Who is to Blame

The powerless are accused of the sins of the powerful. Their crime is obedience... or disobedience. They are found guilty either way.

The weak are expected to muster their strength in numbers to overwhelm the mighty. Alas, an individual cannot sway his country unless powerful.

The powerless must be ambitious if they are to thwart the powerful. They must become the very thing they are expected to overcome... and that is pointless.

Guilt is personal, not impersonal.

The mighty are to blame for the sins of the tribes and nations. The guilt of the common folk is as individuals, not as the tribe or nation.

A thief is a thief whether his society is honest or corrupt. A murderer is a murderer whether his country as a country kills or not. When the mighty are thieves, the society is a kleptocracy. When those in power are murderers, they kill by many hands.

An honest man is not a thief because he lives in a kleptocracy. So long as he lives honestly, he does what justice expects of him. A gentle man is not a brute because he serves faithfully in the army of his people, whether the cause is right or wrong. So long as he is merciful within his power, he is righteous.

Unlike heaven and earth, where might makes right, justice does not favor the mighty. The strong are to bear the weight of the world, not the weak to do so. The rich are to be generous, not the poor.

Anyone who blames the helpless shall be condemned in accordance with the accusation. Anyone who faults the innocent shall be judged as guilty.

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Humanity Turned Against Itself

A story about heroic goodness is social commentary, whether political or not. The prize is humanity itself. The heroes serve and protect what the villains exploit and sacrifice.

The villains may care about their henchmen and or henchwomen... but probably not. If they do, it may be for personal reasons... but probably not. If they do, their concern is probably because these underlings are useful and would be difficult to replace.

What if the villains can conscript ordinary people, by law or press gangs... or hypnosis? They can indoctrinate these unwilling recruits to be selfless, loyal and obedient... by psychological manipulation or outright mind control.

The general public would assure the public enemy an endless supply of expendable goons. The heroes would slaughter droves of people they would otherwise serve and protect.

The villains may be the government... or a crime syndicate... or a terrorist organization... or a mystery cult. They are the enemies of the common folk regardless.

The foot soldiers of villainy can be hirelings or followers. They are my favorite archetype, but I much prefer that the characters are normal people repurposed by the baddies for use as expendable baddies. The irony fascinates me, especially when the heroes enjoy killing them.

The villains are the villains because they do not care... about their victims or the other villains. Everyone is expendable. The agenda is selfish. The villainy is selfishness.

The heroes are the “heroes” in the modern sense because they do care... about the victims. They are killing the same people when the foot soldiers of villainy are brainwashed conscripts mustered from the victimized population. The heroes are “villainous” for killing these people they are trying to save... and I am grimly amused.

My interest is not moral ambiguity, to be clear. The idea is not the subversion of heroic goodness.

I write what I find interesting. My ideas manifest into fiction as prose and illustrations. My thematic specialty is the foot soldiers of villainy. The archetype is unimportant characters by design. They are in a story to give the villains authority and to set a standard of ordinary by which the heroes can be measured. The context provided via the main characters is what decides the significance of these deliberately insignificant characters.

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