>>19719015Since they had that whole big scene with him shedding a tear over those who must die I'm guessing the intention was that he actually believed in a vision of a better world, unlike Cyrus who was just a narcissist (Lysandre's line of thought has some amount of narcissism too, but it comes from a genuine desire to help others). I don't think the games ever mentioned Cyrus being a philanthropist or trying to help others, etc.
There's an NPC who mentions the whole thing that made Lysandre lose it was that his efforts to help others failed, presumably because there were people that took advantage of it. It doesn't really match up with the whole "pay to get into Team Flare" thing.
