I am of the opinion that Michael is a cooler character pre-distortion, and Helen is a cooler character post-distortion. Like the statement of Michael Shelley going to The Spirals ritual fucked me up, and the lingering affects of his previous character is interesting. But Helen is really cool, she's fascinating, funny, clever, hilarious and her motivations are really interesting. Before that she was a nobody real estate agent, and I believe Helen said she was a bit of a tory (I can't really remember I might be mixing up fanfiction for canon, it's been awhile since I listened to TMA)

valid take, personally i am extremely fascinated with helen richardson too. i really like the possible conversations to be had about her and the whole moral debate at the very core of tma. was she a worse person than jon for giving into avatarhood and embracing it fully? she took to being the distortion a lot more easily than i’d imagine michael shelley did, so what made her different from him? was she an inherently worse person from the start, or was she just unfortunate?

my personal interpretation of pre-distortion helen is just very. apathetic. lazy when it comes to morals. she took what she was taught as a child, and never bothered to challenge or deconstruct those ideals. she always took the easy route in life, and deep down, she resented herself for it, but never enough to actually change for the better.

she was an excellent and excessive liar, and probably the first person to experience completely correct and justified imposter syndrome. deep down, she never even felt like a real person.

the distortion is a more honest version of helen richardson than helen richardson herself ever could have been.