So, yesterday (or was it today?) I got the idea to rehash an old post. It talks about the difference between evil and darkness. And I went on a tangent there. One that really took away from the main idea of the post. So, before we get into it, I'll get that tangent out of the way.
It talked about the elements and how I categorize them. Most people would think that there are four main elements. Well, in my opinion, that's just wrong. I say there are seven. And this way of thinking was heavily influenced by Naruto and even more by Dragon Fable. So, seven elements - Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Lightning, Light, and Darkness. Naruto also gave me the idea of secondary elements. And DragonFable gave me the idea of almost anything being an element. Considering they have elements like Void, Silver, ???, Ebil, and many others (Including Bacon). And this classification of elements is a big part of the reason why I don't consider evil the equivalent of Darkness.
So, if Darkness is an element, how can it be the equivalent of evil? I mean, you can do as much evil with fire or lightning. I believe that all elements are, at their core, neutral. And it's up to the people who use them to decide if they are used for good or evil. And it's that way with everything. Nothing is, by itself, aligned to either good or bad. It's always the intention behind the use of objects (elements) that decides whether it's good or bad.
To give a bit more real-world example. A Gun. It's just an object. It is neither good nor bad. Not by itself. But it can be used for both. And that is something that depends on the wielder. It can be used to murder someone. It can also be used to hunt and thus provide food for an otherwise starving family.
It's not things/objects that are good/bad. It's actions. Most of the actions you do during your day can be classified as either good or bad. I'm not disputing the existence of a neutral action, but I also believe that a true neutral action is rare.
Good and evil can't simply be classified as going either right or left and neutral straight ahead. There's no way that the paths are that simple. A lot of the time, you won't even know what alignment your actions actually have until much later. And while sometimes, it may seem or indeed even be that simple, again, I don't believe that this is the rule. More often than not, your actions will have ambiguous consequences instead of a clear alignment.
And as much as we probably all want to do good instead of bad, I also think that this makes the world more interesting. The way it's not always black or white. The line is blurred. Always has been and always will be.
As they say in stories, you can't have the good without the bad. Just make sure that if you're throwing a neutral into the mix as well, it's not a chaotic one. (Learned that one through D&D)
Well, that's about it. I'm not sure if I managed to stay on topic better this time, but at the same time, I think this is a bit more cohesive than the old post. And if nothing else, it's definitely longer and I consider that one a nice bonus.
See you in the next post.
~AnnElfwind
Written on the 24th of June, 2020
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