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Yeah...but he never mentions anything about it, which I think is the key here.

I agree with Cat, and the others who posted about Steele not necessarily being the "Evil Overlord of All Things Evil". On some deeper level, he probably realizes that he's only hurting the children here, but on the most superficial he's only thinking of himself (at least, when he leaves the team and fights Balto). If he had succeeded in keeping Balto away, he would have realized later on just what he'd done as the sick children (and adults - bacterial infections aren't picky) started to die. Even the most vile people on earth feel pretty terrible when they watch someone die right before their eyes, unless they are a true psychopath, which given the evidence when Jenna rounds on him earlier, I kind of doubt he is. An inconsiderate prick no doubt, but not psychopathic.

HOWEVER - we're also forgetting the fact that Balto intervened. Had Balto not come to rescue the team, I don't think Steele would have acted the way he did at all. Before Balto gets there, we see that he's pretty much in shock about the accident - he's already been proven wrong about the right way home, and on top of that, he's just gotten his musher injured. (Quite frankly, it's miraculous that the sled, the antitoxin, and the rest of the team were sparred from injury as well, but that's another matter.) At this point form the way he's shut himself off from everyone else, we can only assume by the look of terror on his face that he's heavily blaming himself for all of this, and probably at the time thinking about the children who could die as well.

This is a revelation, and an emotion that he's never had to deal with before that we know of - a completely new concept for him. And, if we factor in with that big crash the possibility of a concussion, it's downright logical to think he could be in shock because of the shake on his beliefs and the trauma. I think that, had Balto not come in when he did, Steele would have gradually broken out of his shock and remembered that he was still needed by those children, possibly with a helping hand from one of the other dogs. In the long run, it could have lead to character growth and let Steele come to the understanding that he is not the center of the universe.

Unfortunately, we can't ever really know, because Balto did come and with his presence he reminded Steele not only of his hatred for the wolfdog, but of his arrogance, thus preventing any possible character growth at that time. Quite honestly, I just think Steele was way too fixated on "winning" against Balto to realize the pain he would ultimately cause everyone in Nome - because no one but Jenna actually cried about the team, Balto, and the medicine being lost.

You were doing all right until this:



Nope. The look of terror on his face was the realization that he was screwed, and that he wasn't going to be able to sleaze his way out of it like he usually did. He shut down because he knew it was his fault but he wasn't going to admit that to anybody, not Star, Nikki, Kaltag, and definitely not Balto. The reason Steele attacked Balto when he showed up is because Steele was using him as an outlet for his frustration.

The children in Nome were never a part of Steele's thought processes. He didn't lead the team to get the medicine for them, he did it for himself, for the glory, and to impress Jenna. I don't even think he understood that everybody in the town was going to die without it. When he got the team lost, he was scared because HE was lost and might die, not the kids in Nome. He was experiencing the kind of humiliation only a real bully/narcissist can experience, because for both good and bad, all Steele ever thought about was himself.




I actually agree with this, and it supports what I said. At no time was Steele ever thinking of saving the kids in Nome. If Steele had gotten to a point where he was actually worried about the children, his encounter with Balto on the mountain would have gone much differently. But that was the whole point - the kids meant nothing to Steele. That's why he fought with Balto over the medicine instead of focusing on getting it back to Nome. He didn't fight to get the medicine back to Nome, he fought to prevent Balto from getting it back to Nome. As always, Steele's motives were purely selfish.

Xaqtly pretty much covered it for me.

He'z so mean! And he gets what Balto got, it's like reversed...

Ancient wisdom: Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be honored.

I think so but the weird thing is you don't know what happens to him after all the dogs leave him!

That's a good point; we don't find out.

I think mostly so, i mean the guy was pretty mean, but at least he wasn't killed like in other animated movies.