Is Lubella Evil? A Quick Thought

[Illius]

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Now, before I start the discussion I want to mention that below are going to be a lot of spoilers for the game, and I suggest beating it before taking part of it. I am giving this warning so I don't have to cover the entire text in a spoiler warning.
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So, when I was playing through the game there were a couple bosses that struck an odd chord with me. One of them being Lubella (for, if you don't remember it's the one with the massive.... hitbox. Don't worry, I understand if you were distracted during those fights. That said, it seemed odd that after defeating her she didn't seem angry or vengeful but rather... sad. I started thinking about it and the more I thought about it the more I realized how many pieces just... didn't line up.


So first of all, what do we know for sure about Lubella? She's a giant immortal undead witch from the underworld, she has power over decay. One other piece that, granted is mostly interpretation, is she resurrected a man who recognized he was dead, and whose sole goal was to reunite with his wife while he could. Now, I mostly say this because when Lubella dies, he dies as well, and he openly says that he is decaying slower than usual (and given Lubella is the Witch of Decay...). She also resides within the Memorial Garden.

Now, what have we not seen her do? Well, we haven't seen her do anything evil outside of attack you. However, given that Pardoner Fennel also attacked you, it could be considered a similar situation. After all, you are a SACRIFICIAL PRIESTESS from a foreign land, seeking audience with the queen. That sounds pretty suspicious to any passerby.
Also on that note, what does everybody else say she's done? Well, besides note she has resurrected the dead (which, necromancy is rarely accepted), they just warn that she's walking around. However with a person of her immense size she can't just sneak around in the shadows, somebody will notice where she is and what she is up to if she is doing something wrong. It makes sense they'd warn of something that most would consider unsettling. A giant, undead necromancer from the underworld? That sounds menacing itself, and would be enough to cause alarm. But nobody mentions her actually doing anything... except 1 person.

Also, when you slay Lubella, who is the most happy about the situation? Archpriestess Choir, who is sided with the queen and while prayed for her sister, still wanted Fennel dead due to being a threat to the queen. So if Lubella was with the queen, why is Choir happy Lubella is dead? Lubella wouldn't have been in a position to betray her. Not to mention Choir notes that all of the "Abominations" Lubella created are now gone, but all the aggressive enemies remain unscathed. In fact, the only resulting death we see that could be in this definition is... once again just a man who wants to see his wife one last time. If Lubella was evil, and creating monsters, it makes no sense why Choir is both happy, and that the "monsters" remain but the decent people that were affected by Lubella are now gone.

Also going on to note that where she resides, the Memorial Garden, well it's obvious its dying. But as the Torn Branch tells us, it was by the Queen's hand, not Lubella's. However, if that was the case why are a bunch of flowers still there? If they were dying they should have wilted long before, but yet once again Lubella is in an area and things aren't dying properly. Those flowers are still alive, but barely. So why do this? Nothing to gain if she is on some kind of "take over the world" scheme.

Now, I want to point out one last line of dialogue: Lubella herself saying "She has no time to waste with you". She's an immortal witch, which means she has all the time in the world for anything, so what could any possible time limits be? Well, the only possible answer is the Queen destroying the world. That is the only time limit that is availble right now. If she was with the queen, that limit wouldn't matter, since she would continue to live on. But the queen is killing things, so that is why she can't waste any time. She needs to help everybody as much as possible. After all, who better to stop a plague than somebody with powers revolving around altering death?

One part that is mostly speculation: Moka talks in a menacing way, but why wouldn't the corpse of a priestess be useful in such dark times?

Summary

I don't think Lubella is evil. I think she's trying to keep everything alive as best as she can, and resurrect people so they can at least finish what they were doing. And she was slain. That explains why Choir is happy on Lubella's death, it's why Lubella tries to stop you, it's why the "demons" she summoned aren't aggressive. Wouldnt' be the first well intentioned boss that you've killed. After all, there was poor Fennel.

Obviously I could just be making stuff up (or talking about something that was already common knowledge, who knows), but like I said. Something about Lubella's character didn't sit with me until I started thinking about it. So what are your thoughts? Am I right or are these the ramblings of a crazy person?

[Swift]

I thought that was an awesome theory. This little world is mysterious. I don't know if I want definate answers or to be left to my own thoughts.

[Illius]

Glad you like it.

The bosses in this game were well designed, and probably had some of the most emotional boss fights I've seen in a while. But like I said, Lubella just struck a chord with me and I couldn't think of why, so I tried to look into it.

[Illius]

And I read a Dev's post that debunked it where she was cursing the people in the catacombs ;~;

[Pocket_Pixie]

Lubella is dead evil. Burn the witch at the stake.