Could you maybe explain a bit about The Choice? What it is, what its purpose is, what certain characters' Choices might have been? The whole concept just... never really made too much sense to me.

The Choice, bolded because I can’t find how to do underlined with- Wait, what if I link to a blank page? The Choice. Okay that works! The Choice is, as its name implies, a Choice the Denizen offers to those who approach them. They’re at their core a test of character- People will be made to take upon seemingly impossible tasks, or sacrifice themselves for their characters, as well as being presented with their situation at hand. And from the response, the Denizens will judge said Character and decide on a veredict. It should be noted that this is not required to release the Grist Hoard- When a Session has proven to be worthy and viable by itself, the Denizens will be understanding of the situation, just like how all 8 Planets of the Alpha session released the Grist Hoard, even though it seems only Typheus and Echidna were talked to.

As examples, we know Echidna’s Choice to Kanaya was that she do ‘something impossible’, or Fight her, which Kanaya ending up having to Battle her when she disappointed Echidna for not taking her up on her request. Jade had a request like that as well, to bring the Denizens with her, something that seemed impossible at the time, but unlike Kanaya, she accepted. And look at that, in the end she could. It’d seem Denizens never give impossible Choices, they’re just attempts to test people’s will and determination. If they fail, they weren’t worthy. If they refuse, they weren’t worthy. But those not worthy can still test their worth by actually battling the Denizens.

For the John that visited Typheus early, his choice was to Die to correct the Timeline, making Dave have to rewind time and prototype himself, or continue in what was essentially a completely doomed Timeline, to which John gave his life away just to fix things.

Similarly, when John came to Typheus for advice on how to control his Powers, the choice was very simple. John was put in a situation that needed him to Master his Powers. And if he couldn’t control them? Well.