Stealth Moose
Umbrella Elite
Originally posted by Lucius
Intent? Worthless. Consequence pays no heed to intent, only to cause. Samara has put her code above all else and that code causes her to kill innocent people for no other reason that the code itself. The only count I think of in her favor is that Justicars stay within Asari territory and Asari wouldn't get in a Justicar's way. Illum demonstrated how badly that would break if a Justicar was ever called to leave Asari territory.I don't care if Morinth is sick. Samara will kill anyone that gets her in way because her code tells her to. She didn't have to kill that officer, but her code told her she had to. She's a badass boitic with commando level martial prowess. Disabling the officer and leaving should have been easy, but instead, due to her fvcked up code, she was ready to kill the woman.
Remorse? Worthless. Samara may feel bad about the shit she does in the name of her code, but she still does it and would do it without hesitation. Consequence doesn't care if you feel bad. Intent and remorse have no influence on consequence, only cause.
You are confusing sentiment with ethics. I don't care that Morinth is a sick ***** that murders people. Because of how long it takes for her kill people and because her victims are specialized, her kill rate is naturally going to be low. Samara will kill someone on a dime if some obscure rule is broken.
By killing Samara, I rid the galaxy of a rule bound fanatic. Once Morinth has serves her purpose in the suicide mission, than she can be disposed of as well. (assuming ME3 lets you, but in this context I'm speaking as if I really was Shepard with the same options a real person has)
You have a twisted way of viewing Samara and Morinth. Applying ethics of numbers to the problem doesn't solve anything, it merely brands you as a utilitarian. While this is arguably a valid ethical stance (assuming that all stances are somewhat valid), the problem here becomes this:
Numbers themselves aren't reflective of ethical value.
Case in point - cars kill more people than any serial killer known to society. We don't send SWAT teams out to destroy car companies or arrest drivers en masse, but serial killers warrant the best of our judicial abilities to subdue them and prevent them from causing more harm.
Why is that a valid comparison? Death is the intent of the latter, and not the former. The serial killer commits crimes for their sake alone; to kill to fuel their own lust. Cars kill inadvertently or in unfortunate situations, or even when misused. But ultimately, they serve a beneficial purpose in society and we could not function easily without them.
Morinth takes a perverse delight in having sentients worship her before she drains them dry and becomes stronger herself. Samara has been chasing her for centuries. We are told that Ardat-Yakshi find their mate-killing behaviors to be addicting. The body of her last victim is barely cried upon before she's back in the club, looking for another one. She's like a serial killer on a scale never seen before; wielding great power and intellect, and preying on the outcasts of society.
If you think that Samara, in her crusade, has somehow killed more people than a centuries old biotic serial killer, this already undermines your argument. Even if Morinth's only killing one a week, or one a month, that's hundreds of dead sentients, not counting the village which she brainwashed and then threw at her mother in a last-ditch effort to escape capture. The times killing (mind you, not murder, killing) comes into play with Samara includes:
[list]
[*] Samara fights and kills the mercenary slavers in her youth, only when it became obvious that there was no other way to safeguard the slaves.
[*] When Morinth, who had brainwashed the adults of the village she had dominated, threw them at her mother in an attempt to buy time to escape. Keep in mind that Samara did not kill the innocent youth, and she made sure they were taken care of before moving on.
[*] She fears that because she is required by her Code to effect an escape, she may kill one or many officers, because they are likewise bound to their code which prohibits her from running off and pursuing the killer Morinth. This is a conflict of priorities, not premeditated wholesale slaughter. Samara does not needlessly inflict pain or suffering, and she does not wish death; she deplores it. But it is unfortunately necessary when she is being bound and meanwhile Morinth is free to kill with evil intent in the meanwhile. This is especially important because Morinth is damn near captured by Samara at this point; it's the closest she's been since the village.[/list]
Meanwhile, Samara's attitude has shown us nothing but a paragon Asari who holds the moral high ground on the Normandy. She offered violence to the mercs when it became apparent that they would not give the slaves freedom; she then made sure the slaves could arm themselves and tried to teach them self-defense. She cared for the children of the village Morinth corrupted, and only killed the adults when she had no choice. She even stalks and tries to defeat Nihlus when she sees him killing an unarmed civilian.
It's also important to realize that Samara identifies with and appreciates paragon Shepard, who is all about honor and protecting the weak, and being honest and forthright. Again a nod to her good nature.
Meanwhile, Morinth's all about her addictive killing spree. Do you think that stops because she's onboard the Normandy now? You think that because she's showing some kind of twisted fealty to Shepard that she's not going to try to kill him and anyone else she can dig her claws in?
No, Samara is indeed the lesser of two evils here, not some mindless fanatic. She is a good soul with a tortured past, and accepting Morinth over her is no better than allowing a serial killer to join your party while murdering their samurai/knight/cop mother. I just don't see how you can argue that scenario without drastically fudging numbers (despite the lack of evidence of Samara killing without need, see above) and failing to address how numbers = absolute moral value.
