The Motivation for King Thordan and the Knights Twelve? (HW Spoilers)

[Sissymandias]

We don't know exactly what Thordan I & his knights' motives were since we only got one cutscene about it from their perspective, and they didn't exactly spell it out plain then. I can't rewatch the scene right now to verify, but my impressions at the time were:

-They don't come off 'evil' to me at all, in fact they all seem really drained from the whole experience & didnt find it something to be celebrated (some of them anyway..?)
-I dont recall any mention of ascians in that scene but im almost certain theyre involved. Just seems like something they would be behind.

Based on that it seems to me like part of their motive in killing and taking Ratatoskr's eyes was that they were performing some kind of necessary evil (possibly due to ascians misleading them into thinking so). So that might make it similar to Thordan VII's motives in that sense, but unlike the archbishop, Thordan I & co seemed to at least show some measure of remorse for what they'd done, even if they felt it was justified.