Halrun is a Monster and why he should never be spared

[jedi7000nathan/sevenbillionjedi]

You know I like a good twist villian and this game has them; but at the same time I HATE villains that act like they are the good guy; the Claude Frollo Archetype most of all. In this game though my most hated villain in a world where demons are an ever meneacing threat one stands out as my most hated and the one that will never know mercy from me in any playthrough because he is too dangerous to be left alive.
That man is Prelate Halrun, when you are first introduced to him you don't get the full picture of how evil he can be, his evil is revealed to you throughout character dialogue before your second run in with him (And which is always the last run in with him as he doesn't walk away from me alive) he is known to be the embodiement of the Spanish Inquisition if you were to take all the worst aspects of it (Pretty much the whole thing) and combine it into one character: Halrun is a pyromaniaic and an insane lunatic who sees enemies wherever he looks and is not able to distinguish reality from his mind.
This is best demonstrated as he was warned repeatedly that the city was going to be attacked by Deskari he did NOT believe these rumors and after the attack he was content to stay with his soldiers guarding the gaping hole in the ground made by Deskari instead of doing actual things to help the city like battling demons and rescuing people from being killed by all manner of hazards from the city's ruination. No instead Halrun thinks its worth his time to stand by a hole and kill innocent Neathers whom end up making the mistake to come to the surface near the guy; he is needlessly cruel prone to picking fights with anyone and has no rights to hold a position especially when he insists on flat out murder by calling for execution without trial or due process, he is not only a murderer and a madman but an idiot worthy of a episode of Villains to Stupid too win as he derilects his duties to chase after imaginary enemies or murder his own allies instead of fighting actual demons though to be fair they'd probably kick his sorry ass with ease if he'll lose to me every time without actually putting up a hard fight.
The Worst aspect though of Halrun that puts him in the pure evil category is that he is willing to burn children alive to kill children is an act of evil: it is evil beyond redemption to kill a child, and to make matters worst is when Ember reveals this monster for what he is and forgives him his crimes instead of apologizing he digs in and claims if not for the battle he'd have her burned alive right there; no character should spare this man, lawful or chaotic, neutral, good or evil of any alignment should let Halrun live. The only gripe I have is that this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ drops ♥♥♥♥ chainmail instead of the full plate he's wearing: in Kingmaker the bosses of his rank tended to drop some good loot, the only thing he drops that is worth using is his sword; anyway a trash character unworthy of a character portrait he's not even important to the story nothing good comes of letting this man live

[Skree]

He is also the only one that can save the life of an important good character later in the game.

Shades of morality, my friend. Shades. Nothing is black and white.

[ExcaliburV]

Hulrun's a very flawed character, but I wouldn't call him evil. If you talk to the people around him, you get a better sense of the story.

Hulrun is a man that's been absolutely ravaged by paranoia after having to safeguard the only bastion of the crusade, Kenabres, from the most decietful and evil creatures in the entirety of the planes. Demons.

He says as much himself. He learned to stop trusting people because he was there at the Red Massacre (is that what is was called?) The day when demons bluffed their way into the city disguised as mortals, only to kill dozens, if not hundreds of people on the spot and tarnish the wardstone, the only symbol of defense and divine aid the crusade had.

Everything he does is to try and protect the people of the city. It's misguided at times, yes, but when literally anyone around you could reveal themselves to be a demon and kill an innocent person right in front of your eyes, can you really claim you'd do any better?

There's so many sides to a story. Very few things are binarily good and evil. I wouldn't excuse him of the mistakes he's made, but I wouldn't condemn him for doing his best to serve and protect either.

[Nepnep]

This is why modern people don't make good commanders. As much of an ass Hulrun is, the best thing to do is to point him in the right direction. Not slaughter the sinful jerk that almost everyone in the game told you not to.

If there is an actual "evil" character in this game, and I'm not talking about alignments here, it would be that one girl whose name I can't be bothered to remember atm, waiting to stab you in the back. She is certainly more evil than the likes of Baphomet and Deskari.

