were you perchance thinking of your T then (I don't know how long you've been with)?
personally, I was happy to learn at the end that they remained good friends till death (ha, you know, the happily ever after thing, yadda yadda, but not entirely that). I guess I was happy about that because I thought that with 2 people who had done such intense work and shared so much together that it made sense for the bond to continue and to benefit both of them ..... not just be intense and then screech to a halt, or dissolve and drift away, or end up divisive and fractured and abruptly, angrily cut off. I like that the bond was deep and real and lasting.
The speech guy really did do a good service not only for his king, but in doing thus for his king, he helped his country, because the king was able to accomplish what he could not have without the speech guy's help. And there was the added factor of the king not really having or knowing what it was like to have a friend, to be liked/accepted/treated as a regular person, to have a real connection man to man (not king to subject), and the speech guy fulfilled that need, I believe. So I suppose I was happy to think the king got that benefit out of it, as well.
There were lots of things the speech guy helped the king overcome besides just his speech.....like the stuff, psychological stuff, behind. I suppose I liked that deeper aspect of the whole story.
The king would have, in my humble opinion, been cutting his own nose off to spite his face if he had behaved nastily and ungratefully toward the speech guy ....
But then, to each their own in their choice of friends and helpers ...... someone viewed as a friend by one because of certain actions/words/character, can be viewed very oppositely by someone else. The same thing comes off differently to different people ......
(for instance, some people like me and think I'm a good friend, some people think I am a selfish beeotch and would probably like to see me impaled too or at least go away where they can't see/hear me - that is what it is. can't be liked by/have approval from all.....though I don't always manage to be as nonchalant as that might sound about it....)
anyway, this all was a good discussion....thanks