When Pillars of Eternity was released in 2015 it didn’t take long for Edér Teylecg to become a fan favorite companion. He was kind, observant, cynical and loved animals. He provided an excellent juxtaposition for the world around him and amused us with his clever comments. But then Pillars of Eternity Deadfire came out and something in Edér just changed, shifted. He was the same character but was really not. His clever remarks turned into out-of-touch comments and his kindness is nowhere to be seen.
There are several key points in the game where Edér seems off and completely out of sync with the character he used to be. So much so, that he often leaves me wondering who is this person and what happened to Edér. It goes without saying that this article contains heavy spoilers for both games, so beware!
Edér From Pillars of Eternity
Upon being introduced in the first act, Edér started caring about the protagonist Watcher instantly, as if they were his sibling. While the Watcher was slowly going insane during the events of the first game and suffered horrible nightmares, Edér was there to watch over them, shaking them up from bad dreams and making sure they don’t go over the edge.
In Russetwood in White March expansion, Edér helped the Watcher save an injured wolf. While the Watcher was dislodging an arrow from the wolf’s leg, the wolf bit into Edér’s arm but he didn’t flinch. Instead, he calmed the wolf down and they successfully cured him.
Edér being Edér in Pillars of Eternity
Edér shared the story of his older brother Woden. Of how they were inseparable when growing up, of how he looked up to him. When Woden decided to dye their neighbour’s prized chickens, Edér did too. When Woden joined the army and marched against their god, Edér did too. When Woden laid down his life, Edér had to learn to live with surviving.
That was Edér. A character with a rich past, with an array of characteristics, a character whose motivations were perfectly clear. He was a kind of a companion the player wanted to know more about and keep him at their side as much as possible.
Edér’s Discrimination of Orlans
Let’s face it, Edér was always racist towards orlans. In his defense, his racism doesn’t stem from hate. It comes from deeply inserted notions about orlans that he learned from his environment. He was, after all, born and raised in a country that is openly racist towards orlans. He didn’t invent that, he learned it. And it seems his insight and introspection end there.
But while the tone of the first game was different and the narrative never let him get away with discriminatory comments, the tone of the second game is nonexistent. Pillars of Eternity Deadfire comes off as a platform where any character can say or do anything in a vacuum and without consequence. Such an environment gives a completely different picture of Edér’s biggotry. One that is much more pronounced and problematic.
Pillars of Eternity Deadfire crew
For example, after offending Hiravias in the first game, Edér seemed genuinely sorry. He explained how he never thought of the comment he gave to Hiravias as offensive and apologized. This point in the narrative clearly showed that Edér’s racism was learned and allowed him to surpass it. In Deadfire, he offends Serafen in the same manner and never apologizes or looks back on it. It is left hanging up in the air and open for our interpretation.
Edér’s Quest in Pillars of Eternity Deadfire Makes No Sense
The Lighted Path is Edér’s companion quest in The Pillars of Eternity Deadfire. It revolves around finding Edér’s long-lost lover Elafa Maesy and her son. Yep, not love, lover. Let me explain why this makes zero sense as far as personal quest objectives go.
Edér is an eothesian of strong faith. Sure, he sometimes struggles to understand his god Eothas, but his faith always remains strong. He is a man who suffered through Purges and who almost got hanged for his faith. His quest in the first game revolved around finding out what exactly happened to his brother, but he never does, no matter what you do, as only dead god Eothas knows for certain. Now in the second game, his god is freely and openly walking Eora and Edér is fantasizing about his past lover.
Pillars of Eternity Deadfire Logo
Let’s get this straight. God Eothas is walking Eora personally and in the flesh (well, stone), the same god who has an answer to a question that’s been gnawing on Edér for years and years, and Edér never mentions wanting to ask him about Woden. Never. Not even in the expansion The Beast of Winter where the player meets St. Waidwen, the god’s former vessel, and an aspect of Eothas himself.
After his quest is finished in the first game, Edér made peace with the fact he can never know. But that was before. That was during the events of the first game when Eothas was dead. When Eothas reincarnated he brought with him this single, unique opportunity for Edér to seek him out and ask about Woden. And maybe try to clarify some aspects of his religion that he wasn’t so sure about.
But no. Instead of exploring this interesting point further, the writers decided to make his quest about something entirely different. And to make matters even worse, didn’t even give him proper motivation.
Edér Lacks Character Motivation
In Pillars of Eternity Deadfire, Edér explains how he realized he wanted to share his life with someone and couldn’t stop thinking of this Elafa Maesy, his long-lost lover from fifteen years ago. In another version of the conversation, he just wanted someone to talk to. Both “motivations” are ridiculous in their own way.
The latter presumes he cannot talk to the Watcher, a person he feels closest to, which feels off. But even if we don’t consider that, it presumes that he hasn’t met a single person in over fifteen years with whom he can talk. Now that’s a little weird.
The crew is fighting pirates and the dreaded kraken
And the former only seems like a valid point. Indeed, maybe he loved Elafa all this time and, you know, life is short and the world seems to be ending and it makes sense. It does not. First of all, his exact words were
“Love is not the right word, but she meant something to me.”
