My theory confirmed... (Year 6 Chapter 19 - Major Spoilers)

So, it happened. I knew that something was up because although this community has been pretty good at keeping big things like this turn of events a secret, the signs were there.

If we forget for a moment that a few chapters earlier, there was an obvious "goodbye" scene in which MC was able to take a walk down memory lane, I feel like this has been something JC has prepared us for from very early on in the game. I started playing almost a year ago, having restarted to both remind myself of the storyline and also to try and complete all the TLSQs when I missed quite a few in my previous game (that I hadn't played for years). This experience has meant that the mass of all the TLSQs in the early years have heavily influenced my perception of the characters.

When MC starts at Hogwarts, of course their first and only friend is Rowan. However, very soon after, MC finds themselves becoming increasingly popular and from Year 2-3 onwards, only interacts with Rowan 5% (or less) of the time. I don't know how everyone else feels about this, but I think it was either a critical error on JC's part, or something they chose to do on purpose. They obviously knew Rowan's destiny, and so either never bothered including them in the TLSQs anyway, or wrote in a replacement with Corey (whom I only know about thanks to following walkthroughs).

The problem with this is that it made for a very frustrating storyline whereby MC rarely ever interacts with their supposed best friend! It's pretty ridiculous in the grand scheme of things, and so many chapters in Years 4-5 were wasted with stupid prank activities (we were forced to do even if it didn't fit our MCs) when that time could've been spent reconnecting with our oldest friend. I understand that Rowan wasn't really that keen on all the danger of the curse-breaking or pranking shenanigans, but that doesn't mean neglecting them was fair to do either (nor deciding for them that they didn't want to be involved).

It reminds me of something I learned about character writing, where you can have an idea as the author/ writer of where something is going, but should be wary of influencing how the character(s) react instead of letting events unfold more organically. So the fact that MC pretty much ignores Rowan and spends most of their time running around with the likes of Penny (or heaven forbid, Merula 🙄), has meant that we as players perhaps didn't feel that 'bestie' bond with Rowan. In my personal experience, I always liked their character and feel Rowan was someone I'd have been friends with at school. But at the same time, apart from the early years, there's barely any interaction in the main SL or any other SQ - in fact, they make it seem like Penny is the bestie!

I'm interested to hear the thoughts of this community on how JC handled this awful plot twist. The unbridled evil, and their final moment is what haunts me. Rowan deserved better than that 😭