I feel like Square couldn't originally tell the story that they wanted to tell because of Nintendo's limits and rules on death, violence, sexuality, and religion. Nintendo back then wanted to be family friendly as possible to cater to the American Family and Square wanted FF IV or FF II US to do well. It's shocking that they let what happens to Tellah. It's like they wanted FF IV to be a grim story on war and have Cecil go through a rough and painful journey, but they had to censor a bit. Just get these feelings when it comes to most of the characters and their purpose in the game. So they come off as feeling like random guests.