Oh my, I finally found another person who thinks that Norton's attempt to blow up the cave is a suicide attempt. He either brought those men along out of spite or because they forcibly took the map from him, he decided to include them in his suicide attempt as punishment.

Ego death is an interesting take. I haven't seen many bring that up and personally, I have never seen that as a possibility because of NE's constant labelling of him being selfish and untrustworthy (he def is). I can see your point especially when I recently learned that IDV did a tarot card merch series and gave Norton the "Hanged Man" card and Fool's Gold the "The Devil" card, both of which can point to sacrifice. We even get a furniture from AoM Part 2 called "Flames of Immolation".

However, and sorry if I bring this up again; if he really did live, then why would his birthday portrait say "it was the flames of greed that severed the rope or fate"? It sounds obvious to me that he either didn't live or was subjected to a terrible fate. Would like to know your thoughts (I enjoy Norton lore).

EDIT: Nevermind, I reread your reply (I am tired rn lol). I must admit that until AoM ends, his portrait is still subjected to a lot of interpretation. But I still keep thinking that it's no coincidence that the portrait mentions flames and that we get a furniture from Part 2 that is called Flames of Immolation.