I love the game and completely agree. Apparently, there was a complete rework of the main narrative somewhere in development, with the original idea not including the emperor at all, but instead having a character called daisy, who you'd have a number of dialogues with throughout the game in a dream sequence at the bank of a river.

Daisy being the representation of the tadpole, she'd try to convince you to stay down by the river with her, and the final decision of the game would be whether or not to give in.

Not sure how accurate what I've read is, but I like that idea better.