: I feel like a lot of the hate is that, while her character is written to be a
: strong female character, she simply is not, falling flat in most
: situations and having the worst dialogue in the game. I don't see it
: mainly being sexist, although it may be, but I feel her dull character is
: why Silva would have been a better candidate, theoretically.

I think this hits the nail on the head. Palmer comes across as the result of the writer trying too hard to create a "strong female character" instead of focusing on creating a good character. The "you're just a mean sexist" defense is probably true for a marginal minority of people complaining about her: after all, most of those who seem to have a problem with Palmer also tend to be among those defending Halsey from the post-Nylund authorial smear campaign that's been going on -- and I can pretty safely say Halsey is, in addition to being perhaps the strongest (or at least most complex) character in Halo, at the very least the strongest female character.

The core issue with Palmer really is that the way she's marketed doesn't match with her portrayal. We're told she's a great leader but when we see her leadership in practice she comes across as the kind of person who should never be put in charge of anyone. Now granted, we have since Spartan Ops heard and seen that she's a good foot soldier, a good grunt, but this doesn't automatically mean she's fit to have responsibility over the lives and deaths of hundreds of people. And the Initiation comic only made this worse by establishing she never was an officer in the first place but is instead an over-promoted corporal.

Adding to that, her other abrasive traits don't help either - her toxic attitude, unprofessionalism, immaturity and her baffling anti-scientist slant (you can interpret her "eggheads" verbal tic as harmless banter, but Initiation clarified people smarter/more educated than her actually make her uncomfortable -- and this is portrayed as a sympathetic trait).