"I guess it counts if the soul lives on, even if the body is dead." It's a sort of life. He goes back and forth with himself as to how much it counts; how alive he really feels. But his mind is intact enough to ask that question, so maybe that's good enough.

"I can't imagine leading an entire empire at my age. I feel like my career was still just getting started." The career he'd abruptly bailed on, but such is life.