#and taken the next step to 'if any objectively sapient being with the agency to tangibly affect the world; in a way you cannot opt out of'

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

i think it would be a lot easier to examine the morality and effectiveness of setrákus' cause (spoiler alert: It's Bad), and the irl worldviews/rhetoric it's critiquing, if the books came out and acknowledged that the entity:

a) is working from the exact same fundamental principles, just glowier and prettier and has Nicer Neighborhoods about it, and ultimately gets away with it, and

b) in its own right is just plain fucking evil

#lorien legacies #setrákus ra #LL entity #there is a MAJOR running theme in this series of poisonous 'help' being offered by people who position themselves as Selflessly Benevolent #and wanting nothing more than to pile you with generous gifts out of the goodness of their hearts #too-good-to-be-true offers when you need them most #they just need one little thing from you. they just need you to do the work of spreading their Help for them. #whether through direct violent subjugation (hi loric history!); or cutting off their options so they get more and more desperate #until they have no option but to give in. until they have no choice but to suffer and die or Choose Peace #or through just y'know terraforming the entire fcking planet and changing the biology of its sapient inhabitants to make them Better #without asking a single person on it first let alone any of the humans #it shows up with setrákus; it shows up with what five goes through; it shows up with mogpro; and it shows up with the entity #but the entity and the loric acting in its name are The Actually Benevolent Ones This Time You Guys #and they don't even show ANY harmful effects from past instances of garde pulling ancient-aliens shit to ~help advance human cultures~ #the moral of the story should have followed through on 'power does not make you a god' #and taken the next step to 'if any objectively sapient being with the agency to tangibly affect the world; in a way you cannot opt out of' #'tries to position themself as a god because they are powerful; or should be powerful' #'tie on a bib and eat them' #i have a lot of words in me about this and it really sank in when i realized the way sandor talks about life on lorien under the entity #and the culture around it sound E E R I L Y like how five talks about ethan and the mogs when he's being groomed and indoctrinated #lorien was some warren of the shining snares shit back in the day and it's both fascinating and absolutely chilling #your neighborhood isn't less racist because it has breweries and brick pizza ovens etc etc #ANYWAY #LL tag #LL crit tag #the crit files