>>39540542Hau is your token positive rival and can play off of the chemistry between him and other characters, notably his foil and your negative rival, Gladion.
Lillie stands around and doesn't amount to anything, isn't a trainer, and is very bland in terms of interaction with others.
If I had to choose between the goofy shithead who can't stop shoving fried dough in his mouth and the "serves no actual purpose" otakubait, I'd choose Hau.
>>39540590A mother, father, and only child is still a family. The theme is still there. Removing the sister/daughter who honestly doesn't add anything to Gladion's or Lusamine's character or the development of those characters is no detriment. You could argue "But Luasmine needed an outlet to force her standard of beauty onto!", but that's easily fixed by either making Lusamine upset she didn't have a daughter and therefore shunning Gladion, or still imposing that he always be dressed like a proper gentleman, to which he rebels as is obvious by his design. You might also say "Gladion needed someone to look after and protect!", but Type: Null fills that niche already.
>>39540655?
Even in the hypothetical situation that Lillie be trashed, the only added role/theme is Hau being Cosmog's caretaker. Gladion and everything else is exactly the same, but the remaining characters and dynamics just have more purpose. Is that little bit too much for you to keep track of?
It's actually sad how much Lillie doesn't need to exist, and how bad Game Freak is at writing characters.
