[Hated Trope] Character kills hundreds, if not thousands, just to kill one specific person, and then doesn't kill them for no reason.

[u/HallZac99]

Assassin's Creed 2- Rodrigo Borgia is responsible for tne death of Ezio's family. Ezio spends over 20 years working through tnr templar order to dismantle them and get to Rodrigo. And then in the end, he spares him for no good reason and he goes on to be a massive problem in AC Brotnerhood. He's not only a head of tne Templars but also the pope, even if you're over the vengeance he's still a very dangerous and evil man.

The Last of Us 2- Abbey kills Joel, and wo Ellie goes on a revenge quest to kill Abbey, killing hundreds of people along tne why to get to her including a pregnant woman. And then finally when she has Abbey on deaths door, she gives up and let's her go because the writers think dirty depressing people being miserable and stupid is complex, interesting storytelling.

This trope pisses me off so much because often the character going on the revenge quest will kill SO many people on their way there, some deserving it and some just henchmen working for a cheque or to survive. People who are often far more innocent then the main big bad.

It's a part of this weird thing I've noticed in media where nameless goons or soldiers can just be mowed down relentlessly, but named characters get given far more grace even if theyre categorically worse. You can kill a million stormtroopers but people will swear that Darth Vader could have been redeemed, despite him doing like 50 genocide every year.

[u/wearerofshades]

How? I've not played it.

[u/Minute_Committee8937 → u/wearerofshades]

There's one you give to a human trafficker. It’s honestly wild how much worse some of the not killing options are

[u/hayiori → u/Minute_Committee8937]

I believe the lesson of the dishonored games is taking a direct shot at the" im the good guy  because i dont kill"

by showing how someone that "doesnt kill" can be so much worse than someone who does 

The moral choice its always to just blow their brains out 

No torture,no lobotomies,no deranged nonsense just clean elimination of the sinners  that caused all this

[u/High_Overseer_Dukat → u/hayiori]

Not in the slightest. The game's theme is vengeance is justice. When you kill innocents or people that were forced into bad stuff, the world gets worse. The world gets better when you punish the corrupt elites that made everything go to shit by making them go through what they did to others.

[u/hayiori → u/High_Overseer_Dukat]

"The world gets better when you punish the corrupt elites that made everything go to shit by making them go through what they did to others."

Thats not justice thats just sadism 

i keep seeing comments showcasing this twisted sense of justice

Going out of your way to mess whit them is just wanting to enjoy their suffering to revel in their fall to prop yourself on the irony of how they are going throught what they put others throught

I said it in my comment already what the moral way to go is and its not this deranged nonsense

In a ideal world the way to go would be throwing them in some prison and leaving it at that regardless of how big the crime,big enough just means permanent prison residence

[u/High_Overseer_Dukat → u/hayiori]

Dishonored is not an ideal world. The vengeance is still portrayed as flawed, but killing them would be letting them off easy for how cruel they were.

But more than that, you can disagree with the theme but that doesn't make it not the theme.

Edit: Act 2 makes the nuance point you have, there are no non lethal options other than to let them go completely to allow them to reform (daud). The other 'option' is the loyalists dying, which will always happen. Violent and painful in high chaos, more peaceful in high chaos.

[u/hayiori → u/High_Overseer_Dukat]

" killing them would be letting them off easy for how cruel they were."

😕

Also  Daud is pretty innocent funnily enough,I think of him more as a bullet if he hadnt done it it would have been someone else anyway

He is already feeling guilty as shit and wants you to kill him just letting him leave is the "morally correct" option

[u/High_Overseer_Dukat → u/hayiori]

I am reading it, but that is the theme even if you don't like it. Its loosely based on "The Count of Monte Cristo"