I worry a little bit that my "the writers don't respect Hector as a character" might be misinterpreted as like, just being upset that my favorite character died
And like, don't get me wrong, I am sad about that (and mad about the fact that I can count the number of male highlanders who've so much as sniffed a serious storyline and come away from it both alive and unmaimed on one hand) (no it's fine I'm TOTALLY COOL about Geode's death don't EVEN WORRY ABOUT IT) (I LOVE when characters don't get any character development until it's time to kill them off. this is excellent writing and definitely doesn't feel like cheap emotional manipulation <- we will come back to Cheap Emotional Manipulation)
But mostly what I mean by that is. Hector is a plot device. He's the reason we run into Retsarra, the Real main character of the Cruiserweight arc. (I have made my peace with Retsarra. I have learned to love the catboy. It's taken headcanons and analysis beyond the scope of what the game's willing to give even him - thanks as always @ferrocyan, you're the backbone of my Retsarra tolerance - but I have found a spot in my heart for this wretched miserable hamster who thinks he's a wolf.) His death gives the writers a convenient narrative place to insert Retsarra's exposition about his own outlook on life in Alexandria and his own impending death.
That scene is less about Hector's frankly horrific and unnecessary death - a death we may have driven him to - and more about Retsarra. The kitten grieves more for Hector than literally anyone else in the scene; Retsarra shows up and sheds one glistening anime tear before launching into his exposition.
And on the one hand, thank god the kitten grieves, at least
But on the other hand I hate how that feels
Because the scene feels like the writers didn't trust that the audience would be sad about Hector's (FRANKLY HORRIFIC AND UNNECESSARY) death if there wasn't a sad heartbroken kitten about it. Like. That was the moment, more than anything, that I realized these writers just didn't actually care about him as a character, because they didn't seem to think his death was worth mourning on its own merits; they had to pull the Cheap Emotional Manipulation to make sure the audience understood this is sad. You're supposed to be sad here
Like fuck dude at least Retsarra has the good fucking grace to be in what looks like miserable mourning for the entire duration of the wait between Cruiserweight and Heavyweight
And like... it's such a shame, because Hector is an interesting and worthwhile character on his own. I've put a lot of headcanon work into him, sure, but even just setting all of that aside, I love the contrast between him as a brutish bully in the ring and a doting cat dad at home. I love him teasing Retsarra about his girlfriend. I love that he's the fighter whose whole thing is fighting dirty, and he's the one who says it's unfair that you fight with seven partners. I love that it's canon that he was a shy tongue-tied kid. I love the implication that he and Retsarra were troublemakers as kids. He's fun! There's so much fun to be had with him as a character, and instead he's just... unappreciated by the narrative.
It's not the fact that he died, necessarily, that bothers me; I can deal with character death. I can and have shouldered on past character deaths before without being sO MAD at the way it was handled. And like... some characters just aren't meant to have value in the narrative beyond being plot devices, and that's. You know. That's fine. It's a shame it was my fave this time around, but it's fine, not every character exists to be more than that. Hector was there to facilitate Retsarra's character arc, and that's not a crime, necessarily (until I become god-queen of the universe and then those who committed these acts will be punished accordingly), but it is a shame.
