Discussion To kill or not to kill?

It has been awhile since I open a thread for the most random of reasons, so today I would like to talk about killing you foes in WN. Namely JP vs CN.

So in most cases in JP, the MC tends to not kill his enemies, other than maybe nameless mooks that no one cares about, and this tends to create subsequent arcs as the enemy keeps coming back so long as the author wishes he/ she/ it to. Nowadays however, the trend seems to sort of died down in edgylord JP WN, where a single decapitation can save all that future BS for better villains.

In CN WN, especially xianxias, it is obvious that the MC will without a doubt kill the motherfucker as soon as possible and when he is in his power range, this is due to the fact that a. The motherfucker has a huge ass background and the BS that he says about "Forgive and Forget" will immediately thrown away as soon as he is in safety, there are loads of examples, go find them yourself. b. Even if the MFer has no background, he can still cause shits in the background like rallying idiots alike or smear campaign.

Before we call out JP MC being Beta (he definitely is), there are good reasons for them to NOT go murderhobo. Culture, JP tends to hang on the notion of a stable and non-hostile society (lol, tell that to the workforce) and being a murderhobo just ousts one as a deviant. They also have the tendency to "trust" the law to deal with the captured villains with appropriate punishment. Whereas in most if not all CN with the dog-eat-dog theme running (basically most Xianxia, Xuanhuan and some modern stories), the whole "no good deed goes unpunished" and "no such thing as Defeat Means Friendship" run deep, especially the latter, where defeat means mortal enemies as you make me lose face. While murder is frowned upon, it is easily overlooked as they just handwave it as nothing serious/ not my concern unless the said murderhobo is in their vicinity.

There is also the issue of whether the villain is worth alive or not, as in ransom, goodwill to the big boss, NOT BEING SEEN AS A MURDERHOBO by letting others do your dirty work.

TLDR, what would you do when you are about to kill someone that has been a pain, why? if no, why not?

 

If this is fantasy then....whatever blows my hair back goes. ^.^ And then I hope I'm not Thomas Covenant...cause that would suck bad.

 

Depends on the situation, I guess. If I have something that can keep that person in control (aka threats, holding some sort of info against them) and I'm completely sure they wouldn't be able to harm me, I won't kill. If not, then the better option is just to nib the problem at it's bud and be done with it.

 

Hmm, that's why I prefer when the enemies are zombies or monsters - 0 guilt. There's something regretful about killing a person who was once a child, probably had a mother who loved them and circumstances led them to being the enemy. I can't look at a person and not imagine them as a child filled with dreams and the many events in their life that shaped into the final product I'm seeing. However, if they're already killing people, and sparing their life would lead to more people being killed, then that's reason enough to end them. Because I respect others' lives, I can't forgive people who don't. Now if there was a magical way to alter their brains in such a way that they start respecting life and want to be helpful to society, that's what I'd rather do instead of killing, but those are just worthless dreams.

To summarize tho, I'd rather the MC kill the villain instead of giving them a chance to implicate more innocent people.

 

Well, enough jp authors opt to kill more cause some MFers deserved it and ch authors should refrain more cause don't really kill some of those MFers can be rivals or later-mobs, so let's create less pscho ch villains

 

JP betas do kill, tho. They even slaughter intelligent humanoid races like goblins, orcs, kobolds, etc by classifying them as "monsters", hence "justifying" their murder. JP MCs are just speciecist hypocrites, IMO.

 

it depends on the novel imo, some jp novel MC i've read kill his enemy without hesitation or whatsoever

 

Kill.

I mean with his white gold ring, he went toe to toe with the worm of world's end, and if it wasn't for the fact the arch of time being unable to withstand the battle between them he might have won.

 

True...but the stuff he did and said....*CRINGE*

 

You know I think regardless of what the protagonist does, or doesn't do, it all boils down to what sort of consequences the author decides to write up. If the author wants to push the whole killing is bad, and my protagonist is a paragon who never kills, well then we probably won't see any serious consequences come from showing mercy to enemies

Likewise in stories where the protagonist is completely over the top and kills for weak and sketchy reasons, his actions will always be validated through the narrative. No matter how much commonsense tells us that he's being excessive, and that he has clearly gone way over the line, he'll never face any real consequences. At least not a consequence that he doesn't immediately murder.

Now all that being said both of these examples aren't what most people would consider good writing. A protagonist should be punished both for being overly naive, and for being overly ruthless. After all isn't that one of the main points of character development, so we can see people overcome their initial flaws?

 

I'd go murderhobo, I hate things that cause me problems, including people, so offending me isn't a problem but if their actions directly or indirectly harm me or impede me then they deserve death.

 

It's just a matter of choosing what the protagonist is capable of at the time. I think that a protagonist who is strong enough should aim to capture rather than kill since they have the leeway to worry about that. If they're weak, don't risk it trying to capture the opponent. The dumbest thing to do is slaughter those who are far weaker than you just because they're attacking. Look to fix the problem, not obliterate it.

 

.... A forest hobo for me.

 

As a veteran CN (Cultivation) novel reader I will definitely kill that bastard .
Cause hay, you should always cut a tree from its root so that it can't grow again.

 

It's an unwritten rule for every light novel in existence that the justice system only works if it's against the MC, specially if it's a female MC then that shit would be 1000% more productive. "So FMC went past her curfew? She must not receive her inheritance and be imprisoned in blah blah blah... V.S. So FMC's sister/cousin schemed to get her killed? *sigh* since you're of the same blood and nothing bad happened to FMC, then let it just be and no Play Station privileges for the month for FMC's sister/cousin.

In conclusion, kill... then double tap.

 

Depends on what you mean by ‘being a pain’ since I would mostly choose to kill if A. Fcker holds someone dear to me hostage or killed them. B. Threatening my life and family.
As they say cut them from their roots
If not then straight to the prison or cripple.

 

Kill any of those bastards who annoys me but spare those who can be useful

 

also i think murder hobo mc is kinda fun but after 300+ chapter kinda boring, also "tho not kill" MC kinda stupid... i mean seriously? enemy will bring army next time double, JP WN beta MC kinda hurt to read.... he kill more monster to 2 digit and can't kill someone that going kill him, assassin let go, bandit let go, enemy became friend is BS except if there is greater enemy (seem reasonable).

MY collusion most common type murder hobo is :
JP MC: Racial murder hobo or Specialist
CN MC: Happy trigger WMD murder hobo
KR MC: System equipped hobo murder (but to much BL WN out there)

 

I would make it quick and painless , probably would find out what they do for lethal injection.

In fantasy I prefer more "complex" villains that are not one-dimensional , take Picolo from Dragon ball, his first incarnation was beyond saving , but his second incarnation wasn't bad beyond that one time he shot a ki blast that was a bit too strong.
All of the sudden it's not that clear who the friend and enemy is , you have to read their feelings and motivations at that point in time.

 

So to sum up whatever everyone had said, all it boils down to is situational... which basically just means that nothing is concrete... just like all the answers in my life isn't it?