You've done it again, MadIvan! Too much to respond to that hasn't already been said by the others. I'll have to rely on the boys, as usual:
"He's not the Messiah! He's a very naught boy!"
I think they're like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Hamlet. Dumbies in the service of the bad king who die because they are out of their depth, and we the audience enjoy the irony, but it's still sad.