I want to preface and say I don't hate North. I don't really care about her but I blame that more on the writing of David Cage and not the character. In theory and on paper she is very engaging and has a good foundation and even a sympathetic view, but the way she comes off in practice is off putting.
The one reason I will never pair Markus and North is the scene in the warehouse at the beginning of Freedom March.
Markus is obviously in a situation where he is unsure of himself regardless of what choices were made in the previous chapter. If Markus goes the violent route, he expressed to North that the chaos and power he felt was enjoyable but he hates himself for it. If one chooses a peaceful route, he expresses how the power of leadership feels good but how frightening it is to have Jericho hinge on his every word.
This would have been an amazing scene. Markus is showing a vulnerability that humanizes him, it is a great moment to allow him to rely on someone else and the person David Cage chose was North. This would have been the best time to validate their relationship as something mutual. That Markus could rely on her like everyone relied on him.
THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS.
Markus tells her how unsure of himself he is and that he is feeling insecure in whatever way the player set up only for her to shut him down and talk about the FUCKING NEWS. About how the humans are retaliating. The whole scene plays off like her telling him to man up because it wouldn't matter anyway. She doesn't let him rely on her, and she is merely using the conversation to either try and guilt him into a violent response or to tell him not to worry about the violence and chaos because the humans deserve it anyway.
She is a TERRIBLE love interest, not because she advocates a violent revolution or because she has a bad disposition, but because she contributes nothing to Markus as a person, seeing him only as a means to an end. All she wants is selfish revenge and to get that she needs him to listen to her. She comes off manipulative and cold. I can't believe how badly David Cage fumbled this romance and at the same time I cannot be surprised.
