Nale and Oathpact

[Lopens_Cousin]

Just finished WoR for the second time and was struck by an incredible irony, maybe even hypocrisy, regarding Nale. I mean, he sits there and gushes over Szeth's allegiance to his word and says that keeping one's word is the only thing beautiful in the world. Umm...hello? You BROKE your OATHpact.

 

Maybe his warped crusade is somehow an attempt to make up for this?

Edited June 12, 2016 by lopens_cousin

[Yata he/him]

And indeed He (and the other Heralds) probably see their actions as horribles

[+hwiles He/Him]

Just finished WoR for the second time and was struck by an incredible irony, maybe even hypocrisy, regarding Nale. I mean, he sits there and gushes over Szeth's allegiance to his word and says that keeping one's word is the only thing beautiful in the world. Umm...hello? You BROKE your OATHpact.

 

Maybe his warped crusade is somehow an attempt to make up for this?

 

They haven't had much screen time yet, but I imagine most, or possibly all, of the Heralds were driven at least partially insane over the course of their repeated bouts of torture by Odium.  I think you've identified a very deliberate irony in the story intended to demonstrate how twisted and warped Nale has become.  While we haven't gotten a look into Nale's past, it seems reasonable to assume that his current single-minded zealotry and devotion to the letter-of-the-law is a bastardization of his formerly honorable and/or righteous devotion to maintaining order and justice.

 

Think of him like you would someone who loves cats so much that they go out and buy a hundred of them, then, unable to take care of them, proceed to mistreat, neglect, and hug them to death:  True (in an chull-backwards way) to their original intent, but also certifiably insane.

 

TLDR;

 

Don't let Nale near your kittens