*Spoilers* The Torture Victims

[hollowleviathan]

Firstly, as a 19th century Briton, he'd be well acquainted with the class system and his superiority to the dregs and criminals of his day. They're by no means his equal.

Daniel did not start torturing people, not nearly. He started by executing a murderer with a swift cut to the heart. He did not start off flaying women and children alive. It took the influence of the creeping shadow and Alexander using his shattered orbs to induce madness for a week from straightforward executions to unspeakable acts by whip and knife.

The torture isn't pointless, or for the purpose of cruelty. It is a necessary act to create the product of the vitae so desperately needed to save Daniel and anyone else in the way of the shadow. Daniel doesn't need to hate those criminals, only to think they deserve punishment, and to believe that he does not.

By the end of the week of doing unspeakable things, he's nearly mad and flailing to dehumanize the victim as a craft, and the torture as a mechanical repetition, devoid of conscious attention. He's using a lot of self-delusion, justification, and dissociative coping techniques, and even then, it breaks his spirit beyond the ability to stand.

I believe him, he's no different than any average person.