User blog comment:Unrulyruby100/Thoughts On Corvo and the Heart/@comment-5607198-20121119070448/@comment-27202257-20121119191546

ETA: Oh GOD why do I keep writing essay-length replies? Clearly I suffer from too much curr. XD

There you go. As you say, the only way to deal with a dictator of that capacity is life imprisonment or death. But if Corvo and the Loyalists didn't slowly hack away at the Regent's government like they did, no one would be standing trial because the powers that be in Dunwall would no allow it--since the targets themselves are the powers that be.

As to Trevor owning the mines, given that Corvo trusts the Loyalists and finds them worthy of usurping power, he likely assumed that Trevor would be more righteous than his brothers in regard to his political dealings, which would include the mines. He obviously realizes this isn't true when Pendleton participates in Havelock's betrayal, but by the time Corvo sees him again, he's already dead, so it's a moot point.

That would work if the targets themselves weren't just as bad as the Regent. All of these people supported the Regent not because they liked him, but because they directly benefited from his system of government. It's almost certain that when they got out, things would go back to being exactly the way they were before, because they would make them that way. They are the power source of Burrows' government, and like it. It's likely that some of them would even try to usurp power for themselves--Campbell and the Pendletons especially--so there's no guarantee that Emily or the Empire would be safe.

(Also, they do take that route with Sokolov--because Sokolov does not directly benefit from or perpetuate the Lord Regent's rule, and he's willing to play ball with the Loyalists, they don't eliminate him even after they've gotten the information they need. On top of that, Corvo will deal peaceably with Sokolov if the player so chooses, and when the man is in a cage attached to crates of vicious rate, Corvo will bribe him at personal expense rather than torture him.)

Why do you think none of the Boyle women want to deal with the Regent? Obviously we don't know much about Burrows' relationship with Lady Boyle, but that argument's its own counter: she could hate him, she could love him, she could be in it for political gain, we don't know. And if she didn't want to deal with the Regent, why give him the money at all? She could cut him off at any second and not really experience any consequences--as we've seen, Burrows' power all rests in his rich allies, and with as much sway as the Boyles have it's likely that turning on even the Lord Regent wouldn't hurt them politically. The fact that they continue to support seems to show that they do want to, and they apparently getting something out of the arrangement.

Though again, I don't think Corvo's regard or lack thereof for his targets changes how he feels about losing Emily and hurting Jessamine. While some factors in the game can change that--specifically in high chaos, where Corvo is carving his way through a pile of bodies to get what he wants, he might end up seeing the Heart as a tool even if he knew what it was--I think a low chaos Corvo would still be deeply wounded by that information. Even if he's the guy that gets his hands dirty for the cause, he's still a human being with people he loves, who he goes out of his way to protect and avenge. Knowing that his efforts have gained him nothing and, at that point, subjected his good friend to purgatorial torment would do a number on him, to say the least.