Look, I love Colonel Monro as much as the next person, but I do think that, while he does genuinely care about Shay, he does kinda show his hand at one specific moment as someone who is truly also trying to manipulate him to get a specific outcome.
It’s that line after Shay kills Hope and he kinda tells the Colonel in an indirect way that he’s having a moral crisis, and Monro says: “When I am issued new recruits burdened with regrets, I tell them the surest way to lose them… is with gunpowder.”
Like ??? No colonel what are you saying that’s terrible advice. I think it’s right here that you can tell the Colonel is basically saying, “hm? Oh man, that’s a bummer. Anyway, come along, my efficient killing machine.”
Like, you can make the argument that the Colonel has been through his own trauma by serving in the military that makes him have a “grin and bear it attitude,” plus it’s not like mental health was supported, but c’mon. A sensitive, kind man like Monro knows better. I understand he’s a Templar and they’re very black and white, but I feel like I could also imagine him sitting down and asking more questions of Shay and talking him through it
But idk, those are my thoughts. (Plus Shay following up with “You’re right, Colonel.” ??? No, babe, he’s not. You’re just severely traumatized.)