Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to quit Holyrood was one of the least surprising developments in Scottish politics in years.
After serving as an MSP from the first day of devolution and leading the country for nearly a decade, she had checked out of the Parliament long ago.
An announcement on her divorce from husband Peter Murrell only fuelled the perception of a politician desperate to start a new chapter.
Her departure will inevitably fuel the debate on the legacy of one of the most controversial politicians of the devolution era.
Critics viewed her as a divisive leader who never tried to bring the country together after the bitter 2014 referendum.
They believe she governed for independence supporters only and never understood the anxiety of pro-UK voters.
Allies see her as a champion for Scotland who stood up against the idiocies of successive Tory Governments.
Her backers believe she enacted compassionate social policies and provided the strong leadership her Tory counterparts failed on.
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
It is true her constant agitation for a second independence referendum made her a divider, not a uniter.
And she failed miserably to achieve her top domestic goal of substantially closing the attainment gap in education.
But her delivery of the Scottish Child Payment for low income kids, which now stands at nearly £30 a week, was a big success.
She also presided over an overhaul of free childcare for stressed and worn out parents. Part of her legacy is that children from poorer backgrounds receive greater support than south of the border.
The pandemic, which she led the response on in Scotland, arguably defined her leadership.
I know of a number of anti-independence voters who backed the SNP in 2021 as a response to Sturgeon’s handling of covid.
She was judged to have provided calm, reassuring leadership at a time of national crisis and they gave her the thumbs up.
But the subsequent scandal over deleted WhatsApps tarnished her covid legacy and confirmed the perception of her as a secretive politician.
Getting booed by gender critical feminists at the weekend was a further reminder that she is seen as a divisive figure.
She pushed ahead with so-called gender self-ID when it was a low priority issue with the public and failed to bring voters with her on the law change.
Operation Branchform, the police probe into allegations of SNP fraud when she was leader, is an unresolved issue in relation to her legacy.
Sturgeon is currently writing her memoirs and this damaging episode will, for legal reasons, be unlikely to feature heavily.
The Sturgeon legacy will be debated for decades to come.
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