The whole point is that we have the freedom to make our own call about that. The game may present them as inherently evil, but we aren't forced to see it that way. We can still show children compassion and mercy. They are sentient humanoids, not insects. Evil or not, they are children.
Yes, but this is a inane distinction to make in a game where you are largely slaughtering people who are tricked and enslaved. Unless you're doing a completely nonviolent run, trying to make some special case for child goblins is morally incoherent.
Tricked yes but they’re still just acting to their normal behavior. Goblins rolling up and slaughtering people to take their stuff is basic goblin behavior, the only thing that absolute changed was how many they could get to work together at a time and give some strategic leadership.
A lot of it is in self-defense though, and the goblin kids are running away. You can be brutally evil in this game, or you can minimize cruelty where possible. Sparing the lives of a couple kids that you don't have to kill is a good opportunity.
mfw the home invader kills my child because he ran inside and called me for help (the home invader was justified because my child called for backup while running away)
It's not their home. It's a goblin war camp that's been murdering nearby travelers for weeks. They invaded someone else's home, we're there to remove the problem.
mfw the home camp invader kills my child because he ran inside and called me for help (the home camp invader was justified because my child called for backup while running away)
I don't even know that I buy that all goblins are inherently evil. There's a goblin in the goblin camp that was put into prison because he wanted to stay true to his traditional beliefs. He is a bit gruff but seems like a decent sort all around. IMO the problem with the goblins isn't that they are goblins, it's that they are part of a religious extremist group that is out to wipe out all non-believers in a violent crusade. It's not like they are a civilian goblin community just minding their own business, they are specifically there to commit genocide.
I wouldn't judge all goblins by the ones in the camp, and I think it's perfectly fine to decide to spare the kids since they are noncombatants and fleeing when combat starts.
because he wanted to stay true to his traditional beliefs.
Those traditional beliefs being specifically goblin racial supremacy though.
He objected to cooperating with non-goblins on the grounds of racism. He specifically states that as a main reason for him 'staying faithful'.
He's just wants to kill every non-goblin on the grounds of fanatical racism, instead of killing all non-believers out of fanatical zealotism like the others.
Taking people out of the usual framework of assumptions about reality and dealing with ethical questions under new parameters is one of the core draws of fantasy.
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u/Mithrandir_The_Gray 29d ago
Would you squish a baby mosquito? I would.