Summary: Deghinsea, spoilers for part IV; his motives were just, his actions were righteous...or so he believed.
Hate Me If You Want To
Deghinsea, King of Goldoa, was said to be a passive king. He didn't interfere with any events outside of Goldoa, no matter how terrible, nor did he seem horribly concerned by anything that happened save to warn against starting wars that enveloped the entire continent. It was true that he was old—practically a living fossil, Tibarn of Phoenicis half-joked—and that he had known the goddess, but that didn't mean that he should automatically stay out of everything in the "outside world," or so the other laguz kings thought.
But the Black Dragon King knew his duty to his goddess, and he knew that any interference he or his kind offered would result in Yune—and Ashera—awakening. And he couldn't let that happen, for the sake of the future.
There were other ways to interfere than fighting, as he knew, but the other laguz kings never seemed to understand that. Perhaps because they had short lives they could not look ahead, but that was no excuse; the promise made to the goddess must not be so easily forgotten, even if he had hidden the genocides that had resulted in Yune sinking the other continents, not to mention the truth of Yune.
It was for the promise. It was all, always, for the promise. Lehran, the only other still alive, had lost sight of that promise through his too kind heart before even two hundred years had passed. It had caused the heron grief, as Deghinsea knew too well to his own sorrow, and the king of Goldoa regretted Lehran's hurts. But there wasn't anything he could do, for it was the other's own choice.
Just as it was the choice of the other, short-lived, laguz tribes and the even shorter-lived beorc to fight and kill each other.
Deghinsea knew all of this, and it saddened him, but he remained firm. Not even for his daughter, her son, and his older son could he bend or break. No matter how much hurt they went through, no matter how scarred his heart became, the caring dragon had to be hidden behind the stern and unyielding king.
No matter what epithets were thrown at him, no matter who turned on him, Deghinsea would remain true to his promise and his goddess.