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There are two problems here:

1.

The whole scene and dialogue before and after freeing Orpheus does not make sense:

- The 180° of the Emperor never makes sense, no matter what your relationship with him was up until that point. The Emperor should fight the PC to the death if he thinks freeing Orpheus would kill him, or trust the PC if the relationship was good, allowing Orpheus to be freed. It makes no sense for the Emperor to become a thrall of the Netherbrain under any circumstance. Enthrallment was the ONE thing that the Emperor consistently did NOT want.

- Orpheus claiming his honor guard could have freed him. This is just not true. They didn't have the Oprhic Hammer, and even if somehow they didn't need the Hammer, his honor guard was imprisoned together with Oprheus by Vlaakith I (NOT the Lich Queen) over 1.000 years ago. If they could have freed him, why didn't they do it? The writing is all ove rthe place. The peoplewho wrote the Emperor-Orpheus portion of the game obviously have never spoken to the writers of Lae'Zel. It's a total contradiction.

- Orpheus turns into a MIndflayer without being tadpoled.

2.

The game railroads the player in a linear ending sequence, where choices don't matter anymore. Choices really had visible consequences up until the player decides to face the Netherbrain. From there on out, the game could have basically a cutscene.

I fully agree, i just tried to outline a possible way to salvage what is there to begin with.
Realistically, with all the other issues the story has in its final parts, it would require a complete Rework of the Emperor and the Dream Guardian, along with the ending itself.