He says it himself, he doesn’t love her. So love is not his motive. Second of all, when he gives his quest to the Watcher, the only thing he can mention about Elafa is that she was feisty and a good screamer. For an insightful character like Edér this is so shallow. And again gives no insight into his motivations for finding her.
Edér and companions facing The Messenger
Besides, his quest in the first game was about learning how to let go and move on, while in the second game he’s moving backwards. It’s shoved down our throats and the player is left powerless to address that issue.
And if you think that you get more information about their relationship later on, you’re wrong. He never really explains why she is so important to him and why he feels he needs to find her.
On top of that, those two things he could say about Elafa are the only traits he ever uses to describe her to anyone, from the Watcher to Nordagand in the Temple of Gaun in Neketaka, even to her own son.
And it gets even creepier.
Edér the Creep
Considering that in Pillars of Eternity Deadfire he never has anything nice to say about Elafa, or any cute anecdote to share about their time together, I can only conclude that their relationship was mostly physical. And given his eagerness to find her, Edér doesn’t come off as a man in love, or even a man searching for female company, but rather as a stalker.
For example, while speaking to Nordagand in the Temple of Gaun in Neketaka, Edér makes some strange remarks. When Nordagand reveals that Elafa has changed her surname but didn’t marry, Edér comments that she must be laying low. Such an odd comment. And it’s later revealed that he presumed she was hiding from him.
Hiding from him? Such a presumptuous conclusion. But even worse, it simply begs the question, why on Eora would Elafa be hiding from Edér? Why would he even presume that? And, most of all, why would he want to find a woman who was deliberately hiding from him for many years? It only reinforces the stalker vibe and leaves us wondering what the hell happened between them so many years ago.
Way to the Temple of Gaun in Neketaka
In the same conversation, Nordagand mentions Elafa has a son who is a young man, which immediately leads Edér to assume that he could be the father. Again, such a presumptuous and odd comment. Yes, he indeed slept with Elafa about fifteen years ago, right before she left their native village for good. But even so, it’s far-fetched. Edér clearly fails to take into consideration Elafa’s life between Gilded Vale and the present day. So much could have happened in the meantime. Edér seems to think everything in Elafa’s life is inadvertently connected to him.
Instead of making Edér nervous about meeting Elafa, instead of making him question if finding her was a good idea to begin with, instead of making him doubt that she will remember him, the writers decided to focus on his obsession with the possibility of having a son. This jump is unnatural and the narrative feels like it’s trying to jump from one point to the next without insight or context, making a mess of Edér’s character along the way.
Edér the Kid Bully
In the first game, Edér was never a bully. In fact, he was bullied. His entire village wanted him hanged. But, it seems, that too has changed in the sequel. In Pillars of Eternity Deadfire when speaking to Elafa’s son Bearn in Hasongo, Edér again makes strange remarks. He asks Bearn about Elafa in an unusual way.
“Short lady, about my age. Came from Dyrwood with her son. Uh, let’s see… freckles. Braids, usually. Punches you in the arm if she likes you, face if not – and that’s if you’re lucky.”
It seems to me it would be easier if he simply dropped her name instead of going out of his way to once again pointlessly mention she was bad-tempered. But what do I know? Nothing about Edér makes any sense and he just comes off as this creepy stranger I want far away from my party.
Neketaka – the center of Deadfire archipelago
Anyhow, Bearn denies knowing her, but Edér, like a dog with a bone, doesn’t let go and concludes that Bearn must be her son. Just by looking at this boy for the length of two sentences. And before letting Bearn respond, Edér asks him
“She hiding from someone? Maybe an ex-lover who gave her the best night of her life?”
Sweet bananas, this is so wrong on so many levels.
First of all, I do not understand why everything about Elafa has to be referenced with sex. It’s shallow, it’s sexist and stands in pure contradiction to other feminist characteristics of the game. It feels like the narrative is arguing with itself. Second of all, how is this a normal thing to say to someone’s son? It’s horribly insensitive and just plain rude.
While Edér being a touch close minded in the first game is an element on the third-dimensional plane and serves to make the character feel more human, in Pillars of Eternity Deadfire that perk becomes his most defining feature. That leap in Edér’s character model was introduced without any elaboration or natural progression.
Edér under the hanging tree
From there on, Edér barrages the kid with personal questions about his mother and his father, often without even letting Bearn respond. And when he learns that Elafa died of flu a few years back, he goes outright mad, accuses the kid of lying, and starts treating him with a high dose of suspicion and disdain. Couple that with a few carnal comments about his mother, and you get a picture of a stranger plain old bullying an orphaned kid.
I don’t know who this character is, but it isn’t Edér. Obsidian destroyed Edér’s character in Pillars of Eternity Deadfire. They took it apart, stuffed it in a cannon and shot it out in the cold vacuum. They utterly annihilated everything Edér was and everything he stood for. It’s such a shame.
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