Christa for Season 3?
I believe that Christa would be a great choice as a new protagonist, if she doesn't die in Episode 5 or star in possible DLC.
She's a grieving mother who kept Clem alive much longer than Lee did, and whose depressed attitude rubbed off on Clem. She protected Clem, a girl she resents, out of a refusal to break Lee's promise and I'm willing to bet she'll still be looking for Clem at Wellington. We don't yet know what happened to her child, or what else they suffered following Omid's death. She's a fit young survivalist who's not as athletic or cold-blooded as Molly and Jane, which allows us to have a competent protagonist who can is still vulnerable enough (with her injured leg) to trust and rely on others. She's a serious, quiet woman with a lot of pain inside her and an unwillingness to express it. She's also not as firmly defined a character as Kenny or Luke, which would allow players to decide which direction they can take her character arc. Finally, it would continue the games' trend of having black protagonists - a middle-aged man, a growing child, and a young woman.
While anything can happen in Episode 5, I'd love to see it end with a ambiguously hopeful reunion between Clementine, Rebecca's son, and Christa at Wellington. Maybe she'd name him Omid. If Season 2 exists primarily to decide whether Clem will follow Christa's descent into despair or remain as a symbol of hope, perhaps her reunion to Clem in Episode 5 will have consequences on the relationship between the two.
We can then skip ahead a few years, assuming that Season 3 will follow Season 2's release patterns and come out at the very earliest in 2016, allowing the timeline to jump forward again, with Christa struggling to live with a teen-aged Clem (personality determinant on Season 2 choices) and their adopted son in a Wellington that is constantly besieged by bandits, rival communities and over-crowding. The theme of Season 3 could parallel the current state of the comics, where the focus is on protecting and rebuilding a community. Christa's age could allow her to make important decisions while her own mistrust of large groups and her fractured relationship with Clem could provide a source of conflict.
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I would've thought we would continue as Clementine through Season 3 to see her gradually become older, showing how we've grown up with her and giving her guidance in our chosen way. As much as I'd love for Christa and Clementine to be reunited in Episode 5, it would be a good idea to have Christa, the baby and Clementine as the three main characters for the third season. Christa can take on the baby as her own for Rebecca's sake, making her now able to have the experience she missed out on with her baby (presumed stillborn).
Although having the baby turn into a toddler wouldn't work in the game, since there would be constant crying and things such as his first steps and even just providing food for the baby. But Christa would make a good protagonist
I think the lulz would be glorious if she doesn't make a appearance in ep5.
The problem with that is that TT's story is set generally in the same time and place as what is occurring in the comic book. They cant advance too much far forward than where they are at right now. Any more would presumably push the game past the comics, and i doubt Skybound allows that to happen.
I think Season 3 is coming sooner than 2016, since it's already been confirmed.
I agree that we should retain Clementine as the heart of the series, and that seeing her grow into a young woman would be a compelling through-line for the seasons. I'm promoting Christa as her next companion for several reasons:
One can argue that Season 2 is about Clem encountering numerous mentor/authority figures who die, leave, or turn out to be flawed (Pete, Luke, Carver, Kenny, Jane), all of which will inform whether she forgives or rejects Christa when they meet again.
She's a good compromise between "strong independent woman" and "adoptive parent", being more sociable than Molly/Jane and sharing Kenny's misery of losing a family while not becoming psychotic over it.
I just like her.
Judging from the leaked achievements, I suspect Kenny AND Luke will die and Clem will be the the last survivor to deliver the baby to Wellington. It'd make a great bookend for Season 2 if it begins with Omid's death and ends with a boy to carry on his legacy. To put it in sentimental terms, hope died but was born again.
Her strained relationship with Clem, whose personality could be determinant, would allow us to care for Clem while also seeing her from the perspective of a reluctant guardian. 13-year old Clem isn't a child anymore, and Christa might have too much on her hands to treat her as such.
EDIT: With at least two separate projects (Game of Thrones + Borderlands) taking up Telltale's time for next year, I'm sure that an extra year in real-time will allow Kirkman to decide whether he wants to jump the timeline forward again. Also remember that the time-skip in Season 2 occurred BEFORE Kirkman did so with his comics - Telltale may still have to okay things with Kirkman, depending on whether he wants the comics to directly intersect with the games. We might see crossovers with communities or characters like Rick.
This prediction also takes into account the assumption that the aim of Season 3 will be protecting Wellington, as the comics themselves are currently focused on communities being rebuilt.
Well at this point in the game i think its safe to assume she is either dead, or too far away to make a difference.
Not a chance I'm buying it if it's christa
Nick's determinant fate might make you think otherwise, but I'm sure it's been planned from the start that Christa will eventually return in some form. Episode 1's plot really kicks off with Clem being separated from Christa, rather than immediately following Omid's death. She's not confirmed to be dead, but is at the very least injured by spear or gunshot. Christa and Kenny share the goal of Wellington. Clem refuses to think she's dead in Episode 2, but forgets about her during the stress of the next two episodes (perhaps she even repressed the memories).
I fear from the quality of this Season's writing that we'll get a regurgitation of Clem's parents being zombies, only the impact of undead Christa will be much more subdued. But I do retain hope that The Walking Dead will be more than just a pointlessly bleak slog. At this point, Christa is a defined character with an existing relationship to Clem, and I feel her chances of living long enough to be the next playable guardian of Clem are better than Luke or Kenny's at this point.
EDIT: What if she's the "sister" Arvo's group was taking care of? He might have hoped that calling the wounded woman a sister rather than just a 'stranger' would be enough to get Jane's mercy.
