McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
The Author is NOT the Character.
Thrythlind:
to me, they were already starting the war by that point and that was the only reasonable reaction
Paynesgrey:
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on November 04, 2010, 01:17:42 AM ---That puts him way further over the edge, but I think I've argued why I see him as anti-hero at length elsewhere so the summary of the summary is; he's willing to start a war that will cost many innocent lives to save Susan. That makes him Not Good in my book.
--- End quote ---
Curious. For the sake of arguement, let's go ahead and make the sizable leap of faith and wishful thinkng to conclude that the War could not possibly have happened if Harry had let Bianca kill Susan. That the Reds would have said "Aw, shucks, he won't fall for it, let's give up trying to start a war and go read a book or something" and that peace would rule the day.
The killing of innocent people every day, in every place the Reds had a presence would have continued unabated.
Each and every day, more innocent would be murdered to feed their not just their desire to feed, but as recreation. While people like Cristos ignored those deaths, because it was, after all, just little people, nobody of importance... an infinitely growing body count that already dwarfs the deaths that Harry is accused of "causing", and would have continued to grow as long as there were humans to kill and Reds to kill them.
So while Cristos and like minded fellows on the Council are mincing and simpering about the Ostentarium congratulating themselves about how they've prevented war and the deaths of innocents, ensured "peace in our time", the Reds are killing more and more innocents.
The fact is, Harry is actually the one guy who did what had to be done and ended the killing, while the prancing idealists like Cristos would have ensured that it to continued, accepting the death as "a reasonable price" to wallow in their inflated sense of moral superiority just because the people dying weren't people they considered important.
Thrythlind:
Indeed, though I will admit that Harry's motivations in that instance are more focused on Susan and this a bit more selfish, which does edge toward anti-hero. However, he still cares about the effects on uninvolved bystanders to be truly considered an anti-hero.
And a lot of his "anti-hero" moments have basically been cases where he's been backed into a corner.
The Susan thing, he went to rescue her and Justine before anything happened to them. He wasn't looking to slaughter the lot of them at the time, it wasn't in his plan. That only happened after his initial plan failed and he was caught in his escape with the hoards of vamps between him and escape. It's not ends justifies the means if you're reduced to one means. Plus, it is implicit in Dresdenverse that vampires are callous, evil monsters, quite apart from the fae, who are dangerous because they are alien and their ways are hard to understand.
When he had Lash with him, he did a few things that were unnecessary, most pointed being the ghoul he tortured since he had a choice there, he wasn't in a corner.
The most recent event in Changes which I will not specify because it is still recent and spoilery where as Grave Peril is a few years back, was also a case where he'd been backed into a corner and given not much in the way of a choice. That was more specifically a sacrifice, he gave up his own interests for the larger interest of his daughter and then the world. The world was somewhat secondary, but still, his own interests were placed well back on the list.
Paynesgrey:
Those are reasons I file Harry under Big Damn Hero who exhibits believable human behaviour rather than as an "antihero". Harry's heroic traits and attributes greatly outweigh his non-heroey behaviours. (CLint Eastwood's "Man With No Name" in High Plains Drifter is more of an Antihero.) Lapses, errors, flares of temper are part of the package for any sane human being. I suspect the Ghoul Headroast Party was possibly Lash's influence, but then again, how abnormal would it have been for a person to not blow a gasket after seeing a teenage girl eaten alive by ghouls, other children killed by them? No matter how heroic, everybody's got a breaking point somewhere.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Paynesgrey on November 05, 2010, 06:03:54 PM ---Each and every day, more innocent would be murdered to feed their not just their desire to feed, but as recreation. While people like Cristos ignored those deaths, because it was, after all, just little people, nobody of importance... an infinitely growing body count that already dwarfs the deaths that Harry is accused of "causing", and would have continued to grow as long as there were humans to kill and Reds to kill them.
--- End quote ---
To my mind, this depends on a lot of numbers we don't have for the number of people the reds actually kill - which I am inclined to read fairly low; and even for fairly high figures of that, it seems preferable to me to bear with that than to get into a war with a serious risk of getting the Council annihilated and ensuing Vampire World, as Harry figures out the Reds and Whites are planning on in WN.
--- Quote ---The fact is, Harry is actually the one guy who did what had to be done and ended the killing, while the prancing idealists like Cristos would have ensured that it to continued, accepting the death as "a reasonable price" to wallow in their inflated sense of moral superiority just because the people dying weren't people they considered important.
--- End quote ---
Having the author on one's side is a wonderful thing, but it seems a little bit off to me to judge Harry's actions in the situation at the end of GP based on information he did not have and no means to get.
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