• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    24
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Once the wretch is powerless and begging you for their survival, would you really just end them?

    Yes, if the “wretch” is responsible for a huge amount of murder. And, as Stamets says, also if the hero has killed a bunch of people to get there anyway.

    If the hero lets the guy who is going to destroy the world with his special neutronium bomb live because it will change him for the worse if he kills him, I think that’s a ridiculous resolution for a movie.

    • enkers@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Usually the situation isn’t so black and white. It’s not Jack Bauer killing a terrorist that will otherwise go on to blow up a maternity ward. The villain is defeated and they probably already have to deal with the normal societal punishment for what they did wrong, or otherwise live in some equivalent purgatory.