Is Legato a failure? *spoilers*

[So Full of Mercy]

Did Legato succeed or fail? Me and my friend argued at length over this.

His points:
Legato made Vash kill and therefore threw Vash's entire value system into limbo and nearly crushed his spirit, and after his death since there was nothing more Legato could do, his job was done.

My points:
Legato should've waited until after battling down the Angel Arm and after the gun was pointed at Legato's head then killed Millie and Meryl (not that I want them to die). Therefore making Vash act in the heat of passion and shoot Legato out of revenge making an already hideous crime in Vash's mind, even worse and killing the woman who would bring him from his emotional hell.

His retort:
Vash has conditioned himself not to murder through centuries of training and would not kill Legato if not to save Meryl's life.

My retort:
Vash almost killed the first Gung Ho Gun he encountered because he killed innocents and threatened Meryl and Millie but was barely able to stop, showing that Vash works on emotion as well as logic. If he would nearly kill someone who killed people he didn't know out of revenge, would he go through with it if the love of his life and best living friend had been killed?

There was more argument to it, but do you think to serve his purpose Legato should've killed Millie and Meryl or did he do the best he could?

[Dryden-san]

I would say he succeeded... Even though Vash recovered, it's not something he'll ever be able to forget. Legato's death is always going to be hovering over his life. A couple of other points in Legato's favor: although there doesn't seem to be any limit to what he can make a person do, so long as they resist, it won't happen instantly. It might be that he was making those people move as fast as they could. Also, there's no guarantee that he could have killed Meryl and Milly. Vash waited until the last second before pulling the trigger, but if that last second came sooner, it doesn't mean he would hesitate and as soon as Legato died, his puppets would stop moving.

I'd say Legato probably did the best job that was possible. He might have been able to kill them if he had gone after them directly-like making Meryl shoot Milly, for example-but he doesn't seem to have much interest in individual humans. That's my two cents...

[Drizzten]

I think Legato did the most damage possible to Vash. Not only did Vash kill, but he killed in cold blood and with plenty of time to think about it. Regardless of the circumstances, he still killed...and he killed after looking into the face of the man he was aiming at. Killing in the heat of the moment (i.e., if having to blast them all to save Milly and Meryl) is something I think would be more forgivable in Vash's eyes.

[Gouki Akuma]

By All means, Legato succeeded, his life was meant to be destroyed by some one of a superior bread in his opinion, he killed himself and ego centric life form like himself, got Vash to hate a person, and achieved to get Vash to kill some one, This is all Legato wanted really, and Knives respect but tough luck there. Thats all I got to say

[So Full of Mercy]

Yes, but Vash was able to overcome and in the end Knives lost because of it, wouldn't it be a failure if Vash was not broken enough to lose?

[Gouki Akuma]

Thats true but for the time being he made Vash think, breaking his spirit, this made him confront Knives, if Knives had won then Legato wouldnt have failed but if you think of him failing after his death then he did because Vash established a better way of thinking.

[RyuKenZ]

I feel he definitely succeeded, I mean Vash looked into his eyes and had to think about it. He say the man, it ripped him apart. I mean it truly was an emotional paper shredder for Vash...Legato did all he could.

[So Full of Mercy]

Still leaving Millie and Meryl alive was nothing but sloppy, you can't really destroy someone's psyche if they have true friends around.

[Daedelus]

If he had killed them then Vash would have felt much more justified... by leaving them alive Vash had to constantly think maybe there was another way. This way he not only gave him guilt but he gave him doubt.

[So Full of Mercy]

I think that's the best counterpoint yet, however, I think he would feel more justified killing to save than killing for vengeance when it solves nothing.