Post by Beaver Dude on Jul 9, 2009 18:00:35 GMT -5
A look at Ansem
“Master Ansem, at what point does Love become Dark?”
It was broad hypothetical, encompassing to the point of absurdity. Dilan blushed at his temerity, but the question was earnest – and in his mind, important. The King, to his credit, answered seriously, though not before raising an eyebrow and rifling through his royal vestments for something to scribble with.
“An interesting question, Dilan. Interesting indeed.” Having found a box of chalk, he paused, silent debate roaring through the air. After a moment of profound thought, baby blue was rejected in favour of indigo.
“Love, like good and evil, is difficult to pin down,” the king-wizard continued, sketching diagrams in the air. “I think, and it’s hardly a popular sentiment, that the two are related to the notion of constraint. When love is unconditional it tends not to shape or alter or try to ‘fix’.” He drew a wrench, and crossed an X through it.
“Love has no reason – but it is not, per se, unreasoning. However, when it does reason, it tends to go towards Darkness.”
Dilan hesitated, feeling his way through this interpretation. “You request us to attend classes, lectures, even field trips – to learn things we do not know already – I, I would hardly think of that as Dark or, evil.”
Ansem’s eyes twinkled. Dilan feverishly hoped that he would meet no one else whose eyes could do the same. It was creepy.
“That is very true, Dilan. But such an action is so easily dark already – what if you wished not to study? What if, in fact, you wished to study something else altogether and not the Heart, but rather the Soul, or maybe the Body? No pursuit is unworthy, but if I made you study – by royal decree, or by the force of my personality or argument – what then? Surely that would be dark, no?”
The king, correctly interpreting his second oldest student’s silence, patted Dilan on the back.
“Think of it like this – does reason guide a parent’s every movement? Do they think to themselves, ‘if I do not take care of my children, in my old age I shall be penniless and alone?’ By the same token, when a toddler smiles, is it laced with the idea ‘if I do not show appreciation, my parents will not feed me?’ Some theories of evolution posit that, yes, such the ultimate – indirect as it is – reasoning of our physiology.”
“You don’t believe that,” Dilan stated.
“No, I never have, and still don’t. But keep an open mind,” the King cautioned. “I may be wrong. Everyone may be wrong.” Eyes twinkled. “But then again, they may be right.”
“Master Ansem, at what point does Love become Dark?”
It was broad hypothetical, encompassing to the point of absurdity. Dilan blushed at his temerity, but the question was earnest – and in his mind, important. The King, to his credit, answered seriously, though not before raising an eyebrow and rifling through his royal vestments for something to scribble with.
“An interesting question, Dilan. Interesting indeed.” Having found a box of chalk, he paused, silent debate roaring through the air. After a moment of profound thought, baby blue was rejected in favour of indigo.
“Love, like good and evil, is difficult to pin down,” the king-wizard continued, sketching diagrams in the air. “I think, and it’s hardly a popular sentiment, that the two are related to the notion of constraint. When love is unconditional it tends not to shape or alter or try to ‘fix’.” He drew a wrench, and crossed an X through it.
“Love has no reason – but it is not, per se, unreasoning. However, when it does reason, it tends to go towards Darkness.”
Dilan hesitated, feeling his way through this interpretation. “You request us to attend classes, lectures, even field trips – to learn things we do not know already – I, I would hardly think of that as Dark or, evil.”
Ansem’s eyes twinkled. Dilan feverishly hoped that he would meet no one else whose eyes could do the same. It was creepy.
“That is very true, Dilan. But such an action is so easily dark already – what if you wished not to study? What if, in fact, you wished to study something else altogether and not the Heart, but rather the Soul, or maybe the Body? No pursuit is unworthy, but if I made you study – by royal decree, or by the force of my personality or argument – what then? Surely that would be dark, no?”
The king, correctly interpreting his second oldest student’s silence, patted Dilan on the back.
“Think of it like this – does reason guide a parent’s every movement? Do they think to themselves, ‘if I do not take care of my children, in my old age I shall be penniless and alone?’ By the same token, when a toddler smiles, is it laced with the idea ‘if I do not show appreciation, my parents will not feed me?’ Some theories of evolution posit that, yes, such the ultimate – indirect as it is – reasoning of our physiology.”
“You don’t believe that,” Dilan stated.
“No, I never have, and still don’t. But keep an open mind,” the King cautioned. “I may be wrong. Everyone may be wrong.” Eyes twinkled. “But then again, they may be right.”
I did post in shades of grey if anyone even remembers that lmao