. I think Hanush is actually trying to spare you here.
OK that's my effortpost, if you read this far then you think about this game too much xx
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