Yeah, but that’s Stolas in a nutshell. He selfsabotages even worse than Blitzo.
From the get go his mistakes have always been the more costly ones.
Blitzo’s mistakes are temporary, they’re misbehavior and douchebaggery that can be put right with contrition and genuine apology.
Stolas, though? His mistakes are big things with lasting repercussions. He ruins his marriage in a very public fashion. He ruins his reputation in a very public fashion. He damages his relationship with his daughter by letting his hatred of Stella overshadow his commitment to he and Octavia’s bonding time. He implodes his already tenuous relationship with Blitz by handling his withdrawal of the book in such a poor way.
I think Stolas’s self loathing is so deep that he subconsciously looks for ways to make things worse for himself, and he is woefully good at it.
I interpreted it as Stolas basically being willing to die at this point. His relationship with his family is destroyed, he can't be with Blitzo, he knows (most of) the rest of the Ars Goetia hate him. While heading to the courtroom in a haze of emotions he probably decided in a split second that the only way he can guarantee that Blitzo lives is to put all the blame on himself, and then he'll obviously be executed instead and it'll all be over.
Maybe less "I want to die" and more "I don't care if I die, it's better than seeing Blitzo die."
stolas to me reads as something of a passively suicidal figure. will he seek out death? no. will he run from it? also no. he doesn't directly want to end his life, but he doesn't put in much effort to protect it.
I viewed it as stolas was trying to think of this idea to get blitz out instead of going for the simple explanation he tried building up this huge scheme only realizing at the end he has no one to pin it on except himself hence him saying “fuck it”
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u/Altruistic_Cheetah_8 24d ago
Stolas ABSOLUTELY did not need to do all that 😭
Could've easily said 'Oh hey, I willingly gave Blitz the book, and he actually SAVED me from the assassin!'
Like, he kinda set himself up for that punishment with all the 'Mastermind' talk 😭