Within Twst lore, ghosts are the dead who remain in the realm of the living due to lingering regrets or powerful desires. That's... fine in theory, but strange in execution.
So... Eliza, the Ghost Bride, died young due to an enemy nation betraying and invading her kingdom. She returned as a ghost and sought to fulfill her wish to be married to the perfect prince, which she was not able to achieve while alive. Like I said before, that's fine.
... But tell me why MALEANOR doesn't get to be a ghost???? Why?????????? She is a princess in the midst of war too, like Eliza was. And arguably, Maleanor has a lot more at stake because she's an adult woman with a family and responsiblities of her own. Her husband is missing, her unborn son needs her love magic in order to come into the world, her best friend Lilia is a general in the middle of the war, she knows how putrid the invading humans are, and her people are looking to her for protection. Maleanor literally LEADS THEIR ARMY, for hell's sake. There is a lot riding on her shoulders. How can it be that she doesn't have lingering regrets or desires powerful enough to bring her back as a ghost????? Surely not????????
Are the Briar Valley senators considered ghosts or not…? Because they’re dead but powerful fae, if I recall correctly??? Yet they seem to linger and advise in the governance of Briar Valley, so why didn’t Maleanor or her spirit return as a senator??? 🧍♂️
It seems totally arbitrary to me who does and doesn't get to be a ghost, and the devs just decide this based on whatever will bring the most tears from the audience. They gotta keep Malleus lonely and sad with dead and/or missing parents, so obviously Maleanor can't be a ghost because then she would be able to interact with her son and he wouldn't be as lonely and sad. Honestly, the same logic governs why Leah and the Dawn Knight aren’t ghosts despite also being from war time and being worried about the child they’re leaving behind. Oh, but for one-off NPCs like Eliza and the BV senators? It's fine to make them ghosts because they can be goofy or just plain hateable.