Forge and Naze have a connection that starts years before either of them meets the X-Men. Naze helped raise him and trained him in magic, expecting him to take on a responsibili…

Forge and Naze have a connection that starts years before either of them meets the X-Men. Naze helped raise him and trained him in magic, expecting him to take on a responsibility that Forge eventually decided he didn't want. That makes their relationship more involved than a teacher occasionally showing up to offer advice. Naze has known Forge since he was a child. Forge knows how much Naze has invested in him, but he also wants to make his own choices instead of spending his entire life following the future someone else has laid out for him. When we first meet them, that disagreement is already well established. Naze is warning that the natural order is breaking down and that Forge has a duty to act. Forge insists that this part of his life is over. He has a government career, an extraordinary talent for invention and a home filled with things he's created. He clearly wants to live on those terms, and Naze isn't willing to accept that he can just shut the door on the rest. Forge's experiences in the war make that argument even more complicated. His use of magic there is connected to the deaths of his comrades, the demons he summoned and the consequences that followed. Going back to what Naze taught him means dealing with things he has spent years trying to keep behind him. His reluctance has a history; it doesn't start with that argument in his apartment. Naze, meanwhile, believes Forge is needed against the Adversary. From his side, allowing Forge to avoid that responsibility isn't a harmless personal choice when other lives could be affected. So they have this very personal conflict sitting inside a much larger threat. Forge wants control over his own life, and his old teacher believes he's refusing something that only he can accomplish. The Adversary takes advantage of that history by using Naze's appearance. Storm has already encountered the real Naze during the attack on Forge's home, so the face and the connection carry weight. When the impostor tells her Forge has become dangerous, it's coming from someone who appears to know him far better than she does. Storm is led into believing she's preventing a catastrophe when she attacks Forge. Once she realizes he's actually trying to close the portal rather than open it, the damage has already been done. That whole sequence depends on the enemy exploiting an existing relationship. Naze's standing as Forge's mentor makes the lie more convincing. By Fall of the Mutants, Forge has to use the mystical abilities he's been trying to leave behind. His technological talent remains a huge part of him, but the confrontation with the Adversary forces him to face the other part of his background too. That's why Naze belongs in a conversation about Forge even though he has far fewer appearances. He helped shape Forge before the inventions, before Storm and before the X-Men. Their disagreement helps explain the choices Forge makes, and their connection becomes something the Adversary can use against both Forge and the people trying to help him.