Talk:Othinus/@comment-2600:6C50:437F:F86F:30FB:A73E:583A:673B-20190103024410/@comment-76.180.83.104-20190724024214

I guess that's true, but that's partly because she starts as a villain and has 'develop' to the point of being an ally. Plus, by her very nature, she is not an enemy that can be defeated by skill or force, but by persuasion/show of will (thanks to the powercreep issue of the series). So you have to develop her in order for her to be defeated (since having the world end tends not to be a satisfying ending).

I do wish Index did get more development, but how should she get developed? In order for her to develop, she has to grow and change with the novel. You can't change her relationship with Touma to become lovers, because that changes the whole novel's dynamic of a new girl being introduced, saved or fought, then falling in love with him. She's the innocent character that Touma is motivated to protect at all cost, so having her lose her innocence is hard to do since Touma is actively trying to prevent that (but it's doable). Having her gain power to stand with Touma is challenging because of her nature (very easy to become magic god) and it clashes with Mikoto's development. The big trump card in developing Index is the fact that she didn't know about his memory loss, but it was used near the end of the original series, so it wasn't given the time needed for it to really be delved into sufficiently (a missed opportunity imo) (plus, she's too damn forgiving of a character). She's a tough character to develop and grow, since she's already in a pretty good spot after her first few arcs finish (she's naive, selfless, and loving, and plays the role of Touma's motivation to fight as well as his magic advisor. At the same time, she's childish, violent, and a glutton (but these are minor flaws that don't really deserve character arcs to deal with)). Maybe having her grow out of control and become a magic god (and Touma's opponent) could've been interesting, or maybe giving her the role of protecting Touma (like she did in volume 1) could work well to develop both her and Touma.