The Emperor narrative is deliciously meta and maybe even intends for the player to examine their own interactions with the game. I did see at least one person on Reddit realize the mindflayer = Player vibes, but I have already been thinking about this for a while, so here is my personal take:
The thing about the Emperor is that he does to you what you as the player do to all the characters of the game.
You fundamentally alter the character's nature by persuasion and manipulation (and by manipulation, I mean having knowledge they do not, and choosing your actions to your own ends based upon that knowledge. Maybe you make them better or worse).
You even manipulate your way into sex and romance. Some of you make moral decisions basically upon whether you think you can get in a character's pants or not. (coughAstarioncough).
You metagame. You know beforehand what could happen, and steer events accordingly.
You are everyone's knight in shining armour...or everyone's manipulative villain.
You hate it when things don't go your way. You do everything you can to steer it to your agenda, and get frustrated when characters don't (or can't) listen.
Even down to the very act of character creation, an avatar or mask that allows you to interact seamlessly in the game environment.
You don't really mean harm. Your motives are self serving, but they are not truly malicious. You cannot change the nature of your own superiority to fictional characters. This is just how you interact with such a world.
You and the Emperor are participating in the exact same methods. He is the closest thing to an actual equal you have in the game.
"You and I are the same." He basically tells you this directly, it just sounds hollow when you are only viewing it through the perspective of the fictional persona you took on.
It's almost hysterical how many players reacted to him with intense hatred.
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