text

[songoftime]

Dear everyone,

Hi. My name is Link. I have been on the ship for seven months. [And still formats everything he writes on his MID like a letter, apparently.] A lot of things have happened. They've made me think a lot about something I didn't think about at all back where I'm from. But I still don't have an answer. So I thought I would ask everyone what they thought.

When is it OK to kill? I know sometimes you have to hunt in order to eat. So as long as you are not wasteful or mean about it, that's OK, I think. Sometimes you have to defend people or stop a bad person from hurting other people. I know that's very important. But sometimes it's good people hurting other people and they won't listen to you. Sometimes it's someone who doesn't know better. Sometimes you fight because you don't understand them and you think you are defending others. How do you know when it is right and when it is wrong?

One time my previous teacher Alice told me that it's hard even for grown-ups to know what is right and what is wrong. She said everyone has to decide for themselves. I am still thinking about what she meant every day. I think there have to be some things that are always good and some things that are always evil. But it's getting harder to know what those things are the more I think about it. So I would like to know what everyone else has decided for yourselves, if that's okay.

Thank you,
Link

[With just the slightest bit of poking around at the information about the MID that posted this, it becomes clear very quickly that this is coming from a kid... Yeah.]

Comments

[vengeance_driven]

Sorry you got to ask these questions at your age.

I don't know. Mostly I think that people kill because they want something to stop. I mean, some people are just fucking [no delete that part...] psycho and do it to feel better or because it makes them feel more important. But others kill to make something that is bad to them go away. Someone that hurt them, someone that scares them, maybe to stop someone from doing something they won't like to happen.

It might be bad to just them. Or someone might have tricked them into thinking it's bad. It doesn't make it okay, just a fact that it happens.

[songoftime]

It's okay. [Link doesn't know what else to say. Someone had to stop Ganondorf. Killing monsters... He thought it was the only way to get through the temples. He doesn't know any more. But... He knows now that he's... the Hero. He was meant to stop Ganondorf. He thinks he would be thinking about this no matter what. And... He's okay with facing these questions if it means he can do good. Actually do good.]

Thank you for answering. People who hurt other people to make themselves feel better or to feel important, I think that sounds evil. But killing in order to make bad things stop, I think that's why a lot of monsters get killed where I am from. People are scared and the monsters are trying to hurt them.

But that doesn't make it okay? Will you explain that more please? [That's the kind of thing he's struggling with, and he wants to hear more about that.]

[vengeance_driven]

A thing that is bad to one person might not be bad to another. Like someone might kill someone so they don't go to the cops about something they did. They're stopping the cops from finding out. Or someone might kill someone because they get all kinds of leniency from important people. Good gifts, good land, good business, while this other person can't manage to make their life better. The other guy didn't do anything, isn't really a jerk, but he has so much stuff the other person couldn't get anything. So the other guy kills him so he'll stop having all the stuff.

Or maybe a certain type of person has a history of hurting your type of people. Not everyone of their type does, just a few. Then someone tells you, "you got to kill these guys or they won't stop hurting you." So you kill them to stop your people from being hurt. But it's not like you know which ones are the few assholes slimeballs in the whole other group.

"Bad" is in the eye of the beholder.

[warandpeace]

☄ private
I can't answer that. Some people seem to be made to hold a gun or a sword, have a talent for it. It doesn't answer if that's okay or not, though.

But I think you should spend some time being more than a fighter, too. Being a person.

Are you alright?

private

[songoftime]

I am okay. But I have been thinking a lot. I have been thinking about this a lot for a long time.

I am one of those people. The people who are made to hold a sword. It's a long story but I never really thought about it until I was brought to the Moira.

It's hard.

[warandpeace]

It's fine. I could sort of tell. Not many people have magic swords they're intended to wield and have to practice with them at a young age.

[Just saying.]

What happened that made you think about it?

text

[saveyourserpent]

If it's something that's bothering you in the first place, think too hard about it and it'll eat you alive.

At this point, the closest thing I've got to an answer is 'it happens' and like hell that's any kind of helpful. You'll have those who think it's always okay, those who think it's never okay, and those who kill who seem to have a problem with others doing the same, but refuse to take credit for their own misdeeds.

