[SPOILER] Plot Discussion Thread *Spoiler Alert*

[Alardem]

All the questions about Mandus' logic seem to imply that he actually cared about the welfare of people. To that, I'd say that he'd have done a much better job being a genuine philanthropist rather than masquerading as one.

(Well, there's a bit of nuance. Apparently there are files unused in the final product which indicate that Mandus had compassion for his workers and the poor, despite the highly stratified nature of society obliging him to look down on them. That would explain his resentment for the hypocrisy of the rich.)

I suppose part of his despair comes from realizing that, no matter what good or evil he does, he ultimately won't be able to make the world a better place. His inner hatred of people wins out and he decides, with the logic of the terminally despaired, to take everything he and his society were doing to their (il)logical extreme.