Which is why I put the if in there. But I don't know that we can generalize him as simply as you think. He's not just a talking darkspawn. The Emissaries are that. The Architect has lived hundreds of years, and by that point I believe any changes happen exceedingly slowly. Older people don't tend to change much at all.

We cannot be certain of anything, but I strongly believe he's smarter than to use red lyrium, and he doesn't want another fight. Or attention.