...It took killing Cosmos for him to realize that his war with her was his only reason to exist. Realizing what he lost, and knowing that it was his own doing... Even as that world grew unstable, we could fear his despair spreading.

[They still killed him, of course, pity or not.]

Would you have been the type to leave home with a fox that breathes fire, knowing that the last child from your town had been found as a scorched corpse? That's the sort of situation that could easily happen.