That's an easy one right? It is as zaros said in one quest:
"It is my belief that everything that occurs in life - both good and bad - should be used to forge oneself, to better oneself. Where Guthix sought balance in the world,
I seek balance in oneself." - Zaros
So now we're done right? Yes, unless you want to know how this can be applied to some other caracters.
As some of you already have noticed, zaros ideals are based upon Nitzsche's one. When this philosopher announced the death of god, he made clear that traditions and the past can lock and trap people, prefenting them to grow and better themself.
This idea on itself is good, if you want people to grow and society to develop. However, when interpeted the wrong way, it is extremely damaging. For example what hapened in europe during WWII.
Now, this means that these ideals are also dangerous in game, when someone interpetres Zaros' ideals the wrong way.
What does this mean for some of the characters in RuneScape. I'm going to talk about 3 of them. Sliske, Zamorak and Azzanadra.
Zamorak:
Due to Zaros ideals and his past he saw that the only way for the mahjarrat to better themselfs is to wage war and inflict chaos around them. This is also why he betrayed Zaros.
With his idea to better himself (chaos) he basicly forgot about other races and the mind of a person (as war might make people go insane). So Zaros saw his betrayal as the fullfilment of his ideals (this might mean that he let zamorak see the things around him in CoM and not the battlestaff, but that's another theory)
The idea that Zamorak wanted to use chaos to better other people also became clear in the cutscene where he destroyed what is now the wilderness. The other gods didn't see what Zamorak was trying and that it would better them too. (it wouldn't because they are different people and species)
Because Zaros seeks to improve all aspects of a person (the balance part) he tried to reason with Zamorak in CoM. But Zamorak was too blinded by seeing his ultimate fear (Zaros) and by is ideals of chaos. This is why Zaros created the pact with Zamorak, it is to improve Zamorak as a person. This pact will most likely NOT be used by Zaros, it only excists to expose Zamorak to some of his fears and the other aspects of Zaros' ideals.
This will allow Zamorak to achieve much more than he did before and maybe willingly take part in Zaros plans to awaken the elder gods. If this turns out to be true, they might even form some sort of pantheon of reformed gods to lead mortals out of their personal dark ages.
Sliske:
Sliske is the troll of RuneScape, and he loves the colour Aquamarine. He is playing around with everything that walks on it and only does this for his own entertainment.
That is the general idea about Sliske. That he has some different plans became clear when he took a part of the players soul after they searched if base in Kindred Spirits. What these plans are, only Sliske knows.
I don't know what his plans are but I think they are partially in line with Zaros' one.
But now we get to the more interesting part, Zaros binded Zamorak to a contract to get rid of one of his treaths. However he excommunicated Sliske and thus created another one (a powerfull one, as he has the rod and the stone). This seems inconsistent. But it isn't.
The excommunication of Sliske did two things. Firstly it seperates Zaros from the actions Sliske takes as the officially aren't connected anymore (kinda sounds like the secret agent role that Sliske had in the old empire). Secondly it allowed Sliske to fully commit to himself in such a way that he won't get distracted by someone else.
The excommunication might have been fake to give Sliske his traditional role and the endgame really helps distracting the gods from Zaros plans. It might also have been real.
Either way it allowed Sliske to commit to what he does best, and thus better himself. This way Zaros actually helped Sliske (and in one scenario also himself).
Azzanadra:
Azzanadra remained loyal to Zaros during his temporary setback (just like Sliske). We know that Azzanadra has enjoyed prison for a long time and because of that wasn't strong enough to get the items to contact Zaros again.
This might simply be the best way for him to be the best version of himself that he could be.
I have no idea how the Zarosian afterlife fits in with this idea. It might be that in order to better yourself you have to create your own 'heaven' on earth rather than strife to enter one.
What do you think? Is it all just nonsense or is Zaros a true puppet master and controlling more than we think.
