User blog comment:Leea/The Tale of Voronwe, Chapter 11/@comment-26103034-20160828203006/@comment-1188343-20160829115129

Sure he was. Orthendar wanted to protect Balasian, so he went to Markadil to try to stop him. You can see by the dialogue that there are others who want to do the same, but many others can see its a bad idea.

Besides, you always need supporting characters.