Throughout human history, those given power over large groups of humans (such as kings, legislatures, ruling classes, etc.) have eventually abused their power, regardless of how benevolent their rule might have been to start. The ancient Chinese dynasties would collapse once they would lose "virtue" as Confucianist philosophers and historians believe. The Roman senate was eventually superceded by Julius Caesar and his successors because the senate was greedy and significantly corrupted, and in turn the successive emperors would bring about the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It's the same with the Mongol and Ottoman Empires, the ancient Hebrew kings of the biblical state of Israel, the Japanese shogunate and most likely countries such as the United States and the UK, since parliament/legislature is by no means an incorruptible manner of ruling a nation.
Also, in the last half century, the Western world has had many different enemies; at one point in time, Japan was in direct opposition to the British and Americans during World War II, but do any Western world nations consider them "evil" anymore? For goodness sakes, they're a strong ally and an economic superpower.
My point is, the concepts of "good" and "evil" in human history are as concrete as a feeling such as happiness or melancholy; what might have once been a nation known as a champion of human rights could become an oppressive police state, and vice versa. Just because the prisoner and his counterpart have incredible power doesn't mean they're pure; far from it.
If anything, the prisoner proves that they're still just as fallible as any mortal.
In the early complex civilizations, such as Egypt, Mesopotamia and even the country we now call India, the rulers would claim to be descended from gods, as in rules of immeasurable power and pure of spirit. However, as their descendants intermingled with humans for generations, their successors became more and more human and these empires eventually deteriorated into a mess, only for another divinely-descended ruler to rebuild the empire to its former glory. Now obviously these people didn't descend from literal gods as in deities and supernatural beings, but virtually every great empire has fallen apart over time due to weak leadership, more recently from uprisings that would install new forms of government which will most likely weaken and become perverted in the near future if they have not already.
The girl might symbolize sovereignty, as in the evil ruler usurping the power that is not rightfully his anymore (Macbeth and biblical Old Testament story of Saul and David are good examples) while the "good" king takes back so-called rightful rule, only to be corrupted overtime. In this case, the previously-destested ruler (insinuating either a successor of the evil ruler who was ousted or a new "good" king ready to claim the throne) fights to take sovereignty away from the current corrupted government.
It's a struggle throughout human history played out in a stylized action film, without the shallow "good" and "evil" trappings that are honestly as fickle with human beings as emotions. There are really only two opposing sides fighting for rule, and they are both easily corrupted by the immense power they wield.
But hey, that's life.
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