Board Thread:The Last Sovereign Discussion/@comment-27713488-20181103233945/@comment-39332473-20190801142617

Fluid-decanter wrote: Not torturing someone for no reason is a pretty low bar ethically and I find it dissonant with the "fix the world and work toward the ultimate good" fantasy that TLS is. A genuine blot of black in our grey morality. I don't really begrudge anyone taking the option for the sake of harmless fantasies confined to a fictional world, but I really wish the choice had no gameplay effects one way or the other. While I ultimately don't disagree with your assessment, this is not a accurate representation of what Wendis wants to do. She doesn't want to torture some dude named Estaven for 'no reason'. What Wendis is proposing is retribution, which we all see as an archaic and illegetimate form of justice, but many people do not. For me, I don't even find her desire particularly troubling. After all, Estaven is frankly a monster who tortured everyone around him, and would have never stopped. He never, for one second, even begging to be spared, expressed even an ounce of remorse. To paraphrase him speaking in his own defense, he said: "YEAH, I DID IT, YEAH, I DID IT, I'D DO IT AGAIN, I'LL FUCK YOUR MOTHER". The ink we have spilled in his defense so far, is frankly far out of proportion to what he deserves. It's like being worried if they were rough with Mussolini when they hung him from the gas station rafters.

Ultimately, retribution ethically fails because it's pointless. Suffering does not make better people, as Zizek would say, and so retribution falls withint the domain of pointless suffering, which I can't label as anything but wrong.

On the other hand, I think we have to be careful not to become too dispassionate. This is, after all, an interactive text, and if you are not careful you can neglect to remember the times when you felt your own rage at injustice boiling.

Lastly, It's not like Simon's hands are very clean, after all. Ya'll do remember that bar owner we merked so we could steal his booze and raise capital, way back in chapter 1, right?

Ladies and Gentlemen, in Conclusion, let Wendis devour Estaven. It's +10 Void Wife points. If your consience bothers you, take a moment to breifly mutter "Yeah, but Fuck Estaven", and continue with your playthrough.