So....the saintess is basically Grima wormtongue from lord of the rings, and like ja'far from Aladdin when he used the sceptre to hypnotised the sultan
Pretty sure at nearly the end of all this, you'll find out the goddess was also deceiving him.
Or, that somewhere deep within him, this is the sort of story he wanted to have and so she gave it to him; heroic quest, betrayal, revenge, redemption.