Viltrumites acculturated too fast when they went undercover.
I just finished the series and saw a post on r/moralityscaling similar to this.
I think the viltrumites that grew found of their human partners did so too quickly, and let go of their viltrumite lifestyle too fast. Nolan had many years to break his cultural norms and ways of thinking. Within, what year?, the viltrumites in this panel are explaining to their grand regent that they are actively and willingly disobeying his direct orders (orders that would logically save the viltrumite race by the way) to avoid mating with more humans and avoid hurting the humans they have already spent time with.
Here some possible counter arguments I thought of.
- These Viltrumites were isolated
Hundreds of years of isolation (at least since the scourge virus) might have created a craving for connection. This craving might explain why they immediately started making intimate connections.
- Viltrumites are social beings.
Any time viltrumites make connections, for example Nolan’s connections while he was undercover on earth-they (the viltrumites)write their feelings off due to their overwhelming loyalty to the empire. Nolan first referred to Debbie as a pet, and later realizes he was lying to himself.
Conquest doubled down on his desire for fighting and destruction. Could be coping with loneliness by tunnel visioning on combat? This is one is a stretch.
But regardless, these viltrumites have been raised in an environment that only knows how to put loyalty to the empire over all else. This is shown through how long it took Nolan to see how his loyalty was suppressing his feelings towards his family and the people of earth. It took 20 sum years for him to start developing compassions, and it wasn’t until his indoctrinated loyalty drove him to the point of looking down at his bloodied son mustering the strength to say “I’ll have you dad” for him to start considering viltrumite methods might not align with his moral compass, or newly found set of values.
Even then it took an additional period of time for Nolan to unlearn viltrumite methods and norms, and explore his values and accept the feelings he has for others. We can see this in Nolan’s dramatic epiphany while in custody waiting for his execution “I miss my wife”.
All this to say, I think the viltrumites here grew accustomed to a different way of life with not nearly enough resistance. It felt like with Nolan, the first half of the series spent a lot of time focusing on and showcasing how difficult it is to rewrite thousands of years of norms, and maybe for convenience sake they made every other viltrumite very susceptible to change here?
TL;DR: Nolan struggled for a very long time to unlearn viltrumite ways and be compassionate. The viltrumites here went through this process way too quickly.