Even though I'd still compare A Brighter Dark favorably to Savior King, that doesn't mean I think it's a misunderstood gem. It's still a seriously flawed story, but one that itself could be retooled into something genuinely enjoyable by someone willing to fill in the gaps that cutting the weird Valla mysticism out of the story would cause.

Exactly. The fic itself isn't any good, but it has a good skeleton of a story that could be told. It's just bad execution. And again it helps that DDI is willing to own his ego and laugh at himself.

That's why I've responded to requests that I bring up the "Edelgard stuff" in my critiques of Savior King with something akin to "As soon as I finish discussing the 98 other problems I have with it." (Hit me!)

I expected to hate SK based on the Edelgard bashing. It gave me so much more to hate before it even went there.