@proserpine-in-phases replied to your post “@kekeli-keli replied to your post “Reddit...”:
Alvin being a traitor is so obvious that even tho I WASNT spoiled I was like. Oh yeah this guy is lying constantly and would sell out the party for one corn chip. The shocking part was how hard he goes during that last sellout lmao Like raven is imo next worse in terms of tales party traitors but he never shot Estelle or anything. Alvin legit is going for a tpk when he shoots leia and fights jude and that is. A Bit Worse. But I love him anyway lol
RIGHT. I feel like they didn't actually intend Alvin's betrayal to be a plot twist. But you're right, the surprise with Alvin isn't that he's untrustworthy (because, duh) but just how off the rails he goes.
Raven's treachery is more a crime of passively accepting evil. He doesn't try to kill Estelle himself, he just hands her over, knowing someone else will hurt her. When he fights the party, his heart is clearly not in it (or in him, for that matter). He's just going through the emotions, and helps them escape immediately after.
But Alvin??? He accepted money to go out of his way to kill his former friends and came damn near close to succeeding. He's not being blackmailed like Anise, he's not trying to provoke Jude into killing him like Zelos, he's just fucking lost it and doesn't care anymore.
And it's my favourite scene in the whole game. Even though when I play, I always get the version where Alvin beats Jude because I suck at video games.
There's no playful punching Alvin one by one to "make things even" and then bringing him back onto the team without another word. Alvin rightfully fucks off and there's a whole chunk of the game without him, where the remaining party has the grapple with what he did and how they feel, and while Alvin has to go off on his own to work out his shit before he's ready to return.
And it ultimately leads to this, my second favourite scene in the game.
Where he finally talks it out with Elize and she forgives him and aaaaaaaaaaa
I don't have any romantic ships in this game, but the friendship between Alvin and Elize is everything to me.
But anyways, rambling about Alvin aside, I agree with everything you said. Alvin is a goddamn disaster who fucked up real bad and did some awful things and then the game lets him process that and seek redemption rather than brushing it off. And I love him for it.
