His parents' selfishness and short-sightedness definitely rubbed off on him. The main difference between him & his sister Lorraine is that he's the main benefactor of his parents' assholery and pettiness, and probably often at Lorraine's cost. Definitely not saying he's not to blame, though. Just saying everyone in his family is asshole except for his sister, and this exception was probably because poor Lorraine was often excluded & exploited in this family.

He is an idiot. Through and through.
Yes it might be majorly his patents fault but at what point do we draw the line and admit that he didn't it himself?
Lorraine grew up in the same hating environment as he did and still chose to love and chose the right path. Given that she had more handicap as she was born a woman with less power on that time period. Yet she still understood her father and mother were evil.
Ballsack on the other hand, chose violence and chose hate at every turn. Chose Astana and the crown over his own sister. He knew how cruel Astana could be. Yet he still wanted her to sacrifice for him.
I'm sorry but I want hom to suffer more.
And NO. Tia didn't choose mercy for Ballsack, it just so happens that if he dies, it will benefit the empress. So he needs to live. And ofc, imagine living like a rat for the rest of his life... I would concur that dying would've been far more merciful.