I’ve been thinking really hard about that conversation you can have with the developers after the changeling route and what it says about Daniil and Artemy. It talks about them in the context of the changeling route as people who failed to consider other options (therefore, only see their own ending as the right one) but who could, with the agency of the player, see beyond that.
Daniil choosing his own ending is seen as an act that comes out of his negative feelings. It ultimately is a decision of destruction and revenge. The ending the game recognises as him winning is giving that up.
Meanwhile, both of Artemy’s endings (termite or utopian, because of the whole thing about choosing what the udurgh is to him) are seen as a good option. The one who can attain true freedom, because while Daniil could miraculously defy his destiny, he did not have the freedom of both of his endings being “validated”.
“Any choice is right as long as it’s willed” is not really a representation of Artemy’s character; it’s a representation of his path. Same with “There is only one truth”; it’s about Daniil narrow-mindedness. This conversation solidifies that.
Since this happens on the changeling route, when Clara asks if they could “defeat them”, defeat the game, the executor says it depends on what they understood. Clara then goes on to say that:
Daniil found out he was a toy. The executor says he better have someone else in the cathedral, then, because it’s hard for him to change his mind unless it’s a momentary lapse of judgement.
Artemy didn’t understand anything. She deems he thinks himself as a hero, now, without having actually achieved the heroic feat the executor mentioned that prompted the conversation. He’s a hero when he has the freedom to make a choice, not when he goes down his predetermined path without consideration.
What i find really interesting about this is how Daniil and Artemy simultaneously are in and have to reject each other’s blindspots. Clara says Artemy does not really care about understanding the game, while Daniil cares too much about being a toy. Artemy’s own predetermined ending is rejecting the path set for him, and that’s what Daniil’s win would be. What the other inherently has is what the other needs and what they have to reject to win.
