"I had other enemies," he notes, managing to refrain from actually naming Vanion aloud, "and the reasons were sound. Things have changed, yes, but I don't ...expect more than what I earned."
The difference between redemption and reform is that one is passive; to be redeemed you must be forgiven. To reform you must change from the inside out. Martel, viewing the first option a fool's errand at best and hubris beyond anything he'd tried before at worse, opted for the second. There's nothing really wrong with that decision - one might even call it admirable, in some ways, to work to change without the expectation or hope of being rewarded for it.
On the other hand, he coupled it with the steadfast belief that there would be no reward because there could be no reward; that the history is too bloody and his viciousness too genuine. He was misguided, certainly, but not ignorant of his immediate actions. He was cruel. And he is, inexplicably, alive to cope with the fallout.
no subject
The difference between redemption and reform is that one is passive; to be redeemed you must be forgiven. To reform you must change from the inside out. Martel, viewing the first option a fool's errand at best and hubris beyond anything he'd tried before at worse, opted for the second. There's nothing really wrong with that decision - one might even call it admirable, in some ways, to work to change without the expectation or hope of being rewarded for it.
On the other hand, he coupled it with the steadfast belief that there would be no reward because there could be no reward; that the history is too bloody and his viciousness too genuine. He was misguided, certainly, but not ignorant of his immediate actions. He was cruel. And he is, inexplicably, alive to cope with the fallout.
Badly, is the problem.