The Homeric View

[Blaggut]

So, I haven't read Homer. But I've heard a lot about it, and have read books with a simaler point. Myfather told me about Homer's hidden-ish point in the books.

So you may have noticed that there's always a false diacotomy between "Good" and "Evil". There is little pure or even mostly evil things in the world. Hitler falls into mostly. The idea of Satan falls into mostly, but Lucifer is Greek for "Bearer of Light", meaning essentially Bearer of Knowlege. And there's little pure good or mostly good around either. Have you seen the post world world two and one propaganda movies? Ugh. After, during, and even before war, nations strive to make the other side appear evil. And in novels and movies, there is always a Hero and a Villain. Even in Redwall. Often, war is Neccasary or caused by mistakes and idiocy. As good old' Prez Georgie said (Not exact words) "The best policy is to stay out of foreign affairs.". So getting back to Homer, he presented it as both sides being good /and/ bad. He presented the wars and even monsters as both bad, good, and naive. Its true to life, and beautiful. So next time to you write something, read something, or watch something, remember that.

[Skyblade]

Interesting.

In my book series, I'm making an effort to make the heroes make mistakes. Stupid mistakes. In other words, they're going to be human. They're going to make human mistakes.

And the villains? I'm trying to give them realistic motivations. In reality, they're not 100% evil. They're just people who made the wrong choices.


"We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are."

- Sirius Black, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

[Jetthebinturong]

I've always been a firm proponent of the idea that nothing is completely good or completely evil. For example in my book Black Rain the villain wants to overthrow the governments and rule the world so that he can create a utopia.  It's like Doctor Doom (Doctor Doom went time travelling to all possible futures and saw that there was no suffering or want only in the world that he ruled in the others everything was awful. The all-knowing panther spirit of Wakanda agreed with him. But he's still pretty bad, he kills many many people.) My good guys don't get a pass either. If anyone reads my story please examine Master Lightborn (for anyone that doesn't read it, that's just a placeholder) because I'm afraid I've made him seem too benevolent but he's really not that great. Not even my demons are all evil.

My favourite book series/work of fiction of all time, Skulduggery Pleasant also challenges that idea. Skulduggery has done terrible things, the villain of books 1-8 wants to make a utopia, the villain of books 6-9 has the mind of a child, a minor villain who is an assassin helps to save the world. It's a shame that most writers seem to be so cut-and-dry.

[Rusvul]

(This seemed at least semi-relevant and I want to talk about it somewhere, so I'll post it here.)

  Soon I'll be playing a D&D character who does good by evil means.

  He (or she? haven't decided gender yet, might be neat to play a female character) will be a warlock, meaning they are a mortal who has made a pact with an extraplanar force- Usually it's a fiend (demon or devil, usually evil), an archfey (usually chaotic), or a powerful aberration (Illithid, aboleth, something cthonic like that. Usually lawful and evil.) In my case, it will be a devil.

  Devils in D&D are a bit like salesmen of hell- They like to strike deals with mortals, tempting them with great riches, power, and the like. They always stick to the letter of the deal, but will always try to twist the mortal's words against them, usually ending in an outcome as malign as possible towards the mortal and as beneficial as possible to the devil. Demons, on the other hand, just want to destroy anything and everything. Devils are far more dangerous.

  My character's pact will be something like this- You invest some power in me, and in return I fetch you souls worthy of the underworld. The devil gains more power in the end, and I use the power granted to me to rid the mortal plane of its villainy. I'm sort of an antihero with a good cause.

  D&D tends to be very black-and-white about morality- There's not much gray area in the rules as written. According to the player's handbook, someone who does good by evil means is still evil, because they're tipping the scales of the universe in evil's favor. Fortunately, the rules in D&D are pretty much just a suggestion.

[rrrrr]

One of the reasons I like Redwall is because you can mostly see who's good and who's bad, actually.

I actually really hate stories that have lots of gray characters, because I go like this



So, yeah. Ouch.

[Skyblade]

How do gray characters give you leg cramps? O.O

I like stories that are relatable and realistic. Some characters get on my nerves for being too darn awesome and perfect. Others make me feel genuinely sorry for them.

[Lady Ashenwyte]

I love books with grey characters. It makes them feel more like real people.

[Jetthebinturong]

I love books with grey characters. It makes them feel more like real people.

^^^^