[SPOILER] Plot Discussion Thread *Spoiler Alert*

[Kein]

Except for the question of what this means.

Did it hurt to carve out the fevered flesh? Did it hurt to cut free the gangrenous foot?

The story isn't consistent. You make it sound like he cut his foot or had a gangrene but it never said anywhere nor implied. That is just your interpretation (and I already saw a better one few posts ago).

We can play these games whole day, but what the point. Better focus on more solid aspects of the story that has more core meaning.

Actually, I'd say it's the opposite: slaughtering a few million humans immediately was preferable to the entire human race suffering through the twentieth century that Mandus foresaw. The old 'kill thousands to save millions' idea.

Of course, if anything, Mandus has already brought about a future likely to be even worse than our past. Even if the Machine's attempt at creating a new world changed, the slaughter of countless Londoners by supernatural monsters is likely to be something that'd severely impact the twentieth century in ways different from our own.

I'm not even sure Machine could bring the demolition of such scale. I think it was rather some kind of target, a threat that would concentrate the whole world on it and thus all the bigs events of 1900 won't happen.