Discussion Light Side writers, do your characters kill?

[Jacen Nimdok]

I’ve been watching video essays about comic book heroes and how many of them have a “no kill” rule, and why. It got me curious about how writers here on Chaos handle the issue of killing. I realize we’re all writing in a fictional universe literally called Star Wars, and there’s plenty of death in it, but I still think there’s something to be gained from discussing a character’s morality and decisions when it comes to how our star wars are fought.

This poll is aimed at those of you who write Light Side characters such as Jedi, or characters that lean toward Lawful/Good alignments. Your vote will be anonymous, but I encourage you to explain your character’s reasoning or ethos for killing/not killing in a reply.

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

This is one I've wrestled with before. Jerek would just as soon not kill except in self-defense, but as a fighter pilot that doesn't always work out. It's not practical to hold a self-defense-only mentality while executing an ambush or a surprise first-strike attack.

The only way Jerek rationalizes it is that any entrant into the space combat field is a willing combatant, and would have been willing to kill him if given the chance. Since it's unlikely for opposing fighter pilots to trade messages or approach without "weapons hot," this makes sense to him, even if it's not very satisfying. He knows it's a fuzzy rationalization, meant to soothe the torment more than solve it.

On the ground or another field of combat, Jerek would happily try to dissuade opposition rather than kill them. Disarm, capture, convince, etc. It's just far easier to do that face to face than it is starfighter to starfighter.

 

[Auteme]

Auteme is of the mind that all people are always capable of change, and thus redemption. Killing someone would be cutting that change short, as well as perpetuating the cycle of violence. Even those who have killed others can realize the error in their ways and become better (she has to be at least somewhat flexible, given basically every person she meets has definitely killed people before).

This approach is probably a bit flawed, but kind of matches up with my IRL views on the subject. I probably wouldn't be able to live with myself if I killed someone, even in self defense (granted, how 'defensive' is it to kill another person?); the same applies to Auteme.

She's been picking up more skills to help diffuse situations and end conflict in quick, nonlethal ways. Been a bit lazy, but I'd been planning a teaching thread based around some of the abilities she uses most often to protect others and capture enemies.

I do take a different approach with some of my other peeps. Dorian, who's technically neutral but I'm pushing more light side, is 100% okay with killing people. No hesitation. They threaten him or his friends? They're an active enemy combatant? Six feet under. I very much imagine him like Anakin in the Clone Wars, who has a pretty solid chill vibe until someone he loves is threatened, in which case he's quick to act and takes down those enemies without remorse.

Xeykard (assuming I get him to that point) will probably fall in the middle ground. If he's fully redeemed then he'll be more likely to spare or attempt to convert a dark sider or misguided soul that attacks him, BUT he's also pretty lethal and definitely won't have reservations about more murder when it comes down to it.

I'm of the opinion that Batman should probably kill the Joker. His reasoning of, "I don't want to perpetuate the cycle of violence" is pretty solid in most cases, but I feel it falls apart a bit when there's a bit more repetition. Plus, the Joker definitely doesn't have any family or secret kids that would totally dedicate themselves to fighting crime if he died. Jedi who are more flexible, or those who are actively looking to better those who they come into conflict with, are a bit more compelling to me. (IDK, maybe I just really like Auteme. Or I think Kantian ethics are a bit silly.)

 

[Jairdain]

I have rarely written killing with any of my chars, light or dark. However, when I have done so, it is usually in self-defense or in the defense of civvies. Jairdain has murdered a char (at his request both IC and OOC) and that hangs over her. Seo Linn killed when she was taken captive in an effort to get away and it doesn't cross her mind she might have done something wrong. Ra has killed quite a few times, but always in the defense of people, never just because she wanted to. This does not bother in the slightest either. For the most part, they all hesitate to kill but will do so under certain circumstances.

Auteme (I would love to join in that thread.)

 

[Dianna Blissex]

Jacen Nimdok can we vote with multiple of our ls characters? And I'm guessing this is restricted to Force Users?

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

Jacen Nimdok can we vote with multiple of our ls characters? And I'm guessing this is restricted to Force Users?

Not restricted to FUs, you can switch accounts to vote, although it makes more sense to me to vote once and then discuss your other characters in a post.

 

[Lief]

Not a Jedi/Dedicated Lightsider, but Asha is definitely more along the "Good" spectrum in terms of alignment. She's never killed, and I don't think she would. She's a pacifist by nature. One day I'm certain something will come along to contest that, no doubt something involving Cotan Sar'andor ... but as things stand right now? No killing. She's managed to talk (or tea) her way out of some pretty bad situations that otherwise would have ended in a fight/death/something along those lines. It's fun to write to be honest!

 

[Aelys]

 

[Aayla Shan]

 

[Zaavik Perl]

Light Side =/= Nice Side

Evil can catch this blade.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

Yes. Being a pacifist accomplishes nothing but embolden the enemy. Giving the slavers, Sith or imperialists a stern talking to mend their ways doesn't help. Kill when necessary, show mercy when you can, but do not go out of your way to spare the scum.

 

[Jsc]

Yes. Like a Space Marine serving up free tickets to Hel. Yahoo!

