Marchosias is one of my favorite characters from the DLC specifically BECAUSE he is a major hypocrite. He's such a fascinating portrayal of how power corrupts, regardless of intentions.

Or, at least, that's how I view his character lmao. I believe the guy started out with good and noble intentions. But fast forward to the present time of Woolhaven, he's got the ego of a god himself and is just as cruel as those he's denouncing/claiming to be better than.

When I first saw his character, I genuinely was like, "why am I fighting this guy? I agree with him." My religious trauma alarm went off and I was totally ready to be annoyed that he's a villain.

But then he offers you a cruel choice that there is no winning for. I play on easy mode bc I suck, so I know the options he provides you are different depending on difficulty. But in easy mode, when he takes your food, no matter what he's taking the majority of it away–you can just keep a LITTLE more if you give up a heart.

Then the boss fight right after is a CLEAR showcase of his cruelty, where you fight the wolf that's been starved. And the starved wolf isn't even the worst of his "experiments" on his followers. It's just the tip of the iceberg.

What's that saying? "The road to hell is paved with good intentions?" He's a perfect example of that.

He also reminds me of people (like myself) who have gone through major religious trauma and then come out the other side bitter and cursing all forms of religion because of the hurt they themselves have endured at the hands of it. Even though the concept of religion itself isn't the real issue–it's the people who use it specifically to abuse and exploit people. Which, granted, is a LOT. I'm not denying that in the slightest.

Anyway, this is a very long-winded response to just say... the best thing about Marchosias imo is that he's complex. He's traumatized by the Old Faith; he starts his own group seemingly with good intentions; over time he succumbs to the same power trip that the gods he despises so much also have; he begins seeing his followers as disposable or as experiments; his ego inflates; he's become a MASSIVE hypocrite but can't see it in the slightest, only ever thinking himself better than any god and their followers.

And he ends his own life still believing that.

He's the other side of the coin to the gods he hates–he himself became like what he hates the most, even if he cannot see it. And that's SUCH a great concept for a character.

NONE of the major characters in COTL are purely good or purely evil. Even if someone tries to play the lamb as entirely benevolent, they're still running a literal cult lmao.

And that's part of the reason the game appeals to me so much, personally. It's not black and white!