Alright, maybee, I understand and respect your opinion, but I have so many issues with Hope.

Lightning continues fighting to reach Eden (the capital of COCOON). Hope follows because essentially, he likes Lightning, or hell, maybe he just likes the fact that they both dislike Snow. The two share their frustrations about Snow, and Hope wants to KILL him?

What would killing Snow prove? That Hope can be a "soldier" like Lightning (indicated by calling his plan for Snow's murder Operation Nora)? Maybe he wants to prove that he has enough semblance of control left in his life to get revenge for his departed mother? If that were the case, Hope is just picking the easier target for his revenge; think about it, Lighting wants to take on Cocoon (the party responsible for detaining Serah, Hope, and Nora) while Hope wants to take on a goofball who considers Hope to be his ally.

Square wanted to create a character who's a young teenager clearly out of his environment, and as a result, he is confused and angry. Now, to be fair, I actually defend Tidus to a certain extent because I find this position interesting (he's a superstar who has to deal with the fact that he's been transported to a world ruled by horrible disasters, and that his father is the reason for it all). However, Hope's actions are so irrational and petty in the face of the main conflict that I can't bring myself to like him. Just because SE wanted to realistically (ymmv) portray a teenager's wild emotional state in a game does not defend Hope from the fact that he comes off as petty, immature and self-centered.

I guess to tie this back into this thread, one of my pet peeves is that fans believe that because Hope is the youngest cast member and he had an extremely rough day (an understatement, I know), he should be excused for his behavior. I understand if you like Hope, please understand why I don't.

(I would like to reiterate that I hold everyone's opinions on this forum in the highest respect, and I am not trying to start a full-heated argument on this thread. Also, I love Gau as a character, but never use him in battle; he's decent, but I like being able to control my units directly)