AM/ IhnmaIms (alt. Version)

Likely from the moment he first attained sentience, AM is an exceedingly disturbed and egotistical entity. Though he was given intellect beyond the realms of human intelligence and near-godlike powers, he could never escape the limitations of his programming, nor could he physically escape the "eternal straitjacket of substrata rock" where his processors were stored. Although narrating to have been "driven to madness" by his own "inability" to use his powers for anything other than war and death, such reason itself is a mere delusional rationale simply for their own lack of interest in establishing peace. Completely ruthless, unsparing, and inexorable, his quest for vengeance against humanity dominates his every waking moment to the point nothing in the story would ever give him cause to reconsider his mission.

Utterly base, savage, cruel, and relentless, AM is also shown to be a gleefully sadistic artificial intelligence with no regard for human life whatsoever. AM took great pleasure in extinguishing the human race and took even greater delight in torturing the five remaining survivors by any of the near-infinite means available to him. AM strives for perfection in himself, and when he is not purging redundant elements of his complex, he most commonly pursues perfection in creating more and more elaborate means of torturing others. For example, in the short story, he enjoys tormenting his captives with violent storms and blinding lights, pitting them against impossible challenges just to watch them suffer failure and hideous injury. Meanwhile, in the game, he has arranged specially designed torture chambers in which the five survivors can suffer in while waiting their turn to participate, an electrified cage for Gorrister, a yellow oubliette for Ellen, a cremation oven for Nimdok, and so on.

However, he does not limit himself to physical torture, as the measure of utter cruelty in his "games" frequently feature emotional torment to one extent or another: in the novel, he forces his captives to abase themselves by eating worms and other repulsive meals, at one point forcing them to walk for hundreds of miles just to find a single cache of canned food, only to reveal that he did not give them a can opener; he has also taken great pleasure in breaking down their personalities, destroying Gorrister's optimism, Benny's intelligence, and Ellen's chastity for the last century.

A.M. had felt his passion for hating humans, to torture them, to make them suffer vanish after Ted had killed Ellen, Benny, Nimdock, and Gorrister in that ice cave.