Discussion Why do Mcs have such a hard time taking a life?

As the title implies, why do most protagonist in fantasy novels have such a hard time on the decision of taking a human life? They have zero problems slaying "demons" but when of comes to humans they question themselves, even when the said human is not a upstanding citizen. Why hesitate to kill the other part when they themselves are aiming for your life? The way I see it, if a person has the intention of taking another person's life without any justifications, they have forfeited their rights to live. Just like how you don't pull out a gun in self-defense if you don't have the resolve to kill the other party, one shouldn't try to take another person's life if they're not prepared to die.

(I use demons as a comparison because in many novels they have the same intellect as humans, and share the same emotions.)

Or am I just twisted in a way that judges "life" objectively?

 

Because they are a healthy minded individual raised in a good environment with good morals. Never once had they had they felt a need to defend for their life against their own kind

 

Depends on what kind of MCs. Some MCs are just thinking of ways to make that suffer a life worse than death and/or don’t want to dirty their hands. Some MCs are just written to be damsel in distress or a white lotus (real meaning of a lotus which is pure) We also got MCs who have never gotten in a situation where they need to kill others either for work or self defense purposes.

 

Because ever since WW2 the Japanese have been heavily indoctrinated that way?

I mean, yes, the whole 20thC was pretty much devoted to convincing residents of "Wealthy" or "Developed" nations that violence was uncivilized, & putting stupid constraints on it that have probably cost or ruined more lives than they were purportedly intended to protect (c.f. Geneva Convention), but the Japanese literally got nuked, had to live with 7 years of foreigners telling them "bad dog!", & then having to justify living under a "Constitution" that tells them they're not allowed a "real" military.

 

Demons aren't humans though... and it'd be kinda hard for most people unused to killing other people simply because even if the other party is attacking you, you know they're a person just like you... you know?

 

Those are the wimpy MC, the characters i like the most are the ones who, if i find a bandit and it wants to kill me. he dies. Period. Maybe after i get all the possible info i can get out of him

 

This is to prove whatever is written, it has some redeeming values, thus should not be banned.
Stories written in 1700's and 1800's always talk a lot about religion and redemption. It is the same now as it ever was. Self censorship to ensure publication.

 

Reflection of the authors beliefs usually

 

It depends on the author, country the work is published in, and genre.

If the author is raised in an environment like @KurouDaijuji described, or publishes a work in said environment, there would need to be quite a lot of character development or justification for casual killing to prevent future problems. The first would be for the author, themselves, and the second would be to ensure publishing could continue without being censored.

There's also genres in which casual killing would be heavily frowned upon, as it wouldn't fit the demographic of a hero and therefore would lower the reader-base.

Logically, we all 'know' killing humans that are enemies would be an efficient way to prevent future trouble. It might even be a necessary situational thing which would save allies in a heated fight, as knocking someone unconscious might be hard to do. However, most people would have trouble taking a life initially. It's when you've done it many times and it is no longer hard that you'd need to have a careful psychological check. That's a real concern for soldiers coming back from war and what leads to PTSD.

 

If the MC is fine with killing in general, I'd say it's weird for them to be troubled about killing a human.

But if they didn't kill at all, then that's just normal... Killing is not something most people are able to do.

 

Well, in isekai the MC have come from a peaceful world or city........well, more or less peaceful, there is bullying(which sometimes reaches too far), depression(for a multitute of reasons), corruption, etc., for the majority of normal people or well teenagers(the majority of MC are usually teenagers in jap novels) which are unrelated to committing crimes doing something like that to another human seems to be very difficult(but there are always exceptions), since they have never seen nor are adjusted to live with other intelligent races(there are only humans in earth......well, so far) not to mention the world they are isekaied more than often isn't very good torwards the co-existance of several races, mainly due to religion(ugh) and the usual greed or race supremacy beliefs, the thought of treating then the same as if other races were the same as their own(human) doesn't sink very well....there are always exceptions.....

 

I have no problem butchering a whole chicken for broth. But I feel icked out by the idea of even cutting another person. Some of us are just kind of sheltered.

 

cause the author is a pansy. Killing is much easier than it is described in literature. the hardest part is after killing which requires you to get rid of all the evidence and dispose of the body.

 

you mean typical mc come from peaceful world like JP isekai story?
nothing new~ killing non human is easier than killing human~ those who say just kill it usually just talking big lol~ well of course if someone grow on environment where killing is acceptable or harsh condition it not weird idea human kill each other~

it just different value come from different experience so thats normal~ hence serial killer, psychopath, war crime, genocide and such is interesting cuz it is abnormal~

 

I totally agree. That’s always been pet peeve for me too. I mean dude he committed (murder, genocide, war, rape, torture and etc.) and your hesitate to kill him. Especially for defending (yourself, people you love, people you care about, family friends and etc.). That’s why I am ok with death penalty. The only problem I see. Is you better be certain before you act. Like for instance they killed right in front of you. Or their trying to kill you.
So yeah I totally agree. They need to man up and take it like a man. I know. I know. It’s not because of them that I am questioning my actions. It because I hurt myself by committing these actions. WTF. Than next time just die and stop whining to us about your soul being corrupted by these actions. Dude you want to reflect about actions. Reflect on the fact that you probably save at least one life. Maybe more. You can live the rest of your life helping people to atone for your past action. If that helps you sleep better at night, but personally I’d be sleeping pretty contentedly. Knowing that trash doesn’t breath the same air I do.
But hey that’s just me

 

They probably think demons are intelligent evil animals and humans are ,well ,people. Screw all of that and just think everything living is an NPC that is only useful for xp.

 

because your only reading Japanese isekai?
Chinese and Korean fantasy novels usually have ruthless MC (unless the enemy has boobs, but that's a whole other complaint).

 

Same reason I can kill an animal without batting an eye, but feel gross even seeing a human dying. It's not fun watching an individual similar to yourself ending right there, and I expect that to be even more so if you're the one doing it.

 

MC hesitate to kill their kin is for the future plot where the enemy that should die a week ago but spared will be back and kidnap MC's fiance and MC would struggle (for word count) to search for the clue (50 chapters or more) and after find it, kinda impossible to rescue right now will have training arc........ heart touching moment from fiance POV.... flashback arc.... shippuden arc....
Basically it for the mc gain character development from "Naive Hesitate to kill Hero" into "Strong Mature Hero refuse to Kill with the catchphrase Strong Enough without the need to Kill"

 

Honestly I think the main reason is because the target audience for a lot of these novels are younger children. So for the author the message;

"Killing people is bad, good guys don't kill."​

Is easy to convey than.

"Sometimes killing is amoral, but sometimes sparing someone is a greater sin, life is complex, and even the villains are the heroes of their own story. Nothing is ever fair for everyone, and true morality is cold and logical."​