ThaneRant: Why his death is out of character
Again, this is not coming from a position of, "Thane shouldn't die because I fap to him." This is written from the position of, "You just went against what his character should be and fucked him over royally when he did not have to die there."
Okay, now, I know full well that Thane and Kai Leng have fought before. I know both of them have an eidetic memory (Thane naturally, Kai Leng from cybernetics and Reaper-tech). They are evenly matched on a good day and Thane can't breathe... so Leng does have an advantage.
My issue with the entire thing can be summed up in one sequence:
Right. Here. Thane knocks Leng half way across the fucking room biotically. You mean to tell me that he can incapacitate him, but he cannot fire shots off while Leng is down? You mean to tell me that Thane Krios is instead going to effectively commit suicide by storming straight into Leng, who will anticipate and counter the move?
The argument may be: well Thane likes to kill personally and up close.
Counter: He's also a sniper who is capable of long-range kills.
Evidence: A) One of Thane's weapons in ME2 is a sniper rifle.
B) IRIKAH AND KOLYAT KRIOS! Thane met Irikah when he was targeting with his sniper rifle.
Point: The man doesn't always kill up close and personal like he did with Nassana Dantius. He will take shots from farther away if they have a better chance of success.
He wouldn't storm Kai Leng unless he wanted to be stabbed, which wouldn't fit his character. He'd want to kill the man who threatened the Salarian Counselor and his friend (or his lover), Shepard. When he'd knocked Leng across the room and had him disoriented he would have been loading him with half a thermal clip, getting more than one killing shot. Guaranteed.
But you want to know what really pisses me off?
Thane probably wouldn't have even dropped down and made Leng aware of his presence. You know what would have made more sense than getting into a hand to hand fight with someone who had your skill when you can't breathe? Staying in the rafters with a sniper rifle and taking him out in one shot.
That would have made sense. Not Thane throwing away what little was left of his life.
This is obviously just my opinion. You can agree or disagree, I just needed to rant. Coming from the standpoint of characterization and all this character stands for (efficiency, lethal precision, careful timing, intelligence) it just doesn't make sense for Thane to engage him in a hand to hand fight for no reason.
There was no reason for Thane to die the way he did.
Granted, it could have been worse. The death he did have, while unnecessary in my mind, was honorable. He died with the legacy you met him trying to make, leaving the galaxy better than he found it. I would like to ask for more, namely Thane to be cured by Mordin in a fit of Salarian boredom, but I will take this at face value.
There are too many sloppy things in the story, this is just what happens to be my biggest non-ending-related complaint.