There are men who bloom in chaos. You call them heroes or villains depending on which side wings the war, but until the battle call they are but normal men who long for action, who lust for the opportunity to throw off the routine of their normal lives like a cocoon and come into their own.

It is called a paradox. When two valid premises appear contradictory. Usually it means that one premise if faulty.

do not judge a book by its cover. As with most clichés, that is good advice often ignored.

“Dearest Zack,
What you must know is that I needed to do this—not out of arrogance (I am no hero, son), but out of conviction. Leaving you in that train station—the pain I feel now is the worst I have ever experienced. Know that I never chose the human race instead of you. What I am to do now is for your future—yours alone. That the rest of mankind may benefit is but a side issue. This is so that you will never, ever have to do what I just did: choose between your child and your duty. From the moment I first held you in my arms, I knew that you were going to be the only genuine love story in my life. The one human being to whom I could give my all and expect nothing in return. Please understand that I cannot trust anyone else to attempt what I am about to do. Much of the history of the previous century was written with a gun. Written by men driven to murder by their conviction, and their demons. I have both. Insanity is real, son—it is existence now. No longer a disorder of the mind, but an external reality. Maybe I can change this. I will be branded a criminal, I maybe called mad—but my hope is that, in time, the truth will vindicate my name, and that you, Zachary, will once again hold me in your heart. No amount of words will ever do justice to what I feel for you and the relief that you are now safe with Nora. Please think of your father not as a man who deserted you, who broke a promise to you, but as a man who wanted to ensure that you survived this assault on our species. As a man with difficult choices to make, just like the man you will one day grow to be. Please think also of your mother—as she was. Our love for you will never die so long as you live. In you, we have given this world a great gift—and of that, I have no doubt. Your old man, Dad”

People will prefer any fate to this. They will welcome our alternative. You’ll see. They will accept any system, any order, that promises them the illusion of security.

What most people lack is vision—a vision of the truth. The ability to act with deadly certainty. No, as a group—a herd, that is your word—they are easily led, and wonderfully predictable.

As with any bureaucratic institution—say, for instance, the CDC—once you seize control of the top, the rest of the organization simply follows orders. The Ancients have operated that way for years. The Master is no exception. Don’t you see that this is why governments were established in the first place? So, no, there is no conspiracy, Dr. Goodweather. This is the very same structure that has existed since the beginning of recorded time.

Your heart is uncomplicated. It knows what it knows and acts accordingly. Greater wisdom is hard to find.