Damien's Motivations? [Spoilers]

[GreatWyrmGold]

I recently tried Damien's route, using a character called Bella Swan due to the creepy Twilight vibes Damien began to give off during my previous games. Then he tried to kill Bella, and things got more confused. So I'm going to try to lay out my thoughts and maybe get some feedback on them.
I think it's fair to say that everything before the ritual is Damien's manipulation, everything during the ritual is more or less accurate, and everything after...well, it's probably mostly true. The Empathy spell supports this, as does Damien protecting the protagonist after she loses her magic. On the other hand, he offers to do whatever the protagonist wants, and there's no indication that she actually wanted to go to the dark side for any reason other than Damien being over there; he cares for her, but the manipulation probably continues on some level.

The things Damien says before trying to sacrifice the protagonist is presumably what he wants her to believe, and the things he tries to have her do are presumably what he wants her to do. And this is where things start to get murky. Recall that late in January, Damien confesses his love for the protagonist, and if you don't say you love him back you never hear from him again. It seems that whatever ritual he's doing does require the soul of someone who loves him, presumably freely-given. It makes sense that he'd want to make sure that his current prospect is atually suitable, and to throw her away while he still has time if not.
But his other behavior doesn't make much sense if this is the case; he doesn't seem to be trying very hard to court the protagonist (even explicitly saying that he's planning to be just friends if you ask in November), and when "testing" her in January he tries to pressure her into saying she loves him (e.g, saying that she's been leading him on). This is the opposite of what I'd expect; if I were Damien (and also a sociopath), I would spend the first semester trying to make the girl love me and figure out if it had worked by just asking, and kindly accepting if she said no. (Using this sort of strategy from the beginning and keeping in touch with the failures would also help defuse Damien's horrible reputation, which is probably one of the things holding him back.)

Damien's larger plans are also a mystery. During the ritual, he talks of becoming a demon prince, and afterwards he says he was raised by cultists. If both of these are true (and I can't think of why he would lie about either detail), it sounds like the plan probably isn't his own...at least, not fully. Though he does still have resources to call on after screwing the pooch in the gymnasium, meaning that either the master(s) have a backup plan for Damien or he's convinced em that he does. Regardless, his actions are clearly at least condoned by the cult and its masters, and since it involves sending letters to and physically approaching Iris Academy, which is not the safest place for him to be. (Not to mention that Damien reveals details about the cult's plan to his beau, though it's theoretically possible that he could hide that from the cult.) Between all of this and the bit I mentioned in the second paragraph (Damien bringing the protagonist to the dark side when she had wanted to bring him to the light side), I suspect that Damien's plans still involve her...or at the very least, that they're still a high priority for Damien.

One other thing stands out. In my first run, I tried to keep Damien as a friend while not getting into a romantic relationship, which kinda bombed. Later, Damien called me into the gymnasium to tell me about how he was dying...even though it wouldn't make much sense for his plan. Seriously, what purpose did guilt-tripping someone he never expected to see again serve? Was he hoping to convince the protagonist to give up her soul despite her saying she didn't love him? (Does that not matter after all? If so, surely there's an easier way the cult could have done this?) All it does is tell the protagonist that he was lying to her if she ever catches sight of him in whatever plans he concocts later, depriving him of a potential resource.
And while I'm at it, what's with him "taking advantage of a freshman boy, then running" thing the night of the ritual if you're not there? (Or even if you are and just don't go through with it?) Did he try convincing a boy to give up his soul between the 25th of January and the 8th of March (about a month and a half), only to have him run and tell a teacher? Was he taking out his frustrations by trying to rape someone? Did he just say "Screw this popsicle stand, I'll find my soul elsewhere" and someone made up the boy thing out of thin air? If it's not the last one, who was the victim (and why), and if it IS, how did someone come to that conclusion?

Unless the Wolf Hall game is set after some version of this ending, we're not likely to get more information. Is there anything else you people can derive from the information we already have?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Huh, the r-word (the one that isn't "ravish") is censored. Did not expect that.

[Leah]

From what I understand, the Wolf Hall game would partake the year Damien and William were involved. So we WILL find out more.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Assuming it actually happens. And that I notice it, as opposed to forgetting about the entire universe until I stumble across its TV Tropes page.