Or perhaps they were already rotting on the inside, and gaining power made it that much easier to act on those impulses.

[He can't imagine a world where his sister wouldn't be a horror, or his nephew. Had they been born paupers, they would have still tormented everyone around them.

They just would have had a much shorter reach.]

But you're not wrong - people who have never been powerless have a hard time imagining how that might feel. The best leaders are the ones who cultivate that sort of empathy.