[Ahem.]

At the end of the day, sometimes you've just got to go with what feels right for you, I suppose.

[Helpful.]

text

[songoftime]

[Link understands what that first line means. These thoughts have been plaguing him ever since they started... and... Unless he finds an answer, they're probably always going to bother him.

The rest only confirms what Alice said, what Niko has been saying. Though there's something in particular that stands out to him.]

So taking credit for it is important. ["Credit" seems like an odd choice. "Responsibility" would be a better word, one he'd like better, but Link probably won't think of that unless someone points it out.] Why do people have a problem with other people killing when they kill, too?

Re: text

[saveyourserpent]

Well, not quite credit, exactly. You've got to own up to what you're doing, you know? Someone's always going to think that someone else is in the wrong, that what they do is more righteous or something. And maybe they're right. Maybe they're wrong. But if you take out the particulars, we're all doing the same damn thing, and some people seem to forget that.

That make sense?

text;

[whatshimadayou]

You never truly know.

Many of us who kill or have killed were trained into it. We were told that it is a necessary life to live. A requirement. That it would be for your best interest.

The truth is, the act of killing will never be a simple decision. The weight of removing a life will always be with you, and a careful decision to make.

text;

[songoftime]

[This... resonates with Link in more ways than he can describe. "We are told that it is a necessary life to live." "... a great evil has returned to the land and with it, the need for a Hero once more." Reborn, chosen for this life...

Being told that the weight will always be there is... oddly comforting. Knowing that it's normal. That it's... a good thing the weight is there. That it should be there.]

Thank you. I understand this. I have felt the weight. It makes me feel better to know that this is how other people feel too.

What do you do if killing is what you are supposed to do? Does it get even heavier the more you do it?

text;

[whatshimadayou]

For a time, I simply got used to killing people. I told myself it was necessary. What good would I be in my profession if I mourned every man I ever killed?

Then I killed a man that was important in my life. The first I ever truly regretted.

After that, it is no simple thing. You carry that choice. For some, they do not care about the lives they take. For me, I must decide if I need to snuff it out, and what the cost is.

The weight of that has never truly left.
Not since that day.
I do not think it has gotten heavier. Just that I realize the true burden of what it meant.

[Text]

[peacemongering]

No, son, it is not morally acceptable to kill. Depending on the reasoning for such a heinous action, violence only perpetuates more violence and death. In a well-functioning ideal society, killing would not be necessary on any front; however, that society does not at present exist so killing is a known variable.

Nature itself is a very violent affair. We must kill to survive, to eat, to defend our territory. And survival often trumps the moral balance of our consciousness, so if hunting is your purpose, as long as it is quick for the prey target, it is considered acceptable. No undo suffering.

This is very heavy subject matter for a youngster. What prompted this need for discussion?

[Text]

[songoftime]

I have fought before. I have killed many monsters. There was an evil man who killed the king and drove the land into darkness. In order to stop him, I had to fight and kill. To protect other people, too. I didn't think about whether killing was good or bad until I came here. There are monsters hare that are really nice. It makes me think that maybe I did it wrong when I had thought I was doing the right thing.

Is killing evil wrong, too? The only other way I know how to stop evil is to seal it away. What about when someone is trying to kill you? Like when the Caducans attacked us? I did not kill any Caducans because I was protecting my friend's dog. But we did not have any choice. What is right and wrong when you do not have a choice?

[Text]

[peacemongering]

Tell me: how did you know this man was evil? The world is not filled with black and white, but of individuals with motivations, skills, and goals in mind. Killing for the sake of killing will always be construed as 'bad', and killed for survival will generally be construed as acceptable for the need to live. Your skills were better than the creatures you killed because you had a need of survival.

Like I said, your definition of evil may differ with others. Some may consider your action stopping an 'evil' man to be evil in and of itself. It's a slippery slope, son.

Also, there is always a choice. Always. It's as much about your choices as it is about you being to look back upon them and conscious accept the weight of what you've done. If you feel just in your action, then that's what matters. If it eats away at you, you may make a different decision in future.

