#not to get into the disk horse again but i truly cannot believe this is written by yuya fucking takahashi like jesus what an upgrade

[biomic]

what in the world did we do to deserve aruto hiden

[darnianwayne]

gdi batman doesn’t kill for a Reason: a character study

first let’s get this one out of the way: in canon batman is and likely will always be presented as a wealthy, white man of privilege and he Specifically should not have unilateral license to kill due to that. because well... COME ON!! if i have to explain this one, This Post Is Not For You

now, batman’s reasons for not killing are not because “killing would make him as bad as the rogues uwu” and if that’s your interpretation then i am sorry on behalf of recent bad comics and adaptations that have so diluted batman’s character to be closer to a sick, man-child perversion than an actual superhero with all the grey morality and social responsibity that truly implies

as a character, batman is first and foremost a detective who actively works with the only non-corruptable “good cop” he cound find in a city that is so historically corrupt and disenfranchised that at one point after an earthquake decimated gotham, the national government basically threw up its hands, shrugged, and abandoned gotham’s survivors to anarchy. batman is a symbol to the people of gotham for hope and protection against all manner of evils - not only from the criminal underbelly but from the corruption that mutated gotham’s systems of power from woefully incompetent to actively harmful to its citizenry. batman is a traumatized man who was once a happy child who watched his parents murdered in front of him and decided never again. batman is a father who realized if he ever used his role as batman to take a life, he would be sanctioning his children to do the same in his name

the batman character is a lot of things. but batman is not, should not, and cannot be judge, jury, and executioner. to paint him as a brutalizer that goes mad with power when presented with low-level criminals is disingenuous at best and actively harmful to the batman symbology of heroism at worst. even to say that batman should kill only in extreme cases like joker, who is undeniably a horrible piece of non-human excrement whose death would actually be a net good for all of dc in-universe society, it would be completely against who batman is as a character to have him break his morals like that. batman, bruce wayne, is a man who tries to use every tool at his disposal to bring about justice and prevent death: using his company to hire the disenfranchised in gotham including ex-cons, single-handedly funding gotham’s charities, and ofc using batman to find evidence to bring down powerful crime bosses and corrupt politicians alongside the rogues gallery. batman is one man whose symbol and legacy is larger than he is, but who is still only One Man

batman doesn’t kill not because he’s too good for it. he doesn’t kill because he’s too SMALL for it! bruce inherently values human life to the point where he believes one man cannot decide whether another human being lives or dies. that’s his whole stance when bruce inevitably butts heads with members of his own family who don’t subscribe to his point of view!

and yeah there’s always room in the Disk Horse to talk about whether or not batman is doing enough or if his morality is too simple and he actually should, logistically speaking, “cross the line.” those conversations are welcome in the context of all batman mythology: if batman and his universe existed, would bruce wayne’s batman be the form he should take? tbh idk and i am not here for thought experiments of what form superheroism would take in “real world” scenarios. there’s plenty of other fiction and media that have tackled that question, with results ranging from absolute fascist-glorification garbage to genuinely good works that challenge consumers’ preconceived notions of what a “superhero” would truly look like (watchmen, the ultimate batman au fanfic, is a great example)

the character of batman in-universe serves as a hard moral compass example to his family and other heroes not because it’s simple and easy - but because it’s HARD to believe human life is inherently valuable in the face of all the atrocities and horrors bruce has seen humans do to one another. and the question of whether or not the human monsters batman faces are worthy of their lives is straight up not one bruce wayne contends with. bruce has made his position clear and he is steadfast. but those types of questions are valuable anyway, and though we know batman’s answer, it’s metatextually important batman is challenged for his morality. in the batman mythos, jason todd is the clearest example of a character type that confronts those life-death questions, chooses differently, and that batman and we the readers have to decide who to agree with

