[Speculation] Petra is not badly written
At first I thought the story was badly written, especially since Petra seemed to carry the idiot ball, just to get the story going. After playing a second time, watching Let's Plays and sleeping over it again I don't think it's badly written anymore.
Let me elaborate:
Petra was presented to us as a tough action girl, a monster hunter of sorts, getting monster drops for anyone, who can pay for it. For the Ocelots she got a nether star, which is dropped by withers. For Minecraft fans, that already pegs her as a major badass. They didn't say what she got out of the deal unfortunately.
After she rescued Jesse from zombies and spiders by mashing a spider with an iron pickaxe, she shows him/her a wither skull, claiming she went to the Nether herself to defeat a wither skeleton. She wanted to sell it to someone (Ivor) for 1 diamond. But she herself even acknowledged, that it's worth much more. That already rubbed me the wrong way.
Later, before the deal with Ivor, she claims that she had done shady deals like that before. That was also a bit odd for me, since if she got the monster drops fair and square, why couldn't she sell those openly?
In Ivor's basement she doesn't know immediately what can be done with 3 wither skulls and 4 soul sand. Instead Lukas, the bookworm, has to chime in. After he mentions the wither, her eyes go wide. If she really was a monster hunter, she should've been the one, who told the rest everything about withers. And she would've been more like "killed plenty of those already, no problem". It was there at the latest, where I was pissed at "bad writing".
But what if the writing is actually good? We all know Telltale writes good stories, or we wouldn't be here!
What does that make of Petra, if she wasn't a badass monster hunter? I tell you what:
A fraud!
And probably a thief as well.
Assume that, and all those oddities suddenly make sense!
In the basement she is even the only one, beside Axel/Jesse with the potion, who steals something: a golden sword. Which warrior worth their salt would steal such a useless thing? She even uses it later, if she doesn't give it to Jesse! I think it's because she isn't as comptent a fighter she claims to be, but she likes to show off.
She is always impressed when Jesse shows some badassery, like when they chose to fight on the bridge, or when Jesse told that he had to threaten the butcher. While that could mean she just likes tough people like herself, it could also mean, that she wished she was more like Jesse.
Later at the portal she claims to cover their retreat and follow them later. According Ivor she ran in the opposite direction. If he could get through it in time, she could've too many times over, if she wanted to. Why, if she really visited the nether as an early morning exercise, as she implied? She would've been an awesome leader through dangerous terrain!
No, I think she never was in the nether and has never seen a wither, let alone defeated one. And to hide that fact, she couldn't come through the nether portal with the rest of the group!
Don't get me wrong: She's still a competent and brave fighter, who can handle anything a Minecraft night can throw at you. She always was on the front lines unlike the rest of the crew.
I don't know why she has to pretend to be a warrior only surpassed by The Order of the Stone themselves while she is a decent enough fighter already. Only time will tell, maybe in the 2nd, maybe the 3rd episode.
But if my speculation is correct she's truly a very interesting character!
Comments
Well, maybe she made even more shady deals to get that nether star. That'd explain why she doesn't know about withers.