Zavala wants to protect the last city and that's fine,. But there are times you need to take the fight to the enemy. Just looking after the city leaves the rest of the system open to attack. I would also say if it wasn't for cayde there might not been a city to protect. He got us on to the dreadnaught so we could disable it's weapon, and take oryx out.

In my opinion if the player doesn’t defeat Uldren the vanguard might face an insurrection. The ppl would see Zavala as to scared to do anything.

Just imagine how that would have gone down Ikora: we will take the reef by storm Zavala: ok *sends every guardian to the reef* Fallen nibbas *sees the city* Fallen nibbas: its free real estate

I really dislike all the Zavala hate. Zavala is basically doing all he can to protect what remains of humanity. Many players are forgetting that The Last City isn't just a name. All that remains of Humanity exists in it. The Red Legion not only DRAMATICALLY cut down the Guardian population but they also killed thousands of humans. Humans are already damn near extinct so think about that. In the Red War Zavala had to choose between between being selfish or saving innocent lives. Zavala lives by the Guardian code. Zavala chose to protect & defend those who could not protect themselves. Too many players have forgetten what it was like to be "Lightless" (This is Bungie's fault...25% of the campaign should have had players remain lightless & should have had us fight alongside regular humans. It would have really drilled in just how powerful Guardians are.) Anyways, Zavala was the one who intercepted Intel on The Almighty, he also came up with the plan to both disable The Almighty (Saving the Milky Way Galaxy)& Retake The Last City (Saving Humanity). Having retaken the City & without a "Leader" aka: The Speaker, Zavala has to always think of "the City aka: Humanity" first. Yeah. Losing Cayde-6 was a blow, many forget that Cayde & Zavala viewed each other as brothers. And while Ikora was enraged & wanted Vengeance Ikora in The Red War came to realize that she had become selfish. Without her light she valued her life over others, she feared her death. She overcame her fear of death & helped retake the city but admits that she failed as a Guardian. "[i]If this was a test from The Traveler...I believe I failed.[/i]" -Ikora Rey Once again, Ikora made the selfish choice. Which was to abandon Humanity to settle Guardian affairs. She wanted to avenge Cayde-6 & in the process would have left The Last City Defenseless. There are still multiple Red Legion Bases near The City, Fallen, & Hive who are just waiting for a chance to finish off the remnants of Humanity. Ikora would have risked the lives of the entire city for 1 life. Zavala made one of the hardest decisions he could make in choosing not to avenge Cayde-6. No one is acknowledging him for that. Zavala was pained but had to put his new responsibilities first. Additionally, Zavala did not "stop" the player. He very much could have but he allowed the rogue mission of vengeance. So to say he wasn't on board is foolish. All of Zavala's actions are based on protecting, & preserving. The Red Legion damn near wiped out Humanity & The Guardians. The City is longer in a position of power. It cannot take risks. Every decision needs to be careful moving forward. Edit 1: Fixed my Phone's weird formatting. Edit 2: many players are also forgetting that even AFTER we lost our light. Zavala fought by himself to secure every last transport ship possible in an attempt to save eveyr last man, woman, & child. He also NEVER gave up on rescuing those captured by the Legion, nor did he give up on the City (He did waver when he learned just "what" The Almighty could do). Also , if we (our real selves) lived in The Last City, we'd want Zavala leading the Vanguard. As Zavala would fight & die countless deaths to save anyone left behind.| The man is a damn hero & he gets shit on for it. I must give Bungie props though. They allowed players to see multiple angles of the aftermath of Cayde's death & thus discussions like these can happen.

One of the lore pieces involving Zavala meeting with Petra has soured the character to me further given how much of a dick he comes across as in it, while Petra's anger is rather justified: the Reef has, time and time again, been put in jeopardy by forces coming for the Traveler. First Oryx, then the Red Legion, and Zavala can't even express any empathy despite how they keep taking bullets meant for us when they're not capable of reviving like Guardians can. There's also another lore piece in the Tangled Shore book that highlights how so much of this could have prevented if we'd bothered to consider the Scorn a threat [i]before[/i] Cayde died...

He lost me when he said he would have done it himself in another world, yeah f'ing right boo boo zala, jealous I avenged your friend for you?, now you get to live with that for the rest of your life

This can be summed up in one succinct statement. It's lonely at the top.

The reason zavala is acting like he is. Savathun. He is being manipulated by and has been since titan.

When he shows more disappointment in you avenging the death of his fireteam member than to Ana who freaking abandoned him and the vanguard to go off on her little research sabbatical, you know something is very off with the character.

He wasn't wrong about not sending the entire Guardian force into the Reef; that was smart. If they managed to kill Cayde, how many Guardians might be lost? They can't afford this after what happened on Luna with Crota. On the otherhand, to ignore the threat of the Barons and refuse to help the Reef is shortsighted and it makes him a fool. We need the Awoken because the Last City and its Guardians are NOT enough. Ghaul proved that rather well. Calus is another good example because he sheds light on a coming problem far more worrisome than what we've currently been exposed to. The Awoken are the closest potential allies to help teach us about the Dark and even the Light and how to not squander the life the Guardians have. The Drifter comes in at an opportune time and so does Ana Bray. Zavala is short-sighted. Our Guardian just carved out their own path for the first time; we created our own power, and we are leaning closer to the Dark and harmonizing it with out Light because that's what it's going to take in order to win in the future. You don't just let an enemy brew in the background when its proven capable of killing your best. You proceed with caution, but you kill that problem when you're best able to BEFORE it becomes a bigger problem. InFamous proves why you shouldn't wait! [b][i][u]Long tangent here, forgive me[/u][/i][/b]

I just can’t. The dude is the personification of “get off my lawn”. I mean, I get it, he shoulders a heavy burden but the mark of a great leader is the ability to listen to good ideas.

Zavala's actions in Forsaken were the first time he's inspired my respect, because of his understanding of what Guardians are really all about. If you've read my fan fiction, you know that I usually play Zavala as a bit of a toerag. He's the guy who tried to kill my Gray Goo fireteam on two occasions, ignited a possibly unnecessary war with the Cabal, and stopped Mr. Oddish from becoming legend. But in Forsaken, he had the right of it.

Ikora was walking from her emotions. She's changed a lot since she lost her light. However, Zavala, while still thinking about the city, and well, not wanting to lose his friends(possibly Ikora) He's always been one to put the city before those he cares about. Ikora was wrong to say that she wanted everybody to go for Uldren. Cayde died before the Barons KNEW how to defeat a Guardian. How many would perish if Ikora was in charge? She wasn't thinking straight, and Zavala was right to reject it. However, at the same time it was out of fear. Which I don't agree with. We've killed Gods. Beings that have brought the Vanguard itself to its knees. We were more than capable of taking on Uldren... But at the same time we released a bloody butthole with teeth.

I don’t see how it could come back. Look at what he did. Mara will understand. Petra was all for it, the Awoken don’t care and other Guardians have okayed it too. Who won’t like it? The Darkness? Other enemies he was working with/for? They were going to kill us anyway. Letting him live would of been better? Nah. They went for the feels and wanted to illustrate a point but this was the wrong scenario fornit.