at this point the batman “no killing” morality is a whole arechetype in and of itself. the batman archetype of heroism and vigilantism has inspired or informed the interpretation of most if not all other vigilante-like heroes that have been created since the early 20th century. so in a lot of ways batman has the simple rule of “no killing” because we as consumers don’t want a hero who kills. we live in a reality where innocent people are murdered by the powers that be, where cops murder civilians in cold blood, and call those crimes deserved and just. so we build fiction where that “reality,” that fun-house mirror of absolute power, is cleansed and where an individual has that same power of impunity and deliberately chooses not to use it. heroism in comics is an idealized version of what we wish existed in our own society: somebody with the actual power and ability to make a difference for the greater good without moral bankruptcy. it’s easy when you put it like that. batman exists in the vacuum of fiction, so the decisions he makes as a character do not have to be as complicated as real life. and the dc mythos is rich enough that batman is actively challenged on his stances by others even within his own family and honestly he should be! as a character batman has to be given the option to change his mind, and as a literary device readers have to be reminded of the moral choice at stake. It’s Good Writing Babey!! tho admittedly it’s this aspect that is most actively (and probably rightfully) criticized BECAUSE batman never changes his mind. and for a character with mythology that is over 80 years old - that’s a long time for the cultural and moral zeitgeist of superheroes to remain unchanged, especially considering the “no killing” rule has become a hard rule for all mainstream superheroes

tbh the assumption that batman, bruce wayne, does not kill because then he would essentially be the same as his villains gallery, morally-speaking - it doesn’t hold that much water. do you have ANY idea how much canon bruce wayne suffers from self-hatred and constantly questions his own actions?? even the batmans of bad storylines where he’s a grimdark, I Work Alone caricature, batman is a master of self deprication and loathing. he’s a man of few words and hard lines, but he is as likely to think of himself as morally equal to, say, deathstroke (in the sense they are both powerful, capable men who live and die by their choices) than superman. bruce does not believe he has the moral high ground, ever. batman believes he cannot make the choice to kill, so he doesn’t. simple as that

tldr batman doesn’t kill because killing is bad. it’s not that deep

[stefandesofia]

Stories from the Unliving Ch 5

I awoke to the sound of duck pieces hitting the water and leaving greasy pools on the surface. I sighed a muffled sigh and started going up. Dodging the incoming piece of duck, I yelled out:

“Really? I get the stones, but chunks of meat? Seriously, look at the grease spots you’re leaving on the surface! You know I can’t float in water, so I’ll have to make a raft or something to get them cleaned up!”

“Apologies! I just arrived, and you kept yelling at me for throwing stones in, so I came up with the idea to throw what I brought you from the eatery last night. Do your fish eat meat?”

“Yeah, they do, though I can’t really say how well they’ll like it when it’s been cooked in lard.”

“And herbs too. Those make it so delectable! I could not even begin to imagine what it actually would taste like, until I tried it. I do not regret it, at all! And to be honest with you, the only reason why I was able to afford the meal for me and Ceara was the money you decided to give me a week ago for getting you your books. I truly cannot thank you enough.”

“Nah, don’t sweat it. How did it go last night?”

“It was amazing. Ceara is a great listener, but even despite her inability to speak, she is able to communicate masterfully using her little board, and she makes for a great conversation.”

“Who’d’a thunk! Though she was really quite adept at using that thing yesterday, she was real quick at writing on it, and her handwriting was incredibly elegant.”

“She is incredible, and I would be honored to spend more time with her. But I really need to thank you for the money, I did not have enough for even myself before that, let alone to take Ceara to such a place.”

“If you were in that much of a need for money, you could have just said, I have more than I know what to do with. The whole thing about the Lady of the Lake and the mysterious figure coming out of the water giving out a great treasure, yeah, that’s kinda true. I have 17 chestfulls of the larger coins than those I gave you. So you ever need anything, don’t worry, I can spot you”

“Hopefully, it will not be necessary, as I have started looking for local work, defending loggers and similar tasks around the town.”

“That’s nice for you, I’m happy that you found something to do. Is that why you were later than usual today?”

