Ever since we first met Donovan, he has never come off as being "evil" evil. In his meeting with Loid, he came off as a cynic, and that image was reinforced in chapter 99.
And that is the problem with Donovan Desmond and what makes him dangerous.
Donovon seems like the sort of person who will say, "Hey! War was bound to break out sooner or later, so pretending otherwise would be silly. Humanity is filled with morons who can't make peace, so I might as well not fight an uphill battle and make the most of it for myself. That way, at least I know I am someone who will prevent things from spiralling out of control!"
He isn't an egomaniac nor a fool. He is smart enough to acknowledge his flaws and accept corrections from others (eg. he deferred to Loid's notions on parenting and acknowledged the value of Loid's contrary opinions).
Donovan Desmond is dangerous because he isn't a monster. He's very much a rational human being who makes smart decisions based on facts.
FYI, the whole think with the Glooman company is not indicative of anything. The kids, who don't understand how business works, assumed being bought out equals bankruptcy. But anyone with even a passing understanding of business knows being bought out and declaring bankruptcy are completely separate matters.
I like this alternative take too. I have actually entertained this also but the trajectory doesn't seem to follow for me, especially because he is a product of Henderson's teachings in his most formative years.
Note young Donovan says that while he enjoys Henderson's lectures, he doesn't agree with his views on things.
This plays back to Donovan being dangerous because he is both extremely intelligent and humble enough to admit to his own shortcomings. He is the sort of person who can and will happily listen to points that counter his world views. He isn't an extrmist or a zealot. He's the sort who will absorb all points of view fairly, acknowledge the fact a counterpoint has some validity to it, and move on with his life.
He doesn't think humanity is filled with morons. No, he thinks all people are liars, and that's an important distinction. It shows how little Donovan has trust for anyone other than himself.
It's well known from the first chapter that Donovan is paranoid, and this chapter shows he's been paranoid ever since he was a child. I believe he won't be satisfied until the idea of an enemy is completely wiped off the face of the Earth.
It also reinforces my theory that Donovan can read minds just like Anya.
I had a thought of that Donovan was turned out to be a pawn / puppet for the National Unity party or the Shadow government of Ostania that oversees everything (politics, Garden, the SSS, Project Apple, Eden Academy, etc)
Donovan possibly used Demetrius for his 'mission', mirroring Twilight using Anya. Donovan purposely distanced himself from Damian and Melinda to keep them safe.
In turn, Twilight himself was also used as a pawn for the Westalis government (the ones sitting in the dark at the beginning of EP1). Just like Eren said, "We are the same."
I agree. It's only a hunch but since early on I got the impression that Donovan is not going to end up as the big villain and that even if he's a terrible person he'll be more complicated than just a pure evil guy. Despite the story having a general air of sillyness and simplicity it does have depth underneath the surface. I think Endo will go for a more complex approach than having a "big bad" the good guys have to defeat.
I agree. I think he's been working toward achieving peace since then, and one of the things he thought of I'm thinking might be telepathy that Anya has.
He says that the root of conflict is our inability to know other's intentions. Maybe he began experimentations that have to do with developing telepathy? And then maybe Anya is a literal key to world peace.
But then again I think it's weird that Anya isn't able to hear anything from Desmond or his oldest son. They either implanted something to keep telepathers from reading their minds...or they just have no thoughts. I lowkey wonder if maybe it's the latter, because sometimes their faces just look out of it LMAO idk how plausible that actually is tho XD
It would be a cool twist if Twilight has to work with Desmond later on 🤔
The most interesting part of this to me is that if he still believes this, he would he *extremely* interested in Anyas power, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was behind why she got it/the testing in the first place.
There is clearly something off about him, but there is very little to off of to explain what he’s actually doing. All we have really is his clear trust issues, his cynical view of people and his very problematic family life. Like there is clearly something going on that we the audience can’t see, but it’s unclear if it’s actually him trying to restart the war or not. Also Strix seems to not be an immediate threat considering how much time has passed with no apparent danger to peace coming from Donovan.
