I'll thank you not to put words in my mouth. What I'm trying to point out is that even if it is genocide, there's an argument to be made for its necessity. Whether a person--including the person charged with calling for it and carrying it out--LIKES the idea or hates themselves for having to make it, is a separate issue. We are NOT talking about any real world situations of innocent people being targeted because of some actually harmless characteristic that's been maligned by another group, but people who, though innocent of being mages because of course no one chooses how they are to be born, nevertheless carry a very real potential for harm to others. The situation just can't truly be compared with any real-life situation, because as much as I sympathize with the mages, and as much as I see Anders as a freedom fighter rather than a terrorist, and as much as I want to see the Circles abolished, there's no denying that mages have no real-world equivalent. They ARE walking time bombs.
That's the whole bloody point Bioware is trying to make: that there is no completely right or wrong answer, because mages are dangerous, and even good mages with the best of intentions are at risk of possession.
I'm arguing from two separate standpoints here: I'm separating my personal morality from the situation because I am able to see that one of the outcomes of siding with the mages is the potential of letting blood mages and abominations run amok. That is the evil side of the "good" choice of not annuling the Circle. Whatever people think about the reason the original Right of Annulment was called for, whether there was a legitimately justified reason, or there was just an excuse cooked up, the fact remains that the stated purpose of the Right of Annulment is justifiable: we saw in Ferelden that the problem with mages in the Circle is that it only takes one blood mage to corrupt the entire population. The purpose of the Right of Annulment has nothing to do with whether it's right or wrong to kill people who only might be dangerous, but whether it's acceptable to not kill them because you don't want to kill someone for being only a potential danger, and thereby put the larger population at risk if that potential happens to become the reality.
It is a morally grey situation, and I think they did a masterful job of it. For the life of me I can't see how they messed anything up, because it's a wonderful portrayal of a situation with no right or wrong absolutes. And it's really amusing to see you getting mad over Bioware's interpretation of a story
they wrote.
What you're refusing to accept is that we are presented with a situation in Kirkwall where it could be argued that choosing genocide of the mages is the least evil of the available decisions, even if you hate the idea. Again, it's not always about which decision is morally acceptable enough to let you sleep at night, and about which decision results in the least harm. People are going to die no matter what you choose, so it is arguable that the most pragmatic--pragmatic, not moral--decision is to annul the circle.
Modifié par Silfren, 03 mai 2011 - 04:15 .