“That is correct. I was out with the loggers, you would not believe it, but there were wolves in the forest, and I actually had to fight them to keep the loggers alive. I could not even fathom such beasts were roaming around in the forest. As large as horses, with claws and fangs the length of my forearm!”

“Dang, wolves really changed from my time. They are really that size?”

“Of course, I never tell lies. I had to fight off four of the beasts, as the loggers were singing their tune. It’s lucky I wasn’t alone. I was joined by a local alchemist. I never did learn her name, and she was wearing this mask, too, that looked like a bird head. All I know is, her concoctions really did help me. She would throw these little glass jars and when they burst, they would erupt into a loud bang and a cloud of colored gas would confuse the wolves and scare them away.”

“Almost sounds like she was more useful than you, doesn’t it?”

“She was. While I was taking facing off against a single wolf, she was taking care of the other 3 by herself. Though I would imagine she would have no more jars to throw after some time, so she couldn’t do it all on her own”

“Yeah, she does sound pretty amazing, doesn’t she. You didn’t talk to her?”

“I tried, but she would just stare at me from behind her mask with her head tilted, without answering. She must have thought me some brute, a hired sword and nothing more. I am not proud of the work I did, but I am proud that I am doing it. Does that make sense?”

“I think so, you’re not happy to be a sellsword, but glad that you’re on your own two feet.”

“Exactly! I still have yet to tell Ceara about this, I am sure she will be so worried that I took up such a dangerous job!”

“Why did you actually take on such a job, also, why are the lumberjacks going so far into the forest to get wood, when there is a perfectly good forest here?”

“They explained this to me. They told me that they prefer to brave the dangers of the untamed wood, rather than destroy the natural beauty that is this close to the town. So they hire us stronger people to defend them”

“I guess that makes sense. Don’t shit where you eat, right?”

“A bit crude of an expression, but true to the tale”

“Okay, but I gotta ask, where did you learn to fight giant wolves? I mean, I don’t think they’d teach you that at home, would they?”

“No, you are right, I was only ever taught to fight other armed men, not beast. But the idea is the same. You avoid the attack, and stick the opponent with the sharp end of the sword. I just had to be more careful, since the animal was more unpredictable than any man I have fought before. It not only had 2 front claws to attack with, but it also had it’s massive jaw. Why, if I was even the least bit distracted, I would not be talking to you right now. I would be standing in front of Great Selcca’s hammer!”

“Nah, you seem like a pretty capable sort. That hammer thing, though. I take it that’s whatever you believe in nowadays? Is it a deity or something?”

“How can you not know this? Selcca is the one who created this land!” 

“Humor me!”

"Selcca took a hot stone out of the ground, and pounded it with his great hammer Earthwarden, shaping everything, all the mountains, all the valleys. Then quenched it in water, causing all the rivers and lakes, and seas to appear. He didn’t quench it fully, though, leaving a part up north that’s staying hot and kills everything that goes near it”

“Oh, creationism, nice, always love hearing the stories that you people come up with, it’s really incredible how many different stories you can come up with for the same thing. I mean, none of it is real, but it’s still real cool to hear.”

“I just realised something. The Valley of Death, where Selcca didn’t quench the land, you told me you have done that. You created it.”

“Yeah, that I did, and I am proud of it too!”

“But if Selcca didn’t create that, did he even create everything else? Did you create the mountains? Wait, are you Selcca? Oh Great Earthwarden! I have been talking to the actual Selcca! My lord, I am apologise for any slight I may have caused you! Please forgive me! I am just your lowly follower!”

“Ha! Nah, definitely not Selcca, I can assure you of that. Sorry to shatter your worldview, but there's no Selcca. Each reset, there’s dozens, if not hundreds different deities that you people come up with, and honestly, they are all real similar, but in my 30K years, I’ve not seen one so far, and you’d think the guy that’s stuck around for since the beginning of time for all intents and purposes would draw some attention, right? But tell me more, I am real interested in hearing the story of how the world was created this time.”