[taselikeabee]

I'm not sure that it's ever okay, but there are times when it becomes necessary. There are times where it is completely unavoidable.

I think the better question to ask is: can you live with the choice that you've made?

[songoftime]

So even when you have no choice to kill, it is still wrong? You can be forced to do the wrong thing like this?

Will you explain what you mean? About living with the choice.

video;

[friendlykillingmachine]

Well, for me it's pretty simple. When I kill someone who's trying to kill my allies, then it's right!

But then again, I'm not a human.

[And while his voice sounds human enough, the smiling screen-face in the video suggests that he's actually a robot.]

text;

[songoftime]

Is killing any different if you are human or not human? You are still doing the same thing.

[audio;]

[dancingblade]

[and in usual Fi format, she appears with a chime wandering the ship again? She feels odd being apart from Link]

You seemed troubled, Link. [Fi remains, as she always will be, the master of the obvious] Have recent events caused you to doubt yourself?

[audio; private]

[songoftime]

[It's strange. Even though Link got used to Navi and Tatl's presences, even though he now has Fi with him, and even has the fairy children... He sometimes feels the need to be by himself to think about things. He never used to feel like that. He doesn't know what changed.

He switches his format to audio to match Fi's, and also makes the conversation private. Still, his answer is... hesitant.]

Yes. I know I was chosen by the Goddesses to fight. But the people here and the things that have happened... I have been thinking about it a lot, because of them.

text;

[hatesimprovising]

Everyone has different values and morals, and that affects their answer to your question. 'Right' and 'wrong' are different to everyone. Someone can kill for a reason they believe is right, but to everyone else it may be wrong.

There aren't answers to things like this. Not definite ones. It's something that's going to vary from person to person and universe to universe.

You don't ever know if what you're doing is right, especially when it comes to killing. It's something you have to decide for yourself and something that, in most cases, you decide in the moment. And there are some times when, even though it's wrong, it's necessary.

This is one of those things that the more you think about, the more you question. I wouldn't expect any answers to satisfy you fully.

text;

[songoftime]

I think you are right. The more I talk to people about it, the more it becomes clear that Alice was right. That it's like you said, too. That everyone has to decide for themselves. The more people that answer the more I have to think about.

It's not the way I thought things were at all. I used to think that there was good and there was evil. But you can be forced to do something wrong even if you want to do right. And you can do something wrong even if you think you are doing right. And someone else may think the wrong thing you did was right, too.

Have you killed before?

voice;

[rheecon]

Well, your teacher was right. I'm not sure anyone knows how to answer questions like that, or if things are ever really as simple as being purely good or evil. And I don't think it's ever really okay, but sometimes... sometimes you don't get a choice, and you have to kill to save other lives, or to protect people you love.

I haven't been here very long, but... can I ask what happened? Why you're asking all this?

I know this is a million years late and i apologize

[jiminycrockett]

[Ralph has been keeping as much to himself as possible since arriving. Holing himself up alone with his thoughts might breed nightmares and sudden flashes of faces and feelings even when he's awake, but other people are worse. They put him on edge. He can't stop hearing Piggy's voice in his head. About how he 'knows people'. Ralph didn't know people on the island, (not without Piggy's help anyway), and didn't, couldn't, know people here.

So the network keeps him busy without having to interact with anyone face to face.

But this letter digs at him. There's a way it sounds like he did. There's a sick feeling in his stomach that if there'd been a meeting after Simon died he would have tried to ask this question. Tried to be responsible and good and reasonable about something as ugly as killing. For the first time since being aboard he feels angry. Hot vivid anger wells up suddenly, rejecting what would have been their similarities and focusing on how wrong, how wrong this boy is to even think there's rules for this.]

Dear Link,

There isn't any wrong or right. There's rules to everything so that it doesn't all fall apart, but if people don't listen to them fighting just breaks stuff up more. But not fighting doesn't stop it either. If they can people will do bad things, and everything gets worse and worse until it all ends.

Stop trying,
Ralph

[For all his talk, Ralph too structures his reply in the proper way he was taught.]