hi, different anon but following up on the previous answered ask: would you like to talk more about liam in c4? I have to admit that hal hasn't really stood out to me so far. I think it's mostly bc liam's playing him quite reserved and with a lot of interiority and i am aware I am drawn to more external characters who do and say a lot more "flashy" things. also because until now he was very focused on the play unlike azune and murray who got to do more distinct smaller tasks, which I feel gave me a richer view of who they are and how they act. I would appreciate if you gave me some insight into how you see his character, I hope it would allow me to see what I'm missing and appreciate him more!
Hi anon, so I will admit that for Liam I tend to like his characters when they are more internally focused. If you were to go back to my posts during C2, I liked Caleb a lot but had mixed feelings on Vax. I think Liam is, obviously, an excellent player, but I find specifically when he goes very big he can go very sappy for my tastes. I think I once compared C1/C2-era Liam to films from the early 20th century when stage actors hadn't realized that when the camera is 10 feet from your face it looks kind of silly to emote for the back row. Anyway this is to say that this might just be a matter of personal taste.
With that said, Campaign 4 is very much a cohesive story told across multiple POVs (ie, each table has a role to play, which is why I will brook no soldiers slander and will 100% not listen to a word anyone who skips certain tables says) and Hal is in many ways at the very center of it. The inciting incident is the murder - and for all it's officially an execution, this is a politically-motivated murder - of his brother. In many ways, Hal represents the people of Dol-Makjar as a whole. Many supported the failed Falconer's Rebellion but stayed home. Many, in the decade following, grumbled about increasing restrictions but tried to work within the system. Hal has his theater because he worked with the Chamber of Lords-Advisory! But in the end this netted him a theater and lost him a brother, and that's where our story begins.
Hal during the first schemers arc is mostly a fairly quiet presence but he does actually get a lot of information through Romina, and, honestly, through being a fine and upstanding citizen of Dol-Makjar. The point of Hal is to some extent to be an everyman. Murray is heavily associated with the Penteveral and has few contacts outside that and the arcane black market; Azune as an Arcane Marshall (one who has climbed several ranks for that matter) is not someone people will automatically open up to and he keeps to himself; and Bolaire deals primarily with high society and a different portion of the criminal underbelly than Murray. Hal is the guy who actually knows his neighbors and the middle/working class of the city. Hal's the person who has connections and family here. There's a reason Orus Blade confides in him specifically. I think it is also notable he's an orc, given that Dol-Makjar is an orcish city and the story is about human nobles trying to take it over and he is the person who has lived her for nearly half a century.
There are two moments from Hal I think really epitomize the story overall. The first is when the party goes into the sewers and he hesitates. That whole encounter serves as a division where Hal moves from "just a theater guy who's asking a couple extra questions" to "returning to war". The second is of course when he snaps after meeting with Yanessa and tells Thaisha and Kattigan that Yanessa can "choke on filament" and makes his quiet rebellion overt. That is, ultimately, what this story is about. Obviously his play is a huge moment, and the comparison between Hal uplifting orcish history and honoring people whose failures nonetheless paved the way for an ultimate success and reclaiming the Dithyramb of Azgra as a place of orcish cultural heritage and self-determination and Thaisha working to heal Barrowdells is a big deal, but I guess the best way to put it is that Hal as a character is the most pure encapsulation of the story that Brennan is telling. And as someone who ultimately thinks characters live or die by how well they tell the story, this is why I think Liam is a fantastic player and Hal is a great character.
