ac6 true ending spoilers below the readmore

even when he manages to claw himself into True Final Boss status Iguazu is so decidedly just some fucking nobody. just some utterly irrelevant cog in this insane machine of machinations and plots and corporate interests, whose only claim to relevance is that he's so insanely self conscious about existing in the same universe as A Super Protagonist that he's driven to madness with hate. it's so delightfully pathetic.

and all this is also what ultimately makes him the most relatable character in the game too. because I'm pretty sure most people on the fucking planet would react exactly like him if confronted with the idea that their occasional coworker/business rival is somehow the universe's designated Special Person for no clear rhyme or reason

the game makes a big deal about Raven's agency, about the symbol of resolve. Raven is a big deal because Raven is the one entity in this story that actually gets the ability to influence how the tale goes. An abberration in ALLMIND's words. and Iguazu is in this horrible eldritch position of being one of the few people to get how singularly unique Raven in this regard, but unable to comprehend why. He doesn't have the perspective of Walter or Arye, who shepard Raven along on their journey and see their growth, who build trust in their superhuman ability to Always Get The Job Done. He's just left, maddeningly, with the question. What Makes You So Special.

and what, truly, makes Raven so special? within the narrative you could point out that they made contact with Ayre, that they're the one of Walter's hounds that managed to make it this far, but that's kind of just happenstance isn't it? It doesn't actually give us an answer. The real, metatextually obvious answer is because Raven is the player character's avatar. Because Raven gets the freedom to try and try and try again from checkpoints and seemingly infinite resources to try whatever AC configurations they need to learn what works best and replay missions over and over until they can route them perfectly with information they simply should not have as a textual character. And Iguazu is the only person that sees this. The only one that stops to question it. Because it makes no sense! NO fucking sense!!! WHY is Raven always perfect, always upstaging him. WHY does this one independent merc get to so singularly affect this insane corporate forever war, why does this fucking nobody get to progress all these mad conspiracy plots to their own end??

and the simple fact is there is no reason. the only reason exists solely in the metatext: Raven is the player character. But Iguazu cannot see the metatext: he is stuck in the text, confined to the text. All he has is the question. All he has is the fact that he's the sole person that's left asking the question. And the question drives him so mad that he cannot help but scream it, cry it, clawing at it until the very bitter end of the game. clawing at it so hard that he HAS to be the final thing you face he just fucking HAS to try TO THE END