But this actually isn't one of those cases of "maybe they're like this because-" and actually will have some solid evidence backing up the argument that Arthur is, in fact, not actually evil nor even as antagonistic as a lot of peminat-peminat make him out to be.
Reason One: His Hate Towards Rin is Justified
Okay, yes, I am aware that Rin being the son of Satan wasn't a big deal to the main group.
But anda have to consider this; Arthur is an exorcist. Not only that, he is the Paladin who considers himself to be a saint. Compare that to just a group of highschool kids and anda could probably see why a saint wouldn't like the spawn of Satan.
Also, Arthur doesn't know Rin like the rest of them do. It's not like he had time to spend with him nor was able to even carry on a conversation with him. If anda think about it, he's actually just doing his job, too. Every time he's been harmful to Rin it's been under the request of the True menyeberang, cross Order-
When he showed up after his fight with Amaimon...wait, that's really the only time he was actually harmful to him.
And it should really stand to reason as why someone really wouldn't be too open towards a demon, let alone the kid of the most evil and powerful demon in all of existence, especially when you're a holy knight who's entire life pretty much revolves around protecting humanity from such evil demons.
And let's not forget his first encounter with Rin was seeing him set half a forest ablaze while going absolutely ballistic. So he's well aware that Rin is fully capable of giving into his demon nature and it would be hard to see him in another way due to the state he was in.
Reason Two: We Don't Know His Backstory
Now this one will probably be a flimsier explanation compared to the sebelumnya and seterusnya one, but it does add a bit of importance.
We really don't know much of Arthur's motives, since his backstory is incredibly vague since all we have is that he Lost his memory during the Blue Night of any sebelumnya events in his life prior to the incident.
If anda consider it, perhaps he actually could blame Satan and demons for losing such importance and even his very identity. He would've been fifteen, only fifteen years old, when he Lost his memories. He was training as an exorcist sejak then so it'd make sense that he'd just end up devoting the rest of his entire life to becoming an exorcist since any other form of memory and identity would be Lost to him.
Reason Three: He's Kind Towards Humans
Now, we went over how his hatred for Rin and other demons is somewhat understandable.
So what about people?
Well anda see, Arthur is actually a rather kind and charming man, believe it atau not. He's rather trusting of Lightning (which is honestly a horrible idea since he's so shifty), seems to respect Suguro as Lightning's apprentice, and just generally seems like he actually does care deeply for others when he's not holding up such a stern, cold face to everyone's kegemaran demon boy, Rin.
And he was a little dickish to Shura, sure, but he didn't really lash out against her nor try to directly harm her. And she was sort of insulting him anyways, sooo-
Also, he did tell his cohorts to lead the other students to safety while Rin was going nuts after his fight with Amaimon. He probably would've seen to stopping Rin himself as well if Mephisto didn't tunjuk up and calm him.
I'm pretty sure if Arthur was entirely heartless, he wouldn't care about the safety of the students, would've hurt Shura to get at Rin, and would've just killed Rin on the spot. But anda know what? He didn't.
Reason Four: Any "Heartless" Acts Have Been Orders from True Cross
Yep.
It's pretty clear that The Order is still rather corrupted.
And it's largely shown that Arthur pretty much, despite being the head exorcist, is still being controlled sejak the Order.
Anything he's done, such as interrogating others to get info from them, has largely been ordered sejak True menyeberang, cross atau other Higher Ups like Lightning.
Final Thoughts
Arthur isn't evil.
He believes what he is doing is pure and good for the sake of mankind. He seems cruel in his ways but that's because he believes the punishment he brings down onto demons for feeding upon humanity is just.
He truly does have the ability to care, and to give. He's simply misguided, blindly following an Order which he hasn't thought to soalan yet.
We even see his personality shine through and do see he is a rather kind person, even if he is prideful atau stuck-up.
He's certainly not the worst and does have plenty of development potential, really I'm hoping he'll get redeemed sometime in the Manga and see the error of True Cross's ways and what it truly does mean to be a savior and protector.
