A coward, oh really? What else is he supposed to do when you betray him?

And yes, you do betray him... or do I need to remind everyone that even Orpheus is not deluded to such fact;

"You rejected the illithid when it no longer suited your needs. No doubt you freed me because it suits you now. I will neither forgive nor forget your abuse of my powers.

You had the opportunity to surrender yourself to my Honour Guard. They would have given you a noble end. Any worthy individual destined to become ghaik would've done so! My guard would have freed me, and I would have stopped the elder brain before it evolved into a Netherbrain."

It's funny how players only judge and condemn the Emperor, but refuse to judge their own character who is just like him. Tell me now... why did you not let his Honour Guard simply give you a noble end just like Ansur wanted to give the Emperor? Are you a coward? Willing to kill everyone to save your own skin? Willing to betray your very guardian, the person who saved you so many times? How many died so you can live?

Or are you simply a survivor, an opportunist JUST LIKE THE EMPEROR. Wanting to be free, wanting to live. Someone who is fighting to survive, someone who doesn't want to do these things, yet must do them in order to survive because there is no other choice.

Because Orpheus is 100% right. A true hero would have surrendered to his Honour Guard and accepted their fate, allowing his Honour Guard to free him so he could stop the Grand Design before it even started. Yet you murdered them all to survive and then you exploit him just like you exploit the Emperor as you choose who to discard the moment it suits you. And you can call it whatever you want, but at the end of the day you're the exact same thing that you're condemning the Emperor to be. Someone who is killing others so you can live, just because you're a ghaik-wretch in their eyes and they won't stop hunting you because of what you are. You're literally going through what the Emperor has been going through his entire existence, yet for some reason he is a villain for doing so and you are "a hero". "A hero" who betrayed his own guardian the moment it suited you because you had an alternative, unlike him who never did.

As I keep saying the Emperor is a pragmatic, not a coward. You betray him and he has no other choice but to surrender his freedom because he was right about Orpheus, Orpheus would've killed him and you without a moment of hesitation, he even admits it. So of course he'll join the Grand Design because he has no other alternative since you signed his death sentence either way. Orpheus would've never let him go free after what he did.

[Linked Image from bg3.wiki] Minthara's Compendium Of Issues