I always loved browsing such posts on reddit, so thought I should make one on lemmy too
Edit: Usually these kind of posts only used to have excerpts from books or ancient proverbs, but now I am seeing a lot more quotes from shows/movies/games are also resonating with people. It’s pretty cool to see.
“Many that live deserve death and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the wise cannot see all ends.” Gandalf, Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring
For some reason, this quote (and the entirety of Gollum’s story) has stuck itself in my head. I guess I interpret this as a message to not be so quick to judge death upon another person, no matter what they had done. You never know what their future will be like, and cutting their lives off would mean losing out on the potential benefits that their future might bring. Even bad people can contribute good things. I know that this is just my personal opinion, and a lot of people probably won’t agree with this, but this is the lesson that I got from Gollum’s story.
A man had to go to the trenches for that line, it is no wonder that it lives on so long.
I think it’s the Qunari, Sten, in Dragon Age: Origins that puts this idea to the test for the player.
I personally don’t agree with it, though. I think wrongdoers need to be made an example of to prevent others from thinking it’s okay.
I think of this quote whenever internet tough guys are like “if someone breaks into my house I’m going to shoot them dead!!”