If there is someone else behind the scenes, maybe they're forcing him to play that role. It could explain why he's not all that invested in the things that don't entertain him.

[And maybe even his focus on being entertained in the first place. He has to get something out of this, after all.]

But we don't have any proof of that. It's possible that he meant something else entirely by it. Raven speculated that this was some sort of ritual - which could also explain the focus on the roles we need to play in order for everything to go exactly as Hamelin wants.