How do we feel about Therkla?

[Lord Joeltion]

I liked her fine. She was kind of a fool, the kind of teenager-Shakespearean-fool, but she died on her own terms, which is something I can respect.

I see her as a different take on Haley's storyline, as in "what if a Haley fell to the Dark Side?". I don't think the Giant made Therkla fall in love with Elan just cause, I think at the very core Haley and her have something in common other than a crush for Elan's buttocks.

There was also a whole lot of trying to push and guilt Elan into dating her, which was kinda creepy and not cool. Her last words were basically "I'm staying dead because you won't date me," with an implicit "This is your fault" thrown in for flavor.

I agree with first sentence, but not the second. The first is obvious but I kinda "justify" her because that's the way she is accustomed to. It's Kubota's Way (TM) 100%. I think her last words had a hint of irony behind, since she already knew Elan's answer was No either way. I think the message the Giant was aiming for was that Therkla didn't knew "good" in life until she met Elan, so letting yourself die when you lose the only good in life is a valid option (specially since death is just the beginning in the OOTSverse).

Therkla's character revolved around having a harsh life and what that can make to essentially "non-evil" people. She wasn't good not because she didn't want to, but bc she didn't know how, IMHO. People that only know war and schemes have little chance of realizing people's lives are worth more than a couple of coins and favors.

Therkla is a very sad character. A girl with very low self-steem, who despite being a crack ninja was unable to value herself. She fell prey to Kubota, who as an evil manipulator inmediately understood that the loyalty of a girl like Therkla, who had never been picked to play in the cool kids team, was easy to gain just by paying her a little attention, make her feel chosen, when truth was she was just another disposable ninja for him.

She projected in Elan all the qualities she was unable to recognize in herself. That was her true drama. She didn't need Elan's love. She only needed to believe in herself. At the end, she choose death as she thought that without Elan, she wasn't worth anything.

She was a tragic character whose story provides an important lesson for life: Never seek in an idealized significant other the validation you have in yourself.

This is why I see her as a Nega-Haley. For all their awesomeness, both have trusting issues and a self-loathing side. One was raised by a thieves clan, the other by assassins. Both had problematic father figures. Both found redemption through Elan. Problem was Therkla thought she owed Kubota, while Haley always tried to pay her debts and get rid of all attachments to her mentors. There was also the issue of her race, which I think was no detail for the Giant's creation of the character. I totally agree with the Pilgrim, btw.