do you think if lucanis broke the cycle (not being condescending on his return, actually transparent that he missed and still loves illario, changed for illario) that illario would have defected from his plan? do you think illario hates us because lucanis is trying to break it for us (either rook/neve/the veilguard/all of the above) and not just "oh you've ruined my plan now i'm going to take all three of you on at once." he kept his grandma alive even when she refused to make him talon. do you think he would have killed her eventually or just kept her out of the way?
you guys are batting 100s with the chewy questions tonight tysm for this food....
if he had come back.... if Lucanis had come back and made actual tangible change... i don't think things would have changed. i think illario was already on this train wreck that he couldn't stop, but i do think he might've... tried harder to stop it? reached out? expressed remorse himself? it would've been more of a moment of "i started something i cannot stop" and things might've gone... differently in the aftermath of their relationship rather than how things played out.
i don't think he would've been able to kill caterina; he wasn't able to kill lucanis, he had to get someone else to do it. and i DO think he resents a Rook, or Neve, or the Veilguard all at once for being something to Lucanis that he doesn't have, never had, and can't be FOR him. why can't he open those doors? yknow. OUGH REALLY GOOD THOUGHTS