Is eating intelligent beings evil?

[Incenjucar]

The problem with using intelligence as a basis... you can reduce the intelligence of a being -very- easily in D&D... also.. not every human is born sentient...

As for eating itself, no, not evil. Meat is meat.

Heck, I have a (copyrighted) culture of humans that are largely lawful good, who eat their dead as a sign of reverence (and because they don't want grandpa rising as an undead servant of an evil necromancer). The great heroes of the culture come back as ghoul-like creatures, and they raise ravens and other carrion-eating creatures as pets to make sure, if war occurs, nobody has to suffer the indignity of being eaten by lowly maggots, or shambling under the power of your own foes. In D&D terms, the leader of the largest tribe is more or less a paladin.

 

[Ranger REG]

What about your enemies killed in battle? Some culture allow their greatest warriors to eat the flesh of their enemies as a sign of respect & honor, and the belief that they gain greater power.

 

[Three_Haligonians]

I'm going to go with most here and say it depends on your reasons.

I had an Art History Prof. who explained that RL cannibals ate the dead as a means of taking on thier deeds or aquiring the person's spirit. It was a sign of both respect, and power (not only have you beaten your enemy on the field of war, but you now posses his powers as well as your own). Unfortunitly, I have no way of knowing where he got this information or how reliable it is. Sounds very similar to Wendigo stories to me.

From this point of view, there is nothing wrong with Cannibalism at all, it kind of makes sense all things considered!

T from Three Haligonians

Edit: Curse you RangerReg, you took the words right out of my mouth!

 

[Li Shenron]

What about your enemies killed in battle? Some culture allow their greatest warriors to eat the flesh of their enemies as a sign of respect & honor, and the belief that they gain greater power.

I was thinking the same, in a few cultures it was not considered evil or unrespectful.

In the case of kobolds or other evil creatures, I think that the whole idea is they are actually pleased to devour someone they know it was an intelligent being, and then laugh about it...

 

[Ranger REG]

In the case of kobolds or other evil creatures, I think that the whole idea is they are actually pleased to devour someone they know it was an intelligent being, and then laugh about it...

Kinda like their version of control, if you think their mentality parallel Jeffrey Dahmer or the fictional Hannibal Lecter.

But one could argue they're like dogs who have acquired the hunger for human or sentient flesh. After all, once a dog developed a taste for human there is no way to unlearn it. In a way, it is encouraged by the parent/adult kobolds.

 

[Geoff Watson]

I'm going to go with most here and say it depends on your reasons.

I had an Art History Prof. who explained that RL cannibals ate the dead as a means of taking on thier deeds or aquiring the person's spirit. It was a sign of both respect, and power (not only have you beaten your enemy on the field of war, but you now posses his powers as well as your own). Unfortunitly, I have no way of knowing where he got this information or how reliable it is. Sounds very similar to Wendigo stories to me.

From this point of view, there is nothing wrong with Cannibalism at all, it kind of makes sense all things considered!

T from Three Haligonians

Edit: Curse you RangerReg, you took the words right out of my mouth!

I've heard of this sort of thing. It's mainly an exageration; some cultures ate small bits of fallen enemies in such a manner, but cannibalism is very unhealty, which is the main reason it's taboo.

Geoff.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

But if eating human babies is wrong, why did Kurtulmak make them out of meat?

 

[Aaron L]

Some cultures do pracrice a lot of cannibalism (or at least used to) for many reasons, some actually used it for nutritional reasons, because there wasnt enough protein to be had otherwise. But cannibalism causes KJD, or mad cow disease. It's very very very bad for you. But no more evil than eating any other living creature unless you kill the intelligent being to eat it. I;f it's already dead and you just let the body rot you could make an argument that it's an evil waste of food

 

[Umbran]

Some cultures do pracrice a lot of cannibalism (or at least used to) for many But cannibalism causes KJD, or mad cow disease.

This is incorrect. Cannibalism is one way to spread KJD, but it is not the cause, any more than sneezing causes the common cold.

 

[Aaron L]

What I understand is that eating certain proteins from your own species creates an accumulation of mutant prions in your brain, which bond with each other and form crystals, which is the cause of CJD. Not an expert on it tho