: The problem with judging entirely be actions is, then the
: Light is guilty of mass-murder too. We killed hundred
: of thousands of living servants of the Dark, Ghols and
: Mauls and Fetch and such. You say that's justified,
: because they were evil, which you determine by the
: fact that they kill people. But therefore, us killing
: them makes us evil too, if killing makes one
: inherantly evil regardless of motive.
So either: A) I created a moral paradox. Or B) I need to explain what I mean better.
: I still hold that intention determines whether one is
: "evil" or not. One can be in the wrong and
: yet not be "evil", by doing harm that they
: think is justified but actually isn't, or by
: unintentionally doing harm (like, say, if the Light
: had drained the Deep Mire to make more habitable
: farmlands, and in the process deprived the native
: Skrael of their home without realizing it - it's
: wrong, but not evil).
Good point.
: This is why, in my story, both sides are in the wrong but
: neither is evil. The Light is occupying the Dark's
: lands and killing them when they try to take them
: back, which is wrong, but they didn't mean to do any
: harm or even have any choice but to be there, so
: they're not evil. The Dark is trying to destroy the
: Light, which is wrong, but they're doing so because
: they deserve to have the world that they were kicked
: out of, so they're not evil.
: The "right" solution would be to let both Light
: and Dark forces occupy the same realm and come to some
: kind of compromise, but there's no chance in hell of
: that happening, since both sides consider the other a
: faceless evil, and as far as either side can tell,
: they're right.
Well, the problem with the Dark and the Light both having a valid claim to the area is that the Dark does have some by any standard, evil people. (Read: Soulblighter)
I suppose one could make a semi legitimate claim to the Ghols and the Dwarves each having a right to the area they are fighting over, and the fetch are not even from this dimention, so they aren't nessacerily evil, but the undead are unnatural, period. Although beign unnatural does not make one evil, it does mean the rightful claim part is sort of chucked out the window for them.
Seraph