“I... I suppose. But I am truly confused. If Selcca isn’t real, how was the world created? No, you must be mistaken. And you say that Selcca never visited you, but that’s not true, He is with us every day, he created the world, so we may be our best selves on it. And if He personally has not come to visit you, then perhaps you have not done enough good deeds to draw His attention.”

“I am not getting into this right now, I have all your life to convince you. Can you just tell me the story?”

“Of course. I am, by no means, a great storyteller or a priest, so I might miss some points, but it should show you that Selcca really is with us.”

“I’m sure he is, yeah”

“The tale begins with Selcca having completed a lot of past works, all the stars in the night sky, preparing Himself for the greatest work of all - creating the land of Igresh.”

“That’s what you call the planet nowadays?”

“I am not familiar with the word, I am sorry. Igresh is the grand plate that Selcca created and populated with us. He toiled for many days and nights, gathering all the best materials for the job, all the highest quality metals, the purest clay, and making that into a ball. He heated it all up into the heat of his forge, the Sun, and striking it with his hammer Earthwarden, flattening the material into a disk, and folding it in two, and heating it up again, and flattening it again, and folding it again, and again, the very same. He would do this seven hundred time over the course of seven days, creating countless layers of ground and metal, creating the perfect place for us humans.”

“What about all the mountains and the valleys, and canyons, and all that? It’s pretty shoddy craftsmanship if you ask me, if he can’t even make a flat surface”

“Selcca wanted to provide us with a variety of features to explore, tall mountains, deep ravines, that is why he kept the surface rough while he was forging the hot plate. The then grabbed the land plate with his tongs and quenched it in the water of the sky, that is why the sky is blue during the day, of course, it’s the water that Selcca used to quench Igresh for the final time, but leaving the north most part to cool naturally, that way creating a zone where only the most foolhardy dare approach.”

“Ah yeah, the so called Valley of Death! Worked really hard to make that happen, I tell you what, and I will not let some made up person take credit for my thousands of years of work there!”

“I am not saying that you did not have anything to do there. It is very likely that you found the place up north, the Valley of Death, before it was that, and chose to put all the poisonous material there, keeping all us people safe. But the say Selcca made us, after He quenched the world place, He would then use his awesome powers, and forge the first humans. He then would assign the humans our first King, to rule with grace, dignity, pride and the approval of the people. He was called Adwen. He also assigned King Adwen a wife, a queen, to be by his side, through all that they may come to face, and help him make the right choices in life. She was called Elvida.”

“Really? Adwen and Elvida? Like Adam and Eve?”

“I am not familiar with the people you are speaking of. Are they your friends?”

“Oh man, thirty thousand years later, and Christianity is still being felt! I bet none of the old dustbags in the Vatican would ever even consider something like this happening!”

“I will just continue my telling. When He was happy with his work, Selcca took a step back to admire His creation. Once he was done documenting the process, writing down the exact steps on how to create this incredible land we all live on, as all great masters keep records of their process, He went back to work, creating more stars for us to marvel at.”

“Wait, he wrote down his process for creating the world?”

“That is correct. Of course, us people can never even understand the complexity of something so grand. But after that, Kind Adwen and Queen Elvida ruled for a hundred years, bearing many children and teaching them the ways to differentiate right from wrong, and to always make the correct choices. Since then, all our Great Kings can trace their ancestry back to the Prime Rulers and strive to be just as good, to show Selcca that we truly are worthy of his greatest creation. And if one of the Great Kings or Queens strays from the teachings, King Adwen and Queen Elvida had many children, and their children had many children, so the next in line will take the throne, and prove a better leader than the previous, who will be erased from the academies, all records of their existence will be lost, and history will forget their name.”

“That’s a little hardcore, I gotta say. Like, imagine, the people approach the king and say ‘you’re a bad king, go away’ and he just sorta has to, cause that’s what Selcca says. And then when people say ‘Hey, remember X?’, you’ll be like ‘Nah, never heard that name!’”

