14. Is there a squad member you disliked in the beginning, but started to appreciate later? If yes, who and why?
Oh, absolutely. I understand characters now as a player who can see their development and personalities from an outside, omnipresent side instead of through my Shepard’s eyes, but I openly admit there were characters I dislike when I first played the games just to enjoy instead of analyze.
I’m going to go with the first companion I disliked and the one I didn’t really give a chance to understand for the longest time, Ashley Williams.
From the beginning, she’s very antagonistic if your Shepard is not completely paragon. For instance, when you ask why she’s on the Normandy after Eden Prime (which seems logical given that military postings just randomly change without a whole lot of paperwork and prompt) she gets defensive and backtalks someone in higher command. Then she wonders why she isn’t taken seriously?
Next is the obvious xenophobia with her comparing aliens to dogs in a horrible anology (the concept that can be easily laid out in a very different comparison) or stating that she ‘can’t tell the difference betwen the animals and the aliens’ on the Citadel. She also isn’t above having some passing remarks towards your alien crew if she’s along on certain missions.
I admit I left her on Virmire many playthroughs, but it was only when I chose her for the trilogy that I truly began to apprecitate her character growth. She’s a bit of a shit person for the above reasons, but she realizes that and gets the idea that only she can overcome the prejudice against her family and it’s not going to happen if she keeps giving the Alliance reason. When she shows she can put her frustration and upset over her family’s treatment aside, accept it and grow from it, she rises quickly in ranks and succeeds. She learns and grows, becoming one of the crew once again in 3. Hell, she becomes a bigger part of the crew once she accepts that she was wrong.
I don’t hate Ashley. I love her. Because she’s flawed, doesn’t get along with my Shepards, and she still changes. She learns what’s holding her down isn’t all outside forces and grows from that, puts forth the effort to show the Galaxy she isn’t just a Williams, she’s a damn good soldier.
I put her through the ringer in Parable not because I don’t like her, but because Jane didn’t and I wanted people to see why the two didn’t initially get along. I’m happy that there are readers (I hope) out there that can understand it wasn’t a heated bashing, but a realistic portrayal that, sometimes, people just don’t plain get along without a lot of work and compromising in order to understand.
I’ll stop rambling, but thank you for the interesting ask!
SquigglySquidd's Parables 