Who is Ettil Vyre from The Illustrated Man and what is their importance?

Ettil is a character in the story, The Concrete Mixer. He is a martian and described as an intellectual. Ettil believes that the martian invasion of Earth will be doomed to failure and joins the invasion for one reason...... he will be condemned to death by fire if he doesn't. After reaching Earth, Ettil is appalled by the rampant consumerism and commercialism and believes the martians will, in turn, be consumed by both.