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[The video starts with Gundham just sort of sitting on a bale of hay at the stables. His newfound magical abilities has made upkeep far easier as he no longer really needed to go into town for supplies, and he now had a bit too much time with his own thoughts. After a moment of hesitation, he finally decides to speak.]

I have a hypothetical that I would like opinions on from the rest of you.

In a far off world, there is a war between the forces of light and darkness. Among the forces of darkness there is an order of Death Knights that act as generals for the King of Darkness. Little is known about them or how they operate, mainly because there are no survivors to report on any encounters. The only concrete facts known about them is that wherever they go all that is left in their wake is death and ash. None are spared, warriors, civilians, children, none are spared.

The forces of Light decide that the best way to end the war is to assassinate the king, cutting off the power the knights receive from the king. However, in doing so, it's revealed that the knights were operating under duress, though the specifics are not widely known. The knights had no choice in the matter and the weight of their actions nearly crush them when freed from the king's influence.

My question to you is what would you do with these knights? Do they deserve to be given to the families of those they slew and made an example of? Would you console them? Or simply do nothing and make them figure it out for themselves?

Do they deserve redemption, or are they too far gone?

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[ Why does this sound so awfully familiar. ]

If you don't know the knights' side of the conflict, how can you decide if they are deserving of redemption or otherwise?

Edited 2021-04-05 13:20 (UTC)

While I appreciate the consideration, I assure you, this is about as black and white a conflict as there can be. The knights were only allowed to feel what their king allowed them to feel, and their king fetishized despair.

For years, that is all they knew. All they were allowed to know.

If those knights were never allowed a single thought for themselves, I should think it obvious: they deserve mercy. You do not fault the gun for the bullets it fires; you do not blame the sword for the blood it draws. The king you describe used these knights as one would a weapon, and if the absence of their king returns free will to them then they ought to be given the chance to live.

[Gundham is quiet for quite some time. He starts several responses but cancels them all without uttering a word. The logic is sound, and he can't really find fault with it. And yet he feels conflicted about not challenging it.]

I must say I cannot say you are wrong in this, and yet... I am unsure I can accept it, as odd as that may sound.

'Tis the nature of man to want to find someone or something to blame for the evils in the world. The passion is admirable - but also destructive. Mayhap some of those knights would choose to fall upon their own swords out of shame or guilt if given the choice, but the choice should be theirs.

[ A pause as he considers further. Funny how he wouldn't even be saying that if circumstances hadn't taken him away from his god. ]

If you believe that there is still good in them, why would you shun them instead of offering your hand? By neglect are monsters made.

A noble sentiment, if untrue at least in the individual rather than whole. There are monsters that are simply born that way, regardless of the life they were born into.

No, I don't believe so.

I have made monsters out of men. I wonder sometimes what life they would have led if I had simply let them be.

[Gundham hesitates for a while before switching over to a private channel.]

In my world, there was a girl who was born into privilege. Her family was well off enough to fund a career in fashion and vacation around the world. By all accounts, she wanted for nothing, physical or emotional. She was also born with a talent for analysis. Set any machine in front of her, regardless of complexity, and she would not only figure out how to use it, but would be able to find at least five ways to disable and improve on its design, and this talent was not limited to just machinery as she could manipulate men and women of great power to her whim with a few well placed words.

And yet, despite the world being handed to her upon her birth she was bored. Bored with the world, to the point that she fell into a despair from which there was no returning. The only way she could feel any kind of joy was when she dragged others down to the same depths, before snuffing out their lives. And so, she orchestrated the biggest most tragic event in human history. Entire nations were reduced to mass graves overnight, and society crumbled because she was bored.

Men can be made into monsters, yes... but there are some that are born monstrous as well.

[He doesn't say any more, but from that alone, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the Dark King was less than hypothetical.]

I suspected you were concealing the truth under the guise of a tale, but what a tale it turns out to be.

I would ask you to consider this then: could that girl have turned out differently had she not been born into a privileged life? Wanting for nothing she therefore desired nothing, and so she found herself lacking a purpose in life and turned to ending it.

