He isn ' t evil so much as amoral . And even then he is only amoral if you subscribe to the idea that the Hosts are essentially human . I see his journey as follows In the beginning he is kind and gentle . Just in the park because he was invited . His kindness towards the Hosts is the same type you ' d show to humans . Just general dignity and compassion . When he returns to the park after losing his family he tries to rediscover his ' true self ' something he came close to on his first visit . Part of this journey is trying to decide if he is bad , as his daughter suggested . So he uses Maeve as an experiment . By the time we meet him initially as the Man in Black it seems he has come to terms with whatever his true self is . And it would seem it ' s leaning towards good because it appears he has decided to try to actually fix the problem in the park . To try to help the Hosts have real , meaningful , existences . Even if that means killing and torturing them , which actually seems to be part of the plan rather than just his personal preference perhaps something he discovered after seeing Maeve ' s reaction to her daughter dying