Re: I disagree with prety much everything - Edit 1
Before modification by Cannoli at 15/11/2009 12:48:47 AM
Actually it makes a huge difference when using balefire. You balefire one person and the odds of destroying the Pattern are quite small. But as you increase the number of people balefired you increase the risk of destroying the Pattern. If Rand had simply killed Graendal and all those inside the Palace I would agree that what he did wasn't evil. However, using balefire and risking the Pattern as he did is certainly close to being evil, even if it was unintentional.
Those are practical, not moral considerations. In any event, wiping out AoL cities multiple times endangered the pattern. Blasting a single building is nothing compared to that. Yes, 42 is closER to 50,000 than 3 is. Doesn't actually mean you are close.They can't be "disobediant soldiers" because they're not sworn to him. He's still not justified, they wanted to meet him somewhere he couldn't channel because they have no idea how sane he is. Considering the fact that he almost tries to destroy them all for that it seems that they made the right decision. Also, punishing the soldiers is stupid, it's the rulers who make the decisions.
But the soldiers who will blindly follow them. Does it matter if they do damage without meaning any harm, because they are only following orders? Soldiers are guilty by putting on the uniform or swearing to the colors. As for who the Borderlanders are betraying it does not matter. They are where they have no business being and no right to be, and that's that. If they would abandon their duties to come all this way, who knows what they are capable of? That's why you put down a male channeler who goes insane - he might NOT kill people, but he is simply too dangerous to take chances with. "Cadsuane,' he said softly, 'do you believe that I could kill you? Right here, right now, without using the sword or the Power? Do you believe that if I simply willed it, the Pattern would bend around me and stop your heart? By . . . coincidence?"(emphasis mine) Seems like a threat to me. While it is true that she failed, no one else could have been successful.
Life's tough sometimes. He certainly let her have her way for a long time, and got zilch for it. I kind of consider even thinking about killing your father to be evil. The fact that he didn't follow through with it is only a small mitigating fact.
And what if your father reveals he is working with your enemy? Tam did. He should know that she is trying to help him, but his own beliefs are so twisted by his anger that he can't see the truth.
Even if she has good intentions, that does not mean she won't do him harm anyway.And if Rand was going to kill them simply because they were invaders I'd agree that it's not evil. However, the WHY he's going is as important as the actual actions. He's going to kill them because they hurt his ego, they dared to defy the Dragon Reborn. The peace overtures he spent all of 5 minutes trying to sell them on? I mean really, I think he's too used to being ta'veren and not having to work for anything. Also, if he had just gone to kill them it wouldn't have been as bad, but the fact that he was planning to use balefire with the CK makes it an extremely dangerous act.
MAYBE he might come vaguely near one incident of War of the Shadow proportions. A weapon is a weapon, and only the target matters in moral issues. It is just as moral to use poison or a gun or a knife or the One Power, as long as the death is justified. And even if Rand had bad reasons, they are still legitimate targets. They assumed that the greatest source of evil was the one responsible for what Rand did. Don't you think that makes him at least a little evil?
Or their judgment bad. What is so precious about reality anyway? It has the Dark One and the Light is losing. If you have to warp it to fix that situation, that's a good reason.