Highlights
- Moral dilemmas in gaming are becoming more popular, as games like Hogwarts Legacy put players in ethical predicaments with major consequences while featuring characters like Ominis Gaunt that warn players of the risks they take.
- Sebastian Sallow is driven by love and determination to save his sister and will disregard rules and traditions to find a cure.
- Ominis Gaunt serves as a morality check, warning players against Sebastian's use of dark magic and eventually choosing justice over his friend.
Moral dilemmas are an increasingly popular dynamic in gaming, as more franchises incorporate choice systems into their gameplay to create unique endings for players. Games like The Witcher 3 love to put gamers between a rock and a hard place, and even the most negligible actions can have major consequences later on in a title's plot. Hogwarts Legacy puts its Harry Potter-loving fan base in the driver's seat of an ethical problem in the quest to save Sebastian Sallow's sister, Anne, and as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Ominis Gaunt is an unsung hero in this regard, as he gives players multiple opportunities to stay on the straight and narrow path during Hogwarts Legacy.
Few things can obstruct the path of a person driven by love and determination, and Hogwarts Legacy depicts Sebastian casting aside values and longstanding traditions in the search for solutions to a plague. An illness stemming from a curse afflicts Sebastian's sister, and the Hogwarts student will stop at nothing to restore his beloved sibling's health, enlisting the help of players in his noble quest. However, gamers quickly discover that rules mean nothing to Sebastian in this journey, and while a large portion of the player base enjoys the prospects of learning Unforgivable Curses from the Slytherin wizard-in-training, Ominis stands in the way as a morality check.
Ominis Gaunt Draws a Line in the Sand in Hogwarts Legacy
The Dark Arts hold an irresistible allure to gamers, and the subdued importance of Azkaban in Hogwarts Legacy only encourages players to dabble in spells perceived as an abomination by the magic school's society. Sebastian's side quests teach the player character many useful charms to use in combat, and his main storyline's use of Unforgivable Curses in Hogwarts Legacy blurs the lines of right and wrong. Gamers are faced with the choice of helping him and using dark magic for a good cause at the cost of their morality.
This decision is easily influenced by the protagonist's closeness to Sebastian, and the personal factor may lead players to side with his reckless approach to save his sister. However, Sebastian's uncle Solomon and Ominis Gaunt served as deterrents, sounding the clarion call of caution against assisting the young wizard's dabbling in the Dark Arts. Throughout Hogwarts Legacy, Ominis repeatedly warns players of Sebastian's methods, even pulling the player-character aside to privately discuss his fears and reservations, urging the duo to reconsider their plan of action to save Anne.
Ominis, a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin and an ancestor of Voldemort, is the odd good egg in his Pureblood family, resisting their inclinations toward dark magic. He witnessed the effects of Unforgivable Curses firsthand and became estranged from his family, and his stance against the Dark Arts is a point of conflict in his relationship with Sebastian. Despite Sebastian's repeated promises to Ominis to avoid dabbling in the Dark Arts, he delves deeper and deeper in an attempt to save his sister, manipulating Ominis to give him access to Slytherin's Scriptorium, which can only be escaped by casting the forbidden Crucio spell -- a sacrifice Ominis makes to help his friend.
Eventually, Sebastian's quest leads him to murder his uncle in a fit of rage with the Avada Kedavra curse, and the act is the final straw for Ominis. Players make the ultimate choice of handing Sebastian over to the authorities or helping him go unpunished, but Ominis' repeated stand against evil throughout Hogwarts Legacy, which culminates sending his best friend to face justice, is a testament to his strong character.
Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Switch release scheduled for November 14, 2023.
