Annotated 11-12
Everything Best says here is sincere. Every word. OF course, not meaning to make others insignificant doesn’t necessarily make it okay when you do… but hey, he’s trying. He’s even stopped calling his “allies” his “backups,” which means something coming from him.
Obviously there’s no chance Best would stay this harmonious with the rest of the group indefinitely, but the rest of the group isn’t this harmonious with the rest of the group either [sounds of Frigg punching Byron in the background]. Any relationship is going to have peaks and valleys: this is a peak.
How low would the valleys have gotten if Best had gotten what he wanted from the basin? Had it shown him standing next to the others as they defeated an angry god, I think he’d be a lot easier to deal with in the short term. But that toxic ego of his would bubble back up in some form sooner or later– maybe he’d drive away Bandit’s team, which would leave them crucially underpowered in the Battle of B’ial Vezk. He has harder lessons to learn if he’s going to end up as the b– the greatest version of himself.
For a second Byron makes you think “calm the fuck down, man. He saved the team from being butchered by you again.” but then you think back…
“Oh right. He did toss those kids from a flying ship and sucker-punched Byron”.
That being said I feel I have to disagree with T on the last paragraph, as idiotic as that sounds considering he’s the writer. I feel Best’s improved tremendously already from the earlier incident and I just can’t recall him being sucked by a mystic cyberhole and giving him New Game Plus Amnesia do anything to make him a better person. He just was, I think? So would the Basin showing him a future where he is equal with friends defeating a great evil really drove him to a bad place or, considering he isn’t now as he was earlier on, just bonded better to fulfill his destiny with his fellow heroes?
I think I know what you mean, but I’m with T on this one (sharing parts of Best’s histrionic personality, I feel like I can understand how he works, a little). Best’s attitude has certainly changed here, but is it because he is different, or because he is close to achieving his short-term goal (the basin), so he feels satisfied enough to be nice to others? (Been there, done that, seen other people do it too; it’s easy to say “oh, we’re best buddies” (pun not intended) when everything seems to be going your way).
From my experience, any success or praise you throw at this kind of person is guaranteed to wear off sooner or later (most likely sooner). He would see his epic victory in the basin and it would certainly boost his spirits, but then he would have to get back to the reality of getting along with his “allies”, which was never his strong suit.
Even in the absence of the author saying anything, I would think it a stretch to say that Best’s eventual improvement had nothing to do with him being informed that he’s bound for a lonely grave, and then treated with dismissive annoyance by the people who could see his destiny…even if your belief that spending time as the selfless WAV meant nothing to him is correct. Which I would not bet on on its own.
Personally, I think Best was affected by his magic just as much as Byron was, bringing them both down to earth. Unfortunately, not all magic lasts or bestows it’s effect for very long, even if it’s inscribed into something that lasts longer than a human’s lifespan.