Malack just jumped the shark from neutral to evil with his plan to invoke Godwin's Law on the Western Continent; but previously, you could make a better case for Malack's integrity; for example, he drinks the blood of judicial system by-products (and I don't think that The Empire of Blood strictly has a bad judicial system, while harsh and not particularly fair, it's not an active tool of repression) instead of actively hunting people down to kill; he's been extremely congenial and extremely friendly to Durkon and his friends.

Right now, I'm less interested in Malack's metaphor than what Rich is going to do to Tarquin. I am so sorry for Malack. I really liked the character.