aniente replied to your post:There’s a part of me that really wants to like...
michel holding his promise to briala is interesting bc i’d assume by virtue of being her champion he has promised celene to always put her first? that’s basicallty his job description? so he keeps one promise but breaks another, and celene can’t keep a champion who she knows will make promises to others that compromises his loyalty to her. it’s kind of a lose-lose situation for him
aniente replied to your post: There’s a part of me that really wants to like...
and briala knows that, which makes it both ruthless and clever of her to use it to her advantage
See, that’s not my read into it. I think Michel has made a promise to protect Celene but I don’t think he’s vowed to put her above all else, I don’t think Celene would have asked that of him, she seems to (behind closed doors) value his opinions too much to force that. plus when they’re fighting the demons in the Eluvians and Celene’s about to kill Gaspard while he’s still functioning under truce and Michel speaks and kills her opening she’s annoyed, yes, but she doesn’t actually get angry at him. I don’t honestly think Briala’s intent was really to ruin Michel. I do think she was trying to weaken Celene, but not necessarily by making her abandon her champion. Michel’s the one that decides to out the secret Briala’s holding, not her.
And, in the end, if it was the way you read it, breaking the promise to Briala would arguably have less consequences than the one with Celene. Yes, Briala could out Michel’s secret, but Briala’s still an elf. Yes she knows the game and knows where to place secrets but I feel like if Michel went through with killing Gaspard and went to Celene privately to explain he’s half elf she wouldn’t have turned him out and would be able to root out and kill any rumors Briala started. But if she pulled the card during her arrest he would have honored it, if she pulled it at literally any time, he would have honored it. I feel like if it had the potential to clash with Celene’s safety, and he had promised that already, the older promise would win. Especially given there’s more to lose breaking a promise to an Empress than there is breaking one to an elf.