She won't, this is Telltale we are dealing with, you think they're going to rehash old plots... We all know how Gary feels about hash.
Dam and I was hoping she was alive, tho one ep left so hopefully she is in it or second appearance, I mean she was a important character or the only one besides Kenny alive
yeaaahh I dont think that will happen, unless she has rabies
What if Christa goes completely nuts and starts attacking Clementine/Group stranger style because she went mad because of loneliness and bitterness of what happened to Omid.
I think she will make an appearance eventually. But I doubt they will make her the protagonist, honestly, why is everyone so fixed on the idea of a new protagonist anyway? I would like to see Christa's side of the story (from the moment she separated from Clem) in a DLC though, that would be way better than giving us several new and totally unrelated character stories that will make little to no difference to the main plot. Personally I'm quite happy with Clementine as a protagonist and I hope they will not change that.
Don't keep your hopes up for Christa surviving.
Well i can only speak for myself. I am for the idea of a new protagonist for the following reason
Clementine feels like a robot. She is such a "survivor" now, nothing bothers her. She felt nothing when Sarah died, nothing when nick died. Not one tear, nothing. It was like playing myself. There is no emotional connection to any of the characters other than Kenny for me at least. Even Kenny i am expecting to lose next Episode. She was much better character in Season 1 because you didn't control how she felt. It felt more natural.
The feels feel extremely forced and sloppy, and i think a new perspective would be a step in the right direction. I'm not advocating killing Clementine or anything, just have her take a step back and become a secondary main character and let someone else grab the reins.
A DLC about her would be welcome! I personally think she's a lot stronger than Kenny or Jane - her coping mechanism is to shut herself off emotionally, but she doesn't seem to regress into the past or advocate leaving Clem behind despite their mutual misery. She's tough, but not a powerhouse, and she does need company despite not trusting groups. Physically, she'd be a good compromise between Lee and Clem.
I'm ambivalent about taking the player's control away from a slightly older Clementine in Season 3, but I'd still prefer her to be with Christa and the baby in Wellington. Trying to maintain that community while dealing with starvation, rival communities, bandits, zombies, internal division and chilly weather would be more than enough to make the story compelling without having to go on another road-trip.
I think Clem is just getting used to losing people, as it is the part of the world now. That's understandable, she's growing up in that world. Kids learn and adapt (emotionally as well) much quicker than adults. Clem's advantage is that she was taught to survive (by Lee, others like Christa, Omid, and sometimes by herself), accept loss and get over grief as fast as she can. So she will not lose hope and end up being broken. Take Sarah for example, she was already a vulnerable kid and her father isolated her from the world, he did this to protect her, but in the end when finally forced to face the truth, she could not handle it.
But I undestand your point, personally, I believe Clem is rather jaded than a robot, I understand that, she is traumatized multiple times by now and that's gotta take its toll on her. Still as Kenny says (in Ep4 inside the tent) she handles herself more than any three adults put together. Through out the S2, when Lee come up in a dialogue, I picked the lines that involves how she blamed herself for his death. While I don't believe that, I thought it would be natural for her to think so. She really puts some deep emotion into her words then, and it is pretty convincing to see how much she keeps inside.
I suspect her jaded tone and grim demeanor are attributes she picked up from her time with Christa post-Omid's-death. We can also infer from Clem's self-surgery scene and her skill at loading magazines with Bonnie that Clementine learned first-aid and firearms skills from Christa - Lee never had the time to teach the latter skill to Clem. The time Clementine had with Lee, while traumatic, still seemed to be much more enjoyable than Christa's coldness.
What she still hadn't learned yet was how to make a fire and hunt for herself, which seemed to derive from a mutual unwillingness from Clem to learn and Christa to teach. Christa's lines indicate that she's extremely cynical about possibly dying before Clem and wanted to make sure the girl would be independent. We're yet to see if she was right to fear that she'd die before Clem.
Yes, Christa's personality surely changed dramatically after Omid's death (and her baby's ofcourse). She seemed like she was blaming Clem and don't even want to talk with her anymore. If Omid didn't die so early, it would surely affect Clem's personality in a positive way, he was such an easy-going and optimistic guy, really a gem to come across in TWD world. But even Christa's coldness, I think, was still a valuable lesson for Clem to learn, you need to harden yourself when you have to as depression is not an option for the survivors and they rarely even have the time to grieve. Lee taught her a lot, about right and wrong (I guess depends on your choices mostly) about compassion and trust, how to handle herself, and keep going no matter what. He just didn't have enough time though, sadly.
Were the spoilers necessary? But very good idea
I like Christa as protagonist though more so as DLC
That is all true and all, but it doesn't change the fact that playing as Clementine makes the game feel depressing but non emotional. This is why i support a new protagonist with clementine playing a large part as in the first season.
I'd still love to end the ultra-bleak second Season with both Clem & Christa finding an ambivalent chance at redemption by raising Omid Junior at Wellington. There's no guarantee, after all, that either Christa or the child will live forever - but I really think that her reuniting with Clem and apologizing would be a good conclusion for Season 2's story arc. There's few other choices for living characters who know Clem (Kenny & Luke both seem to be doomed), and having her as protagonist would be a good way to develop her character while we see the choices made in Season 2 play out through Christa's interaction with Clem.
I'd like to them reunited as well. Christa and Clem were going to Wellington before they were separated so there's a chance that IF Christa survives she might go there, maybe hoping Clem do the same. Who knows maybe Christa might even find comfort in raising the baby, since she lost hers and all. It would be a relatively happy ending for the season at least and I would be okay to switch to another protagonist, if TT decides to that.