I think you are underestimating the talent this girl possessed.

Had she been born into nothing, but her talent remained intact, she would've reclaimed her privilege in time. It may have taken a different form, not involved the fashion industry for instance, but the end result would remain the same.

When she looked at people, at situations, at even nature, she did not see what you or I would see. She saw equations, probabilities, and answers. Imagine an existence where you knew everything that would happen months before it ever happened. Where any interaction or experience no matter how mundane or spectacular was predictable. Where the only time things seemed exciting is when you pushed people to their metaphorical edge, and then handing them a gun.

The only time she felt anything other than utter boredom was when she was goading people to murder each other or even taking their own lives, and it all comes back to her talent, a fundamental part of her entire personality.

[ Could such a fearsome girl truly exist? He ponders a little while before replying. ]

I suppose I can do naught but accept it as fact if you claim it is so. I am not entirely convinced she couldn't have grown into an entirely different woman were circumstances to differ but she has made her choices and you have been made to bear the consequences.

Out of curiosity, does this demoness have a name?

[Gundham stares at the text for a long moment before responding. He's hesitant given the situation, but at the same time if anyone could lend credence to his claims... it's the woman herself.]

Junko Enoshima.

A name you likely have seen on the network, or even seen wandering around. However, the "Junko" that is here in Avalon is in fact her twin sister, Mukuro Ikusaba. Like her sister, Mukuro is in possession of an ultimate talent. After serving with an elite mercenary group and the veteran of a hundred battles without so much as being scratched, she was awarded the title of "Ultimate Soldier." However, because of her relationship to Junko she is... damaged to put it lightly. Though they are twins, she thinks of Junko as her little sister, and is convinced that only she truly understands Junko despite the abuse she has suffered at Junko's hands.

Like my friends, she is a victim of Junko's and I've been attempting to convince her she does not need her sister's shadow, yet she plays the part because Junko told her to... just a few days before Junko murdered her so as to fake her own death.

[ He had thought this would be a story he would get from the woman herself eventually. Only someone wilfully oblivious could think 'Junko' was as she presented herself. So the revelation is not shocking to him but it does give him pause.

...Ah, and there had also been that anonymous posting... ]

She did seem more relaxed with a weapon in her hand, the few times I have seen her. Does she know of her sister's intention to murder her?

That is... difficult to tell. By all rights she should, but denial is a powerful force. After all, I believe when she arrived here, her clothes still bore the scars of the multitude of spears used to impale her.

Only her sister would've been in a position to mutilate her and her clothing in such a way. She knows that. But she refuses to believe it, or of her sister's eventual demise.

How horrific.

It does not change my opinion of her but I shall keep this to myself until she feels at ease enough to admit her true name herself.

And my stance towards your original query remains unchanged as well. Soldiers, even pawns, deserve the right to decide their own fate.

So you've met.

I will say that my relationship with her is... complicated. After all, she was complicit in the murder of a dear friend and the stripping of my comrades of our ability to feel anything but despair.

Yet at the same time, I admit she has not had a fair chance at life. As much as I hate what she has done, what she aided in doing to me and my friends... I cannot simply abandon her. Not without trying to break her chains at least.

As you say, even pawns deserve the right to decide their own fate.

Justice satisfies only the victim. I believe if you give her a chance to recover independently of her sibling, you may earn an ally rather than an enemy.

For what little my opinion here is worth, she seems like an earnest young woman seeking purpose. Pray that her sister does not join us.

I would be lying if I said there was not some part of me that wishes she would join us, that I might face her on even footing. That I might visit upon her a fraction of the pain, suffering, and anguish that she inflicted on me, my friends, and my world.

Junko is beyond salvation or redemption... her sister, I hope is not. After all, if Mukuro is beyond such things, the hope that I myself am grows dimmer as well.

A close friend of mine found it in themselves to forgive me for my own deeds. If you have the presence of mind to worry about your own redemption then I doubt you are beyond it.

I pray that you are right. I have long since stopped worrying about what history will say about my comrades and myself. I only hope we are allowed to live our lives, even if that means doing so apart from the rest of the world.

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