I love Griffin and Robin's relationship. The way Robin searches for himself in his brother's face as he did in his father's, starved for a connection to his biological family. The way Griffin does not actually see him, much like Lovell never truly saw any of his children. The way Robin must have known, from the books he had read, what a brother should look and act like, but never had the opportunity to have a brother who felt like a brother. The way Griffin wants to coax him to his side for the same reasons Lovell wants him; for his own plans, for his own ends, for the future he envisions. The way Robin has nightmares when even thinking of killing someone, and Griffin is too eager to commit violence. The way Robin hates himself when he makes his brother proud, just as he did when he made his father proud. The way he treasures his friends, his found family, far more than his real family, and yet still foolishly chases the fantasy of a caring older brother. The way Griffin could have convinced him to stay at Hermes if only he wasn't so distant, cold and calculated against Robin's sensitive heart, if only he had the sense to, even manipulatively, pluck at Robin's heartstrings by actually behaving like an older brother. The way Robin, fool that he is, tried to tell him this, was willing to pretend that Griffin was being genuine if only Griffin showed an ounce of care, real or fabricated.
But Griffin does not care. Griffin is fuelled by anger, spite, vengeance. Griffin knows what has been done to him, what is being done to others, and he believes that, because Robin lived under the same roof with the same man as he had, he would understand. Eventually, the fire of revolution would light up in his heart, and he would finally see where Griffin was coming from. He would be just like Griffin.
Except, Robin doesn't know who he is. He's been struggling with his identity for years, having spent his whole life being molded by his father, stuck between two identities — Englishman and Chinaman, respected scholar and uncivilized foreigner, coward and revolutionary. He doesn't know who he is, but he does know that he's easily influenced, and he's afraid of what Griffin could do to him. He's afraid that Griffin, too, will mold him into a perfect successor, into himself.
And then, the straw that broke the camel's back: losing everything. Losing Griffin. Becoming Griffin. Believing that Griffin was a better version of himself, that Griffin should have been the one to survive, should be the one leading the revolution, thus letting his spirit and his ideals live on in him. In the end, Robin never did make the choice for himself. Robin believed, ever since the trip to Canton, that he shouldn't be alive. And the only thing that kept him going was finishing what his brother started, because, though he doesn't want to live, he doesn't deserve to die; dying is the easy way out. He has more work to do. He has a revolution to lead. The revolution that his brother would have led, if only he didn't have to save Robin.
It's not that Griffin was heartless. There must have been a part of him that wanted to be a good brother, that wanted to open up and be comforted. He had little choice; he'd already lost so much, he was likely to lose Robin one way or another, anyway. He couldn't afford to care. All he had left was the revolution. After losing everything, all that was left of him wasn't a man, but a revolutionary. And that was all he could offer Robin, with so little time and so many enemies on their heels: he could only leave him his ideals, his theories, his philosophies, his work. He sacrificed himself, and he sacrificed Robin, because that was the only way he could leave a mark on the world.
( It felt good, didn't it, Griffin says, hoping that he can trick himself into believing he wasn't as devastated about Evie's death as he really was. And Robin looks him in the eyes, and he says what they're both thinking: If I could, I'd take it all back.
But Griffin knows the necessity of violence, and he cannot let his brother and himself dwell on the sacrifices they must make to win. Neither of them can ever sit with this grief, because they don't deserve it. They have a fight to win. That's all that matters. )
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