@Scrabbleman
I'm not sure if the wizard's daughter/golem would have spend her life any other way. From what I gather she didn't have that much free will or actual human intelligence. She received her father's last words, took them as gospel and never once thought there might be more to her life.

The one who really wasted his life was the duke. Who was so hellbent on claiming the treasure, he lost, like he mentioned, his youth and army. In my opinion those, and the resources he used during his life, were in total worth more than the gold he was trying to obtain.

So the wizards gave a golden statue life, and it spent the rest of its days believing to protect a treasure when in reality, was just itself?

That's kinda sad. It's basically a parent wanting their child to live the best of their lives but the child misunderstood and instead, wasted it for the deceased parent.

what