The Merchant of Death discussion

I just finished this book..it wasn't that good a treat but still i enjoyed reading it (somehow)..One of the annoying unrealistic things is how the protaganist was near perfect if not perfect in second earth ..for instance he quite thoroughly described how perfect his life was & how perfect he himself was and insisted that he wasnt boasting or gloating rather he was simply stating facts
on the other hand the character of Loor was well built and her losing her mother for such a brat was a good choice - well i can't deny that i hoped she turns evil and seeks revenge on both pendragon and sainte Dane (some cynisim would've been more enjoyable in a novice warriar who has yet to attain true wisdom)
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My questions:
1/ Why didn't Sainte Dane bring himself the batteries needed to ignite the tak..??
He's a traveler and not an average one at that.. he can change his form and proved quite capable at using advanced weapons in second earth .. So why did he wait for Pendragon to do that in his stead
2/ supposedly he didnt try to kill Pendragon in hope to convert him to his cause and that's why it seems the beedowan( or whatever) with the arbalets killed Osa yet didn't seem intent in pursuing him and Loor or waiting for them in ambush when they returned
But frankly why didn't he kill Pendragon's oncle at the first opportunity?? it seems to me he proved more dangerous than Osa and as he was impersonating the personality of friggis( i'm not sure about the name) he didn't really need pendragon to bring the batteries to the castle ..in fact he already stole them from the get go and tipped the leader of the miners about how to use them

1) Saint Dane is the type of person who likes others to do his dirty work for him. He likes to see people bring about the destruction of their own territories. He loves to use manipulation others to get what he wants so he would have really enjoyed getting Pendragon and the other travlers to fall right into his trap and help bring about the very destruction they were trying to prevent

2) He doesn't do his own dirty work so he wouldn't have just outright killed him himself. He would have to manipulate somebody else into doing so.

1/ but don't you think that kind of stretches the definition of "using other pple to do my dirty work" .. in fact, he took a big risk in his plan as he shoudn't have known that Pendragon will be the newmember of travler's club nor his personality and that he'll even think of bringing those batteries in the first place .. I mean he, the protaganist, simply could've been someone who thinks with their muscles rather than their brains for example or someone from an undeveloped territory

if that's the answer that means that Sainte Dane will never lift a finger to influence events directly even if that results in a huge debacle (& let's not forget he spent YEARS in Denduran pulling strings and pushing every tribe to the edge and that he represents evil as he wants to destroy halla = quite the ambition there with no scruples nor qualms )

2/ well if ordering the knights to ambush him and afterwards making them drag him to face his quigs in the arena goes under " manipulating others " .. i dare say he could've ordred them to kill him and be done with it like he did with Osa