Erfworld 75, page 69

[Aquillion]

Well that wasn't good. How are the writers going to deus ex this one back in line with the Parson-must-win plot? (I'm assuming that Parson doesn't just ignominously lose this campaign, because, well, what would be the point of that?)

Don't forget... the more terrible Parson's situation looks, the more amazing he gets to look when he overcomes it. Beating Ansom after losing this many dragons would look much more impressive than just popping onto the scene, coming up with a single strategy, and winning the game.

Let's see. In order to gain control of GK, he had to commit regicide. To search for the rest of the Arkentools, he attacked a lot of nations. He also took out the Milquetoast Tribe. Yeah, he's not a good guy.

Well, to be fair... it's a game. Nobody in the story, anywhere, at any point, has displayed any compunction about all the killing going on... Erfworld's rules are not ours.

Notice that the thing Ansom seems to hold most against Stanley is that he's "not noble". Not that he's a murderer, not that he destroyed this or that or whatever, but because he wasn't noble when he was doing it. Depending on how you interpret the line, it could mean he hates Stanley for lacking noble blood, or for stabbing his overlord in the back instead of killing people in a "fair fight" like everyone else... but I think there's an unwritten assumption that, in the long run, every important faction is out to "win the game". Some might want to use diplomacy for a while first, but it's not entirely fair to say that that alone makes Stanley the "evil side."

He's just the guy who attacked first. It might not have been smart (often doing that in a strategy game causes everyone else to crush you), but--in a strategy-game environment like Erfworld's--it certainly doesn't make him evil. It just means he devoted less time to diplomacy and upgrading than Jetstone did.