As he prepared to hand over the leadership of Sinn Féin to Mary Lou McDonald today, Gerry Adams was in reflective mood, telling one interviewer that he does not care how history will judge him.
As he says himself, opinion is deeply divided on his role over the past half century, with some people detesting him and others admiring what he has achieved.
For the victims of the IRA - and for those whose lives were blighted in so many ways during the decades of conflict - Mr Adams will be forever associated with a campaign of violence which inflicted untold suffering and which was entirely unnecessary.
For Sinn Féin supporters, Mr Adams is an iconic figure who has transformed the party's electoral fortunes to the extent that it has almost reached parity with the DUP and could find itself as a coalition partner in the Republic.
All this is a matter of record but what has to be fully acknowledged is the Sinn Féin president's pivotal role in the peace process, delivering an IRA cessation and overseeing the decommissioning of weapons and final departure of the organisation from the stage.
Mr Adams has said he regrets that it took until 1994 for the first IRA ceasefire, a sentiment which will be shared by all those who lost a loved one or experienced trauma and terror during those dark years.
While the wider public may view Mr Adams's departure today with mixed feelings, for the faithful gathered in Dublin it is a significant moment, the ending of a leadership irrevocably linked to the conflict and the beginning of new chapter under Mary Lou McDonald.
It is also a major shift in terms of the centre of power within the party with the new leader based in Dublin and it would be understandable that her primary focus will be on southern affairs.
Just how much influence the northern organisation will have, particularly in the absence of a devolved administration, will be one of the key questions as Sinn Féin moves from the era of Adams and McGuinness to a new order.
