zaahen's "sanity" is really overrated.

because of zaahen's actions in the darkin war and some of his voicelines, i feel as though many people have gotten an idea of zaahen as a "more sane" darkin with better clarity. this is not in line with even the concept of darkin and zaahen doesnt even afford himself that delusion.

zaahen having himself sealed wasnt an act to show that he had more control than the other darkin, it was because zaahen knew that he was the same as them. "the unsundered" title is often misconstrued into thinking that he is "uncorrupted" but that couldnt be further from the truth, he simply hasn't been "broken" yet into the limitless insanity of someone like aatrox or delusions of someone like joraal.

"The temple bound my darkness; it did not purge it."

"I am only evil, deferred."

"Even in silence, I waged war."

"The lure of madness will not shake me from what must be done."

these voicelines are clearly meant to present zaahen as a falling man who is desperate against his own time, against the nature of himself as a darkin.

zaahen is not nearly a normal or healthy person, mentally. his voicelines are that of someone prone to violence, who relishes his own power and who fears himself:

"They will suffer and the world will be safer for it."

"Fight the corruption or die for it."

"How easy it would be to destroy all of this. It would be... empty."

"I could fell thousands with one slash… but to what end?"

zaahen right now has madness with direction, his violent impulses go towards the darkin and make us see him as a hero. but to me, his voicelines seem to imply he simply needs to kill something to satiate it. zaahen uses the corruption of his darkin form to protect the world, but what happens when he sees noxus as a threat to the world? when he sees hextech weapons as too dangerous to exist in their ever-progressing technology?

the way i see it, zaahen is a temporary good. but he has little clarity on the state of his mind, and he only knows to fear what he will become.

this is just my rant, because ive seen a lot of people venerate and praise zaahen like a darkin messiah, when he himself doesnt believe that. the little clarity he seems to have is almost attributable to the same level as someone like naafiri who finds solace in her virtue of unity, more a coping mechanism with a convincing way of speech than an actual sign of sanity.