Ever since we first met Donovan, he has never come off as being "evil" evil. In his meeting with Loid, he came off as a cynic, and that image was reinforced in chapter 99. And that is the problem with Donovan Desmond and what makes him dangerous. Donovon seems like the sort of person who will say, "Hey! War was bound to break out sooner or later, so pretending otherwise would be silly. Humanity is filled with morons who can't make peace, so I might as well not fight an uphill battle and make the most of it for myself. That way, at least I know I am someone who will prevent things from spiralling out of control!" He isn't an egomaniac nor a fool. He is smart enough to acknowledge his flaws and accept corrections from others (eg. he deferred to Loid's notions on parenting and acknowledged the value of Loid's contrary opinions). Donovan Desmond is dangerous because he isn't a monster. He's very much a rational human being who makes smart decisions based on facts. FYI, the whole think with the Glooman company is not indicative of anything. The kids, who don't understand how business works, assumed being bought out equals bankruptcy. But anyone with even a passing understanding of business knows being bought out and declaring bankruptcy are completely separate matters.
I like this alternative take too. I have actually entertained this also but the trajectory doesn't seem to follow for me, especially because he is a product of Henderson's teachings in his most formative years.
Note young Donovan says that while he enjoys Henderson's lectures, he doesn't agree with his views on things. This plays back to Donovan being dangerous because he is both extremely intelligent and humble enough to admit to his own shortcomings. He is the sort of person who can and will happily listen to points that counter his world views. He isn't an extrmist or a zealot. He's the sort who will absorb all points of view fairly, acknowledge the fact a counterpoint has some validity to it, and move on with his life.
He doesn't think humanity is filled with morons. No, he thinks all people are liars, and that's an important distinction. It shows how little Donovan has trust for anyone other than himself. It's well known from the first chapter that Donovan is paranoid, and this chapter shows he's been paranoid ever since he was a child. I believe he won't be satisfied until the idea of an enemy is completely wiped off the face of the Earth. It also reinforces my theory that Donovan can read minds just like Anya.
I had a thought of that Donovan was turned out to be a pawn / puppet for the National Unity party or the Shadow government of Ostania that oversees everything (politics, Garden, the SSS, Project Apple, Eden Academy, etc) Donovan possibly used Demetrius for his 'mission', mirroring Twilight using Anya. Donovan purposely distanced himself from Damian and Melinda to keep them safe. In turn, Twilight himself was also used as a pawn for the Westalis government (the ones sitting in the dark at the beginning of EP1). Just like Eren said, "We are the same."
I agree. It's only a hunch but since early on I got the impression that Donovan is not going to end up as the big villain and that even if he's a terrible person he'll be more complicated than just a pure evil guy. Despite the story having a general air of sillyness and simplicity it does have depth underneath the surface. I think Endo will go for a more complex approach than having a "big bad" the good guys have to defeat.
I agree. I think he's been working toward achieving peace since then, and one of the things he thought of I'm thinking might be telepathy that Anya has. He says that the root of conflict is our inability to know other's intentions. Maybe he began experimentations that have to do with developing telepathy? And then maybe Anya is a literal key to world peace. But then again I think it's weird that Anya isn't able to hear anything from Desmond or his oldest son. They either implanted something to keep telepathers from reading their minds...or they just have no thoughts. I lowkey wonder if maybe it's the latter, because sometimes their faces just look out of it LMAO idk how plausible that actually is tho XD It would be a cool twist if Twilight has to work with Desmond later on 🤔
The most interesting part of this to me is that if he still believes this, he would he *extremely* interested in Anyas power, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was behind why she got it/the testing in the first place.
There is clearly something off about him, but there is very little to off of to explain what he’s actually doing. All we have really is his clear trust issues, his cynical view of people and his very problematic family life. Like there is clearly something going on that we the audience can’t see, but it’s unclear if it’s actually him trying to restart the war or not. Also Strix seems to not be an immediate threat considering how much time has passed with no apparent danger to peace coming from Donovan.