The thing about Solomon David is that he believes his own words. Ultimately, he is lying to himself about wanting a successor, but he believes it when we see him talk to Zaid in King of Swords. He knows he's a tyrant, too, and the way he says it implies that he is aware that this is one of his shortcomings as a ruler. But he cannot be anything else; I have said elsewhere that I believe Solomon would become Royalty very quickly if he simply abdicated, but he can't do that, either. Solomon hates power that is not being used. His family, his planet, were butchered because there were people that could have stopped it but chose not to for their principles. It seems to me that the very thought that he could be anything like the masters he ended up killing must fill him with enough disgust that it would tie him to his throne and methods for ten thousand years without the machinations of Zoss and Jagganoth, no matter how much he understands that this is not going to create the best possible society for his people. He can only ever be a fascist tyrant because if there is a single child that dies in the Celestial Empire because he was not in charge, he cannot forgive himself. Whatever suffering, death, and crime exists despite his rule is acceptable - he knows he did what he could. And since he does not have to answer to anyone but himself, that is reason enough.

Today I’m thinking about how Solomon David’s primary motivation for becoming a Demiurge was to avenge/prevent similar tragedies as the death of his original family, but his control freak tendencies essentially cement the repetition of his initial trauma as an actual function of government; he staffs his entire administration exclusively with generation after generation of his children, all of whom he inevitably outlives, because sharing the secret techniques by which he attained immortality would require loosening his death grip on power. Tomorrow I will think about something else related to Solomon David