As those who frequent these commentaries may know, I didn't have this all planned from the beginning. I saw an opportunity to do something with Jay in this storyline, and I realized how I could rationalize Grace not being the protagonist in spite of all Jay's (initially perceived) motivations having to do with Grace.

THE ANSWER WAS A PERSONAL GRUDGE.

Reaver is a character in Fable 2 and 3, a Hero of "skill" (speed, agility, marksmanship, height) voiced by Stephen Fry. I've no issues with Stephen, but I believe his voicing the character to be relevant to how the character was treated.

I say "Hero" as a sort of class of being rather than a description of character, which was a thing in Fable. Morality was irrelevant to whether one qualified to count as a hero, and Reaver was a prime example of this.

Reaver was a rogue-ish sort who kept himself young by supernatural means, by which I mean he sacrificed the youth, or... SOMETHING of others to maintain a long life. The guy was like an aberration / vampire from this comic, but his process didn't kill, and was done through some sort of ritual.

The detail I remember for certain is the over-the-top moral choice of either letting someone else become permanently scarred all over, or allowing it to permanently happen to your own character in a game where one of the neat fun things to do was dressing up your character and giving them haircuts, tattoos, etc.

I was NOT happy about being put in a position with a consequence like that. "Be selfish towards a random NPC you've never met and will never see again, or make the remainder of the game less fun" was not fun or compelling.

And then, regardless of your choice, you immediately recruit him as an ally.

In the final encounter with the main villain, if you take too long to "finish him" (it's not really a boss fight at that point, you just have to make any attack), Reaver will do it for you.

So concludes your interactions with him in Fable 2. No revenge, no putting a stop to his ritual, no nothing. He's just gone in a game with post-game play, the most said about his fate being that the hero of Will intended to go after him.

But wait! He shows up again in Fable 3! I guess he probably killed the Hero of Will, so that's fun.

At first, I was thrilled, because he's in an antagonistic role when you first see him, and you've every reason to TAKE HIM DOWN.

He gets away.

Then becomes your royal advisor, suggesting the "bad" options in more over-the-top moral choices.

This character was given such preferential treatment over the course of two separate games while being someone I hated more than any of the villains you did get to take down.

I think the creators were both fond of the character, and of having Stephen Fry around. I don't blame them for the latter, but surely he could've voiced someone new in the sequel? Someone I HADN'T sworn vengeance upon?

And no, the fact that I still dislike the character this much doesn't make him a great villain. It makes him an annoying villain with plot armor so thick that tanks are jealous of him. He was a villain in games that were supposed to be about choice that gave you no choice but to ally with him in one lifetime and hire him as royal advisor in another. He's a villain who only persisted for meta reasons and I've angried up my blood just writing about him.

So... That's how a character like that made ME feel.

Now imagine how GRACE must feel about him.