Is it just me, or is there a parallel between Sebastian acting too soon and us acting too late?
Allow me to babble for a little while.
Now hear me out on this one, when we see memories in Undercroft, Sebastian asks us to figure out how to take away Anne's pain, before turning to the Relic as a last option. But then, I assume he drops this idea since the next time we hear from him, it is actually from Ominous informing us that our dear friend is going bonkers in that tomb with inferi (and it's our fault).
You can say the writers just forgot/rushed this part so that the fight with Uncle Solomon could happen, buuuuuuut what if there's a plot to it?
A lot of things were cut (plus it's fun to theorise), so why not?
I guess that Sebastian just panicked and couldn't wait any longer, hence not informing us of his plan.
(in which I think we were supposed to take part) and attempted to carry it out himself. I read someone's theory on Reddit (couldn't find the link, sorry!) that the Relic was cursed, and considering it belonged to Salazar Slytherin (who has himself a racist snake chilling under the school, ready to kill non-pureblood kids), I wouldn't be surprised. (A dark magic artefact, with a curse seasoned on top? What a cruel joke.)
I think that makes a ton of sense.
Just think about it, when we meet Sebastian in the Catacombs, he's rambling nonsense. He's going mad. And honestly, I refuse to jump on: “Oh, he's evil, and it was his plan all along”, train because, no, it wasn't. He's described as having an interest in dark magic: “While his aims and goals often seem well-intended, he justifies acting questionably to achieve them and uses his sister's illness as an excuse to delve into Dark Magic.”
Sure, and he did dive into Dark Arts deeper and got carried away, searching for answers and a cure, but I believe he genuinely had noble intentions. It's not just an excuse. Perhaps at one point, it became one for acting irrationally. But I'd like to believe there's more to it.
Sebastian's curious, smart, and cunning, but he's also desperate.
He's the only one working to find a cure for his sister, which puts a lot of pressure, that's why he may live by "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" and "Strike while the iron is hot" principles. The guy is simply running out of time, and in the panic and desperation makes dumb choices taking a dark magic artifact and without a proper plan improvising on the spot which results in him going mad and acting irrationally.
Is it his fault for what happened? Yes. Do I sympathise with him? Oh, absolutely.
Now we, on the other hand, are opposite. We're also running out of time, but we cannot do anything about it.
Yes, we venture out and do our own research, but our fate is still mostly in Keeper's hands.
We can't convince them, we can't rush them, we're simply stuck waiting. Waiting and convincing others to wait, too. We're stuck with "Haste makes waste" and "Better late than sorry" philosophy (or Ukrainian proverb equivalents "Don't run ahead of your father into hell" and "Hurry up – you'll make people laugh.")
But in the end we both are kinda doomed. Sebastian doesn't cure his sister, loosing her and his uncle in the process, while for us Ranrock almost carries out his plan, Hogwarts still gets attacked, resulting in Professor Fig's death.
Two sides of the same coin.
Such tragedy, such potential for angst, ugh!!!
♪And I can't see you here, wonder where I might It sort of feels like I'm runnin' out of time
I haven't found all I was hopin' to find♪