Major post-game spoilers for Legends Arceus but something that stuck out to me is that Volo’s pre-reveal Pokemon is a Togepi that has fully evolved by the time of him going batshit insane. The Togepi line is a friendship evolution. It retains the same gender (female, which only 12.5% of Togepi are) and nature (serious) so it’s definitely the same one, so that means canonically his Togepi/Togekiss adores him. Riolu/Lucario is also friendship evolution, though he could have just caught an already evolved Lucario.
Does this mean he treats his Pokemon a lot better than the title of Pokemon wielder would suggest? Does this mean his Togepi/Togekiss is really gung-ho for genocide? Does this mean his Pokemon is just the world’s worst judge of character? No idea but I find it interesting
All Togekiss crave new world order nad destruction of the old. Clearly.
Seriously though, it is an interesting aspect of Volo that his plans work by genuinely gaining others’ trust. Protag, Cogita, Giritina, etc. and unlike some other villains, you don’t feel it’s insincere. Volo seems to think of himself as special. As above others. As a leader. It makes him arrogant but not necessarily a bad-intentioned leader.