Talk:Bishop/@comment-2600:1702:1AD0:9480:10DB:8C32:B181:C423-20181105224550/@comment-1255618-20181111021938

@Weedle McHairybug Comments like this are why I love the internet! :D

I really like your comparison to Claude Frollo. Personally, I think of the Bishop as being a form of Lawful Evil that thinks it's good. It's not that he's not totally evil, in my view:  It's that he's following his religion's dogma alone which does nothing to make him less evil (or good, for that matter). Sure, he thinks he's on God's side, and I doubt anyone could convince him otherwise except maybe Blue Fangs, but because he follows only the doctrine of his religion he isn't good whatsoever, just a delusional, self-righteous a**-hole. Religion only works if it's informed by empathy and the experiences of being alive; it doesn't work if it's merely a set of rules in ones head to be exploited against other people. That's what he doesn't understand: the value of emotion and the ability to learn from the world around him, including those he rightly or wrongly sees as impious or evil. Of course, Dracula is the opposite extreme: he's all emotion and can't reign himself and his feelings in whatsoever, codes of morality and even logic be damned, which makes them a great contrasting pair. Dracula's story illustrates that sometimes empathy can lead people to misguided, even heinous, actions, but in the Bishop's case the idea that people who aren't 100% on board with his beliefs can be good people, even very good people, who can teach him new things that are valuable not only to him but to God is impossible in his mind. He's incapable of learning anything new or being humbled, which is ultimately the reason he can't tell truth from lies in the end, because he's become so self-righteous he believes if something doesn't fit his existing worldview and understanding of his religion then it can't exist. He never doubts, so he is unable to accept his limitations as a fallible human with imperfect perception and judgement, which causes him to become disconnected from God and yet unable to find the way back to Him. It's one thing to disagree with someone over religious matters; quite another to make a living out of destroying people one disagrees with! xD  But hey, like you say, at least he tries, right? :P