text; un: TheHollowKnight

[instilled]

A query:
What makes you you?
How are you yourself?

Please only respond if you wish.

Comments

[instilled]

Imagine there was being that had taken over the minds of those around it.
It was defeated, and the minds of those it had enslaved were their own again.
They gave their love and worship to the one who defeated that being, but it was a choice, in that there were others who did not choose to worship that new being but were glad to be free of that influence.
Yet there came a time when the first being renewed its power, and began to enslave those minds again.
The one who defeated it before could not do so again.
Would it be better for another to renounce all personhood to contain that power, in order that the rest may still be themselves?
Would the emptiness of one be admissible for the richness of so many others?
Is this cost worth it?

[passio]

[ it’s an extraordinarily specific situation, and dextera wonders what pieces he might be missing. everyone who tells a story tells it from their perspective, and while he doesn’t think the hollow knight is in the habit of self-deprecating, the staunch neutrality can be a form of that without even realizing.

he mulls over the situation presented. the only answer, from an objective moral stance, is no. the many over the few, as ever. ]

It would be the “right” thing to do.

But in the world I come from, what is “right” isn’t always what is “good.” I’ve done terrible things for what’s right, and I’ve done good things for my selfish whims. No one else can decide the path that you - or this hypothetical entity - should take. No one can take the measure of a decision except the one who makes it.

That’s what I’ve learned.

[instilled]

Would you not consider it a great failing, then, if it could not repress a sense of self?
Even though so many others lost their selves because it could not refuse itself one?

[passio]

Maybe I would. But I don’t think that means I didn’t deserve the self I obtained.

I told you I hurt people to become who and what I am. The circumstances you’re describing are a little different, but the question is the same, isn’t it?

[instilled]

You have given this Vessel much to consider.
It will give it due diligence.
Thank you.

[passio]

I think that’s good. It’s not always an easy path, but if you’re thinking about it, that means you can reach your own conclusions.

Good luck.