That's definitely a good analysis, CowardlyPaladin. The broader point is an obvious one in retrospect: Place characters in situations where they won't engage in their normal behavior, and they have to demonstrate different things about themselves. You can do that by making their normal behavior somehow not possible, but that's far from the only option. Someone who fulfills a major goal, for example, will then stop directing efforts towards it. In the case of Vaarsuvius, we get to see what V finally does with ultimate arcane power after chasing after it for so long, and how reluctant V is to give it up.

Of course, after circumstances return to normal, characters can likewise revert entirely or almost entirely to earlier patterns of behavior. And, indeed, this is necessary standard practice in low-continuity serial fiction wherein the status quo must be maintained. But being forced into an unfamiliar mode of operation can also teach important lessons and have lasting impacts. So it can serve as a device for long-term changes to characters, but it doesn't have to.


As to the more recent discussion, I had understood empathy to be experiencing the feelings of others. And while being happy when others are happy obviously motivates benevolence, but being sad and afraid when others are sad and afraid doesn't necessarily put you in the best emotional state to help them. Furthermore, since we can only vicariously experience things we're aware of in the first place, that sort of sensitivity can lead someone to avoid learning about suffering in the first place, e.g. by not reading the news, rather than to alleviate suffering.

I think that those are the sorts of problems people are thinking about when they say that empathy isn't necessarily all that great. Feeling bad about bad things happening to others not only doesn't automatically translate into helping them, but can lead away from doing so. And it's possible to care about the welfare of others and work to improve it without feeling bad about it. For some people, that may be easier.