 

[Aaran Tafo]

Considering the majority of the beings who cause others to suffer tend to not be the types who would listen to a well reasoned speech unless the speaker had a posiiton of strength. It is the unfortunate truth that sometimes evildoers gotta die. It is unfortunate, it is tragic. But it is the reality of the situation that is faced.

In a cold way, it can come down to pure, unattached statistics. What is more important? A slaver who is unrepentant and sees other sentients as nothing more than a source of revenue? Or the twenty innocent slaves they've captured? Save who you can, help who you can. But if it ultimately comes down to deciding who lives and who dies. You gotta be willing to make those unattached decisions. Or figure out a third solution that sometimes just isnt there.

 

[Arashi Hagane]

I created this character based on the principle of necessary evils.

Not like, Bane level necessary evil; but killing to put an end to tyranny, suffering, conflict. The premise is that he's jaded and has done horrible things, so he believes that he'll never be clean and even that he shouldn't be. Instead, he gets his hands dirty so that others won't have to. In that way, he "protects" others from having to become murderers, like him.

So maybe it's a skewed take on "good," but a moral relativist's appeal.

 

[Hailyn]

I rarely write, or have the opportunity to write (I love my dark siders too much, sorry), the "good guys", but I generally have a line that they don't want to cross (for all 3 characters I've written that were on this side of the spectrum). Killing is inevitable when you carry a sword that can literally cut through anything given enough time, especially when other people want to kill you; however the idea is to be "better" than the people who want you dead - depending on the character that standard of mercy lies between they accepted the potential for their death and it wasn't a pointless kill and the only survivor will be spared by the force. Given that my writing isn't beholden to the ideals of my characters, and sometimes neither are their impulses and actions, opportunities may arise that cause them to break their own self-imposed limitations.

Lisette Kuhn, a Jedi I wrote a few years back, watched her master get sucked out of an air lock along with dozens of innocent civilians during an invasion at the command of Alli Hadrix in an effort to get rid of some of the enemy as "acceptable collateral damage" - like any human being might, besides maybe some kind of sociopath, the emotions she had got the best of her and she committed herself to kill Alli or at least bring her to justice as a war criminal. Some characters, like Elle Mors, believe that there are people that the galaxy would be better off without, but she still provides the opportunity, both at the beginning of a conflict and before a killing blow might be struck, for the other person to relent.

So, really, it's more circumstantial with a little bit of idealism sprinkled in - it sort of bothers me to read stuff where someone is always one single school of thought all the time. Real people don't never kill unless they aren't capable of doing it, there's always a situation where it is going to happen when we keep throwing them into wars and fights with other people who won't or usually don't hesitate to go for the fatal blow just like there's always going to be a point where killing isn't either the best idea or reaches into the territory of pointless and cruel.

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

Not a comic book reader. And I find the idea that 'if the hero kills his hated enemy, he'll magically turn into a psychopath' silly...After all, if you think about it seriously, it kinda implies that any soldier who has to kill in the line of duty (killing an enemy soldier in combat - that is, in hot blood) will go nuts. Which is, you know, not the case. The Allies didn't beat Nazi Germany by politely asking the Wehrmacht to lay down its arms and stop massacring innocent people.

None of my PCs are light side. I'd rate Elpsis as grey, though overall on the 'good' spectrum. She's a soldier and a junior officer. In battle, she will shoot to kill. Chances are the average Imperial or Sith soldier (I'm talking, common grunts) is just someone who happens to be on the other side and not personally evil, but they're the enemy and shooting at her people, so they get killed. And Sith, slavers etc. are evil far as she's concerned.

If an enemy grunt throws down their weapons and surrenders, she'll accept that (after making sure they're not a threat, and not like a zealot who's about to blow themselves up), and put some restraints on them. She's in the military, so she has to comport herself as a soldier would, not as an aloof mystic who insists that she must follow rules totally at variance with those her comrades in arms must adhere to because somehow her halo is all that matters.

A bunch of my NPCs are lightside. And they'll kill in the line of duty (which means no massacring POWs etc.). Some will be more hesistant about this than others - light side healer will presumably have more qualms than the paladin. Worth noting is that, as mentioned in another thread, I'm no fan of the belief that lightsiders should strive to 'redeem' any Sith they come across. It's one of the reasons I don't write Jedi.

 

[Dagon Kaze]

 

[Michael Sardun]

You can't truly call yourself “peaceful” unless you're capable of great violence, if you're not capable of violence you're not peaceful, you're harmless.

 

[Stray]

I think for me, it depends on the character

Stray here for instance would not unless it is necessary for his or another's survival
Celtic would never, she would do her best to try and talk down the situation if it came to violence shed try and knock the person out
Ezra would be the same as Stray

As for characters I don't have on here

I have a character by the name of Arvacon whos a sith pureblood... but he's not a follower of the dark or the light... he's a complete and utter pacifist who would rather die himself than fight another... he's been known to leap between his brother and a swinging saber to protect him but not draw his own weapon * yes he did lose a limb*

 

[Lucien Dooku]

the sith won't kill themselves, so....

that's a yes.