[Insanity_184]

I’ll never understand people defending him. He is 100% not lawful or good. He kills people with zero trial or even letting them defend themselves. (Anyone else notice the pile of dead mongrols when you first meet him killed for god forbid climbing up)

Sure he’s has some ptsd but you get those people mental help not allow them to decide anyone they don’t like can be burned at the stake.

How many innocents died because he just decided they were evil? How many murders are ok cause you think it’s what your god wants? Why the ♥♥♥♥ does his god still give him powers at all.

[Brian Sirith]

I like him. He needs to be controlled but I see his point. People are eaten alive, tortured, vivisected, used as flesh crafting experiments. He's seen all that, he's lived through horrors one can only imagine. He is trying to protect the people. He just needs to be less paranoid and keep the burning to actual cultists. But after a few things that have happened in my campaign -where some actual cultists are concerned: Bladesmith and others- I'll hold the torch for him.

[Insanity_184]

Originally posted by Skree:

He is also the only one that can save the life of an important good character later in the game.

Shades of morality, my friend. Shades. Nothing is black and white.

Who is that I thought he just saved the banner

[Sador]

Originally posted by Insanity_184:

Originally posted by Skree:

He is also the only one that can save the life of an important good character later in the game.

Shades of morality, my friend. Shades. Nothing is black and white.

Who is that I thought he just saved the banner

If he's still alive in act 5 he ends up being important.

[Insanity_184]

Originally posted by Sador:

Originally posted by Insanity_184:

Who is that I thought he just saved the banner

If he's still alive in act 5 he ends up being important.

Ya I have beaten the game I know that but I thought all he did was save the banner did he also save someone else and I just didn’t notice? I mean I saved the Queen and irabeth.

[Brian Sirith]

He saves Ciar

[Edstyles]

Didnt he burn embers father ?

[Brian Sirith]

Originally posted by Edstyles:

Didnt he burn embers father ?

Yup. The moron who took his child to the Worldwound.

[ExcaliburV]

Originally posted by Insanity_184:

I’ll never understand people defending him. He is 100% not lawful or good. He kills people with zero trial or even letting them defend themselves. (Anyone else notice the pile of dead mongrols when you first meet him killed for god forbid climbing up)

Sure he’s has some ptsd but you get those people mental help not allow them to decide anyone they don’t like can be burned at the stake.

How many innocents died because he just decided they were evil? How many murders are ok cause you think it’s what your god wants? Why the ♥♥♥♥ does his god still give him powers at all.

You're right, he's not lawful good, I'm pretty sure he's lawful neutral. Which is still within the realm of Iomedae's accepted alignment for Clerics. Not to mention that Inquisitors tend to get a bit more leeway on morality, even for the good gods. The entire point of them is to do the more morally questionable work of the faith.

And you're not wrong, he probably should've been removed from his post. I support that. I don't support blindly killing him and claiming he "should never be spared", as OP puts it.

Best I can guess is that Mendev was probably short on heroes/icons and publicly removing him from his post probably would've done more harm than good for the crusade (reinforcing there's no hope, leading to desertion or fewer people coming to help, leading to losing the war.)

Not saying it's right or what I would've done, but it's probably what happened.

[Edstyles]

Originally posted by Brian Sirith:

Originally posted by Edstyles:

Didnt he burn embers father ?

Yup. The moron who took his child to the Worldwound.

And ended up being killed by crusaders rather than demons :p

[Brian Sirith]

Originally posted by Edstyles:

Originally posted by Brian Sirith:

Yup. The moron who took his child to the Worldwound.

And ended up being killed by crusaders rather than demons :p

Yeah, it's a generally horrible story. Tbh I was more pissed with Ember than the Inquisitor when they talked. While I like the Inquisitor and get why he is paranoid burning innocent people is not the thing. So I'm standing there trying to tell the man 'WTF did you do? You owe Ember an apology at the very least!' and I have Ember there yapping that she forgives him and stuff. Each. Time. She. Speaks. I. Wanna. Scream.

[Edstyles]

Well not like an apology is going to do much either . Like hey you say sorry for killing her father ! It isnt going to accomplish anything.

If Ember truly is a witch just place a hex bag in his bed :D