Moral Dilemma: Joining the Dark Brotherhood

[Lioness446]

Ever since I saw a comic about a recently deceased guy going to hell because of the terrible things he did in video games, I can't stop wondering if it's truly wrong to actually do bad things in video games. This has made it very hard for me to choose whenever to join the dark brotherhood or not; I love the questline and the story that goes with it, but I am so afraid of what will happen in the afterlife if I join the brotherhood. Of course, I have already done the dark brotherhood questline before, but I feel that I can be forgiven if I don't join again. I know how insanely stupid and silly this probably sounds, but as I am an extremely paranoid person I would appreciate if you tried not to laugh at me and took me seriously. It isn't helped by the fact that the game may have purposefully left an omen; I tried creating two saves and going through both choices, killing one of the captives or killing Astrid. When I chose to kill one of the captives, the weather turned rainy and depressing after I left the shack. When I chose to kill Astrid, the weather turned sunny and pleasant once I went outside. It felt so right to kill Astrid and release the captives, but I am also severely disappointed at the thought of not going through the dark brotherhood questline, even if I am terrified of the consequences.

So please give me your best advice, and if you feel the need to tell me I am being silly or over thinking this, go ahead, I have a hunch that I am in need of a reality check, but I just can't believe myself. Just be nice about it, though.

[LeddBate]

I refuse to touch the religious part of this question. Mainly because I'm pretty sure the mods would (quite rightfully) sit on this pretty fast. Instead, I'll address the other part of the question. Does making choices in video games equate to doing things in real life?

 

In a word: no.

 

Playing a video game is no different from writing (or reading) a book, stage or screen play. It's no different than wearing a costume at a Halloween party. You are "playing", not actually living. (Please don't get me started on Second Life.) And you should no more worry about choices you make in a game than you should about what you decide to wear. I'm in the middle of a one-Nord-war on the Thalmor, but that doesn't make me violent or intolerant in real life. What matters is what we believe and do in real life, not a game.

 

Hope that helps.

[Valkasha]

Moral dilemma of joining the dark brotherhood:

 

Murdering people to appease an ancient corpse.

[LoneWolfEburg]

Yeah, I am pretty sure that the little virtual people in the computer screen don't have souls.They don't really have self-awareness or sentience, either - them having it is an illusion.

 

Of course, you don't have to join the DB if you don't want to.

 

I also find the emotional/moral reactions of people who play video games interesting.

[Neehsen]

I think it's already too late when you're in that shack with Astrid since you killed an old helpless lady before that in order too get to this situation.

From a philosophical point of view it doesn't really matter if you kill Astrid or one of the three people in the shack since murder is morally questionable anyway. In game murder actually poses a less significant moral dilemma in my opinion. The polytheistic nature of religion in the game grants you more choices than just black and white so if you appease a deity's wishes, wether it is good or bad in our point of view, you can receive salvation. There is no uniform way of afterlife in the game anyway. Only Nords are granted a place in Sovngard and Argonians born under the sign of the shadow are forced to serve Sithis so it also depends on the race you're playing.

 

To answer you're question about you're soul in the afterlife. I think you should worry more about being a hedonist (like most people in our generation, including myself) who plays video games all the time. If you do that it doesn't really matter what you play. Then it is just as bad playing a noble knight (who also kills people during his adventures).

[fraquar]

It's pretty easy to justify joining the Dark Brotherhood, because you aren't a loose cannon - you are hired to do a job. Nothing more. It would actually be worse if you joined some rebel bandit outfit that raped and pillaged Skyrim at will. Without contracts, the Dark Brotherhood are essentially a dormant organization. In fact, it could be argued that by your joining the Dark Brotherhood you are eventually helping to get that organization back in line.

 

Not much different than joining the Companions, who are slaughtering an organization (Silver Hand) that is actually providing a service to Skyrim by helping to eliminate werewolves. Your job is to remove the curse, end the bloodletting of the Silver Hand, and get the Companions back in line.

[MidbossVyers]

In terms of killing the Emperor... Well, watch this movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_%282002_film%29 especially the end.

[Valkasha]

@lonewolf and neehsen, this is an RPG, if you take this question serious reallife doesn't come into play here...

[Lioness446]

@Neehsen

Well, if I hadn't killed Grelod, I am pretty sure she would have beaten some of those children to death.

@fraquar

I always thought it was weird that the Silver Hand hunts down werewolves, regardless of whenever the people with lyncanthropy are actullay good or trying to cure themselves.

And responding to your statements like that answers my own questions.

One of the reasons I got into Skyrim was the tangled nature of good and evil; there is never any purely good or evil choice, (well, maybe except with certain daderic quests) and a lot of the targets in the Dark Brotherhood deserved some kind of vigilante justice of one kind or another. In fact, the very first main victim is a bandit leader with absolutely no regard for human emotion or dignity, a lot like you described, fraquar.

Well, all of your comments has certainly made me feel better about all of this, and now that I think about it, it doesn't make sense for me to be really scared of joining a fictional assassins guild but have no qualms with killing any other NPC's in the game. Sometimes my thoughts just grow out of control and even when I know better, I just can't shake off my paranoia. It takes reassurance from others to make them go away, and reaching out to strangers on the internet was the only way to get it. My brother isn't exactly empathetic with this kind of stuff and my parents don't even play skyrim, so I reluctantly reached out to you, so thank you all so much for not laughing at me and taking my weird fears seriously. I'll never forget this kindness. And if this all sounds a little overly sentimental, it's because I am listening to music as I type this. I tend to get into really deep thinking patterns when I listen to music. (ANY kind of music, makes me think about life. Weird, huh?)

Anyway, now I know what I want to do, (destroy the dark brotherhood!) and I feel safe to play games again. Thank you!

[Valkasha]

Thinking about the meaning of life while listening to happy hardcore :P ?

 

Anyway glad you were able to make a decision. While the dark brother hood story is interesting (and killing them is not so much) there is simply no way to morally justify killing for money (which is basically what Astrid's group does) or killing for the sole purpose of appeasing some corpse. Sure Grelod was mean and abusive but that's not the reason the dark brotherhood would have killed her. The dark brotherhood will kill anyone as long as the contract is payed. Man, woman, innocent or criminal, no one is safe.