To be fair, there are multiple reasons a Guen might want to soften Arthur further. Maybe she’s a romantic who adores that side of him. Maybe she’s trying to take control of the kingdom, and thinks it would be easier to take it from a softer Arthur.
I’m not saying it would be a good idea, but I can understand why someone might WANT to.
Edit: Partially ninja’d. Grrr! 
“Partially hardened” never works. He would have to be completely hardened to get anything done. (Sorry, I’m having way too much fun with this.)
Soft =/= idiot. Jut making Arthur softer would not contribute to lessening his ability to rule. But Guen that would want to take power from him, may want to soften him more, so he would be more receptive to her suggestions i think.
Conversely, hard=/=smart. It might well be a bad idea to make Arthur reluctant to listen to others, that may include those who do have things he should heed.
However, someone who’s softer may make arguably dumber decisions in order to not hurt anyone, and someone who’s harder may have an easier time making such decisions. It’s very subjective, I know, but that’s just how I feel.
I’m not saying “don’t harden Arthur at all”, just that “harder” doesn’t mean Arthur makes good decisions - being more willing to hurt others doesn’t mean better at knowing when he needs to.
True. However, the ability to make such decisions at all counts in my opinion. But, as I said, it’s all rather subjective, and that’s just how I feel.
Well, at the risk of sounding argumentative - I’m fine with disagreement - counts for what?
It’s easier to put down a rebellion twice than bring back the dead (the lack of which might also mean a rebellion).
Sometimes for the sake of stability or victory, you have to make certain sacrifices or make certain calls, even if its in your own personal detriment. In thine own custom universe, there’s a situation in it where one of my character’s can outright disobey an order from their direct superior officer (In this case that’s the ruler of the nation), defect with the majority of their forces, likely destroying their social position and giving their family quite a bit of social stigma for being related to effectively traitors to their ruler OR stay and obey their superior officer. The problem is that another nation fell into civil war, normally it wouldn’t be a problem, as the group he wants to back is the loyalist group and would normally have no problem dealing with the other factions, as its the largest and has the most powerful equipment normally. The other two factions however are all backed by another major nation, leaving the loyalists completely alone and massively out-done. So, in order to help them win, he plans a way to enter the conflict with the largest effect.
Normally, you’d think this is immediately, however, he elects to sit and wait for a good opportunity, because he understands warfare and knows that there are a few power plays the major nations would likely try to pull, and being overconfident at this point they wouldn’t likely expect a hidden ally for the loyalist faction.
At least in my opinion, someone softer wouldn’t be able to sit and wait until a prime opportunity to strike a major blow against both enemy factions at once and definitely win. However, a harder person would be able to make such a decision, an action that works quite well in my personal universe during the battle of Alpha Andromedae, where the other two factions and their backers try to take over a special gateway that can transport people to the Andromeda Galaxy. His choice to wait until a prime opportunity to strike allows him to win this despite being overwhelmed, due to the enemy’s overconfidence after victory after victory.
In the defense of the nation that didn’t want to get involved (Because their leader is my precious virtual mental daughter), it IS their policy to stay out of affairs of other nations, and they were in a rather precarious position with the other nations after a disastrous event shortly before the civil war broke out (Which had been building for a while due to that nation’s emperor’s declining health and the fact he had no defined heir, his daughter normally is unable to inherit the throne, and his son was completely and totally disowned, then put in charge of the military.)
IN SUMMARY! A harder person can wait until a better opportunity to do something, even if it causes short-term pain and problems, in order to win on a longer-term. Again, these things are REALLY subjective, but i’ll stand by it through and through.
We may be using “harder” in a different sense, but I think simply being “hard” would not be enough for someone to make that choice. They’d have to be able to recognize that this is not the best chance before it came into it.
I don’t have much to say in regards to the point otherwise, since this is why rulers have to be hard - sometimes a little suffering now is less bad than the alternatives, bad as any suffering is.
We may indeed be using it in different senses. And yes indeed, a little suffering now is better than the alternatives sometimes. bows This was certainly enjoyable. …I don’t get to ramble about my stuff often and people read it at all XD
I’m usually game for people rambling about their stuff, so feel free to fill my ears (eyes) if you want to ramble in the future.
I’ll certainly keep that in mind while slowly typing away at this first attempt at a choicescript game primarily because I got bored and wanted to do something with my stuff.
Thank you for the offer of filling your ears/eyes/whatevervisual/audioaparatusyouuse I may take you up on that.
It would be a pleasure to be of assistance. 
I have a witty retort to that, but it refuses to come to mind.
Well, i would say too that i understand someone being “hard” diferently.
Poles have quite a sizeable history of not waiting for the right opportunity and throwing themselves on overwhelming enemy forces, but i would never call it being soft. But as you said it is very subjective term to understand, and in my case at least understanding of it ties with my nation history in this sense.
Exactly, all depends each nation history. In Spain’s culture soft = unable to rule. it’s not machismo because our queens have been hard like steel. Came from probably as many our character from the medieval taifas kingdoms, if you are in a perpetual civil war you can’t be soft, you’ll be conquered in seconds otherwise. And we have in mind the crying baby last Muslim king Boadbil like her mother said to him after lost Granada “Cry like a woman that you can’t defend as a male”
Personally I think Arthur works best a little hardened in the sense that he knows to be more careful who to trust after Part 2, but my Guen admires his desire to see good in people and his wishes for his nation to stop him being optimistic. That’s my Guen at any rate. She’s a good tactical lady anyway and not afraid to (politely) tell her husband when he’s making a mistake.
Also on a totally unrelated topic Jean I was just thinking about your Robin Hood game again and was wondering who you intend would be the POV character? I would assume Robin/Robyn or Marian/Marion.