Order of the Stick 596!

[Desdichado]

So much for my theory, when V doesn't seem to care one way or other what's happening with Hinjo.

Me neither. OotS has been spinning its wheels on this "side trek" for months now. Let's cut bait and get back to the main story already.

 

[questing gm]

Rock on, elf buddy!

I love this line.

 

[Cadfan]

And that's fair enough, but, come on. How nasty do you have to get before evil is the right descriptor? Murdering someone then making sure he can never come back is about as evil as it gets.

Was it really murder?

The whole reason its wrong to kill unarmed, helpless prisoners is because its unnecessary. They can't do anything to you, because they're unarmed, helpless prisoners. Kubuta just finished explaining, in detail, why that didn't apply to him.

If you rant and rave about how the legal system can't control you and you'll continue to offend even while on trial until you ultimately prevail and overthrow your entire civilization (while also imperiling the continued existence of reality), I am not sure that you can complain much if someone takes you seriously.

 

[el-remmen]

The whole reason its wrong to kill unarmed, helpless prisoners is because its unnecessary. They can't do anything to you, because they're unarmed, helpless prisoners.

I learn new things about morality on EnWorld all the time!

Anyway, great strip! And personally, what people call "the sidetrek" have been some of my favorite strips, so I don't mind at all. The story goes where the story goes. . .

 

[frankthedm]

Because intentions matter as much as results.

Intentions matter more. Much more.

 

[Storm Raven]

What does someone have to do to get everyone to agree that they've just committed an evil act? Apparently painting guard's blood on the walls wasn't good enough too.

He didn't just kill Kobuta, he Gust of Wind'ed him as well, ensuring, deliberately, that he cannot be brought back. For no other reason than expedience. He killed a helpless prisoner and, after killing him, ensured that no one ever could bring him back.

And this isn't evil?

No, it isn't.

The only reason to take a criminal prisoner is to place them on trial. A trial exists so that one can determine the guilt of the accused and determine sentence. V determined, accurately (albeit via the unorthodox means of a metagame interpretation of Elan's action, which in the OotS millieu is a perfectly legitimate method of obtaining information), that Kubota was a criminal guilty of heinous crimes. The penalty for the type of heinous crimes Kubota was guilty of (murder, multiple counts of attempted murder, treason, kidnapping, consorting with devils, and so on) has been generally accepted in the OotS world to be execution. Knowing this (via the metagaming evaluation), V simply short-cut through the legal process to the result that justice would demand (note that a just result is not the same as a lawful one, that is why courts in the U.S. are courts of law and equity). The fact that the villain had a reasonable chance of beating the system and avoiding the sentence his crimes justly deserved just reinforces the validity of V's actions.

Killing a villain under those circumstances is not evil, even if he is tied up at the time.

 

[Storm Raven]

The real danger here is that V is, more and more, beginning to view the whole Azure City crowd as an impediment to his efforts at saving the world.

In a real sense, they are - the Sapphire Guards' oath is what caused most of the troubles to begin with.

 

[mlund]

The real moral problem with what V did is that (s)he took a lot of unnecessary risks with a stranger's life. V made judgments based on assumptions, inductions, and deduction rather than certainty. That means there was a serious chance of dealing out death to someone who did not deserve it.

If V had witnessed what Kubato did (murder, attempted murder, high treason) and then obliterated him for it there wouldn't be a moral question here at all.

The contention really springs up because V disintegrated Kubato because he was an unwanted obstacle between V and saving the world.

- Marty Lund

 

[Urbannen]

I think what Varsuuvius did was the epitome of Chaotic Good. Execute the criminal before he does something horrible and forget the justice system, which is rigged. My 2¢.

Anyway, how do V's actions relate to what seemed to happen to her on the island? You know: V missed the chance to say "I told you so", and Elan said "Dunh dunh DUNH!".

I wondered if somehow Qarr possessed V or affected her somehow.

 

[Storm Raven]

The real moral problem with what V did is that (s)he took a lot of unnecessary risks with a stranger's life. V made judgments based on assumptions, inductions, and deduction rather than certainty. That means there was a serious chance of dealing out death to someone who did not deserve it.

Except that, in the context of the established OotS universe, what V did was based on certainty. As V pointed out, Elan would not take someone prisoner unless they were a consequential villain who had committed heinous crimes. Remember, this is a universe where dramatic convention is not merely a story telling device, it is a fundamental element of the laws of reality. Case in point: a "million-to-one-shot" is not something that is extraordinarily unlikely, it is a virtual certainy.

In the context of the universe V lives in, V did know Kubota was someone who should be exectued.