I agree. Zavala didn't want to go after Uldren because they have other priorities and they can't waste their resources on revenge.

Did you rip this straight from Reddit?

I agree. He isn't a Coward. But I wouldn't say he made nothing but mistakes. Bungie has done a poor job of informing the playerbase in game of the state of The Last City, Guardians, & etc. So the majority of the playerbase has no idea how grim things are & just how important every single move made by The Vanguard is now. The Red War was a textbook happy ending until you read into it. The final cutscenes & return to The Tower make it seems like everything is "just fine" or back to normal, when the opposite is true. Anyways. I'm not arguing with you btw. Friendly debate. [quote]1)He didn't see Ghaul coming. He feels he should have. [/quote] Honestly this was on the entire Vanguard. The Vanguard had grown complacent. Given the nature of Ikora's hidden, Cayde's scouts, & etc. The network going down shouldn't have been as blinding as it was. [quote]2) He made a single decision that likely cost us everything. He chose not to protect The Traveler, opting instead to keep all The Guardians in The Tower until the absolute last civilian ship took off. "The Traveler can wait." He said. Those four words likely haunt his sleep every single night. Those four words cost us Our Light and The City. This, is the biggest tactical mistake he has ever made, and the consequences were incredibly dire. [/quote] I strongly disagree. Zavala made the right call. I'm a HUGE Ikora fan but as she admits...she is selfish. Protecting The Traveler would have been selfish. Also, it wasn't possible. Ghaul's plan was too swift, I'll explain later on. The purpose of Guardians is to protect the people, NOT (just) The Traveler. The Traveler's dying breath released The Ghosts to give Humanity a fighting chance against the Darkness. Without hosts there are no Guardians. Had Zavala chosen to protect the Traveler then Humanity would have been exterminated. By the time any Guardian vessels could have gotten TO The Traveler the device would have been activated. Ghaul's diabling of the Traveler took no longer than maybe [b][i][u]10-20 minutes[/u][/i][/b] tops in real time (not in-game mission time. As time stops technically. EX: If you remain in the Plaza with Zavala the invasion pauses until the player moves on.) Ghaul's entire strategy relied on that device working & disabling The Traveler. So priority one was to distract until it was active. Had Zavala sent Guardians after the Armada then the FEW pilots skilled enough to make the flight wouldn't be able to drop in enough Fireteams in time to stop the Cabal from activating that device. Amanda Holiday was barely able to get the player onto Ghaul's ship & she's the City's Best Pilot. Had Zavala followed Ikora's idea. Humanity would be extinct, The Guardians would probably have been fully routed & well...that's a wrap. Zavala's heroic decision to protect the people saved Humanity as a whole. What Bungie did a poor job relating to The Playerbase is the exact state The Last City is in post "The Red War". 1. Large portions of The City are completely destroyed. I believe somewhere an NPC said that only 40% of The City is livable, the rest needs to be rebuilt/is being rebuilt. 2. Even through Zavala's efforts, the death toll is catastrophic. The Guardian population took a severe hit, (There are not as many Guardians left as Players may think there is.) & even worse, The City lost about 30 or 40% of its total population. Considering that Humanity was already nearly extinct to begin with this is really bad. Zavala acts the way he does because he's trying to prevent extinction. He has the literal existence of Humanity on his shoulders. Zavala in Warmind distrusts Rasputin. He's damn right not too. 1. A Fragment of Rasputin tried to gain physical form using Siva (Rise of Iron) & wiped out The Iron Lords. 2. Rasputin could have warned The Vanguard of Ghaul. But it chose not to. Think about that. Rasputin chose not to. This isn't the first time either. During the Collapse Rasputin found it better to sacrifice the many & save the few in order to "survive & defeat" the darkness. 3. Rasputin is slowly going more & more rogue if you read into it. It's not something The Vanguard can trust. Despite Ana's "If we keep our heads up & talk to Rasputin. It'll be alright." attitude. [quote]3) We lost the Light and got our asses kicked. A complete, utter, humiliating defeat. Zavala had to personally sound the retreat, and he for the first time ever, completely FAILED to defend The City. He had to watch as The City burned and a foreign power occupied it and killed its remaining citizens, and powerless Guardians. [/quote] No disagreement here. Shaxx's Crucible had 1 major flaw. Yes it "hones" combat but it also relies on the fact Guardian's can revive & teaches Guardians to make plays that end in death (for teammates to Resurrect them). Guardian combat in general needs to adapt to a philosophy of "Its NOT ok to die." Also apparently Guardians rely on their light too much. The Player's Ghost says: "These Guardians...without their light...they had no chance." Yet the player can fight quite effectively. So can Hawkthorne & other non-Guardians. Yes, the light makes a night & day difference. But apparently without The Light Guardians became target practice. Even Ikora admitted she's died countless times. Zavala fights recklessly, Cayde-6 too (we saw that ended). Guardians really haven't learned much from The Red War...they still flirt with death. [quote]4)As if things couldn't get worse for him, He took the retreaters to Titan, where he ran into The Hive. Another mistake that cost lives, particularly those of lightless guardians. [/quote] He had no way of knowing as the Network was down. I feel so bad for him due to this. As Sloane even said, Zavala blames himself but no one knew the Hive had dug into Titan until it was too late. I feel so bad for Zavala as a whole. He essentially bears the guilt of The Last City, each Guardian & Non-Guardian death, Cayde-6's death, & now must second guess every move made. The Last City is essentially on thin melting ice.

Zavala is just another big boy bitch Titan

He should step down before he gets more people killed.

Also there's a mission in D1 where we intercept the cabal phoning home. And if i remember correctly ghost says something (probably the emperor) would be on its way. It wasnt a damn surprise attack. It's poor leadership by the idiot vanguard

Maybe. If what you say is true, I'd like too see this story beat pay off somewhere down the line. Yes, Zavala does sound defeated after Cayde's death, but I still think he should have had a stronger reaction to his friends death than 'let Uldren have the Reef, what he does is no concern if ours'.

One of the hardest things to do (I'm told, because I've never actually had to do it, Thank God) is to order men to their deaths. It only takes physical courage to walk into danger yourself and risk your own life. It takes a different----more emotional and psychological----fortitude to send people whom you care about into danger...and death. Some people can do it. Other's can't. Some people can do it....but as the year and the bodies add up....they lose the ability to do this. The weight of responsibility----and loss----becomes too much for them to bear. Zavala has the look (and sound) of a man who has seen too much....and lost too much.

To me, Zavala has become incredibly annoying. He should resign his post and it should be given to someone else. Who though? My lack of knowledge of the lore hinders offering a good replacement, but maybe a story line? When you look at military leaders in history with similar outcomes, they most often resign.

and apparently suffers from a lack of oxygen

I like how Ikora is always the one with balls. Warlocks don't fear death "Red Legion! You will take no more from us, and you will find no mercy in me!"