This post sure subverted a lot people's of expectations, huh?
I'm gonna answer the post title because that was what I was prepared to do when I clicked on this thread.
While I like to be surprised by the way a writer uses certain plot points, characters, and other tropes, it needs to make logical sense. Don't lead your readers down one path, using breadcrumbs, hints, character development, etc, and then change it last minute just for the sake of subverting expectations
Sometimes the only logical path is to meet your readers' expectations head-on. Like, yea, everyone saw that coming, but that's okay. I think it's much better to know that people are connecting the dots than to have a bunch of confused and unsatisfied readers.