#i guess recent discourse put me in a mood to analyze plots revolving around deceit and misunderstandings

[beevean]

Exhibit #i lost count of why randomly changing a perfectly functional plot ruins everything: N!Isaac squarely putting the blame on N!Hector for Dracula's death.

Let's recap Isaac's involvement with S2's plot. Aside from killing off Godbrand, he doesn't do much until S2E5, when Hector takes him on a walk in daytime to discuss about his new plan:

Hector: We need to assert an order to the war. We're the agents of his rage, not paintings of it. We can't just thrash around. Isaac: What do you want, Hector? Hector: I want to present a united front. I want a plan. I want to move forward and get this over with in an orderly manner. I want you to agree to move on Braila.

Hector: All Dracula hears is the noise in the War Hall. He needs us to be the clear voice over that noise. He needs us to speak in one voice. lsaac: He needs us to be loyal. Hector: *scoffs* How is it disloyal to provide the guidance he requested of us? Isaac: If it's serving you and not him. There are people in the court who have their own plans. Their own agendas. Hector: I am loyal to him and his intent. But he asked for a plan. And we need to give him one, unambiguously. We go to Braila, prevent a diaspora by boat and then proceed along the coast from there. What do you say? Isaac: Well. It will please Carmilla, so I distrust it. But it would stop her from making mischief, for the moment. And it would get the war room pointed in the same direction.

Hector makes a pretty solid argument in favor of going to Braila, with his point being "we need to be united", which is fair. Isaac guesses that this would be advantageous to Carmilla, but as long as she shuts up, he seems to be fine with it.

Dracula then questions Isaac when he reports the conversation.

Isaac: He'll be coming here to request you approve a move on Braila. Dracula: Why? Isaac: Hector doesn't like it when the animals fight. Carmilla has the court whipped up. Discord is loud. it bothers him. Dracula: Is he still loyal? Isaac: Oh, I think so. There's betrayal abroad in the court, but Hector is a simpler creature than that. He just doesn't like the arguing.

i swear isaac is so close to dropping the R-slur

Seriously speaking, Isaac spells it as plainly as he can: he understood that Carmilla might be behind the proposal, but he thinks Hector is too much of an idiot to plot behind Dracula's back. And may I reiterate, Isaac agreed with the Braila plan too, and conceded Hector's point that they need the council to be united. He even says "It will give Carmilla some power, but that's not a bad thing." Yeah, Hector is stupid because discord bothers him, but you're not stupid for giving Carmilla what she wants because she bothers you :)

Of course, Isaac is forced to eat crow when the castle gets assaulted, and Dracula recognizes Carmilla's involvement. All this time, she pressured them to move the castle to Braila so that she could attack them. Sure, the assault fails spectacularly and at the end of the day the Trephacard gang do most of the work (and it's weird that they never enter Isaac's thoughts), but the betrayal is still recognized and that's the important part.

To be honest, at first I planned to write this post to prove that Isaac had no reason to understand that Hector was plotting with Carmilla, because Hector explained his plan very logically, and Isaac kept thinking of him as a dumb babyboy. But I am forced to concede that Hector speaking with Carmilla at his side might have allowed him put two and two together later on, even if off screen. Sure, as far as he knows Hector has vanished because he was taken prisoner (which is what happened), but he could have also thought that he had run away with Carmilla. So I'll be fair, and say yes, Isaac had reasons to believe Hector betrayed Dracula of his own volition, even if he didn't know him well enough to guess why. I can also accept Isaac assumed Hector acted maliciously until S4, because he is a fanatic with a black-and-white view of the world.

... but why doesn't Isaac also blame himself?

Everything Hector did, Isaac did as well. He's just as much responsible for Dracula's death as Hector is. Hector proposed the Braila plan with good motivations:

Hector: We would ask you to consider moving the castle to Braila, to conduct a full-scale destructive attack on the port. Dracula: To what end? Hector: To seal it, and discourage escape by river to the sea. Then we turn inland, having land-locked the humans and turned their country into a prison.

And Isaac agreed with this plan, because hey, as long as Carmilla doesn't make mischief :^) in fact, Isaac was way more passive than Hector even was in this season. He did nothing but wax poetics about his own loyalty, his idea that humans need to die to have a pure world, and insult Hector in his free time. Hector at least considered Carmilla's proposal with the initial intent of helping Dracula, before she swayed him.

Isaac underestimated Carmilla and Hector. Had he taken her more seriously after she so loudly announced she thought Dracula was an imbecile, and respected his fellow General's intelligence, perhaps he could have opposed them both and protected his depressed Lord who at this point is pretty much unable to defend himself. It's his fault too Dracula was attacked. But no, by S3, he's just cackling at the sight of Hector suffering in Styria, and by S4, he has the absolute balls to say that he forgives Hector because he had no agency.

It was a missed opportunity to make him a more sympathetic character. Imagine Isaac blaming himself for not doing enough to protect his Lord, but refusing to grapple with his failure by focusing his whole hatred on Hector, because he just can't cope with the idea that his blasé attitude got his Lord killed. Imagine him admitting, in S4, that he was no better than the man he used to look down on. Imagine him actually being humbled by his mistakes and experiences. But no, he has long pretentious speeches about muh humans bad to make. Can't make the darling of the narrative look imperfect, can we?

By the way :)

Isaac here didn't even do anything to cause Dracula's death, he simply pursued Hector under Dracula's orders, and yet he does show poignant survivor's guilt. I feel bad for him, despite being a murderous asshole, because for all he did, he doesn't deserve to blame himself, and he doesn't deserve to have his entire life uprooted at the hands of his old friend/rival. And, of course, he has plenty reason to despise Hector, considering how much more personal the betrayal was.

Just saying that the elements for a good character were all there.