This is the ep where the Man in Black truly lost me. The Citadel, and even the Wizard Sky and the Witch of the World's Heart, could've been, arguably, seen as military targets, the latter though with a much weaker case. His grievance with the Tower is legitimate, he is righteous in his wrath, and true to his nature, to his Breath - a Noble Demon, and a worthy adversary to our party of True Friends.
But here - here he proves willing to sacrifice four score children, and does not see the harm in it. Children that he himself wanted free, children whose imprisonment he saw as proof of Imperial horror. And yet he too, now, commits the same sin as the Citadel, ignores the children's wants and needs, ignores their agency for the sake of what he believes is Necessary - much like Steel does.
Because both, within two episodes of each other, are shown to be willing to harm children for the Greater Good. For The Cause. And of course that's where Eursulon would stand most resolutely against him, for the same reason he stood against the gaolers of the Glass Coronet. Those children - their freedom, their joy: that is The Cause. The only Cause that matters.
...God, I love this show so much.
