I think what Anon's saying is that even with Elenwen there are reasons why she's basically a terrible person (to the vast majority of the populace, anyway) - reasons, not excuses. Put in that frame of light even I feel sorry for her and her people. But none of their losses excuse what they've done as a result - they just give insight into why they did what they did.

_{captcha says 'good samaritan' that's probably my cue to get the hell outta this discussion}