I don't believe this was written to sympathize with Henry VI, and at first I didn't. He seems cowardly and his reluctance to fight casts doubt on his fitness for his role as monarch.

But as the death count rises, and every other character jumps at the chance to murder for whichever cause they happen to support on any given page, I started to realize that VI might be on to something. He's the only character who factors human life into the equation. All the more "courageous" and "resolute" players fail to even notice, let alone mourn, the thousands of lives lost in pursuit of their desired title.

Even Henry V, the king of English kings, won his legacy by a lifetime of bloody conquest. But while everyone around VI encourages him to follow his father's example, he resists. This refusal to yield to peer pressure is its own brand of courage.

I guess it's hard to give him too much credit because his courage, if it truly exists, didn't bring about peace. I think a real leader has the wisdom to discern between a dispute that calls for compromise and one that merits tenacity or even violence. Had such a leader appeared somewhere in the fifteen-act saga of King Henry VI, many lives may have been preserved.