everything he believes in is mere aesthetic, none of it is truly held. he's so weak in his belief in his supremacy that he makes exceptions. if he actually believed in seadweller superiority, he would haven't made any, friends or not.

it is an act, nothing more. what he lacks in belief, he makes up for with his sense of obligation.

and that's the beauty of his initial character. he is the dutiful vassal to his liege. he obeys not out of ideology or conviction but because it is what he was designed for. he constantly has to convince himself of the things he does and "believes" in. he'll believe what he needs to in order to fulfill his obligation to the highest caste, and in order to keep himself sane, a little bit of his own agenda of wanting to commit a genocide to establish seadweller supremacy.

so what happens then if the dutiful yet unconvinced subject, born to orphan those around him to satiate the hunger of something that shouldn't have been his duty, is released from his duties, no longer needed, no longer obligated to do anything beyond what he actually wants to do?

maybe he'll mellow out, surely in his time doing his duty or outside of it, he has made some comrades. peers to give him new purpose.

but who needs friends when you're finally relieved of all obligations? why burden yourself with more? not to say he didn't try, even at his most dire hour, he tried. not that he should have, it would have been a betrayal of his actual character.

he lost the things that gave a place for his belief, alternia, the game made sure of that. now he plays a game he seemingly doesn't even care about. he kills because he is used to it, and it made sense to his self.

for killing was once purposeful, it is now merely play. he has ascended the need to work, to kampfen, to toil.

his belief in seadweller supremacy and his want to genocide landdwellers was merely a mask to something else.

his belief in his self, and his want to kill.

kill what? nothing really, it could have been anything. his wanting to kill landdwellers could have been his most merciful belief, why carry the ache of having to orphan those around you? why not kill both of them? why make them suffer? it would take too much time, it would be too cruel, maybe.

but he doesn't need to concern himself with that anymore. he can just kill now and what better than those immediately around him? what better than himself?

he knows bec noir would kill him immediately, he just wants to convince others to join his act of omni-suicide.

and why make just one person kill your surrounding biomass? why not make one of the biomass kill him as well? duel your unrequited love's new play toy in hopes that he kills you, destroy the matriorb, so that you may sow the seeds of anger and vengeance against yourself.

for eridan, death is the one constant, one essential thing to his being. this is his hope.

he didn't need to be "redeemed", he is his own redemption. this is why i am an eridan fan.