“Indeed, being a ruler worthy of the people and the trust they put into you has to come first. Ruling all the land of Igresh is no small task, since there is many other smaller kingdoms that the Great King and Queen rule over. You need to be mindful of all the different situations that may occur in the world today, and act accordingly.”

“Man, I gotta tell you, ruling over a country, not an easy task, saying this from experience. Literally every day, all day, someone wanted something. It could have been more money, it could have been a bigger house, it could have been more medicine, I don’t care, it was just soooooo annoying. You want something? Well, too bad! Everyone gets the same!”

“Were you a Great King, when you ruled over the land? Or a local one? I don’t imagine you as the local king. Even though you speak as though you hate it, I can tell that you remember it fondly, and have enjoyed that period in your life.”

“Don’t psychoanalyse me! I do what I want, and I always do what makes me feel happy! So yeah, I obviously enjoyed that, until I didn’t and stopped doing it!”

“I apologise if I’ve upset you, it is that sometimes you act as though you care not for anyone around you, yet you would talk to a complete stranger, and tell her your life’s story, and whatever else she asks of you. You are a better person than most people I know. And most people will not even call you a person.”

“Thanks, I guess. You do realise I technically am a person, even if I don’t look exactly like it. I can talk, I can think, I can feel. Sure, I don’t eat or breathe, and I technically don’t need to sleep either, even if I do it, cause it’s enjoyable, I started off as a person, and I am sticking to that.”

“I have personally met in my life so many people that I would not call a person even with a sword to my throat. Terrible monsters, murdering for sport, eating people, doing what they want with children. If I had the power, power that someone like you possesses, I would probably spent my life just going around and ridding the world of such monsters.”

“Getting a little dark there, buddy. Come back to the light side here.”

“Apologies! I am just appalled that someone that came from someone as pure as Selcca can act in such a way. But with time, even the purity that Selcca created can become tainted and corrupt. This just goes to show the power of us people. Being able to, for better or for worse, oppose a God’s power.”

“Now we’re talking, I knew I can get you away from your false worshipping!”

“Do not misunderstand, Selcca is still pure, and He created everything around us, however, He also gave us the spark to create and to change things. A spark that was once a part of him. It is this spark that allows us to change His creation. Some have larger sparks, some have smaller, but all of us have it. Why, I would imagine, you have the biggest spark out there, that is why you are still walking around, even after so many years.”

“Well, I suppose that’s one explanation I haven’t heard in a while, though they usually call it a blessing or a curse. I think I’m on 37 blessings, and 73 curses so far, but not a spark yet, so congratulations, you’re the first one!”

“I cannot tell whether you are joking or not. If you are not, then you are most welcome, and I am glad to have made you happy.”

“Sure, let’s say that.”

“I wanted to ask you something, could I take your measurements?”

“Errr, I guess? That’s a bit of an odd thing to ask, but sure. Are you building me a coffin?”

“I would never! Such a grim gift would just sour our friendship!”

And the young man took out a measuring tape, and took my measurements, my arms, my legs, shoulders, hips, chest, everything, and wrote it all down on a price of parchment. 

“What was that about?” I asked. 

“It was requested by me to do it, so I am merely complying.”

“Sure, just tell them that I like light wood for my coffins, something like a nice polished pine or even maple. That stuff is great.”

“If I do go through the coffin-maker’s, I will tell them, I suppose. Let me ask you one thing, though. Would you be willing to join me in town some time?”

“Oh god no! You trying to scare the town away?”

“It will be alright, I will give you a cloak and a face mask, and we can hide your identity. You will be able to experience how life is now, and learn what makes people the way they are in our time.”

“You can just tell me all that yourself. Or that little lady of yours, whatever her name was. I am not leaving my pond, thank you very much!”

“It’s Ceara, and you can’t stay in your pond forever! You have to come out eventually, be it because you ran out of things to do, or preferrably, because you have finally agreed to accompany your friend.”

“I can’t stay in my lake forever? Just watch me!” and I turn and dive back into the water.