Quote:
Originally Posted by Fledchen
I'm interested to know what everyone's thoughts are regarding Suter's transition from wanting to kill everyone in the village to protect himself, to being the village's protector. I wasn't expecting him to turn his goals around quite that much.
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I think I missed (or forgot) where he wanted to kill everyone in the village, sorry. Assuming that happened and I missed it, I could nevertheless understand the change.
His first "contact" with these surviving humans was a murdered corpse. Then he gleaned from Muriel that the village was filled with cowards (against a multitude of murderers).
And he had spent years protecting himself from dogs and whatever other threats there may have been.
And he had a full routine of daily tasks to stay nourished and healthy (like tooth care) and safe and as civilized as possible. Disruption of the routine would put his very survival at risk.
As a person, he had always been comfortable alone. And he seemed to feel deeply when he was abruptly dumped by Helen I, yet didn't seem bitter. A likable character, to me anyway.
He made this first human contact with Muriel, then only took action when he saw her life being threatened. A reckless act for one who wanted to stay safely out of the mess, but a human act by a likable, decent human. Once that was done, he was trapped into a kill-or-be-killed situation (he knew he would never feel safe or at peace again if he didn't engage fully). And he would only want to kill the real threats, Bex and his gang. The others could be useful as allies.
So in my reading I never viewed him as looking to be the "village protector." He may have gotten that role as an accidental byproduct of hunting down Bex and his men for his own reasons (his future peace and safety).
Suter's character development seemed to fit his subsequent actions very well for me. (That's not to say the story was predictable.)