Superheroes that are like “if we kill them we’re just as bad as they are uwu” ? Micro dick energy
The only exception is Aang, whose whole “I’m not gonna kill him if i can find another way” thing is less false moral equivalency and more “I’m twelve and I have been through way too much bullshit this year to add ‘commit my first murder’ to the list.”
i don’t think i see it addressed often enough that aang not willing to kill is cultural. that’s what he believed in because it’s what the air nomads believed in, that all life is inherently sacred. Not even that life is valuable, but sacred, as in it’s of central importance to air nomad spirituality. we don’t hear of the air nomads having another commandment that’s nearly as important. we hear that they don’t encourage attachment, but aang falls in love without any mention that monks aren’t meant to do that. (love and starting a family have been prohibited. which would mean aang feels okay breaking some rules, except for one he can’t allow himself to break)
aang sees killing the firelord as permanently severing the last link between himself and his culture, that taking a life will mean no longer being an air nomad. it’s tied up in both the deepest level of his identity, and his survivor’s guilt. that’s the only reason he puts it above his responsibility to save the world, and why not even the previous avatars could understand. i think aang really would have died before taking a life, because either way he saw his own death and taking a life as very nearly the same thing, as his whole culture ending forever with him. he can save the world but have to live with the guilt, and without his identity.
and that’s part of why ‘killing the bad guy makes you the bad guy’ falls flat. because aang isn’t just trying to be the Good Guy, he’s trying to be the last survivor of his culture. it’s even said as much by the gang and by every previous avatar that he’s not doing it to be good or morally superior, he’s ultimately being selfish.
🍓🧀 (archive) 