But the red as passion is a lie - it's not really coming from the people at all, because they weren't like that. As the emperor says, none of them were as narrow-minded and superficial as that version of the tale suggested. The emotions portrayed in it weren't real.
The emperor you have to remember is speaking from a cold/ruthless standpoint. Just as you can't take truth spoken from Nameless, you can't take truth spoken by the emperor as well, because his viewpoint is flawed. Remember, from what Nameless has seen of the couple, she was willing to stab Broken Sword in the leg and open herself up to death so that the emperor would die. The viewpoint is anger-filled, clouded, and literally (the tilting hallways) and metaphorically skewed. The emotions portrayed in it weren't real because they were filtered through Nameless' POV, ie. the red tone.
From the viewpoint of Nameless at that time, he was filled with hatred at the emperor. This, he seems to say, is the country that you have created. The emperor, in return, paints a picture of what the country he has created seems to be, which is just as flawed as Nameless' view, it is just as much of a lie because the emperor has no perspective.
Then we have Broken Sword's viewpoint, which is actually the only viewpoint that changes as we watch, metaphorically (he stops trying to kill the emperor) and literally (green becomes black). Which is interesting in itself because green is the color of growth.
Revenge is why he's there, but he tempers it at the last
Here's the thing, we never see Nameless' viewpoint change, colorwise, because it's reverted to omniscient(?...or third person?) POV. At the time of the red-washed story, Nameless is still filled with rage at the emperor, and determined to kill him. (heh, and the candle flames know it too ::winks::) With this in mind, it isn't so much as a clash between the story and who he is, but a clash of the story he *had* told and the man he has *become*. He is no longer red-tinged...he's accepted the black-white-grey of it, at the end
...which is an utterly different thing than him while he was telling the story and still planning to accomplish the assasination. =)
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The emperor you have to remember is speaking from a cold/ruthless standpoint. Just as you can't take truth spoken from Nameless, you can't take truth spoken by the emperor as well, because his viewpoint is flawed. Remember, from what Nameless has seen of the couple, she was willing to stab Broken Sword in the leg and open herself up to death so that the emperor would die. The viewpoint is anger-filled, clouded, and literally (the tilting hallways) and metaphorically skewed. The emotions portrayed in it weren't real because they were filtered through Nameless' POV, ie. the red tone.
From the viewpoint of Nameless at that time, he was filled with hatred at the emperor. This, he seems to say, is the country that you have created. The emperor, in return, paints a picture of what the country he has created seems to be, which is just as flawed as Nameless' view, it is just as much of a lie because the emperor has no perspective.
Then we have Broken Sword's viewpoint, which is actually the only viewpoint that changes as we watch, metaphorically (he stops trying to kill the emperor) and literally (green becomes black). Which is interesting in itself because green is the color of growth.
Revenge is why he's there, but he tempers it at the last
Here's the thing, we never see Nameless' viewpoint change, colorwise, because it's reverted to omniscient(?...or third person?) POV. At the time of the red-washed story, Nameless is still filled with rage at the emperor, and determined to kill him. (heh, and the candle flames know it too ::winks::) With this in mind, it isn't so much as a clash between the story and who he is, but a clash of the story he *had* told and the man he has *become*. He is no longer red-tinged...he's accepted the black-white-grey of it, at the end
...which is an utterly different thing than him while he was telling the story and still planning to accomplish the assasination. =)