Made in Abyss is one of my favorite pieces of media, which I lovingly call an art. It is the most consistent of my favorites, lying in my personal big there, -which represents an equal footing of three anime which I consider the best at any time- since I was introduced to it by a friend.
Dawn of the Deep Soul is the formal introduction to one of, if not the most beloved character from Made in Abyss of all time, the Sovereign of Dawn, Bondrewd the Novel.
Bondrewd is also the most hated, most memed, and most remembered character. For perspective, Bondrewd showing up in a flashback made the anime for most fans.
All of this is not without reason. While one can easily fall into the pitfall of overhype burnout for Bondrewd, I advise everyone who is willing to watch Made in Abyss who has yet to: watch the movie!
Bondrewd makes this movie, which is pretty good if he wasn't included, into a masterpiece. He's a disgusting, horrible man, but he has the charisma to outcharm every celebrity on earth, and much worse... His goals are ones that you can easily see yourself falling into in the world of Made in Abyss.
Bondrewd's goal, at its base, is to create an effective way of making it so people can ascend the Abyss without any of the troublesome side effects (Death, bleeding, etc.). The way he aspires to do this is by using a simple trick he observed while fighting this out.
"Delvers hate him! Click now to find this one trick to ascending the abyss"
That would be turning yourself into a Narehate (Hollow) by sacrificing a loved one.
As the characters reside in Ido Front, we are shown how this is put into motion by Bondrewd. He adopts orphans, and he sincerely cares for them. He forms genuine bonds with these children, and he turns them into "Cartridges" which are the preserved, still alive consciousness of these children, which care for him as a father.
In the climactic scene, we see him putting this into effect. The protagonists, in a gamble to kill Bondrewd, get him to fall into the sixth layer, and as he ascends to the fifth to fight them, he starts to drop these Cartridges.
And this moment is when he finally elevated the movie to a masterpiece.
As he does this, he calls them, by name. He remembers every single child he used to survive in this attack, and the last one he uses, is Prushka, a character who was heavily being implied to joining the main crew.
This sick, twisted man, in his own way, cared for these children, and while he isn't redeemed, this immortal scientific genius taking time to learn the names of those he sacrificed, and... It's been a while since I've seen this movie, but if I remember correctly....
He says something to the tune of "These children will live on as the names by which my success is built"
And that's when I think we all realized:
Bondrewd's not bad, what he does is bad, but his intentions aren't sinister.
And after that:
This man is so charismatic, that even us outside the world have been convinced by him.
When the dust settles, and you finish this movie, the one thing that is for certain, is that the Lord of Dawn will remain in your mind as an antagonist that is as complex as the world he resides in, and that his evil actions represent a standard of the Abyss.
It's much more difficult to survive in the abyss if your morals don't descend as your body descends... Because everyone in that pit is out for themself, and nobody is going to help you